Steel Penguins braying

[Steel Penguin]

Thank you Narses.

[Steel Penguin]

The last couple of weeks have caught up with me now, as ive just had the " son of an engineer" moment as ive tided up, the railway room as best I can, and have now brought some of my late father in laws tools home, and it was always said that you knew some one wasn't coming back, when that happened. 
Ive also inherited his ( admittedly small) non rail stash, and I will have to think up something suitably special for one or perhaps more of it.
His railway, Locos, stock and extra stuff, is currently in a hold, as were not certain how it will go, thoughts were mentioned re selling, but it may be donated to somewhere,  plans for this are fermenting and crystalizing. The family ( my self included) are more inclined to have it go somewhere it would be used, rather than it being split up.

The funeral on Tuesday was well attended,  and we had good fine weather for it,  we were all pleasantly surprised at the number of people who attended, family friends, and fellow volunteers from the Dean forest preserved line, and some of his ex dental co- workers, and a couple of his ex-employees from when he ran his own surgery, plus others who knew him.  It was very hart warming.

[kerick]

Was he in a model club of any kind? Club members may have an idea were to donate things. Or perhaps an organization that works with kids after school?

[NARSES2]

Glad it went well (as well as they can go, anyway) mate 

[Steel Penguin]

ive had a minor clear up and finish on the desk, anything part done, and in parts , has been bagged together.
ive got some varnishing to do,  more 28mm figs finished
west wind captain Nemo
Wyrd minis explorer
a crooked dice guru ( early) and savage school girl, sporty
a resin version of the Major from ghost in the shell by???
and a  Ezmeralda Tyke  from statuesque miniatures
and a 1:35 baby brachiosaur ( from the Tamiya kit)

73 figures     5 bits of scenery    3 models

I think ill be trying to finish started stuff as well, so its back to the Dragon Conqueror now,  hopefully ill get a bit further along.        and ive had a tidy up of the stash in the model room, as I need to find room for the 1:72 stuff ive just got.

[Steel Penguin]

off today, Mrs SP has a dental apt later, so I will be chauffeuring her  " yes milady" 
so ive a few jobs to do as I go through the day.  and round them im still modelling / tidying stuff away,  ( new RPG books to shelves,  read novels to different etc)
The Conqueror is slowly moving on,    im not incredibly impressed  the assembly instructions can be a bit wooly in places, and I have had to have a good squit through my Tankograd book on it to work out where a couple of pieces go ( rear drive oil filters)  and some of the parts do seem rather fussy, with several pieces going to make up 1 piece that would have been better done in one cast.
I am admiring the clear sprue of parts for the vision blocks though, shame that they'll all be painted over, as I use a gloss blue to represent them    not a criticism of the kit, just a policy of mine from when I 1st started on tanks.
ive also found a 12" section of OO track    so if Mrs SP has any OO locos from her father I can get one of them mounted,  ( though I think everything she brought home was 009 so its too wide)

[Mossie]

Found these guys that I thought might interest you:
http://www.antediluvianminiatures.com/

I'm particularly keen on the retrosaurs.

[Steel Penguin]

Thank you Mossie,  they will have to go on the "list"
the Saurs are good, and the humanoids are readily identifiable, so should work well. 

[Steel Penguin]

this is more of a " my stash didn't grow today"  post 
as can be seen above im a wargamer and readily follow the "will o the lead", through numerous periods and several scales, I walked into town this morning, and had a hankering for lead, so headed to my local games workshop, as an idea for space Vikings was fermenting through my mind,  why? I have no idea, but I know that it would be easy to satisfy, some plastic GW space wolf space marines, and a few sisters of battle to mix in suitably converted,  add fur cloaks, swap normal chainsword for the fenrisian one, wolf runes and charms  da daa  job done, maybe 15-20 figures and possibly a lander. ( possible spend from 50 to 100 quid )
Then I had a problem,   this is a spontaneous thought  and there are space wolves on the shelf's, but no sisters... and then I remember, theyre no longer carried as a standard line, army is still on the website but not in the store.  poot.  so I put back the plastic and when the staffer asks what im after, explain the idea and point out that Im buying now, not ordering for a weeks time, and employ the line from James Bond that emphasises why im not happy   " we do not tolerate failure in this organisation, mr Bond" why have a high street presence, and not carry the basics of the lines you sell ?  Im not going to endorse ( from my point of view) failure, by mail ordering parts   
so no stash increase, next time im at a wargames show ill have a trawl of the 2nd hand dealers and see what I can get, ( the spend will be around the same, ill get more figures, and GW will get no money.. )

