Where shall we go from here?

Right guys,

I've not been around a lot. Well, I have, just not here. Life has been busy (self imposed) and I just have not planned in the time for this as friday night was my Blog night and friday night is usually also the only possible gaming night.

But just to keep you updated.....

• I'm quitting the second hand buying and selling of kits business. I have looked at the numbers, time spent, money made, it is not worth it time or money wise and just distracts me waaaaay too much. I will still sell stuff out of the attic for a bit of extra cash.
• I've talked to mates from all over the world about planning, painting and what not. I'm building almost every night, but I have only painted a handful of times this year. Also I'm just building whatever I want....which is dangerous territory.
• The result of this is that I made a shortlist of what I can do till the end of the year.....

 It is a simple list. The first 2 are local "tournaments"....basically a meeting of 300 point armies from a certain book. MG is in 3 months, WaR in the winter, so those have priority. If I don't feel like working on them that evening I can skip a level in order of priority. Yes, I've shelved my partisans for now, as well as other stuff like 28mm and 6mm.

As much as I want to pick up my Blog, I need to plan in time....and actually need something to tell you guys. I think I will plan it in for a weekly chat as soon as I get my bearings again.

Now, back to reassembling my hobby room in a more organised fashion.

Edit: Thank the flipping much Blogger! Damn program never informed me you lot had made comments that I had to check and publish. Just put all of that on OK!

Rise of the 300 lists. And the 300 WIP's

Real life is keeping me very busy, so Blogging is very intermittent for me.

I have been rather busy hobby wise. I'm steady working my way through each of the Battlegroup books and making 300 point lists with my stash in mind, to give me a focus to work on...with. I'm putting them in Excel so I can easily modify them later. I also managed to bag BG Torch thanks to Modhail.

I've been pretty busy building wise.....

15/20mm crashed Alien shuttle. Finished most of the basics, needs some more work before I can paint.

I noticed a Middle East battlereport from Piers with a single hut and water through. As I'm scared shitless to ruin the village (THAT  I STILL NEED TO PAINT....for 3 years now) these will make a good testers. Just some scrap foam, plasticcard and spackle. For 20mm.

I built a PSC 250 Alte with a Hotchkiss 25mm as I found a photograph of it and it seems like a good Recce vehicle. The Panzerbuchse I mounted in a more static position and I will modify some troops for it. Either to use as a stand in for a AT rifle or as the real thing in the army list.

I got the box of freebies and I'm slowly working through them to get them table ready. I opened the top of the 6 wheeler so I can put a commander in it, reset the mantlet and removed the radio gear as the one without was much more common (not that this was a very common vehicle). I based the first of the 2 French 45mm for my Normandy Germans, but managed to snap the leg on the 2nd when I was rebuilding it into the towed version and it got a bit messy.

Also decided it was time to make more use of my foamcutter and do some experimentation. My logic here is: May is the medical unit paint challenge - Large German airraidshelters had room for field hospitals inside - so let's build a German air raid shelter! - And find a pretty obscure one as well....enter the Saltzgtitter type Luftschutzbunker (air raid shelter) found on factory grounds mostly. Only 1/3 of it though, one of the entry points and a bit of the main bunker (the round bit) so it fits nicely on a boardedge.

 And this is how far I am now. I'm not sure how to proceed, as the colour is quite good (as in not the usual GW codex grey bunker) and a good test for the Normandy ones I have to build (even if some of them are painted camouflage)

 The guys are doing a Spectre demo in September in the UK. Something something with Cartels...I dunno. Thought I'd make one of their drug running not-subs. Top picture is the test, 2nd pic is where I am now. Slow but steady. She is a big 20mm or medium 28mm....I've made her so she fits both.

 Oh, a great cheap source for the "pipes". .....thrift shop knitting needles. Dirt cheap, aluminium so relatively easily to cut and sand. And bend.

