The-shed-at-the-bottom-of-the-garden

The plan was simple. Sue and I were going to drive to St. Johns, Worcester and have a snack lunch and short walk before coming home to watch the football. On the way into Worcester we passed Shed-r-Us the wooden out-house manufacturer of my shed at the bottom of the garden. 

"I'll just check if they have any spare panels and how much they cost?"

Five hours later and I've stripped the shed - there was some rot at the very back of the shed - the area where it fits into the corner of the garden, cut out the rot and fitted these new panels and uprights.  Total cost £16.00, but our day out has been cancelled and now I am looking forward to a relaxing bath to ease my aching back!

I cut out the rotten panels and both screwed and glued 2inch x 2inch wooden battens to the base and uprights. I then cut the lapboard planks and nailed them in place.  I should paint them with preservative, but I can't face that job right now.

Here is a close up of the repairs. As you can see there is some minor damage to the floor, but I am hoping that once it is painted it will last for another 13 years. Yes the shed/summerhouse has been in place for over 13 years. it was bought for me by my Wife and children for my 40th birthday.

Here is an image of the painting station to the front of the shed. Usually it is much more cluttered!

Normal service will be resumed shortly.

Tony

Blog response to Jameson Caine aka Shadow

Anyone else seen this YouTube Video?

I thought I would have a bit of fun and not being video enabled, I will have to do it the old fashioned way.

Question One;
How did you get started in the hobby?
I can never remember a time when I was not involved. My father, Uncle and Grandfather made models and there was always the smell of balsawood glue or plastic solvent in the house. Seriously, I can remember my father building balsawood models when I was younger than 10 and my Grandfather having a huge model railway set in his spare bedroom, then there is my Uncle John who still collects models and who used to build 1/72nd scale American Jets. He was so cool to a young teenager and used to lend me all his model books and magazines.

Question Two;
Gamer or Hobbyist?
Definitely a hobbyist. No question. No doubt - not even a little bit. Actually 5% Gamer vs. 95% Hobbyist.

Question Three;
My first model, assembled and painted?
I am sure there are earlier ones but three stand out. A whole box of early Airfix Sherman tanks and American half-tracks, painted green with badly applied transfers. Then a Revel 1/32nd scale Junkers Ju87 Stuka with a red and white snake down the side. Oh boy do I crave rebuilding this monster again. Finally a 54mm scale Airfix Highlander with intricate Black Watch tartan painted with Humbrol enamels.

Question Four;
My favourite paint?
As with question two - there is no hesitation it has to be Snakebite Leather from Games Workshop. I go through loads of this particular colour.

Question Five;
Rate myself as a painter 1 - to - 10.
I rate myself around 6 or 7, I know that I should be better, but I just love to paint and rush through this part of the hobby a little quickly.

Question Six;
My goals as a painter?
To get through my lead mountain. I have loads of unpainted models and just want to get them painted. I am attempting to achieve this with The Pledge, my goal to paint ten groups or regiments of miniatures before the end of the year.

Question Seven;
What does my Wife think of my hobby?
Hold on I'll ask.  Direct quote; "It's a nice relaxing and interesting hobby."

Question Eight;
Have I ever been ridiculed (with relation to the hobby)?
No. I think it is all about having the confidence to explain it properly.

Question Nine;
Have I ever thought about giving up the hobby?
Hell No.

Question Ten;
Is there a cuter gamer than Joey Warhammer?
Get a life! Seriously, what a stupid question and you were going so well up to then.

There you go. I hope that someone reads this and thinks that it is interesting - and sorry it's not a video response. Maybe one day.

Tony

2o Bellalugosi Line - Ribbit!

The Pledge part four. The nine AA Todoroni and one small GW frog have been undercoated Black. I have used a cheap (£1.00 a can) spray paint to cover most of the model, then touched up any bits I have missed with Chaos Black and a large paintbrush.  On this occasion, it might be that my eyesight is getting worse, I found it difficult to pick out the details on the models and have wet-brushed (like dry-brushed, but with more paint on the bristles) the figures with dark grey, concentrating on the heads and headgear, the shoulders and the main body. I think the photos show this better than words.

Photo One - The Command Group.

Photo two - The main troopers, well a small selection at least.

