So I’ve spent most of last weekend sifting through what was damaged by the water issue earlier in the week. All told, I was able to confirm that I lost most of my paperback book collection. This includes all of my Start Wars novels and the Classic and Dark Age Battletech novels. On the bright side I was able to locate a second complete set of the Starrigger trilogy that was stored in a box upstairs. It appears that I had purchased a second set and had the foresight to store them in a box with some hard bound books.
I’m still cleaning up the mess and now I have to get some new containers for storage, this time I think I’ll get some plastic tubs from Home Depot. This should be able to protect the stuff that wasn’t damaged by the water from ever getting damaged in the future. I’ll be glad when the spring comes as I plan to complete my garage this year as this past year was focused on finishing the back yard. My ultimate goal is to budget and complete one major household project a year. The house is brand new, just over a year old so it’s not like I doing a major remodel; mainly just the garage and basement to complete. The rest of the house is nice but I need a decorator’s help in finishing each of the rooms and since it’s just me and the dog, I think it’ll take a while. Of course, if you ask any of my ex-girlfriends they’ll tell you that I just need to settle down and find the right women... which all seem to think is them :P
Also, I’d like to recommend that you guys check out the website www.awesomepaintjob.com as this fellow can really paint. He also has numerous tutorial videos, provides recipes for various washes and provides information on new techniques that I think you will enjoy.
So this will be my last update before the Christmas holiday so I’ll wish everyone a safe and Merry Christmas.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
Flooded Memories...
So it seems that I had a slight drainage problem for the furnace/humidifier earlier this week that has caused me nothing but grief. The tubing and pvc drain pipe leads to the floor drain properly but there must have been a little overflow that went right for some boxes lined up against the wall. Of course, these boxes hold my book collection, comic collection and some rare Macross models kits.
So far it appears that I have lost every Star Wars novel released in paperback over the last fifteen years, my entire Battletech collection (both old and new), nearly all of the early Forgotten Realms novels and various trilogies and novels from other classic sci-fi writers. I also lost about a year to a year and half of comics that were unfortunately not properly bagged and boarded due to not having time when I moved into the house back in June of last year. Fortunately, my Uncanny X-men collection which spans form issue #200 to about a year ago, was left untouched.
The greatest loss in my opinion is the whole StarRigger trilogy (StarRigger, Red Limit Freeway and Paradox Alley) from John De Chancie, those have been out of print since the mid-eighties and a search on Amazon and E-bay found nothing reasonably priced at this time. That series was and is one of my all time favorite distractions when I wanted to just unwind and get away for a while. The interaction between Jake McGraw and Sam, his father, who is now an A.I in an intergalactic Semi-Truck (ala, KiTT), is one of the funniest things I’ve ever read. Their adventures along the way to the end of the Skyway are just hilarious and fun and have provided me years of enjoyment. Hell, I was just thinking of digging them out and reading them again just last week. They’re the kind of books that when you read them you begin to relate to relate to the characters like they’re your old friends that you haven’t seen in a couple of years.
I am thankful that my homeowners insurance will cover the damages. I’m now in the process of collecting what is damaged and/or destroyed so that I can submit it on Monday morning. For all of you homeowners, I recommend that you make sure that your coverage includes water damage because you never know when you may need it.
Needless to say, I haven’t done any modeling this week but I plan to try and get some done this weekend. So cheers to everyone and see you on the flipside, I gonna have a few beers and look for the map to the end of Skyway….
So far it appears that I have lost every Star Wars novel released in paperback over the last fifteen years, my entire Battletech collection (both old and new), nearly all of the early Forgotten Realms novels and various trilogies and novels from other classic sci-fi writers. I also lost about a year to a year and half of comics that were unfortunately not properly bagged and boarded due to not having time when I moved into the house back in June of last year. Fortunately, my Uncanny X-men collection which spans form issue #200 to about a year ago, was left untouched.
