Welcome to this weeks Musings!

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Why did God Invent Modelling?

Well I will tell you.  It has a lot to do with switching off from things you can do fuck all about.  Let me explain.

In the words of hippy Neil from the comedy series “The Young Ones” this week has been “heavy man”.

The state of the UK and the rest of the world is in a bad way.

In the case of the UK the Brexit process has shown that irrespective of whether you voted to remain or leave the European Union our politicians are for the most part not fit for purpose.  Not really a surprise but shocking to learn that so many of them are seemingly in it for their own ends and completely out of touch with the people.  Quite where the country goes from here remains to be seen but I feel certain that in years to come when we look back this period will prove to have been highly significant.

If that wasn’t enough to worry about the state of our oceans, the direct result of dumping our waste in them, is coming back to haunt us big time.  The environmental impact is according to scientists devastating our marine life and the planet as a whole.

Still, like everything the foregoing needs to be kept in perspective.  In this case it doesn’t much matter what the UK does or what happens to our marine life because unless we get our fingers out we will all be fucked in 10 years time or so as a result of climate change. One way or another the future looks bleak.  What can we do?

On a personal level the UK will do what the UK does and I guess I will get on with it and come the next election hope I can cast a vote in favour of the political party most in line with my personal thinking.  In the case of marine life if I give up eating fish then I am probably doing as much as I can to help the little buggers survive along side recycling.  As for climate change I reckon I can cope with rising see levels and high winds.  I live a decent height above see level and if the winds keep blowing my fencing down then so be it.  I simply wont bother to repair the fence and that’s fine by me.  Truth is it is a token gesture.  The world needs to address the two biggest problems, I cannot do that on my own.

Is there anything else I can do?

Well, yes there is.  I can pick up a brush, a model and some paints and shut myself away from a world that has gone barking mad.  Come to think about it I’ve been doing that for years.

And that my friends is why God invented modelling.

—000—

Strange but True

No canaries live on the Canary Islands.
The same holds true for the Virgin Islands…
Not a single canary …

… and not a lot of people know that!

—000—

This week TIM has been watching …

… Line of Duty series 5, the finale.

Once again Line of Duty gripped the nation.  OK so it gripped about 10 or 11 million but we have a load more channels these days (and still very little on!) so I guess the days of 20 to 30 million people tuning in to watch something when we only had a couple of channels are long gone.  I digress.

As with series 1 through to 4 it proved to be a most enjoyable watch.  The final episode contained a few twist and turns but in case you haven’t watched it and are planning to I will say know more.  All I will say is the theory my daughter and I came up with was on the money.

Looking forward to series 6 already.

—000—

This week TIM has been listening to …

… IRO’s podcast and hearing him going on and bloody on!

The link for episode 2 is below.

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/episode-2-chernobyl-bond-and-the-fire/id1461396488?i=1000437049303

In last weeks Musings article under this heading I didn’t mention that I had listened to the first episode and all I have had since is IRO on my case getting all upset and emotional the way only he can.  So, in an effort to ensure his stay in rehab is a short lived one I thought I would give him a shout out this week (the guy is so insecure).

The first thing to say is that the photo of him and his mate Warren (that name evokes memories of Ronnie Barker and Porridge) is either very old or IRO is wearing a wig or has gotten himself a new hat.  A minor detail.  On a positive note the lads have clearly attracted at least one very sensible, clever and almost certainly good looking and astute follower who pointed out that the initial podcast was amateurish but all the better for it.  The same can also be said for episode 2.  The two episodes do have one other thing in common and that is IRO’s mate once again steals the show!

I’m joking of course.

As with the first episode I seriously did enjoy it and IRO and Warren have a great rapport with each other (which doubtless is of concern to their wives) but like Line of Duty I will say no more for fear of spoiling it for anyone who hasn’t yet tuned in.  It is fun and I really do like the guys pub style banter and I am genuinely looking forward to episode 3 which is out now.

(How was that for you IRO, OK?  Great.  Now would you please, please, please leave me alone, it’s fucking embarrassing!)

—000—

Until next time.

TIM

 

Welcome to this weeks Musings, my 50th such post!  Yep, that’s right, I’ve been writing this shit for quite a while.  So who is the sadder, me for writing such bollocks or you for reading it?  Hopefully there is life in the old dog blog yet so let’s see where the journey takes us.  I’m guessing not very far!

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What Was it I Said?

I gave up figuring out women a long time ago and was reminded why I did following a recent conversation I had with She Who Must Be Obeyed.  Even the innocence of our little hobby can be the unwitting cause of much angst.  Reader beware!

Having just finished painting a Reaper Wizard with a long white beard SWMBO, who was was kindly delivering me a cup of tea at the time, said “He looks nice” to which I replied “Thank you, like all old men their features get more interesting with age which adds a lot of charachter”.  An innocent comment to my mind and probably to the mind of any sane human being but of course SWMBO doesn’t fall into that category.

The following conversation ensued.

“So are you saying women don’t age well?”

“No, but men often lose their hair, go white or grey, get craggy facial features and despite a slight belly manage to carry off a distinguished look as they grow older, a lot like me if you like”

“And women don’t do this?”

“Well you don’t” (as I look back this might have been where I made an error)

“What do you mean I don’t? Are you saying I’m fat?

“No, but you are past your prime and if you allowed yourself to age naturally you would have grey hair too.  You also use some make up which isn’t exactly natural is it?” (then again it might have been here)

“So you don’t like the way I look now!”

“I didn’t say that!

