293 The Shed: End of Days?

Hullo,

The Painting Shed is on its last legs. Over the last month we've had strong winds in the UK and the larchlap slats on the back of our cheap-ol' shed have finally rotted away from their mountings. The wind finished the job nicely.
I've patched these bad-boys up time and again, but now, alas, I'm reduced to pinning recycling bags over the back of my painting cave.

Know what the worst of it is, though? Our lovely apple tree (which somehow died in the frosts last winter) also came down last month. Bugger. [It's a nice view over the village though...]

Still, on the plus side, my landlord said he'll sort us out with a new shed. Huzzah - new painting cave!

- D.

217 Where I'm At, Currently

Hi, All,

Most recent painting chart (end of July '10):
Some interesting projects in the pipeline, but these are balanced against poor lighting, worse seating and constant battles with moths...oh yes, I'm back out in The Shed again.

That is all.

- Drax.

138 Motivation

Hullo!

Ron's been asking how we motivate ourselves. I can just about be bothered to note a few ideas:

1) It's better than work. This is important, as when I'm not actually at work, I spend a lot of time and brain power either doing or thinking about work. This is draining, so (workload permitting) I like to escape to The Shed, and I always like to scribble in my notebook and re-read rulebooks before bed. Better than dreaming about school!

2) The Shed itself. It's a bit of a pain to go out there when it's wet or when my wife wants my attention (how unreasonable!) but once I'm out there, with either BBC Radio 4 or my MP3 player for company the time simply flies by. It's unfortunate that I'm so slow a painter, but it's a nice place to be to paint, and it keeps warm enough at night*. The bugs keep me company and provide occasional entertainment.

3) Completeness and uniformity. That's why I chose Guard. Sure, it goes against me when I'm still stuck with a colour scheme from six years ago (when my painting was far less refined) and I seem to get things completed at the speed of a catatonic snail, but still...I love it when a plan comes together!

4) You lot. Yes, I find the blog a huge motivation! This is one of my main reasons for starting it, and it's really, really worked for me. I really thrive on positive feedback and in 14 months I've seen absolutely no nasty comments on anyone's blog (this side of BoLS) and only seen one which was deleted for inappropriate language, and that was all very politely dealt with!

Thanks guys: I'm glad we've stuck with it.

- Drax.

*For those of you in America, it's worth noting that in the UK the temperature usually plummets at night - even in the summer. My first experience of night time in the Chicagoland summer (whilst courting Kate back in 2000) was a real eye-opener: not only did the temperature remain warm, the very air itself was warm, so even travelling fast with the windows down failed to keep us cool. Wow!

127 The Dangers of Painting

Crikey, Chief!

Whilst painting in The Shed t'other night my eye was briefly distracted...by the biggest spider I've ever seen outside of a glass tank. Vis:
I encountered one big-ass spider*.

NB: Please note the importance of hyphenation above. Had I written "I encountered one big ass-spider" the meaning would have shifted entirely. I chose to avoid the ambiguity of not hyphenating. Hmm... I might use this example in class tomorrow.

I'm not squeamish about such beasties, and our cottage (naturally enough) does have a propensity to attract them...but still - this guy was big.

I know, likewise, that many of you reading this from almost any other part of the world will have genuinely big and dangerous animals on the loose, but do please appreciate my concern: this fellow must've been fully three inches across and jet black, and that's simply not cricket. Seriously, I was fully expecting him to march off with the barbecue. Or me.

I say 'him', but given the three trillion baby spiders currently pootling around in the webs I share The Shed with, 'he' could well be a very proud 'she'.

In the UK our most dangerous animal is commonly considered to be the (fractionally venemous) adder, and our most vicious predator? - The badger. I simply shouldn't have to put up with such monstrosities in my shed!

Right then: back to work avoidance.

- Drax.

* Excuse the US 'ass' in lieu of 'arse'. Some phrases just work better that way!

120 At Last! Mortars in Progress!

Hullo!

Well, they're everyone's new darlings, and I have to say in my last game they acquitted themselves extremely well, with some real hawk-eyed mortar sniping...and here at last is the first progress pic of my mortars:

• YES - I've rebased them onto 60mm, though it makes painting and basing a pain in the backside;
• YES - They're not quite finished (it's a WiP!) - I've more basing yet, and they'll still need transfers, too;
• YES - One of them's wearing gloves. All my guys handling mortars will be wearing gloves (more-or-less);
• YES - Drax has been playing a little more with drybrushing. Woo-hoo.
• YES - There's built-in cover. Someone else has posted their mortars recently (can't remember who, sorry) with the note that if anyone really has issue with it, they can always turn the base around!

