The Imperfect Modeller

TIM’s Miniatures & Musings (No: 2)

May 29, 2019May 27, 2019 by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Musings, Uncategorized

Welcome to this weeks edition of Miniatures and Musings!

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TIM’s Mid Week Miniature

This weeks mini is Blanche from Hasslefree Miniatures.

Now I don’t know how many of you believe in reincarnation but for those of you who do it might interest you to know this figure is based on a real women I dated in a past life. According to the therapist who undertook my hypnotherapy I was by all accounts to hot for her to handle.

John at Just Needs Varnish was disappointed by last weeks post, he thought the word “miniatures” in the title was a reference to small bottles of whisky. Never one to disappoint my audience the last photo is just for you John!

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Torquay Model Show

On Saturday I went to the Torquay model show, my first show of the year. Next week when I have a little more time (hopefully) I will include a proper review. Meanwhile treat this as a teaser and try not to get to excited!

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Lord Flash

Every now and then along comes a figure that in my humble opinion no miniature collection would be compete without. Such a figure is Lord Flash. The figure is limited to 500 castings and mine is number 192. So cool is this figure that I think I will have to buy another couple before they sell out.

The figure is by Giants in Miniature and was purchased through North Star at a cost of £3.50 plus postage. I have added a YouTube clip to wet your appetite further. Now just go and buy one. You know you want to!

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Random Questions

I suspect we have all been put in the position where from out of the blue someone asks a totally random question to which they want an answer. My most recent example of this phenomenon came from my daughter last week. There I was sitting at my desk painting away when she asked “Dad, after so many years of marriage why do you still call mum darling, beautiful or sweet heart?”. I wasn’t entirely sure how to answer that question at first but in the end settled for telling her the truth. “Well, I completely forgot her name five years ago and I’ve been to scared to ask her ever since”.

Not sure she believed me but she went away happy.

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This week TIM has been listening to …

… Gold Radio.

Gold Radio is a digital station which plays music from the 60′, 70′ and 80’s and with very little interruption from either adverts or DJ’s. It allows me to sing a long and wallow in nostalgia. On a good day it helps to switch off from all the shit in the world.

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This week TIM has been watching …

… Rocket Man.

Image result for rocketman

Went to the cinema on Sunday with With She who Thinks She Must Be Obeyed Too to see the Elton John Biopic. Having been working so hard for her GCSE exams she needed a break and was keen to see it. We had gone to see Bohemian Rhapsody a while back which she enjoyed so we hoped for more of the same, allowing for the obvious differences of course.

Our joint verdict as we drove home was that the film was OK but not a patch on Bo Rhap. (get me, Bo Rhap, that’s what comes from hanging out with the kids!) Elton has had a very colourful life and his music is great so all the ingredients were there for telling a remarkable story. Unfortunately the director took these quality ingredients and served up a shit pie. Enjoyable but more like Mama Mia than Bo Rhap. It could have been so much more.

Win some, lose some.

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Until next time.

TIM

Tomb Stoned – A 28mm Old West Diorama (Part 1)

May 25, 2019May 21, 2019 by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Buildings, Old West, Uncategorized

Introduction

Last November I went on my first ever visit to the Telford show. In a brief write up afterwards I mentioned that one of the many things I came home with was a very large display case which set me back the bargain price of £50.00.

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My plan was and still is to put together an Old Western Town diorama featuring half a dozen buildings and a good number of figures. For sometime now I have been trying to decide just what to do and although I still have no detailed plan I am clear on a few things. With that in mind I decided I would make a start and, like all the dioramas I have ever done, I will figure a lot of it out as I go along.

So, a couple of things to note before getting into some detail. Firstly, the title for this diorama is a working one. I have no idea right now what to actually call it. Maybe this title will stick, we will see. Secondly, this diorama is going to be a marathon. If it doesn’t extend into a 100 posts I will be amazed so this is going to be a long ride for all of us! However fear not. There is no way I will be dedicated to this without deviating from time to time to do something else. All things being well there will be lots of other posts to break things up a bit.

Now let’s get started.

