Winter

 I've had this little cartoon in my files for many years, just waiting for an opportunity to use it. Now seems as good a time as any. We've had cold nights, hard frosts and very cool days for about a week now, though the weathermen promise improvements to come.

Mdieval Mysteries

I get through a fair amount of murder mystery stories in my leisure reading, and recently came across a series new to me, though the number of titles available show it must have been going for some time. While most titles involve the same couple of protagonists, a naive monk and a peddler of pornographic tapestries, a few are more specific. The first is The Domesday Book (No Not That  One).

 Set in the aftermath of the Battle of Hastings, Wiilam finds out that the body he has been told is Harold is not. Harald has been wounded, not in the eye, but somewhere more personal, and spirited away by a group of supporters. William sends a mismatched group of retainers to find, and 'remove' Harold for good. They are to pretend to be doing a tax survey of the country to disguise their true intent. 

Odd and comic adventures follow, with an ending that leaves Harold in a situation open for the second book.

There is also a volume on the Magne Carta, where the original, sent by John to be copied, is lost, and the shenanigans following to get a 'true' copy written in time. Barons, King and others trying to get their own version produced as the official one.

History as it could have been written by Terry Pratchett, these titles can be found under the name of Howard of Warwick, and I can reccomend them.

I had hoped to put up a picture, but can't seem to get one donloaded, so you will have to google it for yourselves.

Nostalgia, a disease that hits the old folk.

 As I'm getting on a bit and have a house, shed and garage full of a lifetime clutter my wife recently suggested I might like to have a clear out. "After all," she said "it will be no use to you after you've gone, and the children are unlikely to want any of it". She is right, of course, and we are mostly all in the same boat. What is to happen to our collections when we have shuffled off to wherever we belive we are going? To this end I am taking a good look at what there is, and making lists with appropriate reccomendations (charity shop, auction, local club, whatever) of disposal. 

As it happens, on top of the wardrobe in our bedroom, among the boxes of family tree ephemera and memerabilia (including my dad's little diary of his trips across the Atlantic and back aboard a corvette during WW2) is a large box of old fashioned negatives from the late 1950s onwards. Most of which are torlly unimportant, but were obviously thought worth keeping at the time. A cursory glance through these threw up the negatives for the following picture. 

This photo was taken by me in the early 1960s, with my dad's camera and guidance, on our kitchen table. It was taken for sending in to the old Airfix magazine when they ran a monthly reader's photo competition. I didn't even get a consideration, not surprising when you look at the photo. Mind you, the negative has suffered over the years. Here is the story behind it.

Back in the War of 1812 the British navy had a number of actions against the American ships, one of which was that between H.M.S.Shannon and the U.S.S.Chesepeake in June 1813.

Airfix had issued their waterline model of H.M.S.Shannon some time ago and using the picture as inspiration I took two of these models, did some small conversion by removing sails, thinning yards, and different paint jobs to make both participants. A quick painting on hardboard of a blue ground and white streaks gave a background, while some kitchen tin foil gave a sea. Dad's pipe produced a slight smoke, aided by teased out cotton wool. This was the result.

Bearing in mind, I'd only be about 14/15 at the time I was quite proud of the result. Especially as it was my first real conversion attempt. I'd love to have a go now, but the Airfix model is going for silly money on the internet.

Alternative History Magazine

Out shopping with MrsJ earlier today (someone has to push the trolley or pop back for items she's missed in an aisle we've passed) I came across this one off title in the magazine shelves. Full of alternative history scenarios, some more outlandish than others.

Three pages of index listing the articles, one of which I show here.

Each article starts with a brief synopsis, and then takes the form of a question and answer session with an appropriate author.

Some subjects are more interesting than others. Most are of the usual things ,Napoleon winning Waterloo, JFK not assasinated, Hitler winning Battle of Britain; while others are less thought of, Vikings colonising America, Aztecs beating Spanish, Queen Victoria being assasinated (there were several failed attempts) and so on.

An interesting read that could give rise to some different ideas for games. 

