The News at TIM – Mid Week Musings (No: 49)

by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Uncategorized

Welcome to this weeks Musings!

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Inspiration

I got less time to think about my future modelling and blog plans on holiday than I thought I would. Some how eating and drinking and being obliged to spend more time with SWMBO and my daughter rather got in the way. I did, however, gain some inspiration from walking around Bruges and Amsterdam. Although not specifically related, the beautiful medieval city of Bruges has prompted me to look at such periods as the English Civil War, the Napoleonic wars, the Normans and the Roman Empire.  In due course I will conduct a figure search for each off these periods and see what, if anything, takes my fancy.

By contrast, Amsterdam provided less inspiration, although a diorama featuring Rastafarian’s out of their minds on drugs and a vignette of an old artist indulging in self harm by chopping of his ear did spring to mind! In fairness a visit to the Anne Frank museum really did prove extremely interesting and although I’m not inclined to depict her story the idea of delving a little more into WW2 does appeal.

One thing is for sure, I haven’t run out of ideas just yet.

—000—

Interesting People

There are many aspects to a holiday, one of which is meeting people. On the one hand there are a great many odd and very, very weird people in the world, far more than I think is probably healthy. On the other hand, every now and then you can get to meet some very interesting people. On this occasion I got to meet several, two of whom particularly stood out.

The first was a retired civil servant who worked in the Houses of Parliament and who had met and worked in various capacities for every Prime Minister between about 1974 and 2000. She provided a fascinating insight on how things worked behind the scenes. As interesting as it was to listen to her I couldn’t help but feel following the Brexit debacle that maybe Guy Fawkes had the right idea all those years ago!

The second was a chap employed by Eric Clapton as Estate Manager on his Surrey mansion, a job he has held for a great many years. With Eric apparently out in Japan he and his wife were able to take a break of their own. Understandably, given the nature of his role he was very discreet and “dishing the dirt” on Eric was never on the cards. He was, however, happy to mention that he had met Ringo Starr a few times and that he was someone he hadn’t warmed to. A case of someone who had lost track of his roots was how he saw him. By contrast, Freddie Mercury who he had also met was in his opinion a really decent bloke.  He thought so much of him that as yet he hasn’t been able to bring himself to watch the film Bohemian Rhapsody for fear it will tarnish the image he has.

My favorite story, however, was when he told us that in the lead up to a land mark birthday a few years ago, Eric had said he would host a party for him to celebrate and, if it was OK, invite a few of his friends over.  By all accounts it was an amazing bash with a whole host of ageing rock legends in attendance!  It’s not what you know but who you know.

Both of these people were extremely interesting and made for great company.  Alas, the subject of my figure painting and modelling never came up but had it done I suspect they would have both been blown away by the finer points of the hobby!

—000—

This week TIM has been listening to …

… Genesis and “I Can’t Dance”

Definitely one of my favorite bands and Phil Collins on his own too scores highly with me.  As with a lot of groups I could have selected any number of songs and I’m sure others will feature in future posts.  As it is this track is high up on my list and I love the video too.  Even with the two left feet that I have I reckon this is one dance I could handle

—000—

This week TIM has been watching …

… Peter Cook & Dudley Moore and the “Tarzan” sketch.

My brother reminded me of this classic a few weeks ago.  Filmed back in 1964 but as funny to me now as it would have been back then.  If you haven’t ever seen it then I hope you enjoy it!

—000—

Until next time.

TIM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nancy Wake “White Mouse” – 28mm Stoessi’s Heroes

by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Uncategorized, WW2

As I only returned to Blighty yesterday I’ve had no time to get any painting or modelling done.  Fortunately though I managed to finish this little number before I went away which left me with just enough time to write and schedule a quick post upon my return.

It is the third of four individual 28mm “Stoessi’s Heroes” figures for the Plymouth Model Club D-Day display.  I’m not sure if Nancy Wake  was in any way involved with D-Day but the French Resistance would have been and so I wanted to include a suitable figure.  I settled on this one because Nancy was quite a remarkable women and I felt she deserved a shout out in my blog!

According to “Stoessi’s” web site Nancy Wake was a hard-drinking, hard-fighting WWII special agent, saboteur, and Maquis commander who survived four days of Gestapo interrogation, saved over two hundred downed Allied pilots from falling into the clutches of the Nazis, blew up a couple German supply depots, had a bounty of five million Francs placed on her head, and then killed an SS soldier with her bare hands.

