Category: Musings

Welcome to this weeks Miniatures & Musings!

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TIM’s Mid Week Miniature

The observant amongst you will notice that this week there is no new miniature!  The reason for that is this week I am mainly concentrating on a review of the year that was 2019.  Next weeks Minatures and Musings will concentrate on plans for 2020 so it’s likely that I wont have a miniature to share with you that week either.  Devastated as I am sure you are by this news I have a feeling you will be able to cope!

What I do have to kick off with and so as not to leave you with no pictures whatsoever, are my favourite model posts of 2019.  These are simply the models which, for one reason or another, gave me the most pleasure during the course of the year.  In month order we have …

February – Mad Jack the Lighthouse Keeper

https://theimperfectmodeller.wordpress.com/2019/02/16/mad-jack-the-lighthouse-keeper-28mm-artizan-azazels-february-challenge/

April – Wasp Apocalypse: “Get Out of My Room!”

https://theimperfectmodeller.wordpress.com/2019/04/27/wasp-apocalypse-get-out-of-my-room-a-28mm-diorama/

June – The Wizard Library

https://theimperfectmodeller.wordpress.com/2019/06/01/the-wizard-library-28mm-box-diorama-part-3-final/

September – “Easy Boy!”

https://theimperfectmodeller.wordpress.com/2019/09/28/easy-boy-54mm-cowboy-circa-1865/

September – Apocalypse: “What the F**k Was That!”

https://theimperfectmodeller.wordpress.com/2019/09/07/apocalypse-what-the-fk-was-that-september-challenge-a-28mm-diorama/

November – Tom Goldentome

https://theimperfectmodeller.wordpress.com/2019/11/16/tom-goldentome-a-28mm-reaper-figure/

November – The Dragon Master

https://theimperfectmodeller.wordpress.com/2019/11/23/the-dragon-master-a-28mm-diorama/

December – The Old Fiddler

https://theimperfectmodeller.wordpress.com/2019/12/21/the-old-fiddler/

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Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics

I thought I would begin my review by taking a brief look at my WordPress statistics now that 2019 has come to end.  I don’t put to much store by these if I am being honest but as things stand my “Views” are down on last year despite the number of “Visitors” and “Likes” having increased and my “Comments” have taken a dip as well.  So what can be determined from this data?  Fucked if I know.  Make of it what you will.  In the meanwhile I will continue to envy the number of followers and views many of you get.

What has been encouraging is that my number of “Followers”, including those that follow by email, has increased to 99.  For a couple of days it stood at 100 but then someone decided to stop following me (hard to blame them) and I fell back to 99.  I have to say it’s nice having WordPress followers.  Even though I know very little if anything about most of you the concept of following is a pleasing one.  By contrast when you follow someone going for a walk in the park who you don’t know that well either it’s called stalking and is deemed a criminal offence.  It’s a complicated world to understand at times.

The one thing that does give me a buzz is seeing where in the world people have viewed my blog.  As things currently stand my blog has been seen in 65 countries and in 6 of the 7 continents and this I do find amazing.  Whilst I’m sure a great number of people have logged in by mistake it does excite me to think that something I can write in a house in a tiny little village in Devon can be viewed pretty much anywhere in the world.

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Modelling Matters.

The Plymouth Modelling Club continued to be enjoyable throughout 2019.  It can at times be a little frustrating due to most members being fixated on all things World War 2 but I guess that’s just the way it is.  To be fair to the guys (notice I said guys, for some reason the club has been unable to attract any hot women but I am hopeful this will change in 2020!) they produce some great stuff but try as I might most are reluctant to deviate from their comfort zone.  That said some progress has been made and a couple of the guys have successfully branched out into other genres.  Long may it continue.  In fairness it is each to their own and I would never tell anyone what they should or should not do but for me variety is key along with trying out new things along the way, something I will aim to continue in 2020.

As part of the club I attended a few shows last year.  More than the year before but not as many as I had hoped.  Not all of the shows the club goes to have competitions but I do like participating in those when they have them.  It’s not everyone’s cup of tea I know but personally I like the idea of bench marking my work even though I know some of the best modellers don’t chose to enter.  Still, you can only compete against those that enter and my limited success has enabled me to consider myself a “modeller”, something I would never have deemed to call myself a year or two ago.

