The Imperfect Modeller

The News at TIM -Mid Week Musings (No: 40)

January 2, 2019January 1, 2019 by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Musings, Uncategorized

Welcome to this weeks Musings and to 2019. Happy New Year to you all.

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2018 – That Was The Year That Was

This being the first week of the New Year it seemed appropriate to review the modelling year just gone. So, where to start?

Well the first question I guess is just when should a year end review take place, just before the end of the year (as some of you have done and excellent write ups they were too by the way) or at the dawn of the new one? Well, after much soul searching I reached the conclusion that it doesn’t much matter at all and I suspect none of you could give a toss anyway. Besides I expect you are all still nursing hangovers even though this is 2019 day 2.

So, where to start?

Looking back I surprised myself with just how many models I actually produced. Whilst a long way short of the numbers that Azazel and others produce I managed to create 35 or so vignettes and dioramas along with a good many stand alone figures which I couldn’t be arsed to count. No wonder I’m struggling to find a home for all of them!

Overall I’m pleased with most of what I done but there were disappointments. Not everything works out the way you hope. An idea which seems exciting at the time can unfortunately look shit when finished. One such example was a little diorama that I put together called “Lights, Camera, Action!”.

https://theimperfectmodeller.wordpress.com/2018/06/16/lights-camera-action-28mm-hammer-horror-diorama-part-3-final/

It wasn’t so much that the end result was that bad, more a case of it not turning out the way I had imagined it. Definitely a concept I’d like to revisit at some point.

On a more positive note the WW1 timeline figures which I started in 2017 and completed in early 2018 were, at the time, quite a departure for me and one that I came to enjoy. They also helped to establish myself at the Plymouth Model Club which was also significant on a personal level. I also dabbled throughout the year with Reaper fantasy figures, another area which a year or so ago I would never have thought about doing. So glad that I did, really enjoyed doing those and in particular the freedom of colour choice.

Do I have some personal model favorites? Well yes I do.

“Fantasy Island” caused a bit of a stir at the time and represented my 100th blog post. It provided something of a challenge to do and was a little different as well. I entered a couple of competitions with it getting two third places which I was happy about, particularly as I had never entered any competitions before.

https://wordpress.com/post/theimperfectmodeller.wordpress.com/3107

Another favorite was “The Dragon Slayer”. Another fantasy based model which again provided something different and I loved doing this one from start to finish. I even surprised myself with how well this one turned out (probably shouldn’t say that, a bit like laughing at your own jokes). Seems this one went down well with the viewing public too, with 85 views, 58 comments and 25 likes it’s been my most successful post to date. Looks like another dragon is on the cards.

My aim is to enter this one into a couple of competitions in 2019 and although I don’t expect to win anything I will be interested to see how it gets on and what other people think.

https://wordpress.com/post/theimperfectmodeller.wordpress.com/3730

Last of all, and possibly my personal favorite was Rooster Cogburn. A return to my Old Wild West roots and 54mm scale. It had been a while since I did a 54mm figure and the difference between painting at this scale and 28mm is significant, well to me it is. Painting horses using oil paints is a joy and this one came up pretty good. How good we will have to see. Another possible competition entrant but the standard in the single figure class is amazing but hey, if you don’t buy a lottery ticket you can’t win can you?

https://wordpress.com/post/theimperfectmodeller.wordpress.com/3822

Last year also saw me trying out some new techniques. Making trees and buildings mainly come to mind and if the tutorials I also put together have been helpful then that is simply an added bonus.

My blog itself has grown a bit too. I have a few more followers than I did this time last year and whilst I will never reach numerical dizzy heights I do love the banter with those of you who participate. Not just banter but some great feedback and ideas too, valuable stuff. It’s tempting to list you all but I will end up leaving someone out which will piss us both off and then I’ll get abuse and lose a follower and the world as I know it will cave in and I just don’t need the aggro at the start of the year and neither do you. I have enough of that from She Who Must Be Obeyed and from my 15 year old daughter She Who Thinks She Should Be Obeyed Too (if you have ever seen the film “Uncle Buck” you’ll have some idea of where my daughter’s attitude is right now).

I will however just make reference here though to Azazel’s monthly challenges as they are inspirational and motivational to us all and I hope to participate in as many as possible throughout 2019 although January is looking extremely dodgy already.

Publication of my modelling memoirs – This Is Me! – caused me some angst. Should I or shouldn’t I? In the end I decided what the hell and adopted the Fleet Street maxim of publish and be damned. On reflection I’m not entirely sure it was a great idea but fuck it, it’s too late now!