I have quite a few UM model kits, you can pick them up second hand for a fiver most of the time, but I absolutely hate the rubber tires they use....but that makes them absolutely (lots of absolutes here) perfect for burnt wrecks.....BA-3 armoured car

 And another one....but a few years later and used as a route marker, will have one or more signs next to it. Bit more work on this one, was fun to do opening up as much as possible. No holes in this one, just one that was disabled and stripped and just left.

The old scraped steam tractor is ready for paint, and I'm doing some minor work on the most essential of vehicles....the armoured Panzer 1 Ambulance!

And I end todays Blogpost with a happy accident....

I was unpacking my S-Models T-26B ad noticed 2 additional sets of tracks. These fit almost perfectly on the UM ones so I can now build, in a easier fashion, the AT-1 and a future other T-26 derived purchase.

And that is it for now. Lot's of WIP's, needd to finish a few and remove my thumb from the buttocks and slap on some paint.

And now I need sleep.

Manic Attic

You all know what my attic looks like.

(picture added for dramatic effect - may or may not resemble actual attic)

As I've been sick quite a bit lately, my folks had offered to take the kids for the weekend to give me some R&R. Kim said it would be the perfect time to clear out the attic.....while she was away to visit one of her friends for some R&R of her own (this sounds bit harsher as it is, but I work best without her). Sjors kindly offered to help me out so we got cracking and spent the entire Saturday sorting and stacking stuff. It wasn't easy, I had to take quite a few breaks as I have the stamina of a dead horse atm, but in the end we did it.

Kim's side looks a bit messy now, but she and her friend will get to work on Sunday and I've left her a lot of empty boxes and crates on the right side next to the vacuum.

My end....it is still quite a lot, but considering you could not even set foot in the attic this morning. Quite a bit of stuff on the right side of the room is sorted and ready to be sold off. All of my ammo cans, camping and military gear is going on the chopping block....my hiking and camping days are over, my body can't handle long hikes anymore, never mind fully packed with gear. Also, around the corner.....

2 stacks of shipping cases full of stuff ready to be sold off. Tomorow is my day off with a trip to my folks to pick up the kids, and on monday the sorting and listing starts all over again....

Might even get some more hobby time in. Who knows.

He's dead Jim! (No I'm not)

Not dead. Not yet anyway. :)

(There was a long exhaustive story here about how life sucks....but nah, let's not - just looking at the bright spots for now and trying to ignore the pain, heartburn and negativity)

Me. Dead tired. But.....my 2 old Ikea Billy's are gone (I had set them aside to sell off to pay for the 2nd hand Besta cabinets I picked up, but my wife claimed the cabinets for herself) and 2 used Besta cabinets have replaced them so all my storage now sits in one line. The not very deep Billy's always bothered me due to the waste of space when parked next to the Alex, and this remedies that.

 Old

 Empty

New! (well, second hand)

This cabinet is purely meant for larger scenery pieces and my printer plus paper etc. This turned out to be a small issue....

Well fuck. That dog don't hunt.

Got to love HP for listing the size of the printer.....without the paper tray in it!

20 minutes and a saw later I now have a opening in the back and it fits. Problem solved. Not pretty but it works. Just like me :)

My desk got the same treatment.

Then got another treatment.

(While cleaning the PC I realised this had a videocard with 2 DVI output - a short trip to the goodwill store for a extra cable and Kim's old monitor from the attic et voila, back to a double desktop. So much easier....)

And while I was at it.....

I found a quality display case at the goodwill store for a tenner (this was before the bills dropped) and hung the rails.....and then found out the back wall isn't exactly straight but bowed into the room so yeah. But it works, for now it is just to store all of the boxes with for sale stuff and stuff that needs to be sorted. Also it is a bit too long so it is messing up the big plastic storage storage.

I'm not sure how frequent my updates will be in the near future. I have 0 time for the hobby, family, paincontrol, making ends meet and jobstuff comes first, but I do try to get things done here and there