Building No: 1 – Blacksmiths & Livery Stable

Of one thing I was certain, this diorama was and is is going to feature a blacksmiths/livery stable. The question I had to answer was do I completely scratch build something like I did way back when I did this building …

https://theimperfectmodeller.wordpress.com/2017/05/28/building-project-no-3/

… or do I buy an MDF kit and pimp it?

Before answering that question I decided to take a look at what buildings were out there. After checking out the manufactures I knew and others I found from more searching, I once again settled on Sarissa Precision (I suspect I will use Blotz for all the other buildings I do). Sarissa had a Dutch Barn which I didn’t like and a Livery Stable which looked nice but was just too big for the case. In the end it was the Blacksmiths building which caught my eye. At a cost £20.00 it was a no brainer so I made the decision to “pimp”, made the purchase and a few days later this is what I got.

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Now followers of this blog might remember that I have a love hate relationship with MDF. I love the precision fit but I hate the flat finish even when it has been neatly etched. It’s personal but there you are. In fairness I struggle to get the depth on flat surfaces that others can achieve with their painting so adding texture overcomes the problem for me. It does require a lot of effort though. Still that is what I do.

A study of the bits revealed that assembly would be relatively straight forward and also highlighted what I needed to do. The etched brick work has to go as does the etched boarding as well. The flat interior will have to be addressed and the roof needs to be tiled. Signage is something I need to get my head around and I will need to make a decision before too long as to what figures and accessories to acquire before I get to carried away. They need to be incorporated into the assembly before hand and not afterwards.

What figures to buy is still an issue I need to resolve. I have two preferred suppliers for the old west. Kuckleduster are far superior to Dixon miniatures but Dixon’s produce wagons and a stage coach whereas Knucleduster don’t, well not so far. The obvious thing would be to use a combination of both suppliers but Knuckleduster figures are heroic scale and Dixon’s are more like 25mm. I appreciate people come in different shapes and sizes but this difference in scale just doesn’t work for me. As things currently stand I am erring on Knuckleduster and hoping the figures and accessories will continue to expand over the life time of this project. Time will tell.

In any event I have made a start.

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The fire/furnace and chimney has been put together and as you can see I have begun to clad the assembled piece with individual bricks. The bricks are a red mix from Juweela and are 1:48 scale. They match perfectly with the etched MDF so just a case of sticking down whole and half bricks in line with the etched pattern and finishing of with some filler to any gaps afterwards. I reckon 500 bricks should do it! That’s me sorted for the next week.

Might even listen to IRO’s podcast while I’m at it!

TIM

TIM’s Miniatures & Musings (No: 1)

May 22, 2019May 21, 2019 by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Musings, Uncategorized

After a certain amount of deliberation I have decided to rebrand The News at TIM – Mid Week Musings. It’s no big deal and to some extent very little has changed but as I mentioned in last weeks Musings, I felt the need for some minor changes and as such it felt like a good idea to reflect that in the title of the post.

So, welcome to the first of TIM’s Miniatures & Musings!

So what has actually changed? Well for this post and probably every subsequent one not a great deal other than I now plan to include a completed miniature in every post. The thing is a short while ago I made significant change to my modelling, a return to single figure painting albeit in 28mm scale instead of 54mm. I’m still doing my vignettes and dioramas and these will be the feature of my Saturday posts but with no real outlet for the single figures I am doing, and not much to say about them either, I thought I would give them some feature space of their own. So, without further ado let’s move on to …

TIM’S Mid Week Miniature

As this is the first post I thought I would kick us off with a double bill, two figure by Crooked Dice. They actually come as a pair under the title “Best of Enemies”. Clearly modeled on the characters James Bond and Ernst Blofeld. Wonderfully sculptured figures in my opinion and a joy to paint. The only minor thing of note was using black gloss paint to highlight the seem on Bond’s DJ trousers (barely visible in the photos annoyingly!) I can’t remember the last time I used a gloss paint that wasn’t metallic.

For the final photo I dug out my copy of Casino Royal from my complete set of Bond books (The centenary additions with fantastic artwork on all the covers) and my old Corgi diecast Aston Martin DB5, clearly not to scale!

