Spey_Phantom's corner of solitude

[Spey_Phantom]

Blog Entry #145b

the move is going smoothly, although i have my stress moments. being scared that im not going to get everything moved or settled in in time.
a small part of the stash has already been moved, aswell as some 1/72 completed builds and almost all the completed 1/144 scale models.
tomorrow im going to start with the assembly of the furniture, witch will be delivered in the morning.
some stash might end up being left behind, to be collected at a later date.

friday im gonna go back home disassemble my bed, take all the cubberds downstairs and prepare everything to be moved in the morning.

Saturday will be the hardest day, with all the cubberds , library, stash and other things being moved.
on Sunday its going to be building and sorting everything, and start the works on the rooms, including mancave 3.0.

[Captain Canada]

Sounds good Nils ! And don't stress too much.....you're almost there and will be relaxing in your own home in no time !

[Spey_Phantom]

Blog Entry #146

First new Blog entry in the new home 

the moving went off pretty smoothly, although i had some severe stress moments.
about 95% of the stash made it here, a small box was left behind, to be picked up at a later date.
the built models made it here in 1 piece, only light damage was noticed on a few, but its fixable.

work has started on Mancave 3.0, with most of the funishing assembled, however, i hit a slight bump   ,
a large old closet that was intended as a stash storage closet, was unable to be brought here as it was to large to move downstairs and could not be rebuilt if taken appart. so as a replacement, i ordered some heavy duty shelf units, big enough to accomodate most of the stash, should be expected here tomorrow 

there is still too much to be done in the house itsself, i need to fit a new shower head, toilet seats, lighting,.....
this weekend im gonna look at hanging up the shelf units, but first i need to find a new key for the power drill 
i hope to start actual building within a week or 2, as i have encountered some delays and unforseen problems.

healthwise, im holding up, although i appear to have come down with a flu, so im at home right now resting (and getting some things done).


more (and pictures of Mancave 3.0) coming soon  .........

[Captain Canada]

At least you got the important stuff done and checked on the models before you worried about nonsense like toilet seats and shower heads 

Glad to hear it went well, and hope you're feeling better soon !

[Spey_Phantom]

Blog Entry #147: Mancave Begins

now that downstairs is almost settled, i have started on the Mancave.
there have been some bumps and setbacks allong the way, buy im finally getting there 

so, lets give you an update:

Day 1:

arrival of the furniture from my old place in the new place, started storing some of the moving boxes and the built models.
damage so far has been minor to minimal. space is a little cramped, but workable (3 by 2.5 meters).
since other work in the house has priority, the mancave will have a little day by day progress








Day 2:

the worktables have arrived the previous day, and the next day i started putting them back together.
i still need to organise everything and store everything away.
noticable in the first pic, are the new black plastic drawer units where i will keep the paint, styrene, spare tools, decals,....








Day 3:

while i was waiting for my new shelf units to arrive, i started sorting out the boxes of stash, library and tools.




Day 4 (Today):

last night, the shelf units finally arrived, so this morning i started assembly of the whole package.
after 2 hours of swearing and cursing (as there were serious fitting problems), i managed to finish it 

so after that, i started storing and stocking up the stash....



3 hours later:




there is still loads more to be done, im getting some help on teusday to hang up the shelves above the worktables.
i got some housework to do now so i might get to work on it some more tonight.

and just as i thought things were going good, they started getting harder,
after falling sick with a flu a few days ago, i recieved a phonecall that i lost my job (AGAIN!  ), i havent even moved out for a week and those *ssh*les already ruin it for me. luckily i have some financial reserves to live on for a while and i already started looking for a new job closer to the new home.

to rpevent myself from sinking into another depression, im going back into the styrene therapy as soon as the mancave is complete 


more soon.........

[Captain Canada]

I was really excited and happy for you, enjoying the photos and imagining your excitement....right until the last paragraph !



Great selection of kits Nils, and bot you sure have a lot of finished models ! I guess we all do, but you just don't realize until the are all boxed up like this. The group of in progress ships looks awesome. I'd love to see more of them with a synopsis of your plans for each, They all look ( form the small pic ) aviation related or capable.

I hope the styrene therapy does you some good and you get out there confident and find that dream job !

[Gondor]

Just remember that you now live with your girlfriend. She can be a great help if you are feeling depressed in any way as well as the plastic.