“Well I hope you choke on your tea!”  She then stormed off and went into a sulk.

Go figure.  Women.

—000—

Local Elections and The Vicar Of Dibley (any reference to real people is purely coincidental)

This week I have done very little painting, truth be told I am suffering withdrawal symptoms.  This cannot continue and hopefully after today things will kick off again, they seriously need to otherwise I will have sod all for Saturday’s post and I can’t allow that to happen.  So why have you not been painting TIM I hear you ask?  Well quite simply TIM is now an elected Parish Councillor for the West Devon Parish where I live.  We will call the village Wankville just in case by using the real name it comes up on a Google search.

Now I’m going to take a bit of a punt here (that’s punt with a P) and say that none of you are familiar with the village of Wankville.  I will take another punt and say a fair few of you have heard of the TV series starring Dawn French which goes by the title of The Vicar of Dibley.  Now if as I suspect some of you are familiar with the series then you will now be able to conjure up a near perfect image of Wankville Parish Council if you extract a fat female vicar by the name of Geraldine and replace her in your mind with a fat male farmer called Brian (not his real name).

So how has this kept me from modelling and why did I chose to become a Parish Councillor?  Well this week is the lead up to the local elections and on Thursday comes the actual voting.  There is work to be done but not a great deal, mainly because of how the system works.  The Wankville Parish Council comprises of 8 seats and as only 8 candidates put their names forward then there is nothing to contest so all the candidates get elected.  Easy.  Well so you would think.

Unfortunately the parishioners of Wankville, commonly known as Wankers, comprises mainly of morons; the cumulative effect of village idiots relocating over the course of many years and then interbreeding.  Not only is the local demographic distorted by intelligence it is also out of alignment in other ways too.  The level of lazy fucking Wankers is well in excess of the national norm, running at about 95% based on the last census and how you interpret the data.  Add to this the Wankers ability to moan aligned to their ability to do fuck all and you start to build up a pretty good image of how Wankville operates on a daily basis.

Now I appreciate that most of you do not know me from Adam but it is not in my nature to sit on my arse and watch the village I have retired to continue to be run by the Wanker faction.  As far as I am concerned the days when 8 people gather in a small room huddled around a small wooden table with a wobbly leg to discuss the ins and outs of a cows intestine are about to change (I hope).

Can you anticipate further tales from Wankville in future posts?  I cannot promise but we will wait and see.  The Council meets every two months with the first meeting in May.

—000—

This week TIM has been watching …

… Kick-Ass.  To be more specific the final scene.

After I posted my “Get out of my fucking room” mini dio last Saturday my brother emailed me to say that the little girl reminded him of the one in this movie.  He included a link to the YouTube scene which appears below.  I have to say I love the scene.  How this movie passed me by I have no idea but just as soon as I can I will watch it.

—000—

This week TIM has been listening to …

… The Dickies and Banana Splits.

Sticking with the Kick-Ass theme my brother also told me that this track featured in the film, a song I like as I also remember the TV show as a kid.  Now I do like a bit of punk, The Sex Pistols immediately spring to mind with “Anarchy In The UK” being a personal favorite (I’ve also included that link because I love it”!), so I did enjoy this as well.  One way or another I’ve got to see that film in full and soon!

—000—

Until next time.

TIM

 

 

Welcome to this weeks Musings!

—000—

Holiday TIMe!

This will be my last post for a week or so.  Tomorrow I’m off to Southampton with She Who Must Be Obeyed and She Who Thinks She Should Be Obeyed leaving He Who Isn’t Obeyed Either in charge of the house. We are going to catch a P&O ship which will sail out on Friday which is our Wedding Anniversary – 37 years and still bloody counting!

We are off to Amsterdam where I am hoping to see some different models(!), followed by Bruge and Guernsey.  All in all an ideal opportunity to reflect on where I am with my modelling and what I hope to achieve in the weeks and months ahead. Then again I might just eat and drink to excess!

Missing you all already!

—000—

Salute 2019

Well Salute has been and gone but what a great day.  As yet I haven’t had a proper chance to look at the photos I took so a follow up post at some point after I return to Blighty will be forthcoming.

The day itself started bloody early, 4 am to be precise, but at least all the various connections slotted into place and free WiFi on the train helped pass the time away.  Half my cheese and pickle sandwiches (can you believe I had to make them myself while SWMBO stayed in bed!) were eaten for breakfast as they had fallen apart in transit but they, along with Great Western Railway black coffee which cost the price of house when I was a kid, kept me going.   Duly met up with my brother near the ExCel Centre and we were on our way.

Upon arrival we were given a goodie bag, more on that later, and entered the exhibition hall.  Immediately on our right was the Mag Bellum stand which as many of you will know is a manufacturer which none other than our own Alex of “Leadballoony” fame is an active supporter of.  More than that, Alex was actually in attendance!  Really nice to put a face to a blogging name and I must say what a top bloke.  My only disappointment was the sympathy he seemed to have for SWMBO!  I must also add that one of Alex’s recent posts where he made reference to Mag Bellum’s tile gaming board was spot on.  I’m no gamer as you know but it really did look a quality item.

Thereafter my brother and I spent our time browsing.  Not surprisingly many of the trade names I was very familiar with due to countless internet searches but as is always the case, seeing things up close and personal makes so much difference.  By way of an example I had always rated the western buildings produced by Sarrisa and 4Ground to be superior to those by Blotz.  Having seen them all in the flesh Blotz wins hands down and I shall be making some purchases once I’ve worked out exactly what I want in due course.