Sticking with the show theme last year provided two huge highlights.  The first was in April when for the first time I went to “Salute” at the Excel Center in London.  A fantastic show and an opportunity to buy some very nice bits and pieces.  I also got to meet Alex of Leadbaloony blog fame and hopefully I will get to say “hi” this year too as I aim to go to the 2020 event in a few months time.  The other highlight was attending “IPMS Scale Model World” at Telford in November.  It is a fantastic event and my second only visit.  Success in the competition was an obvious highlight given the standard of models on display and I am gearing myself up for this years event.  Win or lose it will be another great event for sure.

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Figures and Dioramas

I had a couple of lost mojo moments during the year but nothing major and as a consequence I managed to get a lot of enjoyable stuff done.  Models included figures for selling on Ebay and personal bits and bobs including pieces I hoped would go down well as competition entries.  Needless to say some things turned out better than expected whilst others proved a disappointment.  Sometimes, despite my best efforts, I just cannot translate the ideas in my head into the model I am trying to create.

Ebay remains hit and miss but continues to pay for all things relating to my hobby so I have no grounds for complaint.  It’s fun and I still get a buzz for everyone I sell.  Knowing someone likes what I have done and is willing to part with their hard earnt cash is very flattering and continues ro make me chuffed.

So there you have it, a brief review of TIM’s year that was 2019.  Next week I will provide an insight to what I hope to achieve throughout 2020.

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Well It Made Me Laugh …

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This week TIM has been listening to …

David Bowie and “Suffragette City” from the Ziggy Stardust album.

Simply the best.

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This week TIM has been watching …

His dark Materials.  An 8 part TVseries which was being shown before Christmas but which I have only just started watching.  Two episodes in and very much enjoying it.

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Remember …

Never take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

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Until next time.

TIM

“HAPPY NEW YEAR” and welcome to my first Miniatures & Musings post of 2020!  I hope you all had an enjoyable time but more on Christmas, the year that was 2019 and the year that will be 2020 later.

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TIM’s Mid Week Miniature 

I got very little done over the festive period due partly to obvious distractions and partly because I lost my mojo for a short while.  With family staying over, not feeling 100% and generally knackered I couldn’t be arsed to lift a brush.  The good news is my mojo is now back but the bad news is I need to get my finger out if I am to have more to post in the weeks ahead.

My offering for this week is a figure I painted once before for a small vignette.  This time I painted it as a stand alone.  IT is a Hasslefree figure which goes by the name of “Katie”.   She’s a tough little school girl with a lot of attitude.

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Christmas and New Year

Well both Christmas and the New Year have come and gone once again and now it is time to slip back into my familiar routine of mòdelling, blogging and, as befits my age, moaning!  Quite simply I have reached the age where I like some sort of routine.  Sad but true.

Christmas was fine but predictable.  I knew what presents I was getting because I bought them myself.  My family can be relied on to either not bother or buy complete shit so it is by far and away the best option.  I’m sure I am not alone in adopting this approach.  Annoyingly an expensive kit I ordered had a missing part which pissed me off to say the least and so now the back and forth emails begin to resolve the matter.  I sense Milliput will end up providing the answer but I live in hope.

The festive television was crap as usual but a few old films I hadn’t seen in a long while and don’t have the DVD’s of were fun to watch once again.  I suspect I will watch them again next year too!  On a more positive note I did manage to achieve my long held ambition of getting all the letters to spell out FUCK on the Scrabble board.  Unfortunatley this pissed off She Who Must Be Obeyed.  I’m still not sure if this was because my mum and dad were playing as well or if it was becasue I scored 39 points thanks to a triple word score.  In any event it remains my personal highlight.

New Years Eve proved most enjoyable.  The new owners at the Blacksmiths Arms decided to hire a band for the evening so a dozen of us got together for a meal there first and then settled down to drinking the night away.  The place was heaving and the band were excellent but the service was slow.  Well that was the excuse I gave my daughter who waitresses there for why I didn’t give her a tip.  When she leaves school and gets a real job she will encounter all kinds of people.  I figure she should come to terms with miserable bastards like me sooner rather than later.