The News at TIM – Mid Week Musings continues to surprise me. Firstly because it’s still going and secondly because they get more views that my model posts. Has to be a message there don’t you think? The aim of my Musings is to try to put a smile on peoples faces and create the occasional debate and if that only works every now and then that makes it worth while to my mind. The world needs more fun and if I can add to that by generating the odd smile here and there then so be it! Perhaps this year we might even be able to crank it up a bit. Remember I’m Ginger, you can have fun at my expense too!

Last of all but by no means least comes the Plymouth Model Club. I continue to enjoy it. It’s been great fun and meeting interesting people at various events has been an added bonus. The competitions have also been enjoyable and I managed to pick up 3 silvers and 3 bronzes from the two I entered. Maybe next year I might be able to go one step further but it wont be the end of the world if I don’t. More than anything they are a source of inspiration and motivation just like the monthly challenges and if it helps me to improve then so much the better.

Next week I’ll try and put together a plan for the year ahead. Of course it wont be worth the paper it’s written on but you’ve got to start somewhere.

If you have any thoughts on ideas for 2019 don’t be shy, feel free to comment.

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This week TIM has been listening to …

Joan Jett and The Blackhearts and “I Hate Myself for Loving You”.

I thought I would dedicate this to all of you!

Fancied a bit of Rock and this young lady made for a pretty hot rock chick at the time this track came out. Sadly I don’t think she looks a patch on what she used to and it’s not all down to age. Shame.

This week TIM has been watching …

Red Sparrow.

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Knowing that the Christmas TV would be crap yet again I decided to keep this DVD on hold for something to fall back on. After the parents went home, the wife nodded off and the daughter went back to hibernate in her room I decided to sit down and enjoy a couple of hours of watching Jennifer Lawrence.

I can’t say I knew a great deal about the film but the synopsis appealed to me so I decided to take a punt on it. Turned out to be a real bonus. Not only was it an excellent story with an unexpected twist at the end but Jennifer, a future Mrs TIM if only the planets would align (never let it be said I’m not an optimist) can be seen getting her kit off!

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Until next time. Happy New Year.

TIM

Lindisfarne – A 28mm Diorama – Part 1

December 29, 2018January 11, 2019 by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Dark Age, Uncategorized

Incredible as it seems another Christmas is over and I hope each and every one of you had an enjoyable time. More on the subject in a future Musings post perhaps but for now it’s time to focus on the New Year. Before that though my last post for 2018!

I hadn’t intended to post this Saturday, mainly because the Christmas festivities left little time to prepare anything but then I discovered that I had drafted a post which I never published. Not entirely sure how that came about as I’m generally well organised but clearly not on this occasion. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that the model remains neglected. I lost my way with this one sometime ago for what I am sure we’re good reasons at the time but blowed if I can think what they were now. Let’s put it down to age.

The down side of this post though is I now have to finish the diorama and with so many other things on the go I’m not really sure I want to. That said it will make for a good start to the year if I can install some discipline and finish off various projects before I get carried away with all the new things I have planned.

So, without further ado let’s move on.

The aim of this little diorama is to depict the beginning of the Viking age and the attack on Lindisfarne and its Priory in the year 793.

The figures were purchased from V and V Miniatures, either a Russian or a Polish company if I remember correctly, and one I hadn’t used before. The quality of the resin figures is very good but the simple truth is I really do not like resin figures that much (I’ll explain why at some point in the future), I’m a white metal guy at heart. Nevertheless I will keep an eye on their interesting range which at present is not huge but hopefully will grow.

The base when I get round to it will be a simple affair but for now all I have to show are images of the four painted figures. A little more work needs to be done but otherwise they are almost complete.

Progress photos below.

TIM

How to Make a 28mm Palm Tree

December 22, 2018December 22, 2018 by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Tutorials, Uncategorized

How to Make a Palm Tree.

The follow up to last week’s post – “X” Marks The Spot”.

https://wordpress.com/post/theimperfectmodeller.wordpress.com/4059

To make the palm tree I used the following items, you can of course use similar products:-

3 lengths of Florist wire, approximately 35cm in length
Goose feathers, approximately 3 to 5cm in length and roughly 35 to 40 in number
Milliput
Superglue
General purpose filler
A very small length of course string
Paints (various)

For the build I used the following tools:-

Small hand vice
Wire cutters
A cocktail stick
Paint brushes

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Step 1

Take two pieces of the 35cm Florist Wire, fold each in half and cut to make four equal lengths.

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Step 2

Take the four equal lengths of Florist Wire and place all four ends into the hand vice so that they are all tightly clamped together.