Equally unsurprisingly I came across a great many manufactures I had never heard of – Micro Art Studio a Polish company, Crooked Dice a UK brand and Atlantis Miniatures who have an interesting kickstarter coming out mid May for some wood elves to name but a few.  I will be looking at all of these more closely as they had lots of figures which really caught my eye.  I did buy a couple of figures from Crooked Dice and in due course I will let you know what I really think of them once they are painted up.

Personally I found the show to be very busy although Subedai of “The Lost and the Damned” recently posted that he felt the show was down in numbers compared to previous years.  With nothing to compare to myself I will have to take his word for that.  For my part all I can say was that getting to the front of some of the stands to browse was a pain in the arse at times.  Patience is a virtue as they say and getting the chance to check things out was well worth it in the end.

Plenty of games and gaming boards were on display and although these were at the bottom of my list of things to see I must say there were some pretty impressive layouts on show.  Subedai has put some great photos on his blog already and if you haven’t checked them out yet then I would encourage you to do so.

I made a point of checking out the Painting Competition which was a mixed blessing.  On the one hand it was great to see some truly great stuff, on the other it made me realise not for the first time that as much as I am pleased with what I do there is so much room for improvement.  Age is no barrier although arguably time left on the planet is.  In any event my aim is to seek improvement and gaining inspiration from such talented people cannot be a bad thing.

A quick break for lunch saw us back on our feet and doing more of the same.  I decided in the end that my tactic would be to pick up as many leaflets as I could so I could check out sites of interest at my leisure once I got back home.  All though I did a certain amount of preparation ahead of the show I felt I should and could have done more.  Doing so would have enabled me to home in on some of the things I wanted to see more but at the end of the day this was a first experience and you don’t know what you don’t know.

While on the train journey I got a message from John of Just Needs Varnish telling me that however much cash I had on me it wouldn’t be enough.  As it turns out I had enough cash but only because I put a load on the credit card!  For any future Salute virgins I would suggest setting yourself a budget, then doubling it and then just to be on the safe side double it again and make sure you have a healthy balance on your credit card.

On the way out I bumped into Alex again.  He and his mates had had a great day but fare to say they looked knackered.  To be more accurate “Fucking Knackered” was how Alex referred to it!

On the long journey home I mused over a couple of things.  Firstly, would I go again?  The answer was a definite yes but perhaps not every year.  Having now had a little longer to reflect on it I think every year doesn’t sound such a bad idea after all!  Secondly, how to get all my purchases into the house and passed SWMBO?  With time to conceive a cunning plan I settled on the old tried and tested “Why don’t we meet in the village pub, I’m gagging for a pint and I’ll see you in there?” routine while I went via the house to stash my gear.  Worked a treat right up to the point where on arriving in the pub I was greeted by the words “Did you manage to hide everything away OK?”.  Bollocks!

Finally, back to the Salute goodie bag.  As I mentioned I went to the show with my brother who is neither a gamer or modeller but was happy to come along and take a look at his little brothers sad world.  As a consequence I was bequeathed his goodie bag as well.  In each bag there were two figures, see photos below, one metal and one plastic.  Whilst for now I may keep both of mine (and may paint them up) one thing is for sure, I don’t need both sets.  If any of you are interested in either figure please feel free to drop me a line in the comments.  The two most grovelling responses as judged by me will each receive a figure posted free of charge to wherever you are in the world shortly after I get back from holiday; we can exchange address details via my contact page in due course.

—000—

Thought for the week?

Have you ever wondered why …

… the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin?

—000—

This week TIM has been listening to …

… Elvis.

My mum and her brother loved Elvis and I have to say so do I.  Although his hey day was a little before my time he was still going strong in my primary and teenage years.  His contribution to popular music and Rock ‘N’ Roll in particular was immense.  I recently discovered a couple of re mixes on YouTube which I liked which also feature some cute girls Shuffle Dancing.   I reckon if I was pissed enough I could dance like that even with two left feet!  Links below.

—000—

This week TIM has been watching …

… Some Kind Of Wonderful.

In the 80’s John Hughes directed a number of great teen based films which included Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,  Pretty In Pink, Uncle Buck and The Breakfast Club.  All classics in there own right but “Some Kind OF Wonderful” was my personal favorite.  Having a red head as the male lead probably swung it!

—000—

Until the next time.

TIM

Welcome to this weeks Musings!

—000—

Salute 2019

I have never been to Salute and didn’t think I would be going this year either, however, a change of circumstances has now enabled me to do so.  Train tickets have been purchased and so too has an entry ticket.

A very early start beginning with a one hour drive to Exeter St Davids railway station to catch a train to London Paddington will be followed by a tube journey to Tower Gateway and finally by a few stops on the Docklands Light Railway.  All being well I will arrive at Customs House station for the ExCel Centre at about 10:15.  Can’t wait and really looking forward to it.  An added bonus is my brother is traveling from Basingstoke to meet up with me.  Hopefully it will prove to be a great day out for us both.

I will provide a review and photos in a future Musings post.

—000—

No, no, no, yes!

Not for the first time in my life, and unlikely to be the last, I recently found myself once again wanting to say no but ending up saying yes.  It’s not that I cannot be assertive because I can be, even to the point of being aggressive if necessary but some people I just don’t like to say no to.  Even to this day I still struggle to say no when women ask me out!

On this particular occasion I was asked by a chap whose figure painting is not his strong point if I would be willing to paint ten 1/35th scale figures for a diorama he was putting together.  I made the mistake of saying yes even though I really didn’t want to do them.  They were multi-part plastic in need of assembly and were generally featureless, particularly in respect of the faces.  So why did I say yes?  Buggered if I know!