I guess you either love Bond or you don’t. I guess I’m drawn to him because of the similarities between us!

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Time zones

Despite having spent most of my working life employed by an international bank and being aware of when the world woke up and when I could expect to make that all important phone call, I find the concept of time zones hard to get my head around.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand the science of the earths rotation and day and night but I struggle to comprehend that while I’m getting up in the UK to begin a new day some of you in Australia are about to go to bed while my American friends are all tucked up nice and warm and still fast a sleep.

The idea that I can be eating my porridge and knocking back my first caffeine fix of the day while corresponding with IRO, Pat or Azazel who have been to work, had their tea, watched TV, converted and painted a figure or two and who are now sitting in their PJ’s having cleaned their teeth in readiness to go to bed is a little weird. Meanwhile the likes of Mark in America are tucked up in bed oblivious to it all.

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Thought for the week?

Have you ever wondered why …

… the time of day with the slowest traffic is called the rush hour?

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This week TIM has been watching …

… Kick Ass the movie.

The foreground features the superhero Kick-Ass in his green and yellow costume. Against a black background the words KICK-ASS are written in yellow block capitals.

Having mentioned in a recent post that I had never seen the film I manged to get hold of a brand new copy on DVD and sat and watched it with my daughter. I wasn’t disappointed and loved the Banana Splits scene. I suspect the sequel wont be as good but we will watch it on Netflix anyway.

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This week TIM has been listening to …

… Oasis and Morning Glory.

I like a lot of Oasis tracks but this one, mainly because I like the intro, is a particular favourite. Just such a shame that the Gallagher brothers come across as such a couple of twats.

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Until next time.

TIM

Sisters of Anarchy – A 28mm Diorama

May 18, 2019May 17, 2019 by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Miscellaneous, Uncategorized

This is the second of three in my mini series under the very lose genre title, Apocalypse. In my own mind I kind of thought I needed to group them together and this is the best I could come up with. What’s in a name anyway?

So what do we have here?

Well what we have are two Hasslefree figures, both with a bit of attitude. The observant of you who follow this blog will recognise the larger figure on the right. This is the same figure I used in my recently named “Get out of my fucking room!” diorama. As previously mentioned I just love this figure which just happens to come in three variations. This is the second and the third option is for the figure to have a wand in the right hand and a spell book in the other. For now at least I cannot see myself doing that one.

Inspired by the Sex Pistols I decided to go down an anarchy themed route and set the figures against a graffiti daubed wooden fence. As a minor tribute I added the album cover and the words “Never Mind The Bollocks …” The graffiti was free hand and is OK while the little piece of wire fence to the right was made from the plastic mesh that garlic cloves come in from the supermarket.

Not a great deal more to say so on to the photo’s which begin with a few work in progress shots.

TIM

The News at TIM – Mid Week Musings (No: 52)

May 15, 2019May 14, 2019 by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Uncategorized

Welcome to this weeks Musings!

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It’s Just a Number

As you can see from the title this is Mid Week Musing number 52. The number suggests that this post represents the completion of one years worth of dross published by me under this heading. In reality the first Mid Week Musing post went live on the 28th February last year. There have been, as some of you will know, a few Mid Week Musings Specials and it is these posts which have thrown the numeric sequence out of line with the calendar year.

I thought I would mention this as I would hate for you all to go to a great expense by showering me with birthday gifts when the money could be spent more wisely on figures and accessories for your own collection. That said, if you insist on some form of financial gift then I would respectfully suggest a modest donation to “TIM Aid”, a charity I set up to help old people get their leg over more regularly by funding trips to Amsterdam’s red light district.

In anticipation …

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Time Gentlemen Please!

Historically a pub landlord would make this pronouncement at closing time and follow it up by ushering out his the last remaining customers. I say historically, for all I know outside of my village it might still happen but the publican at the Blacksmiths Arms does not adhere to such rules, which is how my mate John and I came to still be in there drinking at half past midnight on Monday.

So why were we there and on a Monday of all days of the week? Well the answer is a simple one, Monday evening was the first meeting of the newly elected Wankville Parish Council and following three hours of complete boredom it became apparent that alcohol in vast quantities was required.