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Step 3

Using the 3rd piece of Florist wire start to wind it as tightly as you can around the four clamped pieces staring about 2cm up from the bottom. Ideally you want to keep the wire wound round closely following each turn but if there are small gaps it really doesn’t matter. Continue until you have run out of wire and then remove from the vice. You now have the main basis of the tree trunk.

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Step 4

Take the Milliput and make two largish balls and four small balls. Use one of the larger balls for the bottom of the tree trunk and one for the top. Push the four short lengths of wire which exist at the end of each end of the tree trunk through the Milliput as this will ensure it is all nicely fixed together. Taper the top ball a little to blend with the trunk and make a smooth joint, same for the bottom ball but flatten it a little as well to help create a base for later.

If the four lengths of wire are too long then use the wire clippers to shorten. You may wish to keep them long at the bottom anyway as this will help when it comes to fixing to a base. Personally I didn’t bother as I knew I would be adding base work around the tree which would be sufficient to hold it in place.

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Step 5

Before the Milliput dries use the point of the cocktail stick to make numerous holes in the top ball to allow for the feather palms to be inserted later. If you find you haven’t made enough (which is what happened to me!) you can easily drill more into the Milliput later.

Step 6

Once the Milliput has dried mix some General purpose filler together with some water and PVA glue and coat the tree trunk. Try to avoid it being to thick, you want to be able to keep the shape created by the wire you wrapped around. Set aside to dry.

NOTE – If you want to shape the trunk, give it a slight bend for example, do this before applying the filler!

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Step 7

While the filler on the tree trunk is drying it’s time to sort and paint the feathers. You can of course do this at anytime.

I bought my feathers on Ebay, a pack of 50 which proved sufficient to make a single tree with some over. I graded the feathers into three piles of similar length, small, medium, large. The smallest would create the lower palms leaves, followed by the medium length ones with the longest feathers stuck on last as you work bottom up.

After a bit of experimenting I painted the leaves using Citadel Biel-Tan Green Shade. I found the wash worked well. I brushed the paint on starting at the center of the feather stroking outwards and painted both sides. You should find that the paint will bind bits of the feather together to create natural fronds. You could try airbrushing but as I don’t have one I cannot comment. My only concern might be that an airbrush won’t create the fronds but if anyone gives it a go I would be interested to know how it went.

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Step 8

When the tree trunk is dry take the four small Milliput balls and glue them around the top ball, these are coconuts!

Once the “coconuts” have dried it’s time to paint the entire trunk. I used thinned oil paints starting with Burnt Umber as the base and then dry brushed highlights of Yellow Ocre and White. You can of course use any paints you like.

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Step 9

As a final touch to the coconuts I chopped up some very small pieces of string and stuck them on to create the effect of the husk.

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Step 10

With everything painted and dry it’s now time to glue in the feather palms. Start with the smallest feathers at the bottom and work round first and then work up. I chose to stick the feathers in using superglue as it dries quickly, otherwise you will be there all day long!

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Step 11

Your tree should now be complete. Congratulations!

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The final step is to base it which is of course down to the individual. I chose to keep mine simple, the figures in my vignette were what I wanted people to look at. A Milliput foundation held the completed tree in place. This was topped with sand and then painted. A sprinkling of chopped string was also added to the bottom of the tree.

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Well that’s it folks. Any questions please let me know. I may well have left something out. If you do give it a go please let me know how you get on. This was my first tree but it won’t be my last.

In the meanwhile Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.

TIM

The News at TIM – Mid Week Musings (No: 39)

December 19, 2018December 18, 2018 by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Musings, Uncategorized

Welcome to this weeks Musings!

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Christmas

This time next week Christmas Day will be over and Boxing Day will have begun. As a consequence this is my last Musings of 2018. It is therefore appropriate to wish each and every one of you and your families a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope you all enjoy the festivities whatever you have planned and I look forward to reading and following your blogs into 2019.

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She Who Must Be Obeyed

I feel I must give SWMBO an honorary mention as it is her birthday on 22nd December. It’s not just any old birthday, it’s her 60th. What do you give the women who has everything, including me? Yes that’s right, nothing.

To be fare a December birthday that close to Christmas is a nightmare. Unrealistic to go away, pointless going out for a meal when everywhere is rowdy and all that is being served is turkey and hopeless getting people together when everyone is off to their respective families. In short a disaster and one best deferred until the New Year.

Of course this is my interpretation not hers. I’ll let you know how well my sales pitch is received in the New Year. In the meanwhile I’m still trying to get my head around the idea of sleeping with someone who when I was a kid would have been the age of my granny.