With so much of my own to do I really had to force myself to do them and it came as quite a relief when I got them finished.  I would have included a photo but to be honest they’re shit.

Never again (hopefully)!

—000—

Thought for the week?

Have you ever wondered why …

… lemon juice is made with artificial flavor but dish washing liquid is made with real lemons?

—000—

This week TIM has been listening to …

… “Get It On” by T-Rex.

A trip back to the 70’s with a track title inspired by my up coming trip to Salute.

Glam Rock looks more than a little weird in this day and age but back in the day it felt perfectly normal.  Although many of the songs don’t have a lot going for them in the way of meaningful lyrics the music itself lives on.  It helps of course that I live in a time bubble.

—000—

This week TIM has been watching …

… Line of Duty.

Last Sunday saw the start of the 5th series of the BBC police crime drama “Line of Duty”.  Whilst each series stands up in its own right there are various threads which continue from one series to another.   To make sure I was up to speed for the new series I thought it best to binge watch the previous 4.  Great stuff.

These days I typically watch a series when the last weekly episode has been aired and I can sit down and watch one after the other.  I will do this for Line of Duty 5 as well but couldn’t resist the temptation of watching it on Sunday too!

Not sure if the program is available outside of the UK but if it is and you haven’t watched any of it yet then give it a go.  You will be in for a treat!

—000—

Until next time.

TIM

Welcome to this weeks Musings!

—000—

“To Infinity and Beyond”

If it hadn’t been for WordPress sending a reminder of the fact that I have now been blogging for 2 years the occasion would have passed me by.  Whilst the time for me has flown by I can only assume for you dear reader it has dragged!

Perhaps it is an age thing but these days I find anniversaries of any kind a time for quiet reflection and this one is no exception.  My only aim when I started this blog was to maintain an audit trail of my work and to that end my objective has been achieved and continues to do so with every new post.  I hadn’t anticipated getting any followers, comments or likes but to my surprise it seems some of what I do at least appeals enough to others.  The banter, modelling and painting tips, creative ideas and general interest which has come my way has been a real bonus and to that end I thank each and every one of you.

Here’s to “infinity and beyond” or, to put it another way, year 3!

—000—

Comparison Table?

As a non gamer who participates in the odd blog challenge here and there I must confess to being a little uncertain of some of the terminology when it comes to the number of figures required to fulfill a set objective.  With that in mind I created the table below as an aid memoir.  I am confident of its “inaccuracy” but to lazy to google results.  Instead I thought I would throw it out to you guys to see if there is any consensus.  Feel free to comment, add or subtract.

Figure/Model Type	Gamer	Modeller
Single Figure	Single figure, typically based on 25mm/30mm base	Single figure, typically based on a scenic base of any size
Vignette	N/A	Two or Three figures composed on a small scenic base
Squad	Four or Five Single figures of a common theme individually based  on 25mm/30mm base	N/A
Unit	Five to Ten Single figures of a common theme individually based on 25mm/30mm base	N/A
Platoon	Ten to Twenty Single figures of a common theme individually based on 25mm/30mm base or collectively on  movement base	N/A
Diorama	N/A	Two or more figures on a large scenic base
Army	Fucking loads of figures!  Based individually or collectively on movement bases	N/A

—000—

Wizard Fact (or Fiction?)

Spoiler alert!

Next week I hope to begin working on a new diorama and with it a new mini series of posts.  The working title is “The Wizards Library”, it will probably be the actual title unless I can think of anything better between now and completion!  I wont say any more for now so think of this as a teaser; I can feel the excitement mounting already!  Yea, right.

As with a lot of modelling, a certain amount of research goes into the design phase and out of that research comes the odd snippet of information.  In this case it has to do with hair colouring.  It wont surprise you to know that as we go through the ageing process our hair goes grey.  What might surprise you is this is not true for people like myself who are ginger.  Ginger haired people go white, not grey.  Furthermore, the most powerful Wizards have white hair and white beards.  So, beware of gingers.

Just saying.

—000—

Thought for the Week

If you replace “W” with “T” in “What, Where and When”, you get the answer to each of them.

—000—

This week TIM has been listening to …

… The Rolling Stones and Honky Tonk Woman.  Quite simply a classic.  Many, many years ago when I went to see them live at Wembley this was the opening track.  Brilliant.

—000—

This week TIM has been watching …

… an old video clip of me and She Who Must Be Obeyed dancing to Honky Tonk Woman by The Rolling Stones.  Rare footage in deed.  Taken after I had dyed my hair black and before the wife had put on a few pounds.  If it wasn’t for my back I would still have the moves, well not the splits perhaps!

—000—

Until next time.

TIM

 

 

 

 

 

… continued from part 4.

—000—

Background

Several months ago I decided I would, after much deliberation, try to sell some models on eBay.  This is is the continuation of my journey and what I anticipate will be the penultimate post!

Taxman

Before embarking on this tale I thought it would be good to have “Taxman” by the Beatles playing in the background so here is the link.

 

In 2017 it seems Europe passed a law which, under certain circumstances, requires Ebay sellers to pay income tax.  It is very unlikely that this law will be revoked under Brexit, no surprise there then.  As with most taxes it has crept in because the taxman is a sneaky bastard.  Also, as with any form of tax avoidance it carries fines and prison sentences as a potential outcome for non compliance.

So, as an eBay seller who doesn’t want to fall foul of the law TIM, how does it work?  Well I’ll tell you what I know.

