Things...

Hello and welcome.

This week has been one of all sorts of things so let's get to it.

Cats.

On Tuesday, little Alfie went to get his first jabs and have a check up. He's in perfect condition and is settling in beautifully. He has adjusted to all the cats and they have adjusted to him... so we have a four cat family now.

Click the Vid!

Sam, on the otherhand, hasn't had such a good week. He got himself injured and his tail stopped working. After a few days of him disappearing and me eventually coaxing him in, I managed to get him X-rayed at the vets and he isn't too damaged after all... just bruising, swelling and a temperature... so he had an infection as well. Pain-killers, anti-inflamatories and antibiotics are working to resolve the issue and he has started to regain the use of his tail again.

Click the Pic!

He's got to go back to the vets on Tuesday for a check up and has to be kept in... but he has resigned himself to his incarceration and it has given him a chance to enjoy the company of the kitten... and he has been socialising with Alfie very nicely.

I'd like to say that was the end of the expensive week... but then there was the fence...

Fence.

Yep... we now have a glorious fence around the garden that is rock-solid and not rotten (YAY!). We are just waiting for a couple of old posts to be removed and the old fence to be disposed of and it will be a good starting block to crack on with the rest of the garden... money well spent but still 'more expense'. At least it was planned. I haven't taken any pix yet because of the rubbish in the garden. Once it is all cleared away, I'll get some pix.

Job.

This week, I have finished my care certificate, had my probation interview and also been trained as a care certificate assessor. I now have an extra "BUDDY" badge to wear at work. So I have an official qualification and have a second career (the first being aircraft, engineering technician) as a Health Care Assistant. I am rather happy about that.

Hobby.

As you can imagine, I have not really had the time or motivation for much hobby this week so I only have a small update that was finished last Sunday evening... and this is it:

Click the Pic!

The pic shows the last infantry elements of the Artillery Company... this is Blue Company Command. With these troops finished, I just need to sort out the vehicles and the company will be finished... well, when everything is properly based, of course. 

I have started work on the second infantry platoon for Orange Infantry Company... but have only got as far as base-spraying them and adding ten pink faces. Hopefully, this coming week will provide me the time and motivation to get back to painting them again.

Who knows what this coming week will bring?

See you from the surgery!

Kitten Chaos...

Hello and welcome to Inso's World again.

This week has been a tiring but rewarding one.

First of all, the fence in the garden is in the process of being replaced. I am finally going to have a fence that is a nice, natural colour and is sound; not rotten. It is going well and will be finished relatively soon... it is a big tick off my list of jobs that need doing.

Work has been the usual level of awesome but tiring... and I am at a point where I have more or less finished my care certificate and should get it signed off this coming week... so I'll be off probation. In fact, I am going to be training to become an assessor so my managers seem to be pretty happy with me.

The other big news is this... meet Alfie:

Click the Pix!

As you can see, Alfie has settled in nicely and is a rather sociable little chap. He's off to the vets on Tuesday, to get his first jabs, a check-up and sign up for kitten-club... 

... on the not so happy side, our oldest cat, Fred has also been to the vets and sadly, he's not well and is on borrowed time. He is arthritic (has had medication for it for a long time) and his mobility is reducing but he has also developed some lumps in his neck that are starting to make eating a little difficult... his next visit to the vet, will likely be his last so we are monitoring things and making his last days as happy for him as we can.

Click the Pic!

In other news... my hobby time has been limited... mostly due to tiredness BUT I have managed to get another Squad of Epic Squats finished:

Click the Pic!

This is the last section command squad for the artillery company. I am currently working on the company command units and hope that they will be finished soon. Then it will be back to infantry platoons again.

That's about it for now.

See you from the sofa!

A cool week.

Hello and welcome to Inso's World again.

It's been a really good week, this week.

We have had family visiting for the week so I have managed to get some family time in between work shifts. They were down to visit because this week has seen the annual Flora Dance and it is a real community experience. Luckily, my missus had the week off so that she could have plenty of time for family so she had a great week.

On Flora Day, I had my first pint of ale in a whole year. It was worth waiting for... so now I am able to enjoy a pint after my year off the beer. I also spent some quality time with one of my new mates from work so that was cool.

The reason behind the year off the beer was to celebrate my Dad's life with something that meant something and also something that I could look back on and say "I managed to do that". Well... I managed to do that!

