The Last of 'Normal Service' Before The Christmas Season!
The Race to Complete Last Christmas's Gifts...
This year has been a bit of a quagmire for my project schedule, in a way I was a bit overwhelmed by the mountain of wonderful gifts that I received from my lovely family who *all* decided to give me models or model related Christmas presents!
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| Above: Last Christmas (don't start singing) and the pile of hobby gifts (right) I was lucky to get! |
So, between my normal housework chores, dog sitting a very needy pooch (who doesn't like me going up to my man cave) and my own annoying habit of finding NEW and interesting looking hobbies, I kinda got a bit saturated in projects. And, I kinda made things worse for myself by trying to do as many as I could *at the same time* thinking that that was the best way to 'clear the decks'. It wasn't! 😝
All I did was make the whole process of tackling my stash of projects a painfully slow operation as I jumped from one to another just completing small stages of each at a time...
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| Above: Despite having a heap of unmade projects I cannot seem to stop myself from taking on NEW ones! Here I dabble with painting 28mm miniatures. Du-oh! |
Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed every one of the various projects, but I have come to the conclusion that it might have been better for me to focus on ONE at a time (to completion).
Anyway, it's taken nearly a year but I may actually finish my big modelling gifts before Christmas comes around again. This also shows just how fast time passes as here we are again!
SO...Where are we now?
Right, first of all, an update on two of the larger projects that I got from my family - the Takoyaki Shop Diorama and the Luminous Wooden Globe Kit...
I've been chipping away at the Japanese Takoyaki Shop model that I got from my eldest daughter for a good long while, but here I at least have to excuse that the tiny paper elements of this model have been quite a challenge for me and my wobbly hand problems. But, it's this very challenge that has made this a fantastic project.
While still in the midst of putting together all the individual parts that go into the shop's interior components I AM making progress and the light is at the end of the tunnel...
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| Above: The literal light at the end of the tunnel as I start to put together all the wiring and LED lights that go into this project. |
In truth, this project is made up of a plethora of sub-projects with all the different types of objects that go into making up the accessories that fill up the diorama. Here's the latest selection of 'bits and bobs' that I have just completed...
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| Above: Various bits and bobs that have to be constructed to populate the Takoyai shop! These are just a *few*, but I keep chipping away at it. |
But I am nearly at the end of the creation of the decorations for this model and am just about to start the construction of the shop building itself. So I am very confident I will have this done before December the 25th,
The next big project - which was from my wife - is the Luminous Globe kit, and - again - I am making steady progress with this one.
While the Takoyaki construction challenges my ability to deal with very small part ('oh, Matron') the Luminous Globe project sets me a completely different set of problems, this time mechanical as I struggle to correctly assemble working gears...
The wooden parts of this model have pretty tight tolerances and you can only keep your fingers crossed that when everything finally goes together that the mechanism runs smoothly.
Luckily, there are several YouTube videos done by others who have already made this kit so you can refer to them - I have repeatedly - to clarify some of the more fiddly stages. On top of worries about fit there is also the additional stress that the model involves some rudimentary wiring work for the globes LED lights. Eeek!
It was a moment of great relief when I managed to 'skin' the central globe with it's world map segments BUT having done so I now worry that if any of the mechanism inside was incorrectly put together I may have to disassemble the whole thing again. 😬
Meanwhile, Other Things Are Going On.
OK, so that's the two BIG projects, but that's not all I have on my 'to do' list at the moment. In between these project (and aside from my household chores and dog sitting duties) I have a host of smaller projects waiting in the wings. (This is where things get kinda crazy...)
Right, first off I'm still very slowly chipping away at my 3D printed prop revolver model. Just a reminder, this is a part I'm making for a photographic 'still life' diorama based of a Noir detective's desk and the items they might have (think Philip Marlow or Sam Spade and you get the idea)...
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| Above: Revolver model primed prior to painting. |
This will go with the vintage box of .38 shells that I have already crafted and a host of other bits and pieces that I have yet to collect (1940's cigarette packet, bottle of bourbon, coins, crime scene photos, etc, etc.) You get the idea.
Next up I have started - as mentioned in my intro - that I have stupidly started yet another project (as if I didn't have enough). 😂
I am curios to see if my manual manipulation abilities have improved since my stroke, it's been a while now and have gotten the impression that there *has* been some slow improvement to my 'wobbly hand' issue. The frequency of which I have been getting spasms in my right hand has lessened over time and while I do still get them (particularly when tired) and I still have a weak grip I do wonder if I can do some more detailed work?
Going back down in scale with painted figures seems a good test of my abilities so I bought some 28mm (roughly 1/56, but this varies depending on whether it's 'historical' or fantasy 'heroic' scale) 'Death Guard' as I'm into the fantasy/horror trench warfare thing at the moment...
This should be a good test of my current painting abilities. Luckily I have gotten used to having to take thing s...l...o...w in order to get any sort of acceptable level of quality in my modelling now, so we shall see.
I've made a start by making the base scenes on which I will mount my figures...
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On top of these 'smaller' projects I am also getting ready to do my next MILGEEKACHOO! model railway video. This will be an update of what I've been collecting recently in the form of a 'mail call' summery. This will include a look at a selection of N Gauge models I have bought for my layout...
As an aside I did a quick little video about one of the modelling gadgets that I bought some time ago but which has only recently seen a lot of use. My DISPAIE reciprocating sanding pen for fine detail work...
And that's about it, which is more than enough really! With the start of December I now also have to focus on getting ready for Christmas which sounds easy BUT the wife also has a long list of household jobs for me to get on with in time for our festive family events.
Chief among these is the stripping of the paint from our Victorian banisters. In time honoured tradition our banisters have been overpainted and overpainted with a hundred years of paint and this makes the task of getting down to the original wood very difficult.
Personally I think it's a bit too ambitious a job to have done by Christmas, but we are giving it a crack...
The bottom-most (oldest) layer of paint is like tar, goodness knows what the Victorian owners of our house used but I suspect it was some sort of natural varnish. Anyway, it's a pig to remove...
This, with all the other little projects, means the lead up to Christmas will be very, very busy!
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