 

Presenting The Colours

 Well, I've finally completed my little vignette begun back in January. Unfortunately, just after starting it both MrsJ and myself caught some sort of virus which laid us both out for a number of weeks. After three courses of antibiotics and a couple of weeks on steroids we are nearly back to normal but still a bit under the weather. I find that extended excercise tires me out easily so don't get much done.

The figures were mastered some years ago by Kieth Over of Whittlesey miniatures (anyone remember his Waterloo range?) but I've only just dug them out of the pile. I feel that my painting has definitely deteriorated, probably because of weaker eyes and more wobbly fingers, but I'm reasonably satisfied with the result. Apart from the Union Flag, which definitely needs a retouch, though it's not going to get it.

Next on the table, a couple of units of the Eureka 'Toy Town Soldiers' range, just to get back in practice and continue another project that got sidelined.

Seen on e-bay, business proposition.

Every now and then, about once a month, I have a trawl through e-bay to see if I can find anything of interest towards my various interests. While rooting through todays offerings I came across item number 225956576570 - described as follows;- Large lot Traditional Toy Soldier metal castings moulds business, 60 plus moulds plus 100s (742 in total) of castings, price £12,000. 

I did a quick search for the name in the advert, but though it seems familiar I could not track him down. I can only assume that this is an estate sale from someone who had a large range at one time. I hope it finds a buyer soon, as knowing the cost of moulds and metal the price seems reasonable.  If I were younger I could have been tempted.

Presenting the colours - begun

This is what I use as a painting table when working in the lounge. It's a replica campaign desk from a now defunct furniture company called Mulityork. Looks like a normal table when closed

but when the top is lifted it has a couple of work surfaces. It sits in the corner of the room with a light behind it, and back to the telly. I work on the front surface with paints, brushes etc. on the top. It only gets folded away when we have visitors. Grandchildren have been trained not to touch anything, though they do like to look at what I'm doing.

First up this year is a little 5 figure set from my hoard. This is based on a photo from one of the books on my shelves, showing Queen Mary presenting colours to the West Surrey Regiment. The master figures were made for me by the late (?) Kieth Over of Whittlesey Miniatures some 20 odd years ago. For various reasons I never got round to introducing the set into my range, so there are not many

 around. I see that I only have one standard (Langley) so I'll have to invest in a second before I finish.

 

 

All Change for 2024 - perhaps

 Since MrsJ and I moved to our little bungalow a couple of years ago I have been very lethargic on my hobby front. Most of my toy and wargaming stuff is still in the boxes they moved in, nothing at all has happened with my plans for small warships (50ft = 1in) of which I have a large selection of plans filed away, and the main, shed based, model railway has ground to a halt after initial enthusiasm.

The reason for the last is easy to spot. We now 'babysit' our 3 year old grandson one day a week, and he likes to spend the afternoon in the shed playing trains. He's not allowed access to locos yet, but faffs around with wagons and coaches, having come to terms with how points work, but this isn't restricted to the rails. So I plan to put a hiatus on construction until he starts full time school at the end of next year. 

I'm also going to dispose of some of the larger machine tools I used in my woodworking adventures, thus letting up space in the garage for easier activities.  I have plenty of thinner timber to use as hulls and superstructures, so the ships should be no problem. I've still got a couple of vessels started way back when, that don't seem to have progressed far beyond the hulls.

The other change will be that I have no storage space for a lot of the metal mountain tucked away in a spare wardrobe. To this effect I intend to dispose of my 18th century castings, an assortment of Minden figures, Fife and Drum, Eureka and other makers. I'll be putting these on e-bay over the next few months, so keep an eye out.

This leaves me to concentrate on the 54mm figures I have. Some date way back some 20 years, and It's time they were painted. Among them is a ful Langley Horse Artillery team, horses. limber, gun and gunners. Definitely time this was brought out and put together. I'm thinking that it should be mounted on a display plinth as a decoration once it is finished. But first, I think, practice on something a little smaller! I may have to invest in one of these magnifying spectacle type gadgets, we'll see.

I've joined a number of Facebook groups on Toy Soldiers, to see is this helps, but am finding that thw FB runners do seem to send me an awful lot of unsolicited rubbish they "think you might like". So my membership may be shorter than I expected.

