31 High Street, Droitwich

31 High Street, Droitwich, Worcestershire

These are some inspirational images of 31 High Street or 'Stephens', Droitwich Spa - a building restoration that is truly spectacular. You can find additional details (and images) by following this Blog.

I look forward to the building being opened to the public when I can get some additional images.

Tony

My latest charity shop find

I picked this book up at The Severn Valley Railway charity shop at Bewdley Railway Station for just £1.00. The series of guides by Wild Swan is well known to me but I was not familiar with this particular publication even though it was first published in 1983!

I look forward to reading through the techniques over the next couple of days.

Architectural Modelling in 4mm scale by Dave Rowe
Published by Wild Swan Publications Ltd in 1983
70 pages with lots of black and white images and illustrations
List price £3.95
ISBN - 0 906867 12 6

Tony

Wargames Terrain & Buildings - The Napoleonic Wars by Tony Harwood

Wargames Terrain & Buildings - The Napoleonic Wars written by me is available to order from Pen & Sword. For full details see this link.

Wargames Terrain & Buildings - The Napoleonic Wars by Tony Harwood
Published by Pen & Sword
List price £14.99/$24.95 
160 pages with nine complete start-to-finish modelling and painting projects (see contents below)
246 mm x 171 mm
Illustrated throughout with full colour images
ISBN 9781526716392

PLEASE NOTE - the book is not available from me but through Pen & Sword (or via other book sellers).

See these reviews;
A Question of Scale which can be found via this link.
Wargames News and Terrain see this link.
Wargames and Railroads - for more information see this link.
Robin Buckland's Military Model Scene see this link.
The Old Barbed Wire Blog see this link.
Wargames Illustrated - a full review can be found here.
Plus a You Tube version can be found here.
Wargames Illustrated (a second review) - see this link.
Miniature Wargaming see this Blog entry - link.
Iron Mammoth' Studio - a more thoughtful review can be found here.
The Chauvinistic Blog - see the full review here.
This time a French Language Blog Review from Waterloo Miniature See this link.
Colonel Mustard Blog see this link.
Vintage-Airfix - see this review.
A Spanish language review from Miniaturas JM - see this link
The Miniatures Page - see this link
Meeples and Miniatures Podcast - see this link
Vintage Airfix - a short review but worthwhile including, see this link
ARRSE (Army Rumour Service) - an interesting review suggesting that the techniques in the book would be appropriate for 'other scales'. For full details see this link.

Tony

Wargames Terrain Magazine?

I saw this link while browsing the Internet and was wondering if anyone knew any more about this project.

Tony

Wargames Terrain & Buildings - The Napoleonic Wars another review

Another review of Wargames Terrain & Buildings - The Napoleonic Wars written by me. This time a book review written by Kris of Wargames and Railroads. For more details see this post.

For details of how to order a copy from Pen & Sword, please see this link.

Earlier reviews can be found here and here.

Thank you.

Tony

Satyr for 40mm Greek project - part six

This latest image shows the C. P. Models 28mm Satyr alongside a Spartan Miniatures 40mm figure. I had always thought of Pan as a smaller character almost child-like and am pleased with the comparison.

This stalled project could do with some additional work!

Tony

Harvington Hall, Kidderminster, Worcestershire

Sue and I visited Harvington Hall, near Kidderminster and had a guided tour of this interesting moated manor house.

It was the first time we had taken this trip and we thoroughly enjoyed the house and its story particularly the numerous hidden Priest Holes. Here are some images taken on the day. For more information, please see this link.

Tony

Satyr for 40mm Greek project - part five

Moving along quite a bit from the last post - here we have the finished Satyr model.

I painted the miniature with various acrylic paints before adding the shield and varnishing the figure with both gloss and matt varnish.

The base was finished with some self adhesive static grass tufts.

Tony

The Battle of Waterloo - a talk by Tim Burgin

Last night I attended a lecture hosted by the Chaddesley Corbett History Society entitled The Battle of Waterloo presented by Tim Burgin a member of the Waterloo Association. The talk which lasted about 2 hours followed a timeline which started on late Saturday 17th June, through the events of the 18th of June and touched on some of the repercussions of this historical battle.

Tim used a mixture of reproduction firearms, models and actual shot from the battle interspersed with framed and limited edition prints and maps to illustrate the key actions of the day hour-by-hour. But it was the informal and humorous manner in which Tim interacted with the audience that was the highlight for me and the two hour talk fizzed along at breakneck pace.

Later there was a question and answer session which highlighted Tim's expert knowledge of his subject. I would thoroughly recommend searching out similar talks and making the time to attend one of these events.

Arriving back home I was impressed by how much new knowledge Tim had passed on to me in a short and joke filled presentation - very well done and thank you.

