An Easter visit to Worcester

Susan, my Wife and I decided that we would have a morning in Worcester, we were looking at picking up some alternative Easter presents (rather than just chocolate eggs) and decided that a visit to the charity books shops was in order. The objective was to pick up suitable books for Gareth (our son), Beckie (his fianceé), Holly (our daughter) and Mark (her boyfriend) who would all be visiting some time over the Easter weekend.

While I was browsing the shelves in WHSmiths, I picked up two magazines - the first was this months issue of Wargames Illustrated, I was particularly impressed with the Paul Davies article on page 68, How to build an Early Irish Christian Church and would recommend the magazine just for this one article! I can see the techniques being used in other building projects and I may even reproduce the stone church myself. Although I would use DAS modelling clay rather than filler.

The same issue also has the Grand Manner advert (page 58) which has already been commented on. Issue 270 is very well filled with articles and illustrations, more so than in previous issues, it ready is becoming a very well produced magazine, one that I enjoy looking at the pictures as much as reading the text - well done. I think the term 'Eye-Candy' (in a positive way) describes this particular magazine very well.

The details are; Wargames Illustrated, issue 270 - April 2010 with a cover price of £4.00.

The second purchase was the March issue of Military Modelling which I picked up for the fantastic article by Emmanual Nouaillier on painting advertising posters. I have commented on Emmanuel's work in previous posts, but this article, where he reproduces a Dubonnet poster with paint, is without doubt a fantastic piece of modelling and painting. If you have not seen this mans work before - please check it out, you will not be disappointed.

Other articles of note are; Panther in the Mud by Steve Zaloga, this author never fails to entertain and inform. I always look forward to reading his modelling articles. A second article by Chris Meddings called Ringer - the story of a Dieppe Churchill tank is also worth checking out. I am not necessarily a great fan of MM and rarely pick up every issue, however this one is well worth the £3.95 cover price.

Back to searching the charity shops and Sue had found a whole host of second-hand modelling and reference books and pamphlets in the Oxfam Book Store. The first is this reference and modelling book (a card cut-out and glue book) called The Merchant's House, Bromsgrove. The book features the very first building that was reconstructed on the Avoncroft Museum site, Bromsgrove. The model in the books looks to be 20mm/25mm scale, but with a little bit of work or re-scaling could be used as the basis of a 28mm historical reproduction. With so many on-going modelling projects on the go at this time, I would expect this to take a 'back seat'. But it would make a fantastic wargaming model. For more details of Avoncroft Museum check out;

http://www.avoncroft.org.uk/

My second bargain was this card-backed brochure of the Weald and Downlands Open Air Museum by R. Harris (who has also produced a fantastic reference work entitled Discovering Timber-Framed Buildings, which I regularly use for reference). The booklet covers a number of the museum exhibits with black & white photos and illustrations of the buildings that have been saved.

Finally (while Sue was still shopping) I took the opportunity to photograph some of the timber-framed building in Worcester City Centre, here are just a few of the photos that give a feel for what to expect if you do the same.

And the reason for these photos, I've been working on a group of generic and interchangeable Early Medieval Buildings (Town Buildings) in 28mm scale for Grand Manner, the plan is to have a selection of buildings with separate ground floor, first floor and roof sections that can be built in different configurations with the option of sections turned 180 degrees to give different frontages. Here is a Work-in-Progress shot of the first releases, all buildings feature internal detail with optional chimney & dormer windows.

"Of special interest is the way that the 'real' building are not 'square', there are some very obvious curves and wavy timbers, while the model buildings (due to the fact that they are interchangeable) are all 'clean and square'. Ideally I would have loved to have some seriously bendy buildings, but this will have to wait for single or signature models which will hopefully follow."

I am currently working on a couple of supplementary buildings, 'in-fill buildings' that can be used to offer variety to the street front. I would expect full details to be available very soon.

Back to the books, we did manage to pick up a book each for Gary, Beckie, Holly and Mark, (plus chocolate Easter eggs). But I came back with the best Easter presents - two magazines and two great reference books!

Happy Easter.

Tony