Painting desk update… and yet another book.

Greetings…

As it’s been a couple of months I thought I would let you see the state of my shiny new desk.

Before 

Now

I think the desk is bedding in nicely and managing to get creatively cluttered…

I also saw this book in Waterstones and bought it on the title alone… it looks interesting.

All the best.  Aly

A nice new painting desk…

Greetings…

This week I took delivery of a new painting desk and chair…Hurrah!

I’ve been working on my old kitchen table for a while which was just too small and a bit rickety.

I am always dismayed by how many parts and how many different screws, nuts and bolts go into a simple piece of furniture.

The chair isn’t perfect… I would have preferred something with a higher back… but I am going to wait until all my house renovations are finished before I splash out on something a bit more flash.

Anyway… here it is.

This is almost certainly the tidiest it will ever be…

Next up will be some 40mm British… and soon some Spanish.

All the best.  Aly

A Song of Drums and Shako's... Cluck,Squwonk and Woof

Greetings...
Today I finished off some objective markers for the Play By Email game that Mharaid and I have started... they are not all friendly...


We are only on the first move at the moment but I will post something when we are a bit further through the game...

Chickens ,Geese and an angry Dog... I thought that I had more wildlife than this... if I find more I will add it as we go along...


The Geese and chickens are from Warbases.. as are the bases.
https://warbases.co.uk/product-category/figurines/animals/page/2/
https://warbases.co.uk/product-category/bases/circular-bases/


They do a great little range of animals.. I will have to pick up some more...


The Dog is from a Salute miniature made by Michael Perry... I new it would come in useful.


All the best   Aly

Bits and pieces... A new Table Top.

Greetings...


Over the last few months I have realised that my Green Baize table covering has become harder and harder to keep looking nice...
Even with a dust sheet covering it most of the time... it is still a fluff magnet and seems to become bobbly when you just look at it...


So I have decided to bite the bullet and cover the table with something a bit more robust...


I have gone for linoleum...
I saw someone on another blog using linoleum and I thought what a good idea... its designed to be walked on so it should stand up to having terrain boards and toy soldiers placed on it...

The colour is called... Green Wellness... Its actually paler than it looks in this picture...

With some shiny toys... Its actually a bit greener than this picture shows...the room was brightened up by a rather unseasonal burst of sunlight...
I will only use it for playing shiny toy soldier games... I was thinking of experimenting on some off cuts using chalk pens to mark out rivers and roads...


Next time... A Parade.

Bits and pieces...

Greetings...


A bit of a busy weekend for me... but I managed to find a new skill and do some tidying ...


My wargames table has been buried under a mound of  objects.... books, unpainted miniatures and my light box... so I decided to have a clean up...


I was rather alarmed to discover that the green baize table surface had become bobbly(apparently that is a real word) and covered in bits and pieces of 'stuff'.
Some renovation was necessary...


My mind went back to an old advert from the T.V.

Looks like the thing I need...
But of course as a good Scotsman I wasn't going to spend money on that...
So out came my old hair clippers... I don't need them any more...I have a good barber...
Set to zero with some decent music playing in the background I set to it....

After three quarters of an hour... its not perfect but it is way better than it was...

Flushed with success I then went on to reorganise my paints... you will notice that I have now put a covering on said table to protect it during its none Wargaming use...


I also had a small tiny little disaster that is of no consequence in the real world...
I accidently splashed some water on one of my flags... it turns out that your basic ink from your basic ink jet printer is not water proof...
I have replace the flag and have also spayed all my others with matt varnish... problem solved and the colours actually look more vibrant... win win...


So no toys finished ... but lots done... and I am now officially a baize shaver...


I am currently basing the French Musketeers and Orkney's Regiment of foot... so hopefully some pictures during the week.


All the best   Aly

Google+... R.I.P.

Sod Brexit....


What about Google+exit?...


Hmmm! doesn't sound so hip and trendy... does it?


Shock Horror!... I have just realised/discovered that all of my comments-here and on other blogs-have been with a Google+ profile....


I have now changed it to a Blogger profile... Surprisingly easy as it turns out.


This may mean that all my older replies and comments will disappear or that I will become a man of mystery and be known as unknown...


Hopefully everything will sort itself out...


Whatever happens no insult is intended... I meant everything I said...


Here is a link to some useful info...


https://blogger.googleblog.com/2019/01/an-update-on-google-and-blogger.html


All the best... Aly/Unknown...

Schilling-Figuren height comparison...

Just a quickie...


I said that I would post a height comparison for the Schilling-Figuren Napoleonics that I picked up in Hamburg...


Well here it is...

Perry,..Schilling-Figuren,...Eureka,...Front Rank

As you can see they are a lot taller than you would expect for 20mm... in fact closer to 30mm to the top of the head... although they are of a much slighter build than most 28-30mm miniatures.


I still don't know what I am going to use them for... but as I said ... I neeeeded them...


All the best   Aly

Talking about Taking Pictures.

Greetings...


I haven't had much time at the painting table over the last couple of weeks...
But as I was putting up my little photo booth/tent after the recent game in the woods I wondered if it might interest people to see what my little setup looks like...


So here goes...

This is the basic kit that I have...
A Photo Studio Box Lighting Cube Tent...
Mine is made by a company called Zyon... but it is very similar (if not the same as ) this one...


https://www.amazon.co.uk/Portable-Camera-Studio-Lighting-Backdrop/dp/B008V645ZG/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1541367678&sr=8-14&keywords=portable+photo+studio+light+box


Two A4 boxes and an A3 printed back drop...

The Lights are stored in pockets attached the rear of the light box...

The assembly is simple... unfold and connect with Velcro strips...
I place the two boxes into the light box... positioned as above.
This takes just couple of minutes to do...

The light box comes with some basic backdrops...

I use an A3 printout of a background that I found on the internet...
A search for Grey backdrops for photography brings up a number of options... and it is a simple case of saving to file and printing out at A3...


https://www.google.co.uk/search?rlz=1T4ACPW_en___GB368&biw=1607&bih=689&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=gGrfW8q-IcSlkwWb0rPQBA&q=grey+backdrops+for+photography&oq=grey+photography+backdrops&gs_l=img.1.0.0i8i30k1.33916.35385.0.38777.5.5.0.0.0.0.178.543.3j2.5.0....0...1c.1.64.img..0.5.534...0i7i30k1j0i8i7i30k1.0.TgPFw6UAYvs

The lights are placed pointing at the side of the box rather than at the miniatures themselves...

I have also started adding an angle poise lamp to flood light down from above...

Let there be light...
You can see that even with three light sources everything is nicely defused in the centre of the box.


So ... why the boxes?
First of all ... it allows the backdrop to rest nicely in a gentle curve...
And secondly...

I can rest my phone perfectly to take pictures of individual miniatures...
I have an IPhone...others my differ in height... but I cant imagine there will be that much difference...

This is the original image from the shot above...

This is the shot cropped... using the in phone app...

For unit shots I use my proper grown up camera...

Again the shot as taken above...

And now cropped...using Photoshop


I try not to do anything other than simply crop my pictures.
With practice I have discovered where to place my phone for the close up and the same applies for the unit shot.
Both the phone and the camera have a 10 second timer so it has become a case of click and wait...
In most cases one shot is enough.


I think that the most important thing is to get the setup sorted ...
If you know where the camera/phone should be and you know how the lighting should be the rest is composition ... I keep mine simple... the toy soldiers are the important thing.


I hope that this has been of some use... I don't say that this is the only or the right way to take pictures of your toys... its just my way.


All the best   Aly