The greatest loss in my opinion is the whole StarRigger trilogy (StarRigger, Red Limit Freeway and Paradox Alley) from John De Chancie, those have been out of print since the mid-eighties and a search on Amazon and E-bay found nothing reasonably priced at this time. That series was and is one of my all time favorite distractions when I wanted to just unwind and get away for a while. The interaction between Jake McGraw and Sam, his father, who is now an A.I in an intergalactic Semi-Truck (ala, KiTT), is one of the funniest things I’ve ever read. Their adventures along the way to the end of the Skyway are just hilarious and fun and have provided me years of enjoyment. Hell, I was just thinking of digging them out and reading them again just last week. They’re the kind of books that when you read them you begin to relate to relate to the characters like they’re your old friends that you haven’t seen in a couple of years.
I am thankful that my homeowners insurance will cover the damages. I’m now in the process of collecting what is damaged and/or destroyed so that I can submit it on Monday morning. For all of you homeowners, I recommend that you make sure that your coverage includes water damage because you never know when you may need it.
Needless to say, I haven’t done any modeling this week but I plan to try and get some done this weekend. So cheers to everyone and see you on the flipside, I gonna have a few beers and look for the map to the end of Skyway….
Monday, December 14, 2009
Being on-call sucks....
So this month has been pretty hectic so far and I’ll be glad when I get some time off from work during the holiday weekends. My work has me on-call for two weeks at a time and this past week was pretty ridiculous; work twenty-four hours straight on this past Friday/Saturday.
However, I have been keeping up on my reading and found the recent news about the impending ‘Nid release very interesting. I have an existing ‘Nid army that is fully painted and was previously about 2k in points and it hasn’t been out of the display case in well over a year. I found that when I tried to play them in 5th edition they just were not as effective as they used to be.
Most of the little guys got shot up too quickly to be effective so I set them aside because I didn’t really want to add a whole bunch of models to a backup army. See, for most of my gaming career, I’ve been a dedicated Dark Angels player and have only deviated from that path a few times when playing teaching games of helping others improve their game. The new models for the ‘Nids are very impressive but I think I’ll be holding off buying any of them until I actually get the new codex in hand. I’d like to see what has changed and continue following the information that the fine folks at BoLS have been posting.
On the modeling front, I have been able to do some work on the 1/35 King Tiger – Porsche last weekend. I have added most of the photo-etch details and I’m working on cleaning up the individual track links. For you WH40k players just be glad that GW hasn’t picked up on this trend yet with their tanks ;) One of the really nice touches the kit has is a turned aluminum barrel with a really nice turned muzzle break; includes some really nice photo-etch pieces to enhance this piece. This is probably pone of the nicest muzzle breaks I have ever seen on any tank model to date.
I’ve been researching which unit to model for this particular tank and while I have some ideas, I’ve been unable to find the ‘right’ one at this time. I’d like to do a complex ambush scheme consisting of Dunkelgelb, Olivgrun and Rotbraun but I have yet to find a scheme I like. My Tigers in Combat book includes nearly everything you ever wanted to know about the Tiger I or Tiger II, aka King Tiger but none of the schemes pop out at me. I’m leaning towards doing a King Tiger from the 506th or 503rd Heavy Panzer Regiments but I may decide to do a little artistic license with the scheme just so that I can really experiment with the weathering techniques and powders.
I’ve got another week of being on-call before I can really begin airbrushing the tank anyways so I should be able to select a scheme to do by then.
However, I have been keeping up on my reading and found the recent news about the impending ‘Nid release very interesting. I have an existing ‘Nid army that is fully painted and was previously about 2k in points and it hasn’t been out of the display case in well over a year. I found that when I tried to play them in 5th edition they just were not as effective as they used to be.
Most of the little guys got shot up too quickly to be effective so I set them aside because I didn’t really want to add a whole bunch of models to a backup army. See, for most of my gaming career, I’ve been a dedicated Dark Angels player and have only deviated from that path a few times when playing teaching games of helping others improve their game. The new models for the ‘Nids are very impressive but I think I’ll be holding off buying any of them until I actually get the new codex in hand. I’d like to see what has changed and continue following the information that the fine folks at BoLS have been posting.