Finally, on the subject of Christmas presents can I remind all of you that I gave books to that they are due back at the library on the 13th January!

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The Year That Was and The Year That Will Be

It had been my intention to do a little summary of 2019 and a brief look ahead to 2020.  Unfortunatley time or a lack of it got the better of me so next week and/or the week after I will reflect on both.

I can however report two pieces of good news as we enter the new decade.

Firstly, it was rumoured that dirty Derek our village flasher was going to retire at the end of the year.  It turns out he has changed his mind and plans to stick it out for another year.  Well done Derek.

Secondly, as we all know Christmas is an expensive time of the year for us all but as luck would have it I have a meeting with my bank manager tomorrow and if all goes well I will be out of debt.  I’m so excited I can barely put my ski mask on.  Wish me luck!

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This week TIM has been watching …

The Wedding Singer.  One of the many old films to appear on TV over Christmas but one I hadn’t seen in a while.  Dated in terms of fashion but a few laughs along the way together with a decent sound track.

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This week TIM has been listening to …

“White Wedding” by Billy Idol.  Inspired by watching The Wedding Singer and his cameo appearance in the film.

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Remember …

Viagra wont make you James Bond but it will make you Roger Moore!

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Until next time.

TIM

Welcome to this weeks Miniatures & Musings!

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TIM’s Mid Week Miniature

This weeks figure is another Hasslefree miniature of a young lady who goes by the name of “Pulse”.

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No Interruptions!

One of the nice things about Christmas is it provides a certain amount of solitude which allows me to get some modelling done with fewer interruptions.  I find that if I shout out “You can’t come in!” the wife and kids think I am wrapping Christmas presents.

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New Year New Job?

It’s early days but I am thinking about going back to work.  For £100 an hour I will pose as a couples therapist and tell your spouse they are wrong about everything.  If you think you could benefit from this service please contact me via this blog.

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The Perfect Gift?

I asked She Who Must Be Obeyed if she had any idea what she might like for Christmas.  “Something Silk” she replied.  Knowing my luck I’m sure to have gotten the wrong colour!

 

 

 

 

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This week TIM has been watching …

The sharp eyed amoungst you may have noticed that I have reversed the order between “watching” and “listening” this week.  There is a reason for it.

This year Marks and Spencer produced a Christmas TV advert featuring the song “Jump Around” by the “House of Pain”.  It’s a catchy tune and therefore a catchy advert and it has had me and my kids performing the moves.  Badly in their case, expertly in mine!

I then pointed out to both of them that several years ago there was a TV advert using the same track involving Monks and church bells.  If I ever put together my top ten adverts this would be one.  Thanks to YouTube I was able to show them the advert.

The links to both are below.  I will leave you to decide which one you prefer.

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This week TIM has been listening to …

“Jump Around” by the House of Pain.

Needless to say following on from the above it was appropriate to listen to the official version.

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As next Wednesday is Christmas Day this will be my last mid-week post for 2019 (I aim to put up a final post for the year on Saturday).  Hopefully I will put a mid-week post up on New Years Day subject to how hung over I am from the night before.  In the meanwhile have a Merry Christmas one and all and a Happy New Year.

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Until next time.

TIM

Welcome to this weeks Miniatures & Musings!

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TIM’s Mid Week Miniature

The second of my two Hasslefree miniatures from the same SiFi genre.  Following on from Lt. Thoran we have “Cpt. Nee Sun”.  Nothing much else to say other than photo’s below.

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Questions Best Left Unanswered

The other day while I was modelling away my daughter asked me out or the blue – “Dad did you ever date anyone before you met mum?”.  Not having a clue where She Who must Be Obeyed might be lurking I took the unusually safe route for me and replied – “No sweet heart your mum was the only one for me” – and with that of she went.

I returned to my painting but was left considering my checkered past.  There had been a few flirtatious episodes way back when and one in particular was quite serious until I decided to rumage through her knicker drawer while she was having a shower.  To my surprise I found a nurses outfit, a French maids outfit and a police uniform.  Needless to say I drew the same conclussion any man in my position would.  If she can’t hold down a job then this relationship is going nowhere!