I know I have only myself to blame for my personal involvement but the challenge which lays before me must be met head on as daunting as the prospect is. To provide some perspective about five minutes were spent discussing a highly contentious planning application and forty five minutes on whether or not the council should spend £50.00 paying to have the grass cut at the church cemetery.

On the positive side of things I will undoubtedly spend more time modelling. It has always been my release to frustration. As things stand at the moment I will either improve my skills as a painter and modeller or I will become a alcoholic serial killer. Betting in my household has currently been suspended.

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Mid Week Miniature

When I started Mid Week Musings over a year ago my aim was to maintain a modelling focus no matter how tenuous the link might be. Whilst listing what I have been watching and listening to roughly ticks the box (as they operate in parallel while I am modelling and painting), the fact is some of my more recent posts are of me on my political soap box. I am not happy about this but the simple truth is I am finding it harder to keep things model related simply because I am running out of ideas and incidents.

To this end I have decided that next week I am going to introduce Mid Week Miniature.

Is this the end of Mid Week Musings? No, sorry!

The Mid Week Miniature will either be a feature within Mid Week Musings when I have something of a Musings nature to add or it might just be a short post in its own right. My regular Saturday post will continue to mainly centre around the diorama based work that I like to do.

I suspect I will still include the odd soap box piece too. Let’s face it, I’m getting older and grumpier and I’ve got to let it out somewhere. The kids aren’t interested, SWMBO simply ignores me and I have it on good authority that kicking the dog isn’t legal (it’s a joke, it’s a joke – no dogs were hurt in typing this sentence OK!)

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This week TIM has been watching …

… A Few Good Men, starring Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson and Demi Moore.

Not a new film by any means but I do like Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson and when it comes to Court Room dramas they don’t come a lot better than this one.

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This week TIM has been listening to …

… Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me) by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel.

One of my all time favourite records. Back in the day I saw them play at the Winning Post in Twickenham just a few miles from where I used to live in Feltham. Listening to it evokes so many memories of a time gone by.

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Until next time.

TIM

The Wizard Library – 28mm Box Diorama (Part 2)

May 11, 2019May 10, 2019 by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Fantasy, Uncategorized

At long last I managed to get some more work done on this boxed diorama.

While I worked out where I was with the project and what needed to be done next I decided to stain the wooden box. Nothing exciting in this at all but it needed to be done and allowed me to think about other things at the same time. Real multi-tasking. Try not to be blown away by the two photo’s below!

My next step was get the back wall painted. Again nothing special, just grey paint, shading and dry brushing on top of the chinchilla dust render. The wooden coffee stirrers were stained too.

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The same colour scheme was used for the right hand wall. The pillar was a simple piece of split wooden dowel with a rubber washer plinth at the bottom. The door was a bought item and the shield above the door was a computer print out. The shield crest is that of Arthur Pendragon which is apt as will become known when the diorama is finished.

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Focus then passed to the left hand wall. The fireplace was another bought item as were the candlesticks and various bits and bobs which sit on the mantle piece.

I decided the wall looked bare and need some interest and some colour. To remedy this I chose to make a few “Oil Paintings”. The pictures themselves were printed on the computer but all the images are of figures which I have painted, mostly by Reaper.

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Next it was time to concentrate on some of the many bits and pieces which will be placed in and around the room.

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So that’s pretty much where I am for now.

I have a couple of bookcases to finish painting along with a couple of figures. The lighting needs to be sorted and I still need to keep an eye on how it will all be assembled in the box.

Plenty of fiddly stuff still to do so not sure yet if the next post will be another work in progress or the completed diorama. I will also be taking time out to finish another little project I have been working on which may end up being my next post.

TIM

The News at TIM – Mid Week Musings (No: 51)

May 8, 2019May 7, 2019 by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Musings, Uncategorized

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.

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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!

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This week TIM has been watching …

… Line of Duty series 5, the finale.

Image result for line of duty

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.

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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!)

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Until next time.

TIM

Major John Howard – 28mm Stoessi’s Heroes

May 4, 2019May 4, 2019 by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Uncategorized, WW2

With no time to call my own this week the best I could manage was to finish this figure which had been sitting around half done for a good few weeks.