On top of that, I have arranged to have our garden fence replaced. The tradesman who is doing it, should be starting at some time this afternoon... possibly Drektly... I guess we'll see.

From a hobby perspective, I have continued with the little Squats and have been working to complete the artillery company. I haven't quite managed it but have had a little progress:

Click the Pix!

The images show the last of the three Thudd-Gun sections and two command squads for two of the sections. I still have the last of the 3 command units to finish and then the company command/support section. I have decided that the support part of this command section will include another couple of Thudd-Guns so it will be different to the Infantry company command/support section. All will become clear when things get painted and based properly.

This coming week will see the arrival of our new Kitten, Alfie. We are expecting to pick him up on Tuesday evening and we can't wait.

I think that is about it for this week.

See you from the camel's back!

More of the same.

Hello and welcome to Inso's World again.

It has been two weeks of pretty much the same old stuff... lots of work, a few bumps in the road and a little bit of hobby... so here we go.

I have been enjoying work and had some really good shifts where there were no agency staff so the continuity meant that the shifts went without any bother and were really stable. The clients were happy because they knew us and we were happy because they were. I am certainly not saying anything against agency staff because they are a key part of our home running efficiently and they work as hard as us... but some of them don't work with us very often and aren't as familiar to our clients and it can cause them (clients) a little confusion.

So... work has been good...

BUT...

One of our clients passed away and has left a big hole behind them. They were absolutely awesome, genuine and always appreciative of the care they received and will be sorely missed. There were more than a few tears... but they went peacefully and had family around them so it was a good way to go. Safe travels to them.

Life has been pretty straight up. Pottering along, as I do.

Hobby has been a bit hit and miss... but I have found time to continue with my Epic Squat army:

Click the Pix!

From the top, we have the second thudd-gun section for Blue Company, then -  Orange Company, Blue platoon command squad, 2 infantry squads and heavy weapon squad. I have also cleaned up a second infantry platoon, with a third one cleaned and primed ready to go. In the meantime, I have the third and final thudd-gun section for Blue Company, on the painting table, getting painted.

I have also received my order from Vanguard Miniatures so have a few vehicles to add (once the troops are finished). Here's an idea of how big they are:

Click the Pic!

In other related news, I have been trying to decide what to go with this little army , as heavy support and will be building a Titan and possibly, a large, train-like land vehicle... but it's very early days yet.

Three weeks until Alfie arrives.

See you from the fluffy place!

Continuing the trend.

Hello and welcome to Inso's World again.

This week has been much of a continuation of last week... working and being tired due to lack of sleep.

My wife has had a week off work and I was lucky enough to pick up a training course on the one day I had off... so we couldn't really get much done. Fortunately, we managed to go out for an evening at a local historic garden with Marie Curie. It was a good evening which consisted of a walk around the private areas of the garden followed by tea, cakes and a bit of a meet and greet with other Marie Curie fundraisers and committee members.

Last Saturday, we popped over to see kittens at a friend's house and we are pleased to say that we are going to be bringing one home in a few weeks. His name is Alfie and here he is at the moment:

Click the Pix!

He's only four weeks old so it will be a few weeks before he comes home with us... but he is a little cutie.

In other news, I got a pay rise... which is nice. I'm still really enjoying the work so I am hoping it can continue.

Apart from that, I have been doing a small amount of hobby stuff... and have focused entirely on my tiny little Epic troops. This is where I am at...

Click the Pix!

So far, I have finished five Exo commanders, a ten man command unit, three Thudd-Guns and six crew. I have also finished a further three Thudd-Guns but haven't finished the crew for them yet. Obviously, I need to base them but I will be dealing with that when I have an idea of how I am going to do it... but progress is progress and I am happy to be getting the tiny folk painted up so quickly.

That's about it for today.

See you from the care home!

Epic post

Hello and welcome to Inso's World again.

It's been a fairly interesting couple of weeks, since I last posted, but mostly unrelated to hobby things.

I have donated blood, worked a lot, got poorly, had a week off (holiday at home), travelled around Cornwall on my motorbike, got depressed and was very glad to be out of my own company and back at work again. I also counted charity money, did the annual accounts (for our committee) and even had a time where I sat and watched TV.

My wife and I managed to see Captain Marvel at the local cinema and enjoyed it. I thought it was a bit 'impersonal' and I felt that I couldn't connect with the main character very well. Hopefully, that will change in the upcoming Avengers 'Endgame' film.

