Tuesday 15 October 2019

Ramblings

On the whole I tend to be a bit of an upbeat chap. A lot of stupid things annoy me (IT helpdesks, tele-marketers, people who don’t read instructions and idiot drivers to quickly name a few), but not too much really gets me down. However, the state of our world at present I am finding very unsettling. What with political ructions in the USA and Britain (both of which have a direct impact on me because they cause fluctuations in the value of our Pacific Peso that affects my toy soldier buying power), the issues in the Persian Gulf and along the Turkish/Syrian border, the burning of the rain forests, the unending noise about Global Warming and the rising noise about plastics. It’s enough to drive a man to drink.

Now I know that there is nothing I can do to seriously influence most of this, especially when it comes to the political stuff, but these things bother me at the moment. My only consolation is that I have a hobby that allows me to turn off the TV news or the internet and to paint away leaving our problem stacked world behind for a few hours every day. I am not burying my head in the sand, you understand, it is just that some times there is a need to silence the chatter.

So after all of that, onto the toys. Three items have come off the basing tray in the last week.

The final two limbers for the Russian Napoleonics were first off the tray. Technically these should a horse artillery, but no one makes horse artillery limber drivers and I didn’t fancy buying horse artillery crew and swapping heads – more correctly my frugal mind would not let write off the cost of the gun crew to get the correct heads on horse artillery limber drivers.



Second off the tray were two more Crimean generals. Like the recent version of general Scarlett, the chap with the bicorne is a conversion of a base Great War Miniatures figure. He was the staff officer from the Cathcart set – as was Scarlett. His head was replaced with a suitable Victorian-like bearded head from one of the Gripping Beast Dark Ages sets, on which I fitted the bicorn from the original Great War figure’s right arm. The new right arm also came from a Gripping Beast set while the hand pointing came from the Perry Plastics French infantry set. The other figure here is as manufactured.




The last item is the third battalion of six from the AWI British collection.


16 comments:

  1. Nice work Mark. Yes, there is a certain element of escapism in our toys which is a great way to blot out the constant noise.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Nathan. I suspect I will need much escapism tomorrow with a busy day that will see me off to Nelson and back...a long day I think.

      Delete
  2. I don’t think I have watched television news for several years now, although I do listen to the radio most mornings which seems to make me angrier with each passing year. Special interest groups are amongst my pet hates. I don’t mind most people pushing their causes, but what annoys me is that none of them seem able to do it without referring to research they have funded which apparently tells us that if the government were to give them a hundred million it would save the economy billions.

    Anyway, great work and that’s a really nice conversion using the gripping beast head and Great War bicorne, along with the other bits. It looks seamless. The AWI battalion looks lovely and that red works very nicely.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I listen to the radio news on the way to work, but often get infuriated and switch it off...except when the report is about Aussie sports teams going down to NZ of course! The trip home is usually accompanied by some loud music...there was some amusement when I pulled up to the lights the other day with something playing very loud and lots of bass and this older woman (actually probably about my age) looked around to see me instead of some youngster.

      Yes the contrast red yields a pleasing result.

      Delete
  3. Hi Mark, love the limber,= in particular, for me limbers always seem the 'poshest' part of an army as they tend to be collected last of all, once all of the 'seriously needed' troops have been sorted.

    As for the world stage and our own woes here in the UK at the moment, I have found myself suddenly becoming an ex news junkie! and that has been surprisingly liberating :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Norm. I like doing limbers...just not eight in a stretch! I have plans to do some French limbers before too long, but I need ten of these.

      Yes I do not envy your political situation.

      Delete
  4. We all need a safe harbor from the seemingly constant bombardment of dire world event remainders. Spending time at either gaming table or painting desk is just such an escape. What irritates me more than the unending stream of negative news is that I am reaching the point were it is difficult to sift through the kernels of truth from the chaff.

    Given your productivity this week, you managed some quality time at your hobby desk. Excellent work on all but your limbers are especially impressive.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Jonathan. This week will see a reduced output as the real world is proving to be a little too intrusive.

      We certainly live in a sensational age...or is that the age of sensation.

      Delete
  5. The limbers look great, quite a feat keeping to getting the 8 done in such a short time.

    As to the news, it waxes and wanes. let advertisers know if you don't like certain programs and how they present the day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In truth I had to space the limbers out, painting two, then painting another type of unit, then two more limbers,..

      Delete
  6. Love the limbers, nice conversion work and good looking AWI infantry! I'm finding I'm listening less to the news as I drive to work, interesting times, unfortunately!
    Best Iain

    ReplyDelete
  7. You are certainly limbering up nicely...
    That conversion works rather well...and the Brits look great... the contrast reds work very well...
    As to the news... it seems more and more like a bunch of hypocritical liars lying about another bunch of hypocritical liars...

    Painting toy soldiers is certainly a pleasant and peaceful escape from the madness that surrounds us...

    All the best. Aly

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Aly...I knew that keeping all those plastic bits would come in useful one day.

      Delete
  8. Love your limbers, and the AWI batalion...painting figurines allows us to escape from time to time!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Phil. There are three more British AWI battalions sitting on the basing tray at the moment...that may be finished by the weekend.

      Delete