She was the Allies’ most decorated servicewoman of WWII, and the Gestapo’s most-wanted person. They code-named her ‘The White Mouse’ because of her ability to elude capture.

Some lady!

Photos below.

TIM

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The News at TIM – Mid Week Musings (No: 48)

by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Musings, Uncategorized

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.

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—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.

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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

The Wizard Library – 28mm Box Diorama (Part 1)

by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Uncategorized

The Introduction

Back in October 2017 I put together my first and only boxed diorama using a Wild West saloon for the theme.

https://theimperfectmodeller.wordpress.com/2017/10/08/28mm-old-west-saloon-boxed-diorama/

I had always planned to have another go at one but as more and more modelling ideas cropped up which appealed to me the more the idea got pushed back.  About six months ago the project reared its head again and I created an initial outline of what I wanted to do and followed that up by buying several bits and pieces to get things underway.  Everything arrived and everything was good but once again my mind wandered off to other things and the project was again cast aside.

Until now!

The Plan

So what is a boxed diorama?  Essentially it is the modelling equivalent of a stage production.  The audience only gets one view of what is going on, just like a theatre production there is no 360° view.

By my reckoning there are two ways to approach a boxed diorama.  Either you build a diorama and make a box to fit it or you buy a box and fit the diorama to the dimensions of the box.  As I didn’t fancy the idea of building a half decent box I chose the latter option.  Finding the right box with a vision panel cut into the front is a challenge in itself but fortunately when I bought the one for my first attempt I had the presence of mind to buy a second box as well! The down side of fitting to a bought box is everything has to be cut to size perfectly for later assembly.  Building inside a box, especially a small one, isn’t a realistic option unless the model itself is very simple.

I’m not entirely sure now where the idea for a diorama based on a “Wizards Library” theme came from but I suspect it grew out of seeing a couple of Reaper figures online which caught my eye.  Basing a diorama around a room also works well for inside a box as the sides lend themselves nicely to becoming walls.

Armed with a box, the necessary materials and a reborn enthusiasm for the project it was time to get started!

Phase 1

Using 2mm thick MDF boards the first thing was to accurately cut back, left and right panels which would line the inside of the box from top to bottom and act as removable walls for the external building of the diorama.  This done the next step was to cut out an MDF base that would sit inside the removable back and side walls.  For the mathematicians and engineers among you the MDF base would need to be 4mm narrower from left to right than the “actual” internal  base and 2mm shorter from back to front.  A test fit revealed that all was good.

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Top picture is of the box.  Bottom picture is of the MDF cut outs for the sides, back and base along with the wooden blocks which will be used to raise the floor.

Now when you look at the actual box you will hopefully notice three things.

  1. The front vision panel at the lowest point sits higher than the actual base of the box (by about 2cm);
  2. There is a lid to the box which also has a vision panel;
  3. The lid is not flat, it contains an internal height/depth of its own (of about 1cm)

The first two of these needed to be addressed.

In the case of the first the cut MDF base was raised to an appropriate height by gluing some wooden supports to the underneath of the base to bring the height of the floor up to match the bottom of the vision panel.

For the lid I cut a thick piece of card to act as an insert which will conceal the glass panel.  It will in due course be used to put the dioramas name on.  As for the lid space itself this will be used to house the LED electrics which I plan to install.  With only light coming on from the front vision panel the inside of the box will be too dark; my first obstacle.

I needed to add lighting which would be in keeping with the fantasy theme, which is to say I could not have exposed electric lights.  I ruled out the light source appearing to come from candles and/or a burning fireplace.  Although I like the idea I couldn’t see how to do it well and to produce sufficient light.  After much deliberation I elected to go for “sunlight”.  I created a false back wall to sit in front of the other back wall and added some windows to it.  The LED lights will be installed between the two back walls and hopefully the light will shine through the windows and into the library room.  To be sure of enough illumination I also built a roof with wooden joists so that more concealed lighting could be added if necessary.

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First two photos above are of the false wall under construction.  The fourth is of the ceiling with wooden joists being assembled.

My next dilemma was how to “construct” the walls and floor.  By construct what I mean by that was do I clad the MDF with wood paneling, brick, stone or something else?  In the end I decided to go with the same render type finish for the walls that I used on my D-Day buildings diorama so out came the chinchilla dust!

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The rendered false wall.