Hobby wise, I have started things but not got very far with them. I managed to finish the two Big Squats though...

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They have now been primed and are ready to be painted along with the other three that need paint. In addition to the two above, I have started three more. They are equipped with close combat weapons and las-pistols and just need the quilting and heads to be sculpted. I am planning on making these look a bit more berserk (close combat orientated) with Mohawks and bright hair colour... but they stalled and I started the next partial thing...

... Hearthguard leg casts. I have cast up seven sets of legs (two spares) and have allowed them time to dry but I haven't cleaned and prepared them for fitting to the torsos yet. Why? Well, I got distracted again with...

... Squat super heroes that could be used to proxy Primarchs, Tanks or large creatures. That was the idea... and with that in mind, I started to sculpt a super Squat... but stalled... and he is now stood on the cork, glaring at me and trying to guilt me into finishing him... so I then got distracted and decided it was high time I did this:

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This week, I decided to put a rubbish bid on a complete set of Epic Squat Warriors... and I won! Yep... I'm now the proud owner of five mint sprues of Squat Warriors and have begun the task of deciding what to do with them.

As it happens, I have decided to just build an army and not base it on anything Epic because I don't game. They will be organised and based how I feel, rather than in line with any rules and that means two things... 1) I can design things how I want them to look 2) I can add what I want, from any other ranges that I like.

With five sprues in hand, I set about arranging an army and this is what I have come up with:

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There are spare bits and bobs (I haven't even included the mole mortars because they look dire) but I am happy with what I have come up with. Once I have painted and based this lot, I will be purchasing some transport for them. I am hoping to get some nice APC miniatures from a relatively local source (Plymouth) but I'm not going to talk about them too much, for fear of getting distracted again.

That's it for the hobby this time around. I have no idea what this coming week will bring but I expect it will be fairly lack-lustre, if my current fickleheadedness has anything to do with it.

See you from the peak!

Another sunny day.

Hello again.

It's a beautiful sunny day in Inso's World today... even if it is quite chilly.

The last fortnight has pretty much been all about work, lack of sleep and a little bit of hobby here and there... but as of yesterday, I am not only on a week off work but have also acquired a head-cold so this post is going to be a bit random.

Work. As I have mentioned before, I now work as a health care assistant (HCA) in a relatively high dependency, Dementia care home. As much as I love working there, there are times when it can be challenging because some of the residents have quite complex issues/needs. There is also the constant threat of residents passing away... another part of the job that can be challenging to deal with. Over the last couple of weeks, there has been a death, a fall (resulting in a leg injury), some very challenging behaviour and a couple of new residents who are going through a settling in period. There has also been a decline in some of the resident's health. As a result, I have had a lot of different things to cope with... but have remained up-beat and cheerful throughout (at work) but have also been quite drained (at home)...

... but I wouldn't change things. My job is extremely rewarding and I wouldn't want to be without it now...

Hobby. I've done some... namely a bit of press-moulding... but before I got on with that, I finished off two units of Hearthguard Assault Frames (count-as Space Marine Centurions):

Click the Pic!

If you look at the image, I have shown the four possible poses that can be achieved, without having to alter any components. I am pleased with how they turned out and it opens up the possibility of getting another six, in the future, and turning them into heavy weapon variants... who knows?

Press-moulding? What's that all about then? Well... I got fed up and couldn't get any sculpting done so I decided to get some legs out and cast up a bunch of legs for some Steel Warriors so that I could turn them into Hearthguard, like these ones:

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I have cast up six pairs of the same legs but have yet to clean them up because I am struggling to do anything at the moment, due to my nose dripping all the time. I have managed to dig out the components required to complete the Hearthguard but have only carried out minimal assembly so that I can be sure that things will fit together without making pouch-sculpting impossible. I tried a second go, with different legs but the mould didn't work very well so I scrubbed it. The process goes like this:

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In another fickle moment, I decided to dig out a couple of Arkanauts to convert into a few more Big Dwarfs to go with these:

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So far, I have cleaned up two bodies and glued heads on them so I don't have much to take a pic of... but hopefully, there will be more to share soon. I am thinking that they would make a good Kill Team or Necromunda gang... and with the addition of a couple of random Halflings from HERE (I have them on the bench as well), there will be a good representation of the Abhuman races from the games.

Well... that's about it for now. I'm sure that I'll think of something to write about by the time I write the next post.

See you through bleary eyes!