Progress

Further to my earlier post of "First Things", I have made a little progress and have a couple of photos to show.

The first one shows where I was at the beginning of the year, and is the hull of HMS Exeter at a scale of 1 inch equals 50 feet. Not one of the usual wargaming scales used these days, but my fingers and eyes probably wouldn't cope with anything smaller these days. 

The second shows the current situation, with a little more progress on Exeter, and basic hull outlines and bases for the other three ships needed for the scenario. One German ;Pocket Battleship' and two more British Cruisers.

These models are for use in the garden, where I will be trying to peel nine year old awat from his various computer games. In order to help in this I am going to make up very simple rules of my own, where the guns range will be the calibre in feet ( i.e. 8 inch gun = 8 foot range) and speed a similar idea in inches per knot ( 18 knots = 18 inches), hits, damage etc still to be sorted out, probably using playing cards (red = hit, black = miss). The idea being a quick game not bogged down in lots of calculations and tables, but where some thought will be needed.

If this works, I have enough plans to do a Bismark* or Scharnhorst scenario next year. I'll need time to make the models. More progress reports to follow.

*though, because they didn't do a plan of Bismark, I may have to use Scharnhorst as a stand in!

Something to read.

After a long wait on the local library reservation list (I was originally 68th in line) I've collected Bernard Cornwell's "Waterloo". His first non-fiction title. The question is, after so many other books on the battle over the years, will I learn anything new or will it be just a rehash of bits culled from all the previous ones. I've tried to avoid any comments or reviews so that I don't come to it with preconceived adeas, and I've got three weeks to read it before it's due back.

First things

The first thing I'm doing this year is the completion of something I started back in September.I have a collection of 50ft to 1 inch warship plans from the 1940s, that build up into recognition style simple models. I have the details for making up the four ships involved in a small action that took place in the South Atlantic early in the war, and had started on a British Cruiser. That's now getting finished off, to be followed by the other ships. The intention is to use them out on the lawn in the summer.

More to follow when I have photos.

Review

Well, Christmas has passed, it's now in the hands of the elf-like creature with the conical hat *. The old chap with the scythe and hour-glass is hobbling towards the exit while the chubby cherub in the nappy (US -diaper) is waiting to make his entrance. Time to review the situation.

Readers of my assorted blogs will have seen that there was very little content this year, usually just a note about something that caught my interest as I went along. This is because I've had a bit of a peculiar time lately. A problem with the ticker and various tubes leading to it led to a couple of heart operations, meaning lots of rest and recuperation (MrsJ made sure of that) and assorted pills meant I felt dog-tired most of the time and able to drop into snooze mode at the drop of a hat. Thankfully this period is nearly over and the doc should sign me back into the world soon.

So nothing much has happened in my various hobby interests lately. Admittedly I've pottered about the shed with odd bits of wood, and a few figures have been sent off to be painted for the 19th century armies of Humperstein, but my attention span was such that many of the projects on the go at the start of 2014 are still languishing on various desks at the end of the year. My resolution is to get these finished before starting anything new, so hopefully there will reports of progress appearing here soon. Another thing I've noticed is that during my lazy months I've been spending far too long on this infernal machine and will be restricting access during 2015 (with priority to the blogs and forums I inhabit, general browsing for the sake of it must be held in check!).

So enough of my rabbiting on, You'll be hearing from me, and A Happy New Year to you all,

* Christmas Carol, Dickens.

Christmas is coming

It is difficult to think that the Christmas period will be over in a matter of weeks, and we'll all be thinking of the New Year and all the resolutions it will bring with it.

Every year MrsJ and I have difficulty thinking of things to buy for each other, but this year we are both happy with our choices (we've had to liaise, so no surprises, though I have got something tucked away in the shed (she'll never look there) for the morning in question. She asked me if I'd get her engagement ring enlarged, as her finger is now too big and she wants to wear it next August during daughter's wedding. I was happy to oblige and suggested a reciprocal arrangement whereby she got me something I really wanted. Both sides happy.

My choice is

 a 1/350 scale model of the Flower Class corvette 'HMS Pennywort', known to my late father and his shipmates as 'The Fighting P'. He served in her ,during the recent spot of bother, for all his wartime service, apart from some time at Whale Island at the end, mostly plodding backwards and forwards across the Atlantic shepherding precious cargoes to our shores. Pennywort is one of the ships mentioned in Martin Middlebrook's book 'Convoy'. Unfortunately my father died just before a letter arrived from Middlebrook requesting an interview. I know he would have found the tales interesting - I did, when he was chinwagging with his mates of the RNA when they came round of an evening.
Anyway, I came across this little model advertised on Amazon and it will soon be mine - only a couple of weeks to wait. I shall really enjoy the construction of it, and will be taking extra care over the finish.

That's enough waffling from me, it just remains to wish you all the complements of the season with all the best to you and yours.

Model Boat Show

Well, I managed to spend four hours drooling over the model boats at the National Model Boat Show in Leamington yesterday. A lot of it studying the subject of my last post, The Spithead Review, and I can now tell you more about it.

Begun in 1980, with about 600 models to date, the ships are all to a standard scale of 1:200, and are mainly plasticard. They cover the whole history of the ship, from a dug-out canoe and Noah's Ark through ancient Egypt to Medieval and historic vessels to modern ones. Mainly warships, covering the history of the Capital ship, there is a selection of liners, royal yachts, etc. The models are far better than I can attain, though some are showing the results of not being on a base as they are beginning to curl at the waterline. Not noticeable though, unless you get really close. A few photos follow, apologies for the quality of some, but my little camera can't quite cope with some of the close up work.

A few pictures of other parts of the show as well. A barge for the royal music (how soon before the Duke of Tradgardland wants one?) and a nice selection of late 19th century warships.

Finally, there were some novelty items performing on the indoor pool. Among them was a radio controlled swan, and this duck with ducklings, which, we were told, is so lifelike when on it's normal pond, people have tried to feed them.

I hope this has made a change from reporting a wargame show. It's worth seeing (next years dates are November 6th to 8th). It was nice to have a commentator telling us what boats were on the pond, a bit about the model and the original ship. 

Spithead Review

About to head off to Leamington Spa for the Model Boat Show, and notice that one of the stands is labelled as 'The Spithead Review'. I did a quick google and came across this photo of part of what looks like a massive display of miniature ships. I'm taking two pocket cameras and checked the batteries are fully charged, so should have plenty of pictures to show you next entry.

ps, this looks like a totally different display to the well known 'Matchstick Fleet' of Philip Warren, which is occassionaly seen in the south, as the models seem smaller.