Hopefully it won't be too long before I have the whole squad done. I'm pleased to say that - given the recent clemency in the weather - Drax has moved back into The Shed. Huzzah.

Cheers - it's nice to actually post some progress for once!

- Drax.

044 Secret Shame

Just a few passing thoughts today, as I'm stuck back at home instead of partying hard at an old mate's wedding in Birmingham. Bah! - damn public transport. Damn you, Dr. Beeching.

How proudly do you embrace your hobby? Are you an upright member of a local group of die-hard fanatics, wearing your heart (or your aquila) on your sleeve? Or are you the guy who slips his copy of White Dwarf inside a copy of The Sun simply to make the buying of it somehow more socially acceptable, like some sleazy old man in a 1970s newsagent's?

Personally, I'm nearer the latter camp, although I do take the precaution of having White Dork delivered these days.

I don't know why the shame burns so strongly. I'm successful in my career, a pillar of the community and happily married to someone who doesn't speak Klingon. At 28, I don't still live in my childhood home, I've mastered basic personal hygiene, and I've never owned any 'Buffy' merchandise...so why am I so ashamed? - No offence, Inner Geek, but I just cannot seem to publicly embrace my Inner Geek.

It probably doesn't help that the only 'gaming community' I have is online. Other than that, it's two good mates who - like me - live very busy lives and live them very far away. And one of them got married a few hours ago, so we'll see what the future holds for him!

The few people who know of my Secret Shame are pretty good about it, really, but I daren't tell any of my new colleagues yet (I even covered my painting tray in The Shed the other day in case one of them who was popping round happened to glance in). Why? - What am I afraid of? It's not like I'm trying to impress anyone, or trying to pull. Obviously I don't tell the kids. Imagine my shock when one of the eagle-eyed little tykes spotted me at Games Day last weekend (luckily I don't teach him, but it'll be interesting to see if he asks me about it at any point...: "Er...I was there to...uh...keep my mate company..." - Really?

Seriously: I told my work friends that I was off to Birmingham for a "pre-wedding get-together". By no means a lie, but I did omit to mention the geektastic location of our "get-together".

So - you lot all seem fairly confident in your geekiness: I'm intrigued. Can anyone shed any light on this one, please? Just for fun...!

- Drax*

*Not my real name.

031 F/Sup Platoon 1 - HQ Section

[21/06/09 - Please note: 1 Pl has now been superceded by the new codex version 'tactical' platoon. Follow this link for more details.]

At last I've finished them - the first unit to be finished in The Shed!

This is the command section for the first of two fire support platoons - the rest of the platoon has already been posted as finished: you'll find links below. Here's the usual front and back views...

...and (although the photos didn't come out at all well, damnit) four close-ups of the medic - a model of which I'm quite proud. He's made of FW Cadian upgrade bitz, and I have to say was surprisingly enjoyable to paint:

Here's the whole of F/Sup Platoon 1, above;

Here's A/T squad B;

Here's A/P squad C;

And here's A/P squad D.


You'll find further details on the post with the whole platoon.


- Drax

029 Shed and Scenery

I'm back. And I have the internet in the cottage. Result!

I feel like I have some catching up to do. Still, here are some pics. Firstly, here's my homemade painting/modelling tray in The Shed, along with a wider view of the inside. Honestly, it's a little cramped, but I really like the quiet and lack of distraction:

And here's the outside view of The Shed. We've had torrential rain here recently, so that made painting in there late last night particularly atmospheric:

This is something I'm quite proud of: one of my pieces of vehicle wreckage/scenery. I like two things about it - (1) it's my first successful decorative airbrushing effort (sadly my mate's taken the airbrush back now); and (2) it is - I think - the only piece of scenery I've got that's actually in a finished state. I work on the other bits and bobs piecemeal. It's the port track cowling of the Belgranos:

Finally, although I've loads more scenery similarly unfinished, here are two of my three 4th Edition-style bunkers. I've been using old paints and sand to (fairly successfully) texture them. Bunkers are rock solid in 5th Edition, and I can't wait to use them. I might even make more. What I'd like to do is build some fortifications to link them for a Guard defensive battle:It's good to be back in the game - can't wait to see what you lot have been up to!

- Drax