The first post from the island

Welcome to Inso’s World again and as you will have noticed; I am a week late in posting. The reason for this is that I am now in the Falkland Islands and have had a very busy couple of weeks. It all started with a 26 hour journey from my front door to my new room on the island. I spent 16 of those hours in the air, with the remainder being an hour to get me to the airport and a lot of time waiting around. Being an insomniac, I didn’t get any sleep on the aircraft so I started my time here tired... but that didn’t stop me having to do ground defence training, rifle zeroing, arrivals processing and then sorting out my life when I got here. I was then put straight on call-out for over a week whilst being second in command of my own little platoon of 30 troops (something a little alien for a desk-bound, aircraft technician). That said, it has certainly been entertaining and time has flown by.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to celebrate the New Year in a fashion of my choosing (due to being on call-out) so my new year began on the evening of the sixth Jan and included cider and darts.

The section I am on has a bunch of great people on it and it was thanks to them that I got Christmas Day at home (they shared all the duties of the guy who I replaced for a few days so that I could come here a little later than the 24th Dec; which is when I was due to leave the UK). A lot of my work is Health and Safety, documentation, Quality Assurance and other office work but on top of that, I have my platoon to look after and a number of other little jobs to keep me busy.

There is still the opportunity to get out and about and see the sights so it isn’t all work and no play. In fact, on Friday night, I spent an evening in the mess and got the opportunity to sing a few Karaoke tunes so it was a fun evening.

My room is quite spacious and has all the home comforts including a TV and a sink (it enables me to wash and shave without having to queue up at the communal facilities so it is a godsend). The bed is comfier than my bed at home so I am starting to get a bit of sleep now that I have settled a bit. Here is the view from my window (I have blotted out certain items for security purposes... the Islands are, after all, still contested by the Argentineans):
 

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As you can see, it is a bit bleak.

I have brought some sculpting to do but haven’t started doing it yet because I have been settling in. I expect that I will start doing some sculpting soon so that my bunch of Squats finally get their arms.

The internet wireless can be patchy and it costs £8 - £10 for 100 minutes (although there is the opportunity to use free internet from fixed consoles) so I am restricting my internet usage. As a result of that, my forum and blog activities have been reduced so I can spend more time talking to my family.

Well, that’s about it for now. I am sure that once I start getting into the routine of things, I will post more interesting things but for now, I will bid you farewell.

See you from the command post!

Travelling.

This week's Sunday post will be today because I can't guarantee that I will be able to post the usual Sunday news due to me travelling.

Over the next few days, I will be flying over 7000 miles to a small group of islands in the South Atlantic, very close to the Antarctic... the Falkland Islands.

From now on, the posts will change to news of what I am getting upto over there, hopefully with lots of pictures (assuming I can upload them).

I am all packed, have some sculpting equipment with me and am just waiting until I go really (so I am starting to fidget!).

There you have it.

I also have some news that I can't share until the New Year... but it is pretty cool so I hope you can wait.

Well... Cheerio for now and as soon as I am settled, the posts will start again.

Here's a gratuitous penguin picture from when I was last there (taken on Sealion Island):

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See you from the Island!

Christmas Wishes.

It's that time of year again... Christmas Day. I hope that you have all enjoyed your day and the company of those you wanted to share it with.

I have had a lovely meal, a few gifts and my little family all together for the day (me, my missus, my son and my daughter) so I am feeling happy and chilled out.

In two days time, I will be on a plane travelling to the South Atlantic and over the next two days, I will be making sure I have packed everything for my four months away... but today, I am chilling out with a few glasses of port and enjoying a bit of family time.

All that remains is for me to wish you all a happy Christmas and a merry New Year and leave you with a wonderful picture of my friend's dog, Piglet (who happens to be awesome):

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See you from the Antarctic!

Sunday again.

Seeing as it is Sunday and I haven't been putting any work into the hobby lately, I thought I'd dig out a few more bits and bobs for army pics.

First up... the enemy that lurks under the earth on the Tunnel Fighter's world:

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The bugs are Tyranids (of course) but instead of being the GW idea of bugs, these are indigenous to the planet and occur as a result of bug-like breeding. I have deliberately not used any form of ranged weaponry to add to the 'naturally occurring' look of them. I deliberately chose a desert theme because they are on a desert planet and have naturally occurring camouflage. There are more of these in the 'to-do' pile but I doubt very much whether they will ever get done.