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Well It Made Me Laugh …

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This week TIM has been listening to …

The Pogues and “Fairytale Of New York”

With the lead up to Christmas I thought I would go with one of my favourite festive songs.  Maybe next week I will go with another one.

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This week TIM has been watching …

“Last Christmas” starring Emilia Clarke who is perhaps best well known for her role in Game of Thrones.

I always enjoy a trip to the cinema and it made a change to go with the two women in my life.  A nice little RomCom and one destined to be on the TV at Christmas for the next hundred years or so.

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Until next time.

TIM

Welcome to this weeks Miniatures & Musings!

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TIM’s Mid Week Miniature

This weeks 28mm figure is from Hasslefree Miniatures and goes by the name of “Lt. Thoran”.  Despite the fact I could have painted this pretty much how I wanted to I decided on a quick and rather dull grey.  In my mind it felt more like a realistic colour to go for and besides I have so much to do right now that it seemed the best option at the time.  That said it is a great little figure and one I will probably do again at some point and when I do I will go for a far more interesting finish.

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Steampunk

As mentioned above I have got a lot to do right now, not just from a modelling point of view but because of the time of the year as well.  Christmas is a time for giving as we all know and this year I decided to push the boat out and give more to myself!

Now I am not entirely sure where the inspiration came from, my guess would be from images found on the “Pinterest” site, but I have been bitten by the “Steampunk” bug.  This is very much a new genre for me but I love the Victorian era and a bit of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells’ “War of the Worlds” is right up my street.  Some further online searching threw up a variety of figures and images which got my juices flowing and I promptly ordered a number of “Reaper”, “Dark Sword” and “Twisted” miniatures.

I think the appeal is in the detail of the figures, so much to pick out and paint and complete freedom of colour choice too.  If I have a dilemma at all it will be how best to base them in terms of a setting.  A small base will be easier but a little diorama offers more of a challenge.  More research is needed I expect but no doubt I will get my head around it in due course.  For now the orders need to arrive and as the “Twisted” figures are coming all the way from Australia I wont be starting anything this side of Christmas I expect.

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Tea In Bed

Now if there is one thing She Who Must Be Obeyed is good at it is sleeping.  If it were an Olympic sport she could sleep for England and a Gold Medal would be as good as in the bag.  I am always the first up in the morning and come the weekend when our daughter, She Who Thinks She Should Be Obeyed Also, doesn’t have school to go to I will always go down stairs, let the dog out and bring SWMBO a nice cup of tea in bed.  Imagine my surprise therefore when Sunday just gone she was up earlier than me and brought me a cup of tea instead.

In an ideal world it would have been a moment to treasure but when she put the mug down on my bedside cupboard she caught my eye and winked.  Only a small thing I know but I’ve never been more scared of a drink in all my life!

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Well It Made Me Laugh …

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This week TIM has been listening to …

“Atomic” by Blondie.  Back in the day Debbie Harry was directly responsible for the huge increase in Kleenex sales to teenage boys.

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This week TIM has been watching …

“The Blues Brothers” starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd.  A classic movie with a great sound track.  Based on a true story!

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Until next time.

TIM

Welcome to this weeks Miniatures & Musings!

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TIM’s Mid Week Miniature

This week we have another Knuckleduster figure, Buffalo Bill Cody.

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Green Stuff World

This company make some great tools and various modelling bits and bobs and I have been pleased with things I have bought from them in the past.  Having said that I had pretty much forgotten about their site until I was prompted to take another look at it the other day.

I am keen to try and do a few things with clear resin and was trying to check out products along with how best to work with the stuff.  One internet search led to another and before I knew it I was on the Green Stuff World site.  Seems they do some interesting UV resin which dries within a few seconds using a torch and appears simple enough to use as it is a one part product and not a two part one which cures after 24 hours or more.

Long story short I checked out a few YouTube video’s and decide to take the plunge and buy various bits.  I am exited about using it but it will be a few weeks before the stuff arrives as it comes from Spain.  Once I get a chance to check it out and experiment with it I will let you know how it goes.