Rant over for today. I promise to try do better with my blog entries over the next twelve months, keeping you abreast with progress, or lack of it. Thank you to all of you out there who do post regularly, letting me in on your activities. It does help and can be very insiprational.

Now, let's get this painting table back into the corner of the lounge.

 

Head wanted

 This last year I've had a very sparse hobby productivity, for various assorted reasons but we needn't go into those here. So bad has it been that I've had to make a resolution that next year I really must get on with things, and we know how new year resolutions turn out, don't we? 

Anyway, one of the projects I seem to have neglected is the production of figures in  54mm using readily avaliable figures, representing the various volunteer units of the Victorian and Edwardian era, which I seem to have neglected of late. I had a root round the shed and found a stash of castings from various makers, as well as Prince August moulds and lots of old Swoppet spare arms, heads and so on, so I have a start. Now to browse my reference books and get the old head working again.

What I do need, and don't seem to have, is a certain Britain's ACW head. If I recall it was only available in the gun team set, and is of a rider in a kepi with a full beard. The only one I remember. I've been looking online to see if I can get one, without success, so if anyone has one that they can loan to me then I can make a mould to cast my own as often as I like and produce figures of some of those well bewiskered gents seen in old photos. 

I'd be very grateful if one turns up.

In the meantime, Compliments of the season to you all, and may 2024 bring you all you desire. 

Enormous model fleet for disposal.

 Philip Warren, who has spent 75 years building scale models of every ship in the Royal Navy since WW2, has decided to stop presenting his collection for display, usually in Nothe Fort, Weymouth, as it is getting too much for him to do the transporting, setting up and clearing out. He is looking for an institution to take on the collection, but I wonder where it could go, who would take on the job of care and maintenance, and would they be on view? 

I remember seeing his display some years ago, and it was remarkable. Although in only a small room I was there for a good couple of hours just enjoying the handywork and dedication, considering the models are all hand made (no frets) from matches or wooden matchboxes. I picked up a copy of his little booklet and still enjoy browsing the pictures.

Here's hoping there is a good outcome to the situation. 

On Show

 For the first time in years I have managed to exhibit a model railway. Nothing grand, just a lockdown project based on a Peco 009 set track starter pack. While it got boring watching the train(s) go round and round all day I did get some interesting chats as the visitors tried to find all the little cameos. There were Red Riding Hood and the wolf, Alice and the White Rabbit, a flock of dodo's and a wolf in sheeps clothing, to mention a few. My collection of old Games Workshop 'Gothic Horror' figures came in handy, and other makers bits and pieces are there too.

Question is, what can I do for next year?

Life gives us a smack in the face.

After, what, three years, MrsJ came down with a cold. She was due to go into hospital for a new knee so phoned them up and the doc suggested that she'd be OK to go in, but take a lateral flow test in case. She came out positive so I had one with same result. Hence her op is called off and delayed goodness knows how long, and we have a week at home together!! I suppose it was Sod's Law at work. Neither of us feel like doing much so a lot of rubbish TV is being watched. Normal service resumes shortly. 

A new Imagi-nation comes into being.

I'm thinking of disposing of my metal mountain of 18th century figures, as I've not had them out of storage for about four years, and will never have time to paint them anyway. During my recent trawling through the boxes to see what there is (a merry assortment of Rank And File, Fife And Drum, Willie, and others I came across a box containing a batch of Eureka 'Toy Soldiers' which were unpainted. I've done a couple of generals as practice and now have General Dogsbody and General Ignorance (I need a better name than that) and have cobbled a few trees in order to see how they turn out.

 

They were a bit top heavy, so I glued them to a couple of handy tiddlywinks. I can borrow the grandchildren's building blocks for houses and forts (Fort Not and Fort So), can have a couple of small forces as army red and army blue, set against each other in a 'Noddyish' land called Blytonia. 

At the moment I have a couple of infantry regiments, a couple of cavalry regiments, and a cannon with crew. If I duplicate this for opponents I reckon I should have enough to get the grandchildren keen.

I'll be getting on to this project after Christmas, and it is my resolution for 2023.

In the meantime, Seasons greetings to you all, and all the best for next year.

Queen Elizabeth 11's Lying in State.