Photo Three - One trooper and Kermit. I think the dark grey (wet-brushed) undercoat shows up best on this image.

The big question on everyone's lips is "what colour is he going to paint the flesh?" The obvious is (Kermit) Green, but there are other options; Toad Brown, Royal Blue, Bright Yellow or even Orange!

Time to do some research and where better than with that Todaroni expert and Top-Toad Roberto Aldemano. In 60 Bloody Rounds, issue No. 2 from Summer 2008 there is a definitive paper written by Roberto called The Colours of Valon, Painting the Todoroni of Nepolise*. Toads that have Green skin and Yellow eyes.

For further information and some fantastic images of Roberto's Toad army check out this YouTube Showcase video It really is quite a treat and should inspire all of us to start collecting these fantastic Alternative Armies Todoroni.

So what colour will I paint my Toads? Sorry, you will have to wait until part five.

Tony

* I am not sure if this magazine is still available. It does not appear here.

2o Bellalugosi Line - Croak!

The nine Todaroni from Alternative Armies are now based. I have used my usual 2p coins and built up the groundwork with standard Milliput. The bases have been further detailed with some sieved stones and fine sand which was laid over uPVA glue.

I have already commented that the miniatures needed very little tidying up, however (just because I like customising my figures) I have added Greenstuff buttons to each of the cuffs and some more to the uniform turnbacks. These were modelled with small beads of Greenstuff applied over a spot of superglue.

Photo One - Shows the main Todaroni troopers, based and ready to be undercoated.

Photo Two - The two command figures and a trooper, remember that the 'singer' was not included with this particular 'second-hand' set. (See earlier post).

Photo Three - There has been some comment on The Notables Yahoo Site about the fact that without the singer, "how could you keep up the morale of these troops?"  The answer is that this particular regiment has gone back to the 'gene pool' and enlisted the help of this young 'Kermit' a soprano.  Although very new to regimental life, Kermit is proving a winner with his colleagues and we have great hopes for him.

The frog model is from the Games Workshop Morgan Lefay Enchantress set (the one where she is sitting on a Unicorn) and in this instance is mounted on to a 1p coin as the 2p would have been a little large for this small single figure. The groundwork is once again built up with Milliput and detailed with sieved stones and sand.

In the next post, I will gives details of the undercoating and then the painting, proper. Stay tuned for more 'froggy goodies' and as usual, should you want to see larger images, just 'click' on them.

Tony

Ekranoplans by Ken Duffy

This week The Aircraft Resource Centre (ARC) have a short article on modelling 1/144 scale Ekranoplans. for full details go to this web page and check out Thursday June 7th 2012. The article shows three Ekranoplans and 14M1P, a hybrid.

These Caspian Sea Monsters have always fascinated me, being a cross between a flying boat and a hovercraft. Check them out for a great read.

This particular image was take at Telford, The IPMS Scale Model World last year and shows the Alekseyev KM Ecranoplan.

Tony

A Single Elf Grenadier

Earlier this month I was chatting to a work colleague about the modelling projects I was working on and we got to compare miniature manufacturers. After a couple of minutes I started to speak about my Flintloque collection and Mike said that he had a couple of sets in the attic - some French!  The next day he brought in a box containing a full set of based and painted 1er Velite Grenadiers (5103).

I don't own that many Ferach (as regular readers will know) but I do have this single figure from the very same set. picked up second-hand some years ago. The figure is not totally unique, but does have some interesting features worth pointing out;

I tend to paint my Armorica Elves in a very pale skin colour with black hair and this is one of my more extreme painted Elves. Secondly the figure is based with DAS modelling clay as at the time I didn't have any Milliput to hand. The base has stood up well during this time and shows no signs of wear or damage.

With hindsight, I think the blue of the uniform is too light, too much Royal Blue rather than Dark Blue and the Red looks a little washed-out. Maybe one day I will get around to buying and painting a set of 1er Velite Grenadiers it will give me a set of Ferach to set my Orcs and Dwarves against!

Tony

Droitwich Spa Model Boat Club

Over the Queens Diamond Jubilee weekend I spent the day walking around Droitwich Spa town centre. The Vines Park Canal Trust were holding a small festival and the Droitwich Spa Model Boat Club were exhibiting a wide range of beautifully made model boats. Here are some of the photos.

I hope you like them.

Tony