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You know when you are getting old when …

… you are lying in bed and the wife says “make me scream with one finger” and the best you can come up with is to to poke her in the eye!

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Well It Made Me Laugh …

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This week TIM has been listening to …

“Every 1’s A Winner” by Hot Chocolate.  Prompted by a TV advert I decided to get my Greatest Hits CD out and give it a dust and a play.  Glad I did, it made for a nice change of mood.

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This week TIM has been watching …

“Nowhere Boy”, a great little film about the early days of John Lennon.  Unrelated to the film “Backbeat” but a great prequel nonetheless.

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Until next time.

TIM

Welcome to this weeks Miniatures & Musings!

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TIM’s Mid Week Miniature

This week we have another Knuckleduster figure.  The range is being added to all the time but sadly at a rate I cannot keep up with.  Some of the latest figures are based on the spaghetti westerns with figures from the Clint Eastwood “Dollar” series and of course the “Good, The Bad and The Ugly”.  They also have figures from the film “Once Upon A Time In the West” starring Henry Fonda and Charles Bronson, possibly the best film of the genre.

The figure we have here is based on the character Ramon Rojo from the film “A Fist Full of Dollars”

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Telford 2019

It was my intention to post a load of photo’s of Telford but as expected a week on and there are plenty of YouTube and Facebook posts now out there.  The presentation of these is far better than I can deliver so if your interest extends beyond this post then just search under “IPMS Telford 2019” and a whole lot of goodies should come your way.

My personal favourite is linked below.  The guys voice is a little irritating but 1 minute and 35 seconds in and you’ll understand why!

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Telford 2020

Telford 2019 has been and gone and it has already hit me that I must plan for next year.  More than that I need to plan quickly for January 2020 and the Plymouth Club annual competition.  Having entered what I consider some of my best work into the Telford competition these models must now be retired leaving me … bugger all for January!  Quite how I am going to achieve this with so many others things going on right now I do not know but I will will revisit my retirement strategy to see what can be done!

The good news is I have identified figures/models for four of the six categories I am planning to enter and have an idea for the fifth.  As some of these will result in Christmas presents I am going to have to wait a little longer before I can get started.  It is too early to say for sure but I suspect these builds will be a key feature of my 2020 blog posts.

The good thing about next year is I will be able to look forward rather than backwards, something about 2020 vision!

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This Weeks Top Tip

Most women need a little reassurance so when she says “Oh, you want to see crazy?”  Reassure her that you do not!

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Well It Made Me Laugh …

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This week TIM has been listening to …

The Rolling Stones and Brown Sugar.  Hard to resist a bit of Mick and the boys.

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This week TIM has been watching …

“Taxi Driver” starring Robert De Niro.

A journey back in time when De Niro was cool and appeared in films like Godfather 2, Raging Bull, The Deer Hunter and Goodfellas.  Sadly now he’s just a Focker.

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Until next time.

TIM

Welcome to this weeks Miniatures & Musings!

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TIM’s Mid Week Miniature

This weeks miniature is a 28mm figure from Gripping Beast and goes by the title of Ragnar Lothbrok, King of Norway and Sweden.  I have done this figure a couple of times before but this time decided to do a winter version as the plan was to enter him at Telford.  One of the trophies up for grabs was from IPMS Norway for the best model with a Norwegian theme so I figured why not?

More on Telford below but in the meanwhile a few snaps of good old Ragnar.

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Telford

I had hoped to put out a “live” post over the weekend direct from the Telford show.  Those of you who are kind enough to follow this blog regularly, if for no other reason than you have nothing better to do, will know that I failed completely!

So why did you fail TIM?  Well for starters another one of the guys dropped out at the last minute which left me and another Plymouth Club member Tim (yes really his name is Tim), with more to do than we had bargained for.  No only did we have to pick up the surplus work of the third person between the two of us but we also felt it was incumbent upon us to drink for three people too.  Sadly that is where all plans to post to the blog largely went out of the window!

I am still in catch up mode following the weekend so next week I will try to put a post together with a few photos and hopefully some links to sites which will have far better images than I have.  Usually someone puts something up on YouTube and I am sure in a few days something will appear.  Not putting too many photos up on the blog will also save me from using up my WordPress storage allowance which would be drained considerably by hundreds of photographs.