Hello, I've been away on a six week round tour of Scotland in the caravan, returning home last Saturday. During that time the country has lost its Monarch and slipped into an outpourng of nostalgia culminating in todays State Funeral. I caught up with the Lying in State, watching bits of the various TV coverages and it led me to wonder, What about making a 54mm toy soldier diorama of it? Would that be seen as bad taste? I thought I might proceed with the possibility of producing something for next years BMSS competition, so I've been browsing for appropriate figures.

Looking at photos it would appear that I need 4 guardsmen, 4 beefeaters and 4 Gentlemen at Arms as a minimum, preferably at attention, that I can convert. I can see that there will be a bit of work in bending heads and especially in producing the 'reversed arms' involved. I've discovered a Beefeater and Gentleman as kits on the Tradition site and ordered one of each to start with, and I think I can use my Prince August moulds to produce the guardsmen.

I'll use this as an autumn project, and drop in occasional progress reports as I go.

 

  

Lost Skills?

 This picture )no further information) has just popped up on one of my Facebook suggested sites. Makes me think of my own Humperstein 'Grey Ladies' , a small unit of female hussars formed by Princess Aurora as bodyguard/intelligence gatherers. They have grey uniforms, hence the nickname. Perhaps they are modernising and moving onto cycles from horses. Mind you, from my experience of excersise on cycles momentum +swing could lead to trouble balancing.

Model Mayhem weekend

 Is it really a year since I put something on this page? Well here's something to be going on with.

This weekend MrsJ and I visited in-laws at Titchmarsh in Northamptonshire, just seven miles from Wicksteed Park in Kettering. As it happens (a bit of judicial hinting from myself) the visit coincided with the Model Boat Mayhem weekend held on the boating lake in the park and I managed to slope off for the morning thus avoiding a dose of flower arranging. This weekend is an 'anyone can turn up' with or without model boat and have a sail. People travel vast distances to attend. Here are a few photos I took of the event. I'm just jealous that I can' match the expertise shown.

Let's Celebrate St.David's Day

 March 1st is St.David's Day, celebrated throughout Wales (and possibly Patagonia). As we lived there for a number of years during our childrens primary school years I remember our daughter dressing up in her lille Welsh Lady costume along with the rest of her friends in order to go to school dressed like that. A pity that England doesn't celebrate St.George's Day in that way, but we don't seem to have a national costume, and I seem to find it difficult to imagine one (flat cap vs bowler, anyone). However, in order not to let the day go unremarked I append the little cartoon strip below.

This is from the old newspaper strip 'The Perishers' that appeared in the Daily Mirror way back in the 1960s and was one of my favourites. Not that my father took the Mirror, he was an Express man, but every Saturday I had to ride my bike to the outskirts of town where a family friend (and honorary gramnparent) had a smallholding, there I picked up 3 dozen eggs carefully wrapped in newspaper, no cartons in them days! and cycled home with them in my saddlebag. Rarely did I get home without at least one breakage. The paper they were wrapped in was the Mirror, and I read all the bits once I got back home.

The Perishers were a British equivalent of Peanuts, and to my mind were far superior. The drawings were far more detailed, often,like tis one, travelling over a panoramic background, and sometimes the storyline would last for a couple of weeks. Who can forget Wellington, an orphan living in an old railway station and making a living (?) selling go-karts (buggies, karties, ) to unsuspecting children; along with his dog Boot, an Old English Sheepdog with delusions of grandeur. He believed himself to be an 18th century aristocrat under a gypsy curse. Then of course there were the supporting cast. Marlon, who never had a thought in his head and a pechant for ketchup sandwiches, Maisie who pursued Marlon with vigour, much to his distress, and could win any argument even if it meant resorting to violence; Maisie's little brother Baby Grumplin, who was famous for his worm sandwiches and general misdeeds.

Other characters popped in from time to time. B.H.Calcutta (failed) the Indian Bloodhound who'd lost his sense of smell, Tatty Oldbit the sailor's friend,  a beagle with a disreputable liking for sailors (or any male, come to that), Adolf the Teutonic tortoise with dreams of world domination, and many others. 

Selections of their strips were published in annual collections, and I understand that some are being reprinted in the Mirror nowadays.