Tony

I have added links to the Waterloo Association which you can find here and details of the talk as presented by the Chaddesley Corbett History Society.

Tim Burgin is a member of the Waterloo Association. Tim uses prints, books, replica weapons and models as this talk follows the culmination of the "100 Days" following Napoleon's escape from Elba and one of the most famous battles in history, the Battle of Waterloo. The talk is entertaining, Tim looks at the event from the point of view of the people who took part and the things they saw and did. Please note that this tale is fairly bloodthirsty, it is about a battle! It was fought on Sunday, 18 June 1815, in contrast to our recent commemoration of WW1 that took 4 years to fight out. All over the country this battle was celebrated with Waterloo Bridges, streets, towers and of course the world famous station in London, it is one of the UK’s historical events that everyone knows about, but no one can tell you about. At the time it must have been on everyone’s lips. A great victory. Victor Hugo used situations from Waterloo in Les Misérables. While discovering a famous story, we can fill in the gaps in our knowledge.

For Sale on Ebay - rare More Wargame Terrain (the last copy!)

I have just one copy of this rare and long out-of-production book for sale on ebay. For details see this link.

In addition there are a few additional items which will end this weekend.

Thank you for looking.

Tony

Wargames Terrain & Buildings - The Napoleonic Wars another review

I have received notification of another review for Wargames Terrain & Buildings - The Napoleonic Wars a book written by me and available via Pen & Sword.

For details of the review written for Wargames News and Terrain see this link.

There is an earlier review written by A Question of Scale which can be found via this link.

If you are interested in buying a copy please go to this link. Please note; the book is NOT AVAILABLE via me. However copies of Dampfpanzerwagon Guide No. 3 - Models For Wargamers is still available from me via this link.

Finally, should you know of any other reviews, please comment on the Blog, so I can link to them.

Thank you.

Tony

Satyr for 40mm Greek project - part four

This single figure project is moving along quite slowly. The flesh areas were built up over a light brown/leather brown base highlighted with flesh and white. I have 'washed' the painted area with some GW flesh wash (the blue topped pot) before taking this photo.

Tony

Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy issue 102 - Modelling a Boer War British Blockhouse in 28mm scale

The latest issue of Wargames Soldiers & Strategy - issue 102 (June/July 2019) features an article written by me on how I built a Boer War Blockhouse. The two page tutorial shows how I scratch built 28mm scale corrugated sheeting from aluminium foil, food containers and modelled the rough stone battlements.

For further details on this magazine see this link.

Tony

Satyr for 40mm Greek project - part three

I have undercoated the miniature with a black/dark brown basecoat. Hopefully, I can get this single miniature painted quickly.

Tony

Man of La Mancha at the London Coliseum

Sue and I have just returned from a couple of days in London where amongst other things we went to see Man of La Mancha - the musical based on the book Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes performed at The London Coliseum.

I had wanted to see this musical for some time and commenting on this, Sue bought two tickets to see this limited-time production as my birthday present back in March. I was looking forward to seeing the performance and have to say that I was not disappointed. It really is a fantastic musical and a great production.

We arrived a little earlier than recommended and had time to explore the Coliseum - a very impressive theatre with some exceptionally intricate decoration as well as have a pre-show drink.

The show moves along quickly and it was soon time to leave. On the way back to the hotel, Sue and I discussed how the performance and the songs were both funny and moving. I thought Kelsey Grammer's performance as an actor was better than his singing voice but the supporting cast was superb and I have no hesitation in recommending it. But don't wait around for too long as the run is only 6 weeks.

For more details see this link.

Tony

Satyr for 40mm Greek project - part two

The Satyr miniature has been glued to a 2p coin with the groundwork built up from Milliput. I have textured the base with some fine sand glued in place with dilute PVA glue.

Tony

A Satyr for my 40mm Greek project

I spotted this 28mm scale miniature on the Internet and thought he would be perfect as a Satyr for my 40mm scale Typhon or Greek project. Most of the miniatures in my collection are old and now out-of-production 40mm sculpts from Spartan Miniatures and I have been looking to add to them for some time.

I wanted a smaller figure or miniature to portray a Pan-like character and this figure looked perfect. I purchased him from C P Models for £2.25.

I look forward to basing and painting him.

Tony

Wargames Terrain & Buildings - The Napoleonic Wars the first review

I recently spotted this review of the new Pen & Sword book Wargames Terrain & Buildings - The Napoleonic Wars written by me and thought it was worth highlighting here on the Blog.

Seb has detailed a number of comments and I will be working on his constructive suggestions in future posts and books. Thank you Seb.

For details of the review please see this link.

For details of how to order your own copy please see this link.

Tony