This is my fourth and final individual 28mm “Stoessi’s Heroes” figure for the Plymouth Model Club D-Day display.

According to “Stoessi’s” web site Major (Reginald) John Howard was a British Army officer who led a glider-borne assault on two bridges between Bénouville and Ranville in Normandy, as part of the D-Day landings during WW2. These bridges spanned the Caen Canal and the adjacent River Orne (about 500 yards to the east), and were vitally important to the success of the D-Day landings. Since the war the bridge over the canal has become known as “Pegasus Bridge”, as a tribute to the men who captured it, while the bridge over the River Orne later became known as Horsa Bridge after the Horsa gliders that had carried the troops to the bridges.

This figure represents a first for me in that it’s the first time I’ve ever attempted to paint a camouflage uniform. Probably not the best person to say whether it looks authentic or not but from a personal perspective I’m happy with it as a first (and likely last) attempt.

Photos below.

TIM

PS: Not wishing to embarrass me (I’m happy to do it for myself!) John at Just Needs Varnish being the top bloke that he is very kindly emailed me to say Airbourne should read Airborne. A case for less speed and more haste. That said if I am being truely honest I would have most likely spelled it wrong even if I had taken my time! Cheers John, I owe you one.

The News at TIM – Mid Week Musings (No: 50)

May 1, 2019April 30, 2019 by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Musings, Uncategorized

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.

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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

Wasp Apocalypse: “Get Out Of My Room!” – A 28mm Diorama

April 27, 2019June 24, 2020 by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Fantasy, Uncategorized

Now what I should have been publishing is part 2 of my Wizard Library boxed diorama but before I went on holiday and since I got back I have been distracted by the desire to complete this model instead. It is the first of what I hope will be at least a series of three little dioramas with an apocalyptic theme. There might be more, we will see.

Every now and then I get an idea for a vignette or diorama which excites me for absolutely no reason that I can think off whatsoever. This is such an example. I can’t say it’s the best idea I have ever had or that the models are in some way truly outstanding but something goes off in my head which says “yep, you gotta do that one”. Perhaps it has something to do with being different but in truth I’m not sure.

Some of you may recall that in a recent post in relation to Azazel’s March challenge I featured this figure.

You may also recall that I said the base work hadn’t been completed because it was due to feature in a little diorama which I had planned. Well this is that little diorama. Originally titled “Get Out Of My Fucking Room!” but then toned down in case I take it to a show! I had intended for this to be a two-part post, a work in progress followed by the completed scene but unusually things went well so I decided to treat you to a single post.

Key to the scene as you will see in the photos below is the little girl. I came across this figure some while ago and just knew I wanted to use it in something and although I had plenty of ideas I wasn’t blown away with anyone in particular. The figure by the way is from Hasslefree. That changed when by chance, playing around on Pinterest I think it was, I came across CP Models Wasp Jumpers. Some how I knew the two had to go together and the end result was this little diorama.

The base measures 4.5cm by 4.5cm, it’s small. Small bricks, ground plaster board, bits of MDF and a window from my bits box were the primary items for the build. Small bits of clear plastic were used for broken glass and the wall paper was a computer print out.

The figures themselves were painted using acrylics and some oils. The wings for the wasps were free hand. I would have preferred the pattern to have been painted more thinly but on the positive side it is reasonably identical on both wings, above and below, and on both wasps which I am pleased with. Both wasps were coated in gloss varnish as on balance I think I preferred the slightly more mechanical type finish it gave.

CP Models only do one Wasp jumper figure. The higher wasp is the one I originally posted and is in the official pose, the second was modified slightly to make it appear a little different. At one point I thought of only having the one wasp but then decided I rather liked the sinister image of the second appearing above the little girl. I also considered adding more bits and bobs to the damaged room but with such a small base I thought it would be too much of a distraction from the figures themselves.

So, onto the photos, starting with a few work in progress images. As always I would be interested to know what you think. Apologies for some of the photo’s but with a reasonable amount of detail in such a mall area focusing and depth of field proved a challenge!

TIM

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