If you sell goods which are the result of, say a room clear out, you have little if anything to worry about.  For example, you might have bought a wooden kitchen table years ago which you now want to replace and thought you’d try and make a little money from selling it online.  That’s fine, you aren’t deemed to be in it for profit.  However, if the buyer of your wooden kitchen table sands it down, paints it up, calls it shabby chic and lists it for sale at a price in excess of what he/she paid for it then they are deemed to be in it to make a profitable income and are classified as a trader.  Thus the same applies to the figure painter who buys the figure, paints it and sells it for a profit.  Me.

In the UK you only have to inform the taxman if your “turnover” exceeds £1000.00.  The first £1000.00 is classed as an allowance, one they have chosen to call “Entrepreneur Allowance”.  If your turnover exceeds £1000.00 and you don’t tell the taxman you will be taxed (or you could be fined or jailed!) on every penny of the “turnover”.  If you do notify the taxman they will register the “Entrepreneur Allowance” and any tax will only be payable on the amount which exceeds £1000.00.  You will also be required to complete a self assessment tax return at the end of the tax year.  Still with me?

But surely the taxman will never know?  Well I guess that’s the chance you take but we live in the age of big brother.  Everything you do on eBay is online and the Inland Revenue have access to all this information and I’m sure they have trigger points which produce exception reports.  Like me you have to ask yourself, do I take a chance?  Now I’m all for breaking the rules but not when it can cost me a lot of money or put me in jail and as my turnover exceeds the £1000.00 limit I decided to inform the taxman.

Now you would think a quick phone call to the taxman would be a simple and quick affair.  Needless to say in the UK this is not the case.  Does anywhere in the world have an efficient system?  I won’t bore you with the details but I spent an entire day getting to the bottom of this and had to listen to a lot of shitty on hold music while I did so but I got there in the end.

I am now an Entrepreneur!

Now don’t get me wrong I understand the need to pay taxes and appreciate where in theory the money goes and what we get for the money we pay in.  The thing is, and like all of you I expect, I worked hard for the money I earned and don’t take kindly to seeing the Government waste it.  I’ll spare you all a political rant buy just saying I have no intention of paying more to these fuckers than I can possibly avoid.

This tax year I will have to do a self assessment after the 5th April and declare my eBay sales.  Next year it will all go under the the wife’s name to avoid paying any tax whatsoever.  The only problem is that might cost me more than what the Taxman will charge me!

In any event now it’s time to get back to buying, painting and hopefully selling!

Knuckleduster and Hasselfree Miniatures

The service from the UK Knuckleduster distributor and from Hasselfree miniatures were excellent and my orders arrived within a few days and before Christmas.  So impressed was I with the Knuckleduster figures that I placed another order immediately.  I just knew I was going to love these figures even if they all ended up being just for me!

In the lead up to Christmas as well as during the period between Christmas and New Year I got painting away and before the year was up I had my first couple of Knuckleduster figures listed.  I revised my description wording for these figures,  increased the auction starting price to £25.00 from £20.00 and removed the option to make an offer.  I had know idea if this was a good thing or not but decided to give it a try all the same.  I braced myself for a slow start on the basis that the end of December and throughout January buyers would be at a premium.  Anticipating that I would achieve no sales I was delighted to sell four Knuckleduster figures.  I also managed to sell four Hasslefree figures in February at £35.00 each plus £3.95 for postage.  Happy days.

Since then though things have gone quiet.  A lull in the market?  Lack of interest?  Time will tell.

—000—

So dear reader you are up to date with my eBay adventure.  Future interesting developments, if any, will from here on in appear in my weekly mid-week Musings.  There is, however, one more post to follow.  It seems appropriate to draw some conclusions from my experience and in Part 6 I will aim to do just that.

—000—

To be continued …

TIM

 

Welcome to this weeks Musings!

After an absence of a couple of weeks, partly due to Alex’s “Fembruary challenge”, my brothers visit and posting another installment of TIM’s Ebay Adventure, a return to conventional musings.  I’m sure you can’t wait so without further ado let’s get started!

—000—

Its An Age Thing …

For the first time in a long time I have not done any modelling or painting at all.  No I have not lost interest in the hobby and neither have I been doing other things.  In fact I’ve been doing absolutely bugger all.  Why?  Well I managed to do my back in and for the best part of a week now I’ve been barely able to move.  So how did you manage to do that then TIM?  You may well ask.  There are two theories.

The first theory, and for anyone anywhere in the world who reads this blog this is the true explanation, I put my back out making love to She Who Must Be Obeyed.  It’s high time I realized my limitations and restricted myself to no more than four times a night but what can I say, I’m one of life’s givers.

The second theory, and one which has no credibility whatsoever, is that I managed to damage my back lifting the garden strimmer.

A painful trip to the doctor led to the conclusion I had a swollen disc which in turn was trapping a nerve.  I left with a prescription for some heavy duty pain killers and a couple of sheets of exercises to be done as often as possible.

Two days in and I elected to abandon the prescribed pain killers due to side effects.  Had it not been for SWMBO  I would have still been taking them but like most women and unlike most men she chose to read the prescription information leaflet.  Apparently if symptoms such as stomach pain and nausea occur you should stop taking the medication immediately.

The exercises offer a different kind of challenge.  Assuming I can actually make it to the floor in the first instance they are in fact motivational.  I’m not sure it was what the doctor had intended but I feel that if I can achieve the various positions shown on the leaflet then hope remains that I could still make it as a porn star.

