 |
| All I wanted for Christmas was... 3 table cloths. This lost update my S&A Scenics mats to cope with my bigger table - though I got 8' x 6' rather than a full length 12' - don't think I'll ever need any that big. |
 |
| Meanwhile, continuing to add to the 20mm pulp side, more from CP Models. |
Few other things of a non wargaming type... mainly alcoholic...
And may your stock of little men be increased sufficiently.
 |
| Rather than more boring Christmas trees or cooked turkeys, thought I'd just post a couple of pictures of some of our garden visitors this year. |
 |
| Not that we would actually eat any of our visitors... quite happy to just feed them peanuts... |
 |
| The idea of this lot is to make life simpler... by spraying all the confederatures with a couple of coats of grey the uniforms are sorted while the camels base coat is just khaki - which looks like quite a good camel colour! |
All that sorting out a while back wasn't just about finding metal to reuse, it also meant finding and putting together assorted figures from all over the place for further use. One thing that surprised me was the number of camels I had all over, including some that had already been 'recycled' by the Dettol.
So here I am with two more camel units.
 |
| I'm starting with another unit of the Funcken style camels, though this time on armoured camels. |
 |
| There are 2 Garrison armoured camels - one in the early '20mm' range, one in the later '25mm' range. They are so similar in size that I'm just mixing them in the same unit! The front one is the 25mm version! |
 |
| The howdahs started life as 15mm squares on a piece of card... |
 |
| I think these pictures give a good idea of the construction method... the 1mm or so cut is because this is the piece that goes on the inside when gluing the two faces together - they don't want to be the same size. If you try it, it soon becomes obvious why! |
 |
| Note that the howdah has no floor. It sits directly on the camel's back - if there was a floor it would sit too high. Likewise, so would the crew. So the howdah is glued directly on the camel and any crew will be glued in place directly on the camel. |
 |
| So here are the 6 camels ready to be undercoated then sprayed sand/camel coloured. I'll probably glue a shield on 2 on the sides first. |
 |
| The next lot is a full size unit of Arab camels. Both riders and camels have been reclaimed from other uses, the riders being one of my conversions - basically a general purpose horse archer. These still need a bit of paint removing, I thought it would certainly be easier to get the riders cleaner if they were attached to the camels - easier to hold! |
May not be able to paint at the moment, nothing stopping me prepping for the New Year...
 |
| For a start, I've assembled all the Rose horses I have. |
 |
| Plus put together a squadron of Confederate cavalry. |
 |
| You will notice the cavalry are wearing kepis. Reason for that, brimmed hat version doesn't fit on the horses! This is demonstrated by the picture of one of these by the side of the mounted officer. I have no idea why the saddle was done so narrow! |
 |
| I'll start on prepping the artillery later - no hurry! |
 |
| Two regiments done. Considering I hadn't expected to start these before the New Year, I'm quite happy with that. |
 |
| So I suppose my New Year priority is to complete the artillery and cavalry for them. |
 |
| The desk has been closed and the area tidied up. |
 |
| Based figures are in transit to their permanent home and the first 2 regiments of Confederates and their bases are painted and ready to be finished off. |
Everything's ready for the tree!
 |
| Two Parrott Rifles, a 12 strong cavalry squadron and the general has been 'upgraded'! |
 |
| One shortcoming of the range is the limited number of artilleryman poses! The gun barrels are painted in German grey rather than black. |
 |
| The cavalry figure is supposed to have a slung carbine across his back... but this is missing on both the master and mould that I have! |
 |
| Didn't expect toget started on these but might even get the painting finished before 'tree day' tomorrow. Gloss spray and basing don't depend on the tree, so if I do get the painting finished it gives me two regiments of Confederates I didn't expect to have. In theory, that would mean that could play the first game in Featherstone's 'Battles with Model Soldiers'. I mean, I could... seems weird, two units a side on an 8' x 5' table. Actually, I couldn't do it - my table is only 4' wide! |
Finished cavalry and artillery, just not got photos yet. Have done the general though.
 |
| Seemed unnecessary to paint leatherwork on the horses' face on the cavalry, probably a mistake not painting them here! |
 |
| Should also give him a beard. |
Can't remember the last some Minifigs 1 piece 'S' Range cavalry came up on Ebay, but I'm always on the lookout for them.