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Model Feminism

Let me say up front I’m not anti women nor am I a racist or homophobic. If I don’t like someone or take exception to what they say it’s because I don’t like them or what they have to say. One of my best mates is gay and I know and like many people from different ethinic backgrounds. I’ve also had several women bosses over the years one of whom was probably the best boss I’ve ever had and I didn’t have to sleep with her to get on which on reflection was a shame. The problem is some of people within these groups need to seriously lighten up. As far as I am concerned I’m with Ricky Gervais in that there is nothing, and I mean nothing that cannot be laughed at and taken the piss out of. There is only one rule and that is that you have to be able to give it out as well as take it. As a ginger I’ve been taking it for years!

So where is this leading to?

Well I recently got embroiled in a conversation, quite how I’m not entirely sure.

At a recent gathering I found myself chatting to a women I had never met before and of all things found myself talking about modelling. To be more specific the Plymouth Modelling Club. I didn’t pick up straight away that she was some sort of feminist, partly because I was looking at her ample chest rather than registering what she actually had to say. It was when she said “don’t you think you ought to do more about it?” that I realized that she had asked me a question.

Trying to remember quickly what I had been nodding my head in response to I recalled her asking how many women there were at the club. Unsurprisingly there are none (you can’t count one of the young lads mum because she has to bring him and stay at the meetings because he can’t drive).

Although I pointed out that women were more than welcome to join (my witty “the pretty the better” remark wasn’t received terribly well) it was probably perceived as a male only club, a remark which was equivalent to lighting the blue touch paper and standing well clear, or so it seemed.

At this point she seemed to go off on one which was shortly followed by my having had enough. Big chest she may have had but I couldn’t listen to her ranting on any longer. Bringing the subject to a close I told her that when the WI allows male members and changes its name from the Women’s Institute and when the local swimming pool brings to an end female only swim sessions when there is no male equivalent, then she should feel free to come back and preach to me.

Just to be clear, the Plymouth Model club is open to women although I’m not sure how successful the advert “Plymouth Modelling Club seeks Females for club nights and Exhibitions” will prove to be.

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This week TIM has been listening to …

Nothing.

Well that’s not entirely true, what I thought I would do as it’s Christmas week was to nominate my favorite Christmas song. To my surprise this was tougher than I thought it would be. It was easy to dismiss everything by Cliff Richard and Paul McCartney simply because their contributions are, to put it mildly, shit.

I Believe In Christmas by Emerson, Lake and Palmer was a candidate, so to was Happy Xmas (War Is Over) by John Lennon and Fairy Tale of New York by the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl. If I went down the romantic route then East 17 with Stay Another Day would have won through.

As it turns out I like more Christmas songs than I realized but a decision for the number one spot had to be made and so in the end I went for …

I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday by Wizard.

A fun song which is what it should all be about at the end of the day. Besides Roy Wood shouting “OK you lot, take it” has to be a classic line.

This week TIM has been watching …

Nothing.

Yes, you’ve guessed it, that’s not entirely true either. I thought I would nominate my favorite festive film. Not quite so hard for me this time round although to be fare there are some decent nominations. After some deliberation I decided to go for …

Love Actually.

The film has a great cast and some great moments. I could have gone for any number of brilliant clips but chose to go with “Colin’s Trip To America”. Having been state side myself I can vouch for how true this scenario plays out. I guess we English just have what it takes. Meanwhile I’m off to Wisconsin for Christmas.

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Until the New Year.

TIM

“X” Marks The Spot – 28mm Reaper Miniatures (The December Challenge)

December 15, 2018December 14, 2018 by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Miscellaneous, Uncategorized

As several of you are aware I’m a fan of Reaper Miniatures. A little while ago I finished the last of a fantasy batch that I bought and promised myself that I would buy more Reaper figures in the future. Good to my word I bought a few a couple of weeks or so ago and began working on this little vignette during the closing stages of completing my recent WW2 diorama “Operation Overlord”.

I’ve been wanting to do something involving Pirates for some time but what with one thing and another never got around to doing anything about it. These two figures, along with another one, caught my eye as I was combing my way through the Reaper catalogue and so I finally bit the bullet and made the purchase.

The figures were a joy to paint, so much lovely colour after the drabness of WW2 uniforms. Nothing really to say in respect of the figure painting. The palm tree on the other hand is a complete scratch build.

I had never made a palm tree before so this was a new learning curve and what you see in the photo’s is my first ever attempt at making one. On a personal level it turned out OK but needless to say I learnt a few things along the way. Rather than go into full details on its construction in this post I’ve decided to do a separate “How to Make a Palm Tree” article (I bet you can’t wait to get started making your own!) which I will aim to publish next next week, not least of all because the lead up to Christmas will almost certainly leave me bereft of painting time! Besides, if I share it then between us perhaps we can refine the technique further.

