Ruminations on wargaming, especially the Seven Years War, the English Civil War and other 'black powder' periods. Occasional forays into obscure Nordic music and opinionated 'dribble' [sic] on Grimsby Town Football Club.
Tuesday, 31 August 2021
The Great Cabin Inaugural Game
Saturday, 28 August 2021
Painting 1/1 scale
Occupation of the cabin has been held up by that bain of the wargamer, painting. Following completion of construction, last weekend, today and a bit of Friday was spent painting.
The bike shed/possible sauna has been treated with clear ‘stuff’. Very watery when it goes on, which means it trickles down your arm when doing high parts. But it dries sticky. Hard to shift, but with soap and water it eventually goes. The ceiling and roof beams of the main room have been similarly treated and the walls painted using two coats of a wargamer style ‘wash’. That leaves the window frames and the floor to do.
Externally, it requires 4 coats of different things. We’re close to 3/4 of the way through the second coat, but it’s very slow going. Very slow. After Sunday and Monday this weekend, Monday being a public holiday in England &Wales, I reckon we’ll need another weekend to finish the total job. Weekday evenings being relatively short and mostly reserved for swimming. Then we’ll be ready for the ‘HVAC’ ‘system’ installation.
Once painting is done, we can buy the furniture. We could in theory order something on line now, but I prefer to see and touch something like that first, and evenings and weekends are both full until the painting is finished.
All is not lost from a wargaming point of view though. We have a cabinet that we can move out of the house to, erm, house my figures and most of the milhist library. And there is a garden table that can go in there. Scope for a cheeky solo game the week after next.
Thanks to having a WiFi router in the cabin, as I painted today I was as able to listen to several episodes of We Have Ways podcast and Radio Humberside’s commentary of Grimsby’s first game of the season. It was emotional hearing the crowd back in the ground after 18 months. Up the Mariners.
A 1-0 victory by the way.
Thursday, 19 August 2021
Cabin log
Monday, 16 August 2021
Finnish Meccano
I was having vivid dreams about the expected delivery and woke up shortly before the alarm went off. Then after a shower the phone rang and it was a delivery driver with a large flatbed truck and huge crane, blocking the road outside. There was insufficient room for him to park the truck next to the kerb, but he got on with his task without fuss. I'm almost tempted to say 'he handled his equipment with aplomb' as he negotiated the overhead telephone lines, but you rightly don't expect innuendo from me.
In case you haven't twigged, my eagerly awaited 1/1 scale terrain piece had arrived on schedule. The unloading was complete by 8:00 and fortunately only 3 other drivers had to turn around and use an alternative route. There were no audible signs of annoyance on their part. In the unlikely event that they are reading, I apologise profusely. (Aside: why are apologies 'profuse'?). By about 9:30 the installation team had arrived and began laying out the kit in the back garden. They built the base and anchored it in place using posts made out of some type of plastic, sunk into the ground. By 15:00 they had finished building up the walls to around waist-height ready for the electrician to do the first fix the following day.
Here is day one progress in pictures.
You can just about see the telephone lines here. Those 'cranes' are remarkable pieces of engineering. |
The 1/1 kit laid out. Not a tube of superglue in sight. The modellers are assembling the base. Why don't they put the roof up first so they can keep dry? |
The position at close of play. Main room on the right, bike shed on the left. I should point out that (unusually) the neighbour is responsible for the fence on the right. Not me guv, honest. |
View through the side window. |
My bike shed, though it does scream "sauna" at me. |
More 'Finnish Meccano' |
View from the Observer Post. Apologies for the angle but I was leaning out of a window trying not to get the frame in shot. |
Ah, yes, the 'bike shed' door and its frame, erm 'cassette'. Is that the right word? I think I've just spotted a design flaw. |
Here's hoping there are no hiccups like Bob Cordery has faced recently with the co-ordination between different trades. I'm not betting on it though. This is still Britain.
Wednesday, 11 August 2021
The end of the beginning….almost
Tuesday, 3 August 2021
Naples ‘44
Just seen this for the first time. It’s hard to describe it. Incredible. Moving. Shocking. Humane.
For those who have never heard of it (like me until tonight) it is a film of the memoirs of Norman Lewis in 1943-44. Described on IMDB as a documentary, but that doesn’t really cover it.
Highly recommended.