On the modeling front, I have been able to do some work on the 1/35 King Tiger – Porsche last weekend. I have added most of the photo-etch details and I’m working on cleaning up the individual track links. For you WH40k players just be glad that GW hasn’t picked up on this trend yet with their tanks ;) One of the really nice touches the kit has is a turned aluminum barrel with a really nice turned muzzle break; includes some really nice photo-etch pieces to enhance this piece. This is probably pone of the nicest muzzle breaks I have ever seen on any tank model to date.
I’ve been researching which unit to model for this particular tank and while I have some ideas, I’ve been unable to find the ‘right’ one at this time. I’d like to do a complex ambush scheme consisting of Dunkelgelb, Olivgrun and Rotbraun but I have yet to find a scheme I like. My Tigers in Combat book includes nearly everything you ever wanted to know about the Tiger I or Tiger II, aka King Tiger but none of the schemes pop out at me. I’m leaning towards doing a King Tiger from the 506th or 503rd Heavy Panzer Regiments but I may decide to do a little artistic license with the scheme just so that I can really experiment with the weathering techniques and powders.
I’ve got another week of being on-call before I can really begin airbrushing the tank anyways so I should be able to select a scheme to do by then.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Takin’ a break… sort of...
So I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend, I got stuffed on turkey and pie and had a great time watching football on Thursday. I was able to play a few games on Friday but I came to the realization that I wasn’t having much fun playing WH40k anymore. Maybe it was my pathetic dice rolling or the fact that lately I just haven’t been excited about the game or hobby overall. Part of the issue is I’m letting problems in my real-life affect me and I am unable to switch-off and relax like I should. I have been frustrated with the game and hobby for a while now and nothing seems to help in getting me out of the funk. I still show interest in certain areas like the new Skaven and Imperial Guard armies the problem is that it when I sit down to paint or play a game it feels like a second job.
As a result, I’m going to be stepping away from the gaming table for a while and focusing on other areas in an effort to rekindle my fire for the game. One thing I have decided to do is experiment with some new painting and weathering techniques on some tank models. It’s been a while since I have pulled out one of my many plastic airplane or tank models and this seems like the perfect opportunity to build a tank and experiment.
I picked up a Dragon 1/35 Tiger II – Porsche Turret heavy tank earlier this summer and it includes separate track links and a small fret of photo-etch for the tool handles and screens. It features the zimmerite coating already molded on so it should be an easy build and a great medium for using my new Mig Productions weathering powders. I’ve used them before but this time my goal is to do a heavily weathered Eastern Front tank. I think that this experiment will allow me to brush up on my airbrushing and weathering skills as I would like to these technique when I begin work on my Imperial Guard tanks early next year. I also think that it will help me convey the grunginess of the Skaven as well.
I’ll keep you posted on my progress and I should have some photos up soon as I’ll be picking up the light tent combo set in the next couple of weeks; gotta what the budget this close to Christmas :)
As a result, I’m going to be stepping away from the gaming table for a while and focusing on other areas in an effort to rekindle my fire for the game. One thing I have decided to do is experiment with some new painting and weathering techniques on some tank models. It’s been a while since I have pulled out one of my many plastic airplane or tank models and this seems like the perfect opportunity to build a tank and experiment.
I picked up a Dragon 1/35 Tiger II – Porsche Turret heavy tank earlier this summer and it includes separate track links and a small fret of photo-etch for the tool handles and screens. It features the zimmerite coating already molded on so it should be an easy build and a great medium for using my new Mig Productions weathering powders. I’ve used them before but this time my goal is to do a heavily weathered Eastern Front tank. I think that this experiment will allow me to brush up on my airbrushing and weathering skills as I would like to these technique when I begin work on my Imperial Guard tanks early next year. I also think that it will help me convey the grunginess of the Skaven as well.
I’ll keep you posted on my progress and I should have some photos up soon as I’ll be picking up the light tent combo set in the next couple of weeks; gotta what the budget this close to Christmas :)
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