Long time...

... no blog. Bad.

What goes on ? What do I do with all my time (the little that's left, furthermore)? I go to work, I do family stuff (being a much reduced paterfamilias), tend my allotment plot, do bits in the little garden, read books, stare into space, drink coffee, beat myself up because I don't write stuff, or go walking in the mountains, or... fail to write this blog.  But, I have done a few wargamey/kit basher/toy soldierly things since I last posted.

First off, the rotten Yankee invaders of 1812. Now I have a unit of militia finished:

 

Here they come, creeping through the forest..

 

arguing amongst themselves about the precise constitutional position their officer is in when it comes to orders...

 

The good thing is that I now have US Regulars, militia, and artillery, all ready for the invasion. On the British-Canadian side, I've only the Royal Artillery to finish.

 

On the aero-kit-bashing front, I managed, with much blood, sweat and tears, to get this kit of the Vickers Valiant finished:

It's from 'Micro-Mir' in 1/144, and it was a bit of a swine to make. A short-run kit, it fitted where it touched, and my experience with the brass photo-etch has finally decided me against photo-etch. It's just too 'flat', too finicky, too bl**dy difficult to glue. There were, for example, 18 tiny (around 1.5mm in length) bits of etch for the vortex generators on the wings. After one long session, I got all 18 fixed, but they were only barely in place, and, of course, the slightest handling led to breakage. So I cut them all off, and was later pleased to find a photo of a Valiant in Australia without the wing vortex generators!

 

Nonetheless, it's a pretty impressive kit in 1/144, and now sits nicely next to my 1/144 Badgers on the shelf.

 

Meanwhile, in garden-land, all is beauty and peace:

 

While my 'study' is all unfinished projects....