I thought I would also enter this one into Azazel’s December challenge under the categories of Vignette and Scenery Pieces.

Slightly blurry photo’s below. I need to work on depth of field for close ups thats for sure!

TIM

The News at TIM – Mid Week Musings (No: 38)

December 12, 2018December 11, 2018 by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Uncategorized

Welcome to this weeks Musings!

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Christmas

The Christmas decorations are up and I’m looking forward to Christmas, I always do.

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Obviously Christmas has evolved over the years, partly because the world moves on both positively and negatively and partly due to the aging process. These days days I find myself overwhelmed by the feeling of deja vu and the desire for Christmases past.

On the negative side, and contrary to TV advertising, I will once again not experience a Dickensian white Christmas, the mild weather will negate the need to sit around our open fire and the TV schedule will once again break all records for program repeats.

On the positive side She Who Must Be Obeyed will serve up another wonderful Christmas meal (well we will tell her she did!), Rob the landlord at the local village pub will provide the first round of drinks free on Christmas day and the wine rack has been topped up sufficiently to see us through the festive period and well beyond the New Year too!

Our family gathering will be small, there aren’t many of us, one less in fact as for the first time my son will spend Christmas at his girlfriends home. Mum and Dad (87 and 92 respectively) were due to go and stay at my brothers which would have been nice but alas the old fella can’t cope with the upheaval involved and so instead they will once again remain locally with us. I’m sure it will be fun. If not I have a nice single malt to fall back on!

I’m also excited at the prospect of opening my presents for one good reason, I bought them and yes, they are all models.

Can I tell you what they are? No, it will spoil the surprise.

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A Recent Purchase

Since I embarked on painting 28mm figures only rarely have I purchased the type of figures which have been cast specifically for a slot style base. I haven’t avoided buying them, it’s just simply been the case that the figures I have bought have all pretty much come on their own base.

Painting the pre-based figures by mounting them on bottle tops and then using a hand clamp has served me well but the same system hasn’t worked quite so well for these other figures. I can’t say it’s been a major problem but when I found this style of clamp (see image below – old clamp on the left, new one on the right) on sale at Telford (yes I’m sure they have been around for years and years) it became a must have item, particularly as I’ve just gotten into a series of figures all of which come on slot style bases.

Needless to say I am delighted with my acquisition and thought I’d share it with you.

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This week TIM has been listening to …

Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers.

This compilation sprung up randomly during another model painting evening with YouTube on in the background. I love all the tracks and followed it up with a few more compilations afterwards. However, the key to this particular link is the start and end featuring the sound track to “Hawai Five O”. Not so much for the TV series but for the track itself.

When I was in my late teens my mates and I spent most Friday and Saturday nights in Richmond, Surrey where we went to “Cheeky Pete’s” and “Brollies”, two disco’s (Clubs to those of a younger age!) which were linked. We had fantastic nights, good nights, bad nights and some nights truly best forgotten. At the end of the evening the club DJ of “Brollies” played out with “Hawai Five O”. Why I have no idea but every time I hear it played it brings back some (mostly) great memories.

Ah nostalgia, it ain’t what it used to be! The days when “Models” meant something very different.

This week TIM has been watching …

Tombestone.

I love this film for a variety of reasons. The gunfight, some might call it a murder, is of course an iconic moment in the history of the Wild West and Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday are legends of the period too. I also like the movie portrayal of Holliday by Val Kilmer who has some classic lines in the film. The same can be said for Russell as well. In addition, many years ago on a trip to the States I drove 500 miles to actually visit the place and absolutely loved it. But none of these are the reasons for watching the film.

The primary reason for digging it out was research. I recently discovered a UK distributor for Knuckleduster miniatures, a company specializing in Old West figures. Although I have a few projects planned now that my most recent diorama “Operation Overlord” is behind me, the time is also right for me to return to some figure painting and in particular a return to the western genre. I’m sure this will please my brother!

More on these figures and the painted results in future posts.

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Until Next time.

TIM

Operation Overlord – A 28mm WW2 Diorama (Part 6 – The Completed Diorama)

December 8, 2018December 7, 2018 by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Tutorials, Uncategorized, WW2

The Road To Carentan – US 101st Airbourne (02:00 D-Day 6th June 1944)

The various bits I needed to finish don’t really require an explanation. They were either paint jobs or basic ground work, nothing I haven’t covered before in the previous posts on this diorama. With this in mind and before I share with you the photo’s I have taken I thought I ought to give you the background to the diorama to set the scene so to speak.