Thanks for sharing this little bit of nostalgia. Have a good day and stay safe.

13th (Llandaff) Corps, Glamorganshire Volunteer Rifle Corps, 1860

 

My first painted unit completed in a long time. The figures represent a unit of the Glamorganshire Volunteer Rifle Corps of 1860, when they wore an unusual uniform of dark blue with green embellishments. 

The original donor figure, complete with full trousers and coat braiding, is unrecognised by me, and Giles Brown of Dorset Miniatures couldn't place it either. It doesn't appear to be Britains 'standing Hussar' or 'Argentinian cadet' as I see them in my reference books, but could be another make. I replaced the head with one from the Fort Henry Guard, lopping the pom pom off first, and gave the officer a little cord on his belt. Rifle and sword arms come from Replica Models.

These figures took a long time to finish (I started them back in November) as my fine lines seem to wobble these days and need a lot of retouching. I do have some FHG figures in stock which may get painted next, I just need to find an appropriate uniform from my file.

Christmas Games

 This year Christmas has been particularly confusing, trying to sort out who we can meet, who we can visit, who we have to avoid, etc. Normally it has been a case of getting everybody together at the same time, taking it in turns as to which abode we visit. This year was to have been our daughters turn, but if we went then our son would not be able to take his family, so we compromised by having his two (boy 13 and girl 5) for a few hours before the day while the parents went shopping.

Normally we play a family board game, such as Cluedo, Scrabble, Ludo, Snakes and Ladders; something for the adults but mainly the children. This year computers, Ipads, and other electronic things prevailed, but to get the two grandchildren away from temptation MrsJ found, at the top of the wardrobe, a game we used to play with our own.

"Take The Brain" is a simple (hah!) board game from the early 1970s, and is similar to chess but with only three types of piece. There are Numbskulls that can only move one space, Ninnys that can move unlimited spaces in a straight line, and a Brain (basically the King) who again can only move one space. The object is to 'kill' your opposition brain by occupying his square.

You may think it easy, but - each square has a number of arrows on it, pointing in various different positions. Some straight, others diagonal, and you can only move a piece in the direction one of the arrows is pointing!! Some forward thinking is involved, and you have to keep an eye on the squares occupied by enemy pieces as well as your own; you may end up thinking yourself safe, but in line from an enemy piece on the other side of the board.

We ran through the game once with our two (5 and 13, remember) once and then the older one played me. I beat him the first time but was soundly trounced the second * (the crys of "I beat grandad" echoed round the house}. After that they both played it non-stop, enjoying it as much as each other. So much so that they've borrowed the game to take home. 

Unfortunately the game is no longer produced, and I only found two for sale on that auction website, for over £30 each. If you can find a copy anywhere, I recommend it. 

* I was so busy concentrating on my plan that I missed one of his Ninnys with direct route to my Brain.

Seasons Greetings - 2020

 Hasn't this been a peculiar year? Most of us spending a great deal of it trying to keep away from people and being really anti social. One would think that our hobby activities would conquer all, but that doesn't appear to be the case on my part. I seem to have done less rather than more. Loads of 28mm soldiers remain unpainted, the various 54mm figures I'd planned to complete remain in their packets, three model railways (of various scales and gauges) seem frozen in progress and the garage workbench has gathered a layer of dust. Personally I blame MrsJ. She retired at the beginning of the year and keeps finding things to 'keep her occupied', trouble is they usually involve me too. So the days disappear, one by one.

I've made a positive resolution that for 2021 I shall escape to the garage or shed on a daily basis for a couple of hours, even if it only involves a bit of tinkering. My list of 'things I'd like to make' is yards long, the wood has been maturing for a few years now, and I have to prove to MrsJ that the tools in the garage are used, contrary to her belief that, just because I don't use them all regularly I don't need them is erroneous. The mortice drill, beading plane, router and planer may not come out every day, but they all have their special times.

In the meantime, I managed to throw together the header picture as a sort of Christmas card for this year. Normally the doctor would go out and about with us on our caravan trips, but he hasn't had a chance this year. 

Merry Christmas everybody, stay safe, As the Chinese saying goes "This, too, will pass"