Next up; this next little army started out as a WH40K patrol force and expanded a little:

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This little army was put together using an older Imperial Guard Codex where platoons could have partial squads in them. The army has a command HQ, a storm trooper squad, 2 special weapon squads, a heavy weapon squad, 2 platoons, a sentinel and an ogryn squad. One of the platoons has an extra five troops because I happened to have them sitting around. All it would take is the addition of some transport and it would make a good starter force.

This next little army was the one that started my Grymn obsession all those years ago:

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The army has a few conversions (including the only female OGrymn alive - scratch sculpted apart from the hands and weapon), features the very first incarnation of Torge's Tigers and is still very close to my heart (even though I couldn't finish the army due to TOO MUCH BROWN).

Finally today, we have a selection of specialist troops:

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At the front, we have an inquisitor with a small retinue. Behind him are a couple of small stormtrooper units. Behind them, a few Grymn Spartans and over to the right are some Judges with a bit of support in the form of a justice department riot control walker.

Well... in other news, I purchased a Revell starter kit (wiith paints, glue and brush) today... a 1/144 A-10 Warthog. I just felt like I needed something to take my mind off everything while I was alone in the house. It is tiny :).

Well, it will soon be Christmas so I hope you all have a great one. I also hope that Christmas, for you, is the way you would like it to be... and if you don't celebrate Christmas, I hope that you have a great time during your religious celebration / holiday and spend it doing the things you want, with the people you love.

See you from the undergrowth!

Bot-tastic Saturday.

Yep... I'm still bored so here is a full army pic of my Beetlebot force:

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It isn't the best of pictures but I am still getting used to my new camera (which is more of a 'fun camera' than a proper camera).

The Beetlebots have cropped up on here quite frequently over the years but I haven't taken an army pic of what I have finished... so I thought it was about time.

There are more units planned for the army; namely sky-surfers, heavy weapons and spider-snipers... and of course a BIG Beetle Bot... and another leader on a destroyer chassis... and maybe some Dreadbots...

Anyway, there may be more little army pics coming up so watch this space.

See you from the depths of the caverns!

It's Grymn down South...

I was sitting, minding my own business, when I suddenly realised that I haven't posted an army pic for my Tunnel Fighters.

The only previous picture of any note was this one but it was only the basic units:

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Well... seeing as I have time on my hands and had nothing too pressing to do, I decided to dig everything out and plonk it on the table... so here is the entire army (including the white vehicle which is the only unit that remains unfinished):

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As part of this random event, I decided to make a rough tally of how much it had cost and I suddenly realised that I spend far too much on my hobby. Without taking into account the paint, glue, putty and man-hours to build it up, it comes in at around £1100.00... that's a whole lot of money spent on a completely unpractical thing... Anyway, here's a pic with a few labels:

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Hopefully, when I get back from my tour, I will dedicate the required effort to finish the command vehicle, varnish the remaining un-varnished items and finally finish this project once and for all.

If nothing else, this project shows that you can take fairly random items and tie them all together with a coherent paint scheme and a bit of explanation. It also shows that it is possible to complete an army, even though every single unit is converted in some way.

See you from the cupboard!

It's nearly Christmas!

Before I start this rather late blog post, I'd like to welcome Barks to Inso's World. Hi! I hope you find something amongst the pathways that inspires or challenges you.

So this week has been one of fun and frollicks!

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday was all about off road driving. I had a great time putting a Land Rover through its paces... on and off road, in daylight and darkness... even with the lights off! It was very entertaining and I recommend that, if you get the opportunity to have a go at it, make sure you do. It is definitely the most fun I have had behind the wheel of a car.

Wednesday morning I passed another fitness test and Thursday/Friday, I was chasing up paperwork for my deployment. Today, I've been down to Somerset (6 hour round trip) to see my family for the last time before I disappear for 4 months.

So... quite an eventful week.

The main thing that has happened is that I found out that my flight is just after Christmas so I get Christmas at home and New Year's Eve in the Falklands... so that was very welcome news.

What about the hobby? Well, I'm afraid that has all been packed away so I am not touching anything at the moment.

Hopefully, I will finish off all of my work prep for the deployment by Wednesday so I can put in some leave and enjoy a bit of family time before I go. Then I may do a little bit of painting (it's all I haven't properly packed away) but I may be too busy.

That, I am afraid, is that for this week. I'm sorry it isn't more interesting but things are just the way they are at the moment.

See you from the rumble strip!