Fortunately, and thanks to the aid of a whoopee cushion, I am able to sit with the laptop and blog for short periods.

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Display Cases

Over the last few months I’ve really gotten into painting 28mm figures just as figures, not as part of a vignette or diorama.  Two main reasons for this, one being that I’ve been selling some on eBay, the other that I’ve simply loved doing them.  Knowing my boredom threshold I’m sure I will move on to something different in due course but for now I’m enjoying what I’m doing which after all is what it is all about.

The thing is I have started to build up a reasonable number of figures, not for selling but for my own collection and as a consequence I found myself confronted with the familiar question – to display or not to display?  I decided that if I could find the right thing to display the figures in then that would be the route I would take until such times as there was no further available display space.  I know when I’ve reached that particular tipping point because She Who Must Be Obeyed will typically say something along the lines of “well you needn’t think you are putting that anywhere!”.

I managed to find the ideal item on eBay so I bought a couple.  At £15.00 each and with free postage I thought they were good value.

Each one can hold 32 figures on 25mm bases so I bought a couple which should keep me going for a little while.

I then bought two more just to be on the safe side!

—000—

Sorry, Wrong Number!

Talking about eBay I’ve just put these up for sale.  Not sure how I managed to make such a mistake, must be another age thing.

—000—

Thought for the week? 

Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?

—000—

This week TIM has been listening to …

Elton John and Tiny Dancer.

Having just bought the DVD for “Bohemian Rhapsody” (and watched it twice already!) I’m now looking forward to the release of Rocket Man at the cinema.  Naturally I could have gone with any number of songs by Elton but went for the official music video for Tiny Dancer.  Partly because the early sequences features by coincidence my yellow sports car and and young blond girl I used to go out with.

—000—

This week TIM has been watching …

Fawlty Towers.  With little else to do but sit around uncomfortably I thought I would work my way through the Fawlty Towers boxed set.  Over the years there has been some very fine comedies.  Some have stood the test of time while others haven’t.  This one certainly has.

Below is a link to some top moments.

—000—

Until next time.

TIM

 

 

… continued from part 3.

—000—

Background

Several months ago I decided I would, after much deliberation, try to sell some models on Ebay.  This is the continuation of my journey!

A Lesson Learnt

Things on Ebay were going well, slowly but more than good enough to make me happy.  I should have realised a bump in the road was inevitable.

At the end of November I received an offer for two of my figures from a potential buyer.  The offer for each figure was £17.00, they were up for sale at £20.00.  As it was a new buyer I chose to accept his offer in the hope of obtaining further business in the future.  I then received the following message back from him.

 

Now the written word is never the best way to communicate in the sense that it can be open to emotional interpretation.  Now it might just be me but his note really pissed me off.  When it comes to swearing I like a good “fuck” every now and then (who doesn’t?) but it’s very, very rare for me to use the “C” word.  I thought the last piece about sending in separate packages was both sarcastic and unnecessary.  Unnecessary because the guy had an eBay score of over 1300 which to my mind says he knew enough to ask about combined postage without the need to be rude.

Now I’m not the kind of guy who can simply ignore such things so I wrote him what I thought was a polite reply.  Tempting as it was to tell him to fuck off I wanted to protect my 100% feedback score.

 

New message to:

Hi Ian, Thank you for the prompt payment. I am unable to get to the post office today but will do so tomorrow and confirm to you that the figures have been sent together with tracking details. Selling figures on eBay is a relatively new experience so I appreciate your feedback regarding combined postage. So far my approach has been to provide buyers with the opportunity to make an offer, such as you have done today “or” combine postage when asked to do so. Based on my selling experiences to date this is the first query I have had as all my customers have been happy to pay the postage where I have accepted their offer. Unfortunately offering both is not financially viable as far as I am concerned given purchase costs, painting time and postage and packing expenses. That said I’ve no desire to see you disappointed so I will combine postage for your purchase and enclose a cheque for £3.95 along with the figures which I trust will be acceptable to you. I hope you are happy with the figures when they arrive and if you are interested in buying more in the future please do contact me to discuss pricing and postage. Kind regards and best wishes, David

I never heard back from him and he has never left feedback, neither have I for that matter either.  Although I did not like this guys style and I would be very reluctant to ever deal with him again the fact is he got me thinking.  Should I in my description make mention to combined postage and should I offer it?  In all honesty I never thought anyone would buy more than one figure at a time.

After some deliberation I decided morally I ought to combine postage whenever I can just as long as I cover my costs.  I amended the wording on my listings to cover UK and Overseas postage and then got in touch with the guy from Manchester who bought seven of my figures.  As he had paid the postage on each figure and hadn’t made me an offer either I was now feeling a little guilty.  Some might argue business is business but as we were only talking about a few pounds I thought it would make for a good will gesture.

I sent him an email in December saying I had forgotten to reduce postage and asked if he wanted me to send him a cheque or make a deduction from any other purchase if there was something I had listed which was of interest to him.  The last bit was a little tongue in cheek but to my complete surprise he came back to thank me and promptly bought another seven figures!

I made several other sales in December in the lead up to Christmas, the best of which was eight figures sold to a Doctor in Germany.

Generally things were going well and my gross income at the middle of December stood at just over £1000.00, the vast majority of which had been earned following my second eBay foray which began in September.  I was pleased with how things were going but couldn’t help but think how best to try to improve things.  It was time to sit down and reflect once again on the way forward.