For the floor I had little choice but to go with cobblestones.  All three of the Reaper figures which will be used in the diorama were cast on cobblestone bases so the idea of making the rest of the base cobblestones pretty much chose itself.  This was done using Milliput and one of my Green Stuff World textured rollers.

After the Milliput had set I needed to remove various bits of it so the three figures would sit flush.  Adjustments were also needed for the fireplace which would be on the left wall and the door which would be on the right wall.

It also occurred to me that having a raised floor at the back of the base would enable the viewer to have a clearer view of the rear once everything was assembled.

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The cobblestone floor under construction. Steps added to the front of the elevated floor and to the left a base for the fireplace.

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Top photo of left wall under construction followed by the right wall.  For the right wall the pillars were made from splitting a dowel rod and half a rubber washer for the base.  The third photo shows the false wall in situ for a test fit.

So far so good.  Phase 1 is complete.  I have walls, a base and a ceiling which all slide in and out of the box neatly and basic finishing has been applied as appropriate to each piece.  A long, long way still to go but I’m up and running.

TIM

 

The News at TIM – Mid Week Musings (No: 47)

by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Musings, Uncategorized

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.

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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

Azazel March Challenge (Part 2)

by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Old West, Uncategorized

The monthly challenge for March as set by Azazel was twofold, a squad and/or something gender ambiguous.  Having posted my contribution for “Gender Ambiguous” last week this week sees my submission for a “Squad”.

As a non gamer I have applied my own interpretation and thus have gone with Wyatt Earp, his brothers Virgil and Morgan and of course Doc Holliday.  All the figures are Knuckleduster 28mm heroic scale and have been modelled on the characters portrayed in the film Tombstone starring Kurt Russell as Wyatt and Val Kilmer as Doc.  Simply lovely figures to paint!

Individual figure images below along with a group shot at the end.

TIM

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The News at TIM – Mid Week Musings (No: 46)

by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Musings, Uncategorized

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

 

 

 

 

 

Azazel March Challenge (Part 1 – Gender Ambiguous)

by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Fantasy, Uncategorized

For reasons I cannot begin to explain, last week when I posted details of my little German chap it seems some of you, maybe all of you, saw a waspish character as the first image.  Not surprisingly this created some confusion with a few of you bringing the matter to my attention.  Like I say, I have no idea how or what happened; when I went into edit mode all I could see was my fully intended post.  All very odd.

As far as I can tell the image seen was one of the three photos below.

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The figure is a “Wasp Jump Trooper” and one of three I bought for a little diorama I have planned.  Then Azazel added to the March Squad challenge with “Gender Ambiguous” so I thought I would complete the figure with the exception of the basing.

There wasn’t a great deal more to be done.  I wanted to apply gloss varnish and do something more with the wings.   Gloss varnish was a bit of a gamble so I would be interested in your thoughts on whether it looked better matt or as it is now.  The wings needed some interest so I went for a free hand pattern which I could repeat on both wings top and bottom.

The “final” figure is below.

TIM

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TIM’s EBay Adventure – Part 5 (A Mid Week Musings Special)

by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Musings, Uncategorized

… 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.

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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.

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To be continued …

TIM

 

Generalmajor Heinz Harmel – 28mm Stoessi’s Heroes

by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Uncategorized, WW2

Painting has been difficult this week but fortunately I had most of this little model done before my back problem struck.  A couple of other figures were also well on the way so I’m hoping to complete those too and then all being well I can pick up on the numerous things I had planned.

This figure is the second of four individual 28mm “Stoessi’s Heroes” figures for the Plymouth Model Club D-Day display.  I’m not sure if German Brigadeführer & Generalmajor Heinz Harmel was in any way involved with D-Day, I suspect he wasn’t, but I wanted to include a German figure for a bit of balance.  I settled on this one because I liked the pose and felt that as he was holding a pair of binoculars it kind of leant itself to looking out and assessing just what an earth was going on.

For the record, and according to “Stoessi’s” web site, Generalmajor Heinz Harmel was at the age of 37 the youngest man to ever become a Generalmajor and lead a Waffen SS-Division. Harmel was given command of the 10th SS-Panzardivision “Frundsberg”, where he was warmly accepted by the young men in the 10th SS as one of their own. He belonged to them since he had moved up through the ranks and understood therefore how to assess the concerns and needs of his men.

Harmel is remembered for his defensive action during the Battle of Arnheim which resulted in the failure of the British airborne assault as described in the book and movie “A Bridge Too Far”.

The keen eyed amoungst you might notice the cotton reel!

Photos below.

TIM

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