110 - All Quiet on the Cadian Front

Well it's been a quiet few weeks for me hobby wise. I've managed to get nothing started, continued or finished. This was mainly due to a football related injury which led to a couple of trips to A&E, an x ray and a CT scan. I am now getting back to normal which is good.

While not getting anything done when it comes to my own models, I did invest in the Curious Constructs kickstarter which greatly exceeded its target so well done to Rob and those that backed him.

I also invested in the Secret Weapon Miniatures tablescapes project, which again destroyed its target. I was a little disappointed that they trenchworks board wasn't unlocked, but as I'm only after a display board that wasn't too bad.

I'm not expecting to get much done in the next week, but hope to be cracking on with things sooner rather than later.

Thanks for reading this blob of text, and happy painting!

109 - Curious Constructs

Time for a shameless plug.

For those of you that follow Col. Gravis, you will hopefully have already seen his Kickstarter project.

For those of you who don't or who have missed it, take a look here.

I've not been asked to post this, and am purely doing it to add more support for the project.

Cheers.

108 - Shiny!

As mentioned in the last post I ordered some display stands from eBay, and they turned up today (well they turned up yesterday but I wasn't in). A short trip to the post office later and voila!

After a few minutes of messing around, and not much effort, you can see my Crimson Fist marines (currently in their black and silver camo) nicely displayed. The steps are deep enough to fit a Guard heavy weapon team on and as you can see tall enough for the lower models not to obscure the rest.

I've got another two of these stands, which I'll be using on the same shelf and getting some more infantry on. So far I would definitely recommend these stands, they seem solid enough. The photo was taken with no flash, no room light and with the just the natural daylight on an overcast day in Stoke.

Thanks for reading, hope this is useful.

Let the Airbrushing Begin!!!

At the moment, it seems like every time I think I have a bit of spare time, something else needs to be done. Currently, that something else is furniture and specifically IKEA (the continuing bane of my existence) furniture.

Nevertheless, I have persevered through this flat packed hell, and can finally say that I have done something hobby related. And that hobby related thing has involved no painting or building. Now I can hear people wondering what I could have done, so let me divulge.

I have purchased a very nice and shiny airbrush and compressor! With today being my day off, I hopped in the car and drove to my FLGS, about 10 minutes down the road. Had I not been buying the airbrush I would have walked as normal.

The shop itself is Affinity Models, and is run by a very helpful guy. He's always willing to help out and will offer advice, even if it means he loses out on the sale of a product. Sounds weird, but at the end of the day we're all trying to help each other.

I've been in before to ask about airbrushes, but now was the time to take the plunge. So I took my wallet out and bought the following little lot:

And here are the specifics: Neo for Iwata airbrush, Badger BA1100 compressor with tank, air hose, Medea airbrush cleaner, Vallejo airbrush thinner, Vallejo grey primer and a couple of pipettes. It's safe to say I am now a very happy person, and will be trying this out asap.

I have managed to tidy the man cave a bit more in the past month. It seems to get tidy, become a mess and then have to be tidied all over again. Here are some pics showing how far I've got.

These are on one set of shelves. I will be adding my Guard infantry to this shelf, but I'm waiting for some acrylic steps that I bought off eBay to arrive, which can be seen here.

I have always been a LEGO fan, and have started to build up my collection after I sold most of it when I became a teenager. The urge and enjoyment has returned now I'm in my 20s. As you can see there are quite a few kits, which are on a different shelf unit to the Warhammer.

I've also got a glass display case, where the larger models are going to live. Here you can see my Valkyrie and super heavies, plus the command Leman Russ.

Finally I'll leave you with a couple of photos of my desk, just to give you an idea of the fallout zone I'm writing this in. Thanks for reading.

New Digs

It's been just over a month since we moved house, and to be honest this is the first chance I've had when I can sit down and just relax and get back to normal a little bit (well as normal as possible anyway)

The house move went well. Both sets of parents were very helpful and things went smoothly with no arguments. As you can imagine the pas month has been spent unpacking the boxes and trying to make our house a home again.

Naturally, there hasn't been much, if any, time for hobbying, and I've just about managed a couple of hours on the PS3. But do not be downhearted, as I have received an upgrade to my man cave, several upgrades actually. Read on for more info....

And here is an upgrade! I got myself a new desk! And by new, I of course mean second hand off eBay. This wonderful item from Ikea cost me the grand total of £20 on eBay, and I had the fun of putting it together without any instructions. It is now in use and in need of some tidying already.

The second and larger upgrade is the room itself. My man cave used to be the smallest bedroom in the house, which was roughly 2m x 2.7m. Now I am in the middle sized bedroom, which is more like 3m x 3.2m. The extra space means more display shelves, which I haven't bought yet

Obviously I hope to get around to some hobbying soon, but I have been tasked with unpacking more boxes first. So I shall leave you with some pictures of my task to come. Thanks for reading.

 

Boxes, Boxes, Everywhere!

Well the new year has been going for a few weeks, and I have managed absolutely nothing hobby wise! Other than having to pack everything into boxes. Yep, myself and my wife are in the process of moving house, the first one that we will have actually owned!

So as you can imagine, my time is taken up with trying to sort out everything, chuck away what isn't needed and carefully dismantle and pack the other things. And wow there are a lot of other things.

Because of our impending move (the 29th January), I don't know when I will be able to do any more hobby related activities, or even get on the internet. Hopefully things shouldn't take too long - though my internet is provided by Sky, so we'll see what happens.

In the meantime, I figured I'd give an explanation and provide some photos of the impending move.

This is just a small selection of the stuff waiting to be moved and obviously some is still needing to be packed away. There is another room that is about as full as the first picture.

Thanks for reading, and I hope to be back up and blogging soon!

Collaborations and Christmas

I've been a bit quiet on the blogging front of late. I have actually been painting and modelling so that's a bonus.

A while ago, Zzzzzz from Devos IV and myself started talking after he had been kind enough to grab one of the GamesDay limited edition models for me. He made the request for a liaison team to be transferred from the 127th to 72 Army Group, currently engaged on operations against rebellious forces on Devos IV. After some deliberating and clarification amongst some of the 127th more inept officers (ie: me!), the request was granted on the condition that a liaison squad would also be despatched from Devos IV to the current classified location of the 127th.

With the request granted and the details ironed out, command squad 1-0-1 from Platoon 1 of the 127th and 2 vehicles are currently being prepped and outfitted for their journey to Devos IV.

Due to logistical problems (as in I haven't finished them yet), the infantry are unable to have their pict taken. However the vehicles are currently undergoing final fittings before their field trials.

This is a lightweight Viper Armoured Reconnaissance Vehicle, fully assembled and with its camouflage scheme applied. Vipers are designed to be durable and fast, so that if 2 man crew do encounter enemy forces, they are able to disengage and fall back quickly.

The Viper has yet to be provided with any armament, and this will be fitted once the vehicle has been field tested. Standard weaponry tends to be a single mounted heavy stubber or similar weapon, fixed to the roof behind the crew compartment.

The second vehicle that will be despatched is a larger Warthog Armoured Scout Vehicle. Although larger, the Warthog is equipped with a similar level of armour protection, but still has the speed to disengage if required.

Where the two differ is in armament. The Warthog is normally outfitted with two sets of twin linked plasma guns or similar, providing it with an excellent amount of stopping power.

Currently the estimated completion date for the training of the liaison team is early next month, and will hopefully be in transit soon after.

Thanks for reading through this everyone, and I'll take this chance to wish everyone a merry Christmas and a happy New Year! Have fun people!