Being realistic I hadn’t had many customers.  Although I had sold a reasonable number of figures the majority had been purchased by three people.  Unlike other sellers I had never had more than one bid on an item to help push the price up and although I was pleased with the sales there were weeks in between when nothing happened at all.  I was also focused solely on Artizan figures, mainly wild west which in itself was not a problem but the range is limited and if these guys had already bought them then why would they buy more of the same figure?

The Next Step Forward

Anticipating that the middle to end of December would be quiet I decided this would be a great time to search for some new figures, take advantage of Christmas savings such as free postage and get some figures painted to replace those I’d sold.  January was also likely to be slow too so this felt like the best use of my time.

It was quite a while ago that I first discovered the wild west figures produced by Knuckleduster.  The figures looked great but as far as I could see there was no UK distributor.  Whilst it was possible to buy them from the States it was expensive to do so.  Buying them on Ebay was an option but the ones I found were retailing at about £8.00 a figure including postage.  nevertheless I thought I would email Knuckleduster on the off chance to see if they had a UK distributor.  A swift reply followed to say that they did.

I checked out the site and was delighted to learn that they carried the whole range of figures.  Each figure retailed at £3.50 but if you spent £20.00 or more postage was free.  I placed an order for three individual figures but bought two of each one making six in total.  I decided that I would very much like to collect these figures for myself as well as trying to sell them.  With well over a hundred figures in the range Ì had plenty to keep me going and to sell if there was a market for them.  By purchasing two of the same figure each time I could keep the better one for myself and sell the other!  Also, painting them both at the same time would be quicker.  It was worth a go that’s for sure.

Another decision I made was to paint a few Hasslefree figures and chose fantasy humans as the genre.  Once again I bought two of each figure as I was keen to have these as well for my own collection.

All I had to do now was wait for things to be delivered and then to start painting!

Things were going well and I was happy with the progress I was now making right up to the point when a friend said “are you keeping records for your tax return?”.  “Tax, you’ve got to be kidding me?”.   “No I’m not, there’s a new law, you ought to check it out”.

FUCK!

To be continued…

—000—

TIM

 

… continued from part 2.

—000—

Background

Several months ago I decided I would, after much deliberation, try to sell some models on Ebay.  This is the continuation of my journey!

Ebay Listing

To get things started I decided upon painting and selling some Artizan miniatures, figures from their old west range.  Three of their figures sell for £6.00 but add the cost of postage and the figures work out at about £2.50 each if you buy a few packs to spread the cost of the £3.50 postage.  Financially I wasn’t going to go under if this little eBay adventure didn’t work out.  Worst case scenario I would simply end up with a few figures I would have happily bought, painted and kept anyway.

Painted, based and varnished they were ready for listing.

I still wasn’t sure what the best price was to list a figure at or how best to list it but completely out of the blue settled on £15.00 for each figure and went down the standard auction route.  The way I saw it I had to start somewhere and one way or another I’d learn something from the experience.  I drafted a brief description and said in it that I would be willing to paint a specific figure if there were others which were of interest.  A bit bold but I was feeling confident at the time so went with it.  In April 2018 I pressed the go button and then spent the next few hours checking how many bids I’d received.  Needless to say sod all happened!

Not only did nothing happen in the first few hours but nothing happened during the 7 day listing period.  I did have some views and I did have a couple of the figures “watched” but nothing sold.  The listings duly expired but were automatically relisted by eBay.  I chose not to keep an eye on them, adopting instead a “watched pot never boils” approach.   I got lucky.

I woke one morning to find that I had opening bids on six figures.  On closer inspection they were all from the same guy in France.  He also sent me a message to say he wouldn’t bid higher but was interested in having some figures painted.  I can’t say I was bothered if he didn’t bid higher, either way I had sold the figures, but the fact he was interested in having some figures painted was exciting.  He also wanted the figures sent in one batch but didn’t want to pay Ebay postage costs.  This final bit was a little lost on me.  I understood what he meant by combining the postage but not the eBay cost element.  As there were a few days before the auction ended I investigated a little further.

It turns out that when you list on eBay postage for overseas buyers automatically defaults to their Global Shipping Program.  The program works as follows.  The UK seller, in this case me, posts to a central address in the UK at the cost of UK postage.  eBay then post overseas.  The Cost of posting overseas is higher and presumably increased by eBay as well to cover their involvement and it is this cost that the overseas buyer sees on their countries eBay.  As it would be cheaper for me to send direct to (in this case) France the buyer would save money on postage.  There are some incentives for using the eBay method as a seller but if it puts a buyer off then what’s the point?  Fortunately you can simply switch the Global Shipping program option off and then raise your own invoice to send to the buyer which includes your own overseas postage and packing cost.

The auction ended with no further bids so I raised an invoice, packaged the figures, calculated the cost of sending to Paris, France and posted them care of Royal Mail.  I then sent an email to the guy in France with tracking details and told him to let me know what figures he was interested in.  A few days later I received very positive feedback on eBay from the buyer in respect of the quality of the figures but never heard from him again.  I was disappointed but looked on the positive side, I’d sold six figures for a gross income of £90.00.  In the words of Del Boy Trotter, this time next year I’ll be a millionaire!

Selling six figures was great but now I needed to replace them on eBay.  Figures were duly painted and listed at the same price and using the same basic auction option.  Nothing happened during the first week, or the second or the third.  In fact nothing happened in the fourth, fifth or sixth either.  I needed to rethink my approach.  After a good start things had ground to a halt.  Had I got the price wrong? Were the figures not good enough?  We’re they painted well enough but not what anybody wanted?

I decided not to relist the figures when the auction ended.  I needed to think more about what I was doing and why.