The original interest in doing this period piece was driven by the Plymouth Model Club, of which I am a member, and their 2019 show which will have a D-Day display. I fancied a diorama with a couple of buildings and decided in the end to go with what you have seen unfold during the previous 5 posts.

The 101st Airborne parachuted into Normandy France in the very early hours of D-Day, the 6th June 1944. Their mission was to secure the eastern half of a town called Carentan from German reinforcements. Doubtless they had other objectives along the way. I figured their journey would have taken them through outlying villages en-route and this is essentially what this diorama sets out to portray.

The way I see the diorama is this. France, although occupied was running as business as usual. Street lights might or might not have been on in the small hours of the morning but a business such as a Baker would quite possibly have been baking at that time. Noise and explosions would get people to put their bedroom lights on and of course some destruction would be inevitable.

An accurate portrayal? Probably not, it’s a representation and intended to be nothing more.

Various images appear below, with and without lights on. I hope you like the end result.

I wan’t able to submit anything mechanical for the November challenge, to committed to this project. However, the December challenge set by Azazel lends itself to this model so with Christmas coming up and various time constraints with it this will be my submission.

TIM

The News at TIM – Mid Week Musings (No: 37)

December 5, 2018 by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Musings, Uncategorized

Welcome to this weeks Musings!

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Modelling Pretensions

Having been to a few model shows now it’s clear to me that accuracy is very, very important to a great many show attendees and participants. In fact some people I’ve encountered seem to take great delight in highlighting inaccuracies. It’s one thing to take constructive comments from peers and respected experts, it’s another matter entirely when the critique is from pretentious twats who can’t model to save their lives and just want to put people down. From my point of view it takes great deal of will power not to give them a smack!

Now don’t get me wrong, as far as I am concerned I try to be as accurate as I can be or on occasions want to be. I wouldn’t paint a WW2 British Uniform blue for example but if the colour I have painted is not quite the right pan tone of khaki then to put it bluntly I couldn’t give a toss, I’m not about to go to bed worrying about it. In any event weathering plays havoc with colours anyway so who’s to say exactly what shade of khaki it should be at any given time in the life of the uniform? Sadly though this matters a great deal to some people, I just don’t happen to be one of them.

To be fare the highest level of accuracy possible is key for some people and for them this is what modelling is all about. I do get that and respect it, each to their own. Personally I don’t have that level of knowledge or desire to replicate microscopic detail to the lengths some people will go to. For example, as long as a vehicle has a registration plate number then that’s good enough for me, if it’s the wrong one for a particular regiment then I figure 99.9% of people aren’t going to notice anyway. Overall what matters to me is does the piece look good?

Now while I can at least comprehend the level of detail some people will go to for historical pieces I do however draw the line when dealing with non-historical models. There is a new wave of critic out there which is rather disturbing.

When I was at Telford I was asked if one of the wizards I was displaying would really have a cloak the colour I had painted it? This wasn’t a wizard figure which featured in a movie or anything, just a one off model unrelated to anything.

Really?

It’s a fantasy figure I told him, it can be any colour I, you or anybody else wants it to be, it’s not fucking real!

I didn’t make a dent.

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Autumn (or Fall) and it can only mean one thing …

… yep you guessed it, time to get the leaf cutter out!

The leaves gathered during their various colour changes are nicely drying and when I’ve grown bored of watching paint dry I shall start to build up my stock for the New Year.

Exciting times people, exciting times.

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What do you plan to do with your new display case TIM?

For those of you who were kind enough to wonder what I might have planned for my recent acquisition the answer is a western town scene. Not sure how many buildings I will be able to fit on it but at a guess I’d say four or five. It’s something which I’ve always wanted to do so now is the time to actually begin to make it happen. Don’t expect to see anything soon though. There is much to plan and buy.

In the meantime there are a lot of other things to do.

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This week TIM has been listening to …

John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett

Who? You may well ask. To be honest if you’ve heard of them I’d be very impressed but nowhere near as impressed if you like them too. To be fare I did say my music taste was random!

I was introduced to these guys by my brother many, many years ago and for reasons which are hard to explain I absolutely love their first album. The first album was simply called “John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett” and is full of great tracks as far as I am concerned. Their follow up album entitled “Deep and Meaningless” is made up of the tracks which were not considered good enough for the first album but the two albums were put on a combined CD which is the cover that appears below.

The two of them never really made it to the big time although they did appear once on Top of the Pops and the Old Grey Whistle Test, two UK music shows of yesteryear. They tour constantly and have done for years, playing at small venues up and down the country. Often Otway is on his own because he and Wild Willy often fall out with each other. I can see why they would because Otway is a complete nutter.