Gondor

[Spey_Phantom]

Blog Entry #148

having a bit of a sore back this morning, been gone all day yesterday to an airshow (been up since 4AM, getting in bed at 11PM).
i will post pics of the show later.

there has been no progress on the mancave for the past week, most of the effort went into installing the new lighting arround the house.
today i will replace all the halogen lights with LED light (to save on electricity). if there's still time, im gonna see if i can hang some shelves on the mancave.

i really want to get back to the modelingbench, there's still a lot of projects that need to be finished before starting new.
new projects in line are a 1/72 Spitfire Mk.I in Belgian Markings for the BoB GB, and a 1/72 Tucano in Russian AF markings (for the COIN GB over on BTS, starting october 1st).

yesterdays trip to Sanicole really gave me the inspiration i needed to start building agian, and new ideas have popped up to keep me busy a little while longer 


more soon.......

[Captain Canada]

Getting back at the bench will definitely make you feel 'normal' again ! It's been a big part of your life and with all of the changes I can guess how you'd miss it.

[Spey_Phantom]

Blog Entry #149


work on the new mancave has been on hold for the past week due to lack of assistance for the final parts.
although i can start working on new models in its current state, its impossible to display them as the shelves are not fitted yet.

next in line on the buildlist is a 1/72 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.I (early) in Belgian markings for the BoB GB.
i also already designed decals for another future project, a DH Comet 4B in Belgian Air Force markings. for that i will be using the recently re-released 1/144 Airfix kit.

im still missing an office chair for the mancave, but im thinking of ordering a cheap one online.
ive been having very little time for building lately, got my hands full with housework, jobhunting, grocery shopping...

however, i am currently doing research on another big project, cant tell you much yet as i havent worked out all the details yet.
there's also another smaller project on the drawing board, a German WW2 escort carrier (in 1/144), maybe even a second one, as i have a spare 1/350 Bismark hull. im also still in design work on a small 1/144 LHD, but i havent figured the details on that one out yet.

at this moment, im making an overview of what i have planned, what i have going and what i will build in the future.
most of it is 1/144, but i also have a few planned projects in 1/72, including advanced models of the Me262 and FW Flitzer.

for the Me262 im planning a heavy ground attack version with a 50mm cannon under the nose, similar to the V083 with Mk214 50mm cannon, but slightly different, think of it as a Luft'46 A-10 

i dont have a full list of ideas, but i will give you a small overview on that soon 

[Captain Canada]

Some interesting ideas on the burner there Nils, always like the naval stuff.

[Spey_Phantom]

Blog Entry #150


im almost ready to start building again, as the work on the new mancave has entered its final stages.
here are the latest pictures of the progress  

first up: the shelves above the worktable, there are 5 of them, measuring 30 x 120cm.
each rail is attached to the wall with 3 8mm plugs (and about 25 to 30mm deep), so they should hold.
these will be displaying my 1/144 builds, ive had some equipment problems in the final stages, but they appear to be holding.
i finished placing these saturday afternoon, and all the smaller 1/144's are now placed  




the biggest challenge in the mancave at the moment is the larger and longer shelves for the 1/72 collection.
ive had some difficulties in drilling the holes to hold the plugs, especially when one of my drills was starting to get bent (and using a drilling tool thats underpowered).
i really am not used to drilling holes and plugs into a brick wall, as these are hollow bricks, im always scared they are gonna fall down soon after, im very insecure about this kind of work, but its the cheapest and most effective way to place display shelves without having to sacrifice space and furnishing.

for the larger ones i though i would play it safe, and mount the rails with 4 plugs each instead of 3, just to compensate for the extra length and weight. just a moment ago, i put on the first 3 shelves (30 x 200+ cm), a 4th was left off as i deemed it to long and im gonna look into shortening it by 50cm, other wise it would put to much stress on one of the support-rails.

im not gonna place any models on them yet, at first i want to give it the 24 hour stress test, to see if they will hold the weight.
the completed models are safely stored in the hallway, still in the moving boxes.
if the shelves hold, they will be put on they're display-place some time tomorrow.

at the moment, the mancave is about 95% complete, its ready to be used, but im still waiting for a new office/mancave chair to arrive tomorrow. i want to sit comfortable when i restart building models.

[Captain Canada]

Looking good Nils ! Nice and clean without anything on them  Hopefully the supports pass the stress test and the models can go up !

[Spey_Phantom]

Thanks cap 

well, they appear to be holding on, the mount is much stronger then i thought.
this afternoon i have some more work to do, such as filling the shelves, clean up the dust from the drilling,...
also, less then an hour ago, the last part of the mancave arrived, the new workchair, so that going to require some assembly

mancave should be styrene ready by tonight, if all goes well 

[Captain Canada]

Nice ! And the first thing you`re going to do is finish those long-suffering Sea Kings ?