[NARSES2]

My problem with Games Workshop is a) Their opening times. Now I know their clientele is generally a lot younger than me, but opening at Midday !!!! b) Their paints are good (if pricey) but why oh why do they change the names of the flippin things   Don't like the new containers either.

Old man's moans over 

[Weaver]

well new washer dryer ordered, a Beiko  ive had a couple of recommendations from people I work with,  It wasn't the most expensive, so Mrs SP and myself recon if it lasts 2 years ittl have paid for itself, and if it lasts 4 itll be a bargain, any more and it will owe us nothing.  hopeful being delivered and installed tomorrow between 09:00 and 13:00.

My washing machine is at least 20 years old, maybe more (can't really remember when we got it). The programmer has it's flakey moments but it always gets the job done in the end.

[Weaver]

I fell out with Games Workshop when they stopped selling other people's games about 30-odd years ago. They were already the biggest games retailer in the country at the time (the ONLY multi-chain IIRC) and one day they just turned round to everyone who played American or non-GW games and basically said "tough: convert to Warhammer or go whistle for support". It took years for independent stores to take up the slack because many of them used to depended on GW for wholesale distribution.

[Steel Penguin]

Narses     A )a lot of the stores are now 1 man operations so they open later and tend not to be open at the start of the week, I did ask one manager I knew and he said that it was when the most business was done, and I cant argue with it.  and B) the paints are ok but when they change the name they tend to change manufacturers, so if you want the original line ( wyrm purple, hobgoblin orange, spearstaff brown etc ) cote du arms  is who you want,  my gripe with the modern paint is they will dry out in the pots,  ive had some of the latest one and got them for a project, ( which I didn't start straight away) and 6 months later or so they had almost solidified 
Weaver  the washer before last was of a similar age ( yonks old I believe the technical term    )  we replaced it when it started getting a bit twitchy, as it wasn't worth the repair bill, got a shiny washer dryer and that just didn't seem to last. hence the cheap ( ish) beiko
For the Non GW stuff I admit in Bristol we were spoiled as there were 3 other shops who all sold slightly different things at the time, a Virgin games store, the Bristol model shop ( only a small amount ) and forever people, though I did get a large chunk of the 1st ed Twilight 2000 stuff cheap in the GW sale    and when I moved to the west mids  I found a couple of stores in the area quite quickly, I tend to still try to find anywhere if I travel, and have a browse and if there's anything remotely interesting, hand over some cash for shines 

now im thinking for the rapide ( its 72nd) if I put on the 1:48 jets I didn't fit to the lear jet  just swap the props and engines straight over,  will have to compare sizes

[NARSES2]

Cheers for the info on the paints Mr Penguin 

As for opening late, I've always put it down to the fact that their main target market is student age ? Ergo the mid-day opening  Whereas I'm an up and at em early bird. In and out of Croydon by 10:00am.

[Steel Penguin]

ive sorted out the part of the stash under the bed ( I am akin to a dragon in that I sleep over my horde  )  and found that ive some how managed to get 2, 1:48 Chinooks,  one of the nam era go-go bird gunships, and ( rather surprisingly) one of the more modern UK versions,  how the heck did I forget buying a 1:48 Chinook !   but it means that the 22" eagle is now in storage, as opposed to trailing round the house.

im slowly moving on on the Conqueror,  parts of the kit are very elegant designs, clever use of shape and breaks put where they are invisible when assembled, other parts seem to be very shoddily done.  its very, very odd, to build as you go from a real fun build to an awful one and then back in seconds,  im having to rebuild the turret bustle storage cage for the 3rd time as ive put the cage floor in the wrong way up ( it was the right way the 1st time I did it, but I then took it apart and flipped it as the instructions made it look like I was wrong  )