In Tavistock which is a couple of miles from where I live we have a small venue and Otway visits every few years or so. I saw him on his own in 2007 and the whole performance is available on YouTube in two parts, just search John Otway Tavistock and both should appear. I’ve also saw him with Wild Willy a couple of years back and that was another great evening as well. Very different live and highly entertaining. I even had a nice chat and a beer with Otway at the 2007 gig, he’s that kind of guy. In fact at one point, believe it or not, you could even pay to have a place on his tour bus and go on tour with him. For all I know you still can, I’ll have to check it out. Anyway the guys are legends are as far as I am concerned.

Below are a couple of links.

First up is a video from one of the live shows where he does his take on “House of the Rising Sun”. Unique audience participation in my opinion. Worth a quick read of some of the comments too.

Next we have “Bluey Green” a nice little song and one of my all time favorites for reasons I wont go into but I love the tune and the lyrics. Gets me every time.

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This week Tim has been watching …

Spartacus.

Not the recent TV serious but the classic original starring Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis to name but two of an amazing cast list. I’ve been toying with the idea of delving into SAGA and Gangs of Rome, not to play but to paint a few figures of the period. Not top of my “To Do List” right now but on the list that’s for sure.

As for the film? Simply awesome.

—000—

Until next time.

TIM

Operation Overlord – A 28mm WW2 Diorama (Part 5 – Base & Figures)

December 1, 2018November 30, 2018 by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Tutorials, Uncategorized, WW2

Patchy progress this week due to being told domestic projects take president!

Hopefully next week will see me almost there and I would like to get the whole thing completed before Christmas if possible. I’m anticipating (like all of us I’m sure) that Santa will be bringing me lots of goodies that I will want to get on with instead!

I mentioned in Part 4 that the positioning of the buildings would require more work than I had originally planned to do in respect of rear gardens. I decided each of the three buildings would require as a minimum a patio and some grass so I laid down some Milliput and rolled it with one of my textured Greenstuff rollers. My next task was to fix the building in place but before I could do that I needed to pre-drill the base with the holes for the street lighting which would be installed.

Both the two undamaged buildings have lights in them so holes were also made for those light wires too. I checked to see that they were working OK and then fixed the buildings into place. Work then began on the rear gardens.

A textured finish using ground up plaster board was used to cover all the ground work not covered by the Milliput patio area. Once dried the patio and ground work was given its first coat of paint. I figured the two buildings adjoining would need a dividing line so I went for a wire fence made using twisted 0.5mm wire and drilled match sticks. To draw attention to the rear of the buildings I thought I would need a center piece, something tall and decided on the obvious, a tree. A couple of walls were also needed to close the rear gardens off at the sides where applicable. These were done using plaster board which I carved to provide a weathered effect.

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You may have also noticed in the pictures above that the chip board base has also been given an edged finish which I will stain in due course.

The next task was to lay down some static grass and to put the smaller branches on the tree using Sea Foam. Once the glued Sea Foam had dried the tree was covered in a mix of general filler and water/PVA and allowed to dry. It was then painted and the leaves applied in various colours using a strong hold hair spray.

I also added a small flower trough to the patio area. In my bitz box I had some old Tamiya 1/32nd scale sand bags. Painted and used upside down they worked just fine as a trough.

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Sea Foam also works very well for making shrubs and climbing plants so I added a creeper to the outside wall of the Brasserie.

Next up was adding the street lighting. Each light was tested to check that it worked but the proper wiring would be done later.

Finding lights on Ebay was easy enough but getting the right height and style was a little more difficult. Getting English Victorian street lamps wasn’t a problem but I wanted something which I felt had a little more of a French feel and in the end I managed to find the ones you see in the photo’s below. I reckon they look OK but just need to keep my fingers crossed that they all work once wired up. They came from China and only costs a couple of pounds so I’m not getting carried away with the quality of them but as long as they look the part.

Next up was the fountain. I’ve mentioned before that I’m not a big fan of the finish you get with MDF even when painted, owes more to my ability to paint it as much as anything else but I didn’t have many options in this instance. For colour I added some red plants to break up the dull ground work.

Something still didn’t quite look right and I figured it was that the fountain wasn’t working. In an effort to improve things I used some wire and water effects to try to simulate the fountain in use. I’m not entirely sure that it looks that great but it might look a bit better once its fully dried and highlighted. We will have to wait and see but for now its what it is.

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The next job was to start adding the debris from the damaged building. Now before I assembled the original building I made an outline of the damaged sections so I could get a feel for how much actual debris there would be. It didn’t need to be precise but I didn’t want to go completely overboard either. The debris needed to be added a reasonable amount at a time and allowed to dry.

