Hearts of Oak (Polystyrene Really)

So, HMS Victory is due a refit the BBC tells us.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16134999

Here is my version, straight out the loft, cobwebs and all.

I think she is due a refit too!

Then there all these to worry about.

Wish me luck Jolly Tars.

Warmaster Warp Factor

Here's a few pictures to demonstrate the warping problem I experienced with my 15 year old Warmaster figures.

The figures here have been glued down with a contact adhesive, probably Bostik or UHU. The left hand base has a very slight warp, not terribly visible but enough to make the base spin on a hard tabletop. When on a cloth covered tabletop it is fine.

The central base is a bit more warped and is developing a crack one third of the way from the left.

The right hand base looks better and it has a bit of Milliput applied.

When the figures are removed the warping is even more pronounced.

This is the base which is starting to crack.

The base nearest the camera had two infantry bases glued lengthwise on it and you can barely detect any warping but there is some across the short edge.

The base on top of the pile had four short bases glued across the short edge and there is distinct warping along the long edge.

I replaced all these bases with thicker plasticard.

On some of the bases I glued, using a plastic cement, another thin layer of plastic card underneath based with magnetic tape. I left these to dry on a sheet of steel paper and later filled the gap with modelling paste.

The figures had always been kept in a centrally heated house and had never been exposed to extremes of temperature. I can only imagine that the pull of the drying contact adhesive was stronger than the plastic bases.

Anyway the problem is now solved.

The end results are here:

http://jim-duncan.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/and-dead-shall-rise-again.html

And The Dead Shall Rise Again

I've finished rebasing my Warmaster Undead Army, Tomb Kings to be precise.

Here they are:

Well over 2000 points worth of, ehm, bones, just bones.

The Monsters, two Sphinxes and two Bone Giants.

Slow in movement but hard to kill, you don't want any of these to get on your flanks.

Mind you they are bad enough attacking you anywhere.

Bone Throwers. These are a pain to rank up as the bone bows are way too wide for the bases.

Skull Chuckers, the heavy artillery of the Undead world.

Undead Archers, death in the shadow of their arrows.

You don't want the enemy to get close to these, they can be fragile in close combat.

Undead Spearmen

These can also be raised from corpses on the battlefield.

Chariots, the main striking force.

Undead Cavalry

Handy as a follow-up force to the chariots.

Carrion

Flighty but fragile.

These can also be a 'bustard' to rank up. Look at my cunning solution.

The Commanders, a motley crew of Liche Priests and Heroes.

They must be height conscious as they always seem to be standing up on a little mound.

Not content with a little mound, these guys are magical in their elevation.

These are the most conscious of their high positions, they take to the air on their Zombie mounts.

There's been a lot of drilling and pinning behind the scenes (actually under the bones) of these models as they are prone to accidents.

Both wings are pinned as well as the priests spear (very fragile they are)

Now, all they need is some static grass on their bases. Anyone know what is the latest Undead fashion in static grass?

Knights in White Satin

Never reaching the end.

(Apologies to the Moody Blues)

Sorry, no white satin, just acrylic paint and polyurethane varnish.

I came across some part painted soldiers while rummaging.

They are Warmaster Empire Knights so I thought I would finish them.

Here they are.

Nice, aren't they?

Wait a minute, I'm sure I have more of these somewhere.

Here they are too!

That's a whole Warmaster brigade now.

Talk about reaching the end.

Unfortunately reaching the end will mean some Pistoliers, some Halberdiers and on and on and on.

One day.

Fingers On Buzzers

What am I up to?

I'm ditching a lot of these:

and I'm making a lot of these.

Just what am I up to?

Answers on a postcard or in reply to this post.

PS

The best clue is in the first picture!

Can't See the Wood for the Trees

While rummaging through my drawers ...

I found some Warbases regimental trays,

a few small coins of the Realm,

some scraps of plasticard,

and a bag of small trees I had recently traded (thanks Tim).

I thought that I could do something constructive with them.

I cut up the plasticard into small octogons a little bit smaller than a penny. I drilled small holes through the middle and glued the tree trunks into them. I stuck them on the pennies.

I then textured the bases and painted them greenish.

I also textured the regimental trays and painted them greenish too!

Putting them altogether looked like this.

A little small for 28mm.

A little large for 6mm.

Just fine for 15mm.

Oh Oh!

My wargames hut is getting untidy again.

Several batches of work in progress, 54mm WW2 British Infantry, 28mm Warlord Hanoverian Infantry, some Commanders and some Men of Rohan.

First Aid Training - Get it Done

Many of you will know that I am a retired chap, just turned 65 last month but have been retired from working for 6 years now.

That in itself is nothing to shout about, loads of people have been there, done that, got the T-shirt etc.

My post today had been prompted by an event earlier this morning.

One of my neighbours came banging at the front door, screaming a bit, her boyfriend was in a bad way in their flat.  I ran over the road, found him on the floor, apparently having a fit, blue in the face, breathing erratically and thrashing about.

Despite being bitten twice, kicked a bit (he is a bodybuilder) I managed to get him breathing better and calmed him down a lot. He was trying to swallow his tongue and re-arrange my body parts at the same. Fortunately an ambulance turned up pretty quickly.

The point of my story is that if you have not done any first aid training then get some and soon, you may never know when it will be important to someone. I started my first aid training back in the late sixties and kept it up to date as often as I could. I never ever had reason to use that training until today. I hope it helped.

Your employer may be able to arrange something or if you are self employed then there are many other ways to get that experience.

This site may help:

http://www.redcross.org.uk/en/What-we-do/First-aid/First-aid-training

I don't want people to comment on this post saying well done and all that, I'm not after that. I would like to hear that some of you have taken that step, perhaps already, and gotten some first aid training, you never know when you might need it.