So what can I tell you now?

Well, for those of you not in the know Telford is the UK National Modelling Show and proudly claims to be the biggest show of its kind anywhere in the world.  Is that true? Well in total there were 218 clubs present, 27 of which were from overseas and on top of that there were 168 Traders there too.  If it isn’t the biggest then it would take some beating I reckon.

For only two of us we put on a decent display in support of our club and attracted a nice load of comments and general interest.  The pair of us also managed to spend a small fortune but with a combination of Christmas coming up and the fact that neither of us gave a toss anyway meant this was not much of a problem.  Besides, we had already come with a few raffle tickets to explain to our other halves that we hadn’t actually bought anything, we just got lucky in the raffle!  How we expected to get away with that this year when we didn’t last time is anyone’s guess but women generally like a tryer so we were feeling confident.  One of the reasons I like figures rather than big kits is at least I can smuggle most of my purchases in doors in my pockets.

Now as some of you know I have taken to entering a few things in show competitions.  A degree of success, albeit confined to the South West region of England  gave me a little confidence to enter the national competition.  All in all I decided to enter eight models.  Three in the Fantasy Figure category, two in Fantasy Diorama, one in Mounted Figures below 60mm, one in Vignette (up to six figures, no vehicles etc) and one in Single Figure below 60mm.  To be honest I wasn’t expecting to achieve anything other than to learn what I needed to do to up my game.  It came as a pleasant surprise to learn that I had done far better than I could possibly have dreamed of.

I’m not sure how I managed it but I got to walk away with three Bronze Medals, one Silver and one Gold!  As an added bonus the Norwegian Model Club decided to award me a trophy for good old Ragnar (see above).  I reckon they got wind of the fact that we are booked on a cruise to Norway next year for our holiday.

So what won what?

Bronze Medal

“What Was That?” came third (I decided to edit the title for the show!)

https://theimperfectmodeller.wordpress.com/2019/09/07/apocalypse-what-the-fk-was-that-september-challenge-a-28mm-diorama/

A Reaper Wizard I only finished just before the show came third and he will feature in Saturday’s post.

“Custer’s Last Stand” – A six figure vignette which I had done a very long time ago and have never put up on the blog as a post.  The figures are 54mm and come from Andrea Miniatures.

Silver Medal

“Easy Boy” romped home in second place.

https://theimperfectmodeller.wordpress.com/2019/09/28/easy-boy-54mm-cowboy-circa-1865/

Gold Medal

“The Wizard Library”, my boxed diorama proved to be magic!

https://theimperfectmodeller.wordpress.com/2019/06/01/the-wizard-library-28mm-box-diorama-part-3-final/

IPMS Norway Trophy

See above.

National modelling competition etiquette dictates that all these models are now retired.  This leaves me with quite a whole to fill.  Alternatively I cannot see myself topping what I achieved this weekend so I might simply decide to retire myself too.

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This week TIM has been listening to …

Bruce Springsteen and “Born in the USA”.  Not a major fan of Bruce but how can you not like this?

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This week TIM has been watching …

The End Of The F***king World (Series 1)

For those of you who do not know this is an 8 part Channel 4 TV series which originally aired a while ago but with the second series having just finished I finally latched on to it!  Decided to binge watch it during the week and while I was away at Telford.  I think it is one of those love it or hate it programs.  Personally I absolutely loved it but my son hated it so clearly opinion is divided.  I will start to binge the second series as soon as I can.

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Until next time.

TIM

Welcome to this weeks Miniatures & Musings!

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TIM’s Mid Week Miniature

This week we have another 28mm miniature from Gripping Beast.  This one goes by the name of “Gunnar” and is only available as a single figure by mail order, otherwise I think he is part of a pair.  He comes with a couple of weapon options but as you can see from the images below I decided to go with a sword and a spear.

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Telford

The start of this week and the rest of it is essentially dedicated to me getting ready for Telford.  We have four members of the Plymouth club attending and we have been allocated a total of 12 foot of space to display our models.  One of the guys isn’t taking any models with him as he has onward plans after the two day event which leaves three of us four feet each to fill.