 |
| The lot included some Assyrian cataphracts - my cataphract unit is full, but these will be able to fill in the spaces of the heavy cavalry giving me 2 12 figure units. |
 |
| Next, couple of Persian spear armed cavalry. Only ever seen these on Ebay once before... missed them because I forgot about the auction... Still, few more years and enough more might come up to make up a unit. Think of the long game. |
 |
| Finally, the lot included these. Might find a use for the Hinchliffe Clibanarii some day. |
Thing about these is that they were listed as Byzantines and there was no mention of including Minifigs - so I'm quite pleased with myself for spotting them.
 |
| Must admit, I'm really beginning to hate how that blue appears in photos - much better in reality! |
 |
| As a whole they look quite effective and are a lot easier to paint quickly than Napoleonics! |
Currently I'm working on a cavalry squadron, 2 Parrott Rifles and a mounted general. Put together, it's enough for one side of a battle - hopefully I'll get the other side sorted in the New Year!
Part of the 'scratting around for interest in painting' effort.I've tried several times to get ACW armies going, coming across a couple of A4 boxes of Rose ACW figures made me think 'why not?'
 |
| Simplified as per my current norm. The uniform blue looks a lot darker on the figures than in the picture. |
 |
| I initially tried to get a full 6 x 6 quota of stars on the flag; best I could manage was 5 x 5. |
 |
| Because the black doesn't show up very well on the actual figures I didn't bother painting the peak of the kepis black. Honest, on the real thing you don't notice it! |
I'll see how it goes. Might get another unit done before Christmas then see about cavalry and artillery.
 |
| Still looks messy here, but it's mostly boxes that have been sorted. |
 |
| Couple of hours later looks a lot neater. |
 |
| Even tidied up the casting area! |
 |
| Lots of metal found for recycling - up to about 27kg now. Should last a couple of years. |
 |
| Painting still going slowly though - enthusiasm waning a bit on Assyrian cavalry. |
 |
| So quickly churned out a few more cultists. They look better on the table. Honest. |
 |
| Still not doing Assyrians. Sorted a mass of Rose 20mm though - had already (several years ago) made a start on some Confederates, so thought I'd start on a couple of units of Union soldiers. |
Going to have to get a move on though. Christmas approaches, and in a week or so my painting desk will have a Christmas tree in front of it!
 |
| My Maternal Great Grandfather Alexander McFarlane. He seems to have been in the 2nd Garrison Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers? |
 |
| I assume this photo was when he served in India. |
 |
| He died there in 1919 during the flu epidemic (officially dysentry) and we got this! At the bottom of this post are a few more details! |
 |
| His daughter Jessie was put in an orphanage while he was abroad. After some time in service she became a nurse in Queen Alexandria's Royal Nursing Corps where she met my Grandfather - Belgium, 1919. He was in hospital having been gassed. Like his Father in Law, Northumberland Fusiliers. Haven't got any photos of him in army uniform, should have some somewhere of him in his St John's Ambulance Brigade uniform or WW2 Air Raid Warden, just haven' t found them yet. I have got both their discharge papers though... |
 |
| Technically, not military. My dad was in the Sea Cadets for years, wanted to do National Service in the Navy but they tried to force him into the army! So he joined the Merchant Navy. This is him with my mother. |
 |
| OK, This is the only photo I have of me in uniform - a unit photo from my time in the OTC. It was the worst photo I've ever seen - someone cropped the photo and did some very poor editing - I clipped those bits out! I'm second row from the front. fourth in from the right. |
 | |||||||||||||||||
| This is me! |
 |
| This is the official War Office notification of my Great Grandfather's death. |
 |
| Letter from his Company Commander to my Gran. |
 |
| Second page. Sad to think he died a week before he was due to come home. |
 |
| Discharge certificate for my Grandfather - difficult to read now. |
 |
| Discharge cerificate for my Grandmother. She only seems to have been in for 6 months before being demobilised! Quite an eventful 6 months! |
A final surprise while going through the papers included something I had previously known nothing about. I never knew my paternal Grandfather - my Grandmother had remarried by the time I was born and no one ever mentioned him. Found his Medical Certificate of Cause of Death. He died when my father was about 5. His name was John Young: My Dad's older brother was also called John, and the name carried on when Uncle John's oldest son, my cousin, was also named John.
So, overall, today has actually been a very useful day when it comes to putting together parts of my family history.