If I’m being honest I was at a low point.  Others were selling their figures but I wasn’t.   In fairness I could accept that the high quality figures were selling but other figures which I didn’t think were well painted at all were selling also.  I decided to give up but despite having made the decision to do so couldn’t stop thinking about what I could do differently.  Was my pricing right?  Were the photos good enough?  Should I write a better description?  Were they listed in the right category for people to see?

EBay Listing – Take 2!

In September I decided to give eBay another go.  I spent time trying to get the photos right.  Because the camera exaggerates I wanted images which were more representative of what the eye naturally sees.  I wrote a better description and left out a link I had previously included to my blog so people could see my gallery.  Calling myself The Imperfect Modeller might not be the best name when it comes to selling!  I increased my auction starting prices from £15.00 to £20.00 but allowed potential buyers to make offers.  Was that enough?  Time would tell.  It was now a case of listing the figures and being patient.  If there were buyers out there then I needed to give them time to discover my figures.

As it turned out I didn’t have to wait long.  A guy from Chester made a reasonable offer on three of my figures.  I accepted the offer and began to start painting some replacements.  I was encouraged but refused to get carried away this time around.

In October the same guy came back.  Not once but four times to buy some more.  In total I sold him seven figures that month but nothing to anyone else.  I was pleased with the sales and the money added up to a nice little sum.  It was also great to think that the chap liked my stuff enough to come back for more.  The only problem was he was just one guy.  There was no pleasing me!

November saw some more sales.  One customer purchased two figures, another bought one and a guy from Manchester bought seven.  Oddly none of them chose to make offers, choosing instead they all sold for £20.00 each.

I was on a roll but a bump in the road was just around the corner!

To be continued …

—000—

TIM

Welcome to this weeks Musings!

—000—

Cotton Reels!

As many of you are aware I am a domestic victim.  Despite this I bear no grudges against She Who Must Be Obeyed, so much so that I thought I would give her a shout out in this article.

Now I recently made an eBay purchase.  Nothing unusual in that but I bought something for modelling.  Nothing unusual in that either, except that what I acquired was 20 wooden cotton reels.

The inspiration for this was none other than SWMBO when she very recently said to me – “Would this be any good for your modelling?”.  What she held out to  me was a plastic cotton reel minus the cotton which she had just used up.  “Might be I said” and duly placed it on my work desk where it sat while I continued to search through my forgotten pile in the hope of finding something for Azazel’s (February) monthly challenge.

During my search I came across my set of Dad’s Army figures comprising 18 miniatures which I bought several months ago.  The figures aren’t really neglected as they have there position on the to do list but I have been putting them off until I could identify suitable bases.  What I’ve been looking out for but so far without success are small wooden plinths (for a reason that will become known when I get around to doing the first figure and posting details of it at some point in the future) identically sized and suitably priced.  Some wooden bases can be very, very expensive for what they are.

Then, thanks to SWMBO, I had a light bulb moment!

The cotton reel provided by SWMBO was perfect in height and size but unfortunately made of plastic.  Wood can be sanded, stained and varnished and looks so much better.  “Do they do these exactly the same but in wood?” I asked.  “Yes” she said “but you’ll probably have to buy old fashioned ones like your mother would have had.  “Check eBay”.  So I did and there I found lots of classic wooden cotton reels for sale in different sized lots.  A lot of 20 identical wooden cotton reels fitted the bill perfectly and were duly bought.  I can’t believe I got excited about winning an auction for cotton reels!

Now if that wasn’t enough good news there was an added bonus to be had.  All 20 of the cotton reels when they arrived had a considerable amount of cotton left on them.  The next step is to transfer the cotton to plastic bobbin’s and give them to SWMBO as a nice little surprise wedding anniversary present.  What more could she possibly want?  Yes, you’re quite right, I do indeed spoil that women.

So there we have it.  Twenty wooden plinths and the wife’s wedding anniversary present for under fifteen quid.  Happy days!

—000—

Postage

Having placed a couple of orders for a few new items I was reminded at the online check out that Christmas is over.  In the lead up to Christmas the majority of retailers I now typically use were offering free postage albeit geared to a minimum spend.  Alas the festive period is over and once again it is possible to find myself doubling the cost of an item thanks to the cost of having it mailed.

When possible I try to make the order financially worthwhile but sometimes I simply do not want more than a single item and I’m not prepared to wait until Christmas comes around once again.  Sadly it’s just the way it goes.  It did however remind that – “Despite the high cost of living it remains popular!”

—000—

This week TIM has been listening to …

Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of War of the Worlds.

Nice bit of background while doing some painting and I’d forgotten just how good this was.

—000—

This week TIM has been watching …

Luther.

For one reason or another the last couple of series passed me.  Not entirely sure why but these days, thanks to various recording devices and the likes of BBC iPlayer, I prefer to watch a series once its finished so I can binge watch it.  The idea of waiting a week in between doesn’t cut if for me any more.  So I sat down whilst modelling and got myself up to date.

As with the previous series’ I enjoyed the villains getting  their comeuppance although I was struck by just how weird and perverted the various purveyors of the dastardly crimes were.  Then I got to reminding myself that I was watching fiction which in turn made me question the mind of the guy who wrote it.  In the end I was left wondering if the writer was a creative genius or some one who perhaps ought to be locked up just to be on the safe side!

—000—

Remember …

In the darkest hours when modelling and painting aren’t going your way just remind yourself of the old saying …

“If at first you don’t succeed then perhaps skydiving is not for you!”

—000—

Until next time.

TIM