On the one hand it is nice to have a decent amount of space to call your own but on the other it is a lot of items to transport.  This is particularly true for me where so much of my work these days is in 28mm scale.  One way or another I have a lot to pack and to pack well if I want to avoid damaging anything.  In fairness I don’t mind, for me at least it is the last show of the season.

One thing is for sure, very little else will get done on the modelling front so not quite sure how I will get a post ready for Saturday or for the following week when I get back.  If time allows and I have sufficient WiFi access at the show and my hotel I might get out a couple of Telford progress posts over the weekend.  So if you see a post on Saturday all well and good but if not I will try to pull my finger out for a mid-week one when I get back.

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I’m On The Case!

Now those of you who follow this blog will know that from time to time She Who Must Be Obeyed and I do not always see eye to eye.  It will not surprise you that another old chestnut arose last week which became emotive.  On this particular occasion I was, in no uncertain terms, being reminded that the thermostat in the guest bedroom was no longer working and needed to be replaced.  Needless to say I wasn’t having any of it.

“When I say I will fix it I will fix it.  I don’t need to be reminded every 3 months that it hasn’t been done!”

There are times when she can be so unreasonable.

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 A Brush With Death

I saw this which was mildly amusing so I thought I would share it given our common interest in painting.

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Rermember …

With Christmas rapidly coming up I am sure a great many of us will have an extensive wish list of must have items to add to our existing and outstanding essential items from previous years.  With this in mind it is worth reminding yourself that it cannot be classed as “hoarding” if your shit is cool!

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This week TIM has been listening to …

“The Jean Genie” by David Bowie.  One of my favourite artists who alas is no longer with us.

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This week TIM has been watching …

Monty Python’s “The Life of Brian”.

It has been a good many years since I last watched this so I anticipated it being more than a little dated.  To my pleasant surprise much of the humour remained just as funny to me now as it did back in the day.  Just goes to show I haven’t matured!

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Until next time.

TIM

Welcome to this weeks Miniatures & Musings!

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TIM’s Mid Week Miniature

Another Knuckleduster miniature and another one for Ebay.  One of the downsides of selling on Ebay is the need to replace the figures you sell if you want to sell more.  I already have this figure in my own collection but certain real old west characters such as this one, Jesse James, can sometimes attract a little more interest.  I suspect I have now jinxed any future sale having said that so it will probably sit there for a good few months!

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Modelling Frustration

I feel certain I am not the only one ever to have gotten frustrated from modelling or painting.  Sometimes when things aren’t going well for me my anger grows to the point where I could quite happily throw the bloody figure out of the window.  Fortunately I have never allowed myself to let things go quite that far.  This is partly due I think to the wisdom Confucius.

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To Bee or not to Bee

Sticking with the insect theme it is that time of the year where the wasps are getting drowsy and dangerous.  Unfortunately She Who Must Be Obeyed got stung by one on the forehead the other day.  I stopped what I was doing out in the garden and immediately rushed her to the Accident and Emergency department at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth.  Her face was all swollen and bruised and she was in a terrible state.

I dread to think how much worse it might have been if I hadn’t been on hand to hit the wasp with the shovel I was holding.  Sometimes you do get the feeling that someone is watching over you.

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TIM’s Revenge

Now before you all start feeling sorry for She Who Must Be Obeyed you might wish to note the following conversation which preceded the above incident a day or two earlier.

Me – “Darling, love of my life, am I the only one you have ever been with?”

SWMBO – “Yes my love, all the others were nines and tens!”

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This week TIM has been listening to …

“AC/DC – You Shook Me All Night Long”.

Best played loud and after a few beers!

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This week TIM has been watching …

“A Confession”, a six part TV series starring Martin Freeman.

This series has only just finished but I confess to being unaware of it until a good friend of mine pointed it out to me.  Turns out it is a true story which I was equally unaware of too.  A fantastic series and if you have got access to watching it I would recommend that you do.  I doubt any legal system is flawless and this series certainly highlights some shortcomings with the British one.

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Until next time.

TIM