Monday with a bump.

Rain, rain, rain...anyone would have thought I had the day off work...

I have been on-line a lot today and have ordered a few bits and pieces to satisfy my current craving. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find a plastic kit of a Scopedog in 1/60 scale but I did manage to find a die-cast action figure in the required scale...so it wasn't all bad. I also had to buy a few extras to meet the minimum order cost...so I have a couple of 1/35 scale Votoms kits coming as well. It is a shame that I couldn't get the kit that I wanted but I think what I did buy will at least be a point in the right direction...we'll see I guess. The downer is that I had to send them to my mother-in-law's because I'm in the process of moving so I'll have to wait a few weeks to get my hands on them.

In between bouts of web-wandering, I have managed to finish off my Interpol troops:

Click the Pic!

Yes...I could have added a few more highlights...yes I could have added some insignia...but I think that they look OK as they are and have a certain dark-inconspicuousness so that they could be standing at a street corner and you wouldn't really notice they were there...

...well, apart from varnish, they are done so they will be packed away for the move very soon.

As you may have noticed, I am not quite as dour today. I haven't drunk a bottle of Merlot and I am not dwelling on the sadness of war. Every now and then, it seems that these things just catch up with you...better out than in and all that.

I haven't a clue what hobby meanderings will be gracing these pages over the next couple of weeks because all but a few of my miniatures are packed away and I don't feel that I can get my teeth into a big project until I'm unpacked in my new home...so you never know, there may be a surprise or two.

See you on the dark side!

A path well trodden...

Another Sunday and another post on the blog. I have had a week of this and that and in amongst things I have traveled to England, got the keys for a new house and even managed to slap a bit of paint on my Interpol troops:

Click the Pic!

As you can tell from the pic, they are far from finished but they have progressed quite a bit since the last pic.

I am currently in crisis. I have been getting completely obsessed with Armoured Troopers Votoms lately and it just won't go away. It is getting to a point where I will HAVE to get hold of a 1/60 scale Scopedog kit or I will go completely mad (well...madder than I am now...if that is possible!).

I have a plan, you see...

...rank upon rank of piloted robot suits with transport vehicles, technical back up and a few defensive troops (just to protect the suits when they are not being driven).

The only problem is that even if I manage to get hold of one of the long out of production (OOP) kits, I won't be able to get hold of enough to satisfy my obsession so that means I have to use the kit as inspiration, build my own out of plasticard and green-stuff and then get to casting them up (something that I have never attempted)...I guess we shall see where that takes me (and whether anything comes to fruition...). Obviously, they will be Grymn based...

On another note, I bought a book of poems to keep me busy whilst waiting for my plane at the airport. I must have got some funny looks because I laughed out loud on a few occasions while I was reading.

With great sadness and in memorium, I will now re-produce one of the poems to remember those British soldiers who have recently died, with honour and distinction, in Afghanistan.

The Soldier
If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is forever Britain. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
a dust whom Britain bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of Britain's, breathing British air,
Washed by the rivers, blessed by sons of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by Britain given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under a British heaven.

I have changed 'England' to 'Britain' in order to reflect the fact that Welsh, Scotish and N.Irish soldiers are serving in afghanistan...and some are amongst those who have fallen.

This is the only poem that I know of, that completely sums up how I feel about the situation.

May they rest in peace.

See you on the dark side.

The Loooong Sunday.

It has certainly been a long day today. I was up at 06:15hrs and went into work to play with my helicopter. Once I'd waved it away and got back home it was nearly 10:00hrs so it took a little longer than I was hoping...but that, as they say, is life in a blue suit.

I was up late on Friday night watching a film (Magnum Force...a classic) and got disturbed early on Saturday morning by 'the neighbours' so today I am feeling a little jaded. When that happens, I generally don't feel like doing very much in the way of painting or hobby stuff but I always become agitated and can't decide what I want to do (it drives my wife to distraction). Well, on this occasion I had a bit of a root through my cupboard and found a bunch of old minis hiding away. There was a pack of ten with cast on bases but two had their bases 'crudely' removed (along with bits of their feet). Normally, I would have left them as they were and looked else where for something to tinker with but for some reason I decided to dig them out and base them up. After basing them and repairing a few feet, I started painting and here is where I am at the moment:

Click the Pic!

The miniatures are from East Riding Miniatures and they are Interpol troops from their Corporate Wars range. The little chap is there just to show you how tall they are (taller than a Space Marine from GW even!). They are extremely simple sculpts with no extra detail but they are quite nice to put paint on. I think they are supposed to be a bit like future SWAT troops but I'm painting them with a military slant. I may get more in the future but I doubt it...these are being painted because I'm not worried about messing them up (as they aren't in any of my big plans...unlike all my Grymn).

What else have I been doing? I've been reading 'The Watchmen' graphic novel.
Is it a good read? The comic bit is but all of the superflous rubbish isn't. Why spoil a good comic book by having proper book pages in it? Hardly very fair is it? I am enjoying the read though (mostly because I have been ignoring the book pages).

This week I get to see my new home for the first time. I'm sure it will be just as 'adequate' as this one but it always makes me feel aprehension. At least it will be in Blighty! I'd live in a box to get back there again!

Well...that is about all I have at the moment so I'll bid you farewell for the time being.

See you on the dark side!