It isn’t clear from the photo’s I’ve taken but some of the debris had wall paper added to it to match that inside the building to help keep the thing looking reasonably authentic. Wood was also needed in the debris and of course a fare few roof tile as well!

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During the piece meal process I got a couple more figures painted although the photo’s below leave a lot to be desired. In too much of a hurry to get this post out, sorry!

Not entirely sure where I go from here, need to sit down and reflect fully on where I am. Off the top of my head I need to complete the remaining couple of figures, wire up the lighting, finish off the rear gardens, get the figures in situ, stain the edge and take some decent photo’s if I can. Doesn’t sound quite so bad now I come to think about it. Never know I might even get it finished for next week!

TIM

The News at TIM – Mid Week Musings (No: 36)

November 28, 2018November 27, 2018 by theimperfectmodeller, posted in Musings, Uncategorized

Welcome to this weeks Musings!

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The Unforeseen Implications of Being Impulsive

One of the many traders at the recent Telford show was Paul, a chap I know who runs a company called “Just Bases”. We got talking as I was browsing his stand and he mentioned that he was looking to gradually wind down his business over the next year as he was aiming to retire. How quickly he would realize this was to some extent dependent upon how soon he shifted his stock, especially the larger items which didn’t sell as well but which he was willing to part with at a knock down price.

By a nice coincidence something I’d been checking out recently was the idea of buying a large perspex display case for a project I have in mind and the one thing I learnt straight away was they don’t come cheap. In fact for the bespoke size I was looking at (100cm x 30cm x 26cm approximately) I could expect to see little change out of £150.00 or more. So, out of idle curiosity I asked Paul how much a particular base was which had caught my eye and he told me I could have it for £50.00!

Without further ado the deal was struck, the case was bought and I was a happy bunny.

Happy that is until I realized I had no room in the car to bring it home! Had I taken the estate car then I would have been fine but I drove up to Telford in my beloved two seater and coming all the way home at night, in November with the top down and it pissing down with rain wasn’t going to happen.

Fortunately Paul came to my rescue and agreed to drive it back for me and on the Saturday just gone I collected it from him.

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Not surprisingly She Who Must be Obeyed was curious to know where I thought it was going to go and needless to say all my well considered ideas were given the thumbs down so for now it sits across an armchair in our upstairs conservatory!

Still at a loss as to where to put the thing until I get to use it, divine intervention and an “idea” from SWMBO provided a solution.

The divine intervention came on Sunday, the day after I collected the case from Paul, in the form of the garage fridge/freezer breaking. Now we only had this fridge/freezer because a few years back we used to have our own pigs which we kept on a nearby farm and reared for pork and bacon. It was great fun until they went for slaughter and then the kids got upset like kids do and eating there pets no matter how nice they were didn’t seem to console them very much either. After the pigs went SWMBO took over the fridge/freezer and expanded her empire beyond the kitchen and utility room and into “my” garage.

Now the way I saw it the broken fridge/freezer would go to the dump and the vacant space would be mine and serve as an ideal temporary home for the newly acquired perspex case. As luck would have it SWMBO saw it that way too. Unfortunately she also saw the need for a replacement fridge/freezer and a revamp of the utility room where she wanted it to go!

What The f**k!

It seems SWMBO had it all thought out.

“The dog (Buddy) and his bed can move to the hall, one of the work tops can be shortened, the notice board can move to another wall, the electrics can be “jiggled” with, the shelf unit can go and it can all be decorated”.

“Oh, and the new fridge/freezer is being delivered by John Lewis on Wednesday (that’s actually this morning by the way!)”.

What the f**k!

“… and just when am I going to get any modelling done?”

—000—

This week TIM has been …

F*****g decorating!

This week TIM has been listening to …

The sodding radio while he’s been bloody decorating!

I don’t like the radio much, the repetitive adverts drive me up the wall and the playlists seem to be the same show after show too. One catchy little number seemed to get played a fare bit and as a consequence grew on me. It sounds like it belongs to the 80s but apparently it’s new(ish), well to me anyway. I found it on YouTube and the link is below. The guy looks a little odd, the dodgy haircut doesn’t help but the girl is rather hot.

This week TIM has been watching …

Men Behaving Badly

This seemed rather apt given the week I’ve been having. Fortunately, while waiting for paint to dry in the utility room, I have found some time to do some modelling this week but it’s been bits here and there so far. As a consequence I thought half hour episodes would be better than trying to watch a feature length film.

It’s best to ignore series one which featured a miscast Harry Enfield and jump strait to series two and beyond which starred Neil Morrissey instead.

Another timeless classic where the comedy is as good now as it was when first aired.

—000—

Until next time.

TIM