Patience is a virtue... NOT

There are times- few and far between- when this game gets right up my nose. Just recently its been pretty bad in this regard.
Like most chaps I work five to -six days a week. More if I've got a show on . Five if I can get away with it - usually five and a half. EU directives mean nothing  35 hours- that'll get me to Thursday morning in a bad week- and that's starting Monday. So far this month - its the 21st  I've worked 21 days- now not the full 8 hour shift  every day its true. I did manage an afternoon off  earlier in the month and most of the last two Sundays off and I didn't do a massive amount last Saturday- I was playing a wargame- (Shock Horror ) but at the very least I have to check overnight emails and run off any orders on my temperamental printer every day otherwise the queue can gwet a bit long and the amount of emails I have to deal with a bit  tedious..
 Nevertheless deswpite the hours my wife and myself put in its not enough for some. The number of very impatient dudes is rising steadily. I blame Amazon and their Ilk- You know,  big outfit, mail order , several warehouses couple of thousand emplyees, 24 hour delivery  if you are lucky.
 Now increasingly chaps are expecting the same service from  me and my wife and 1 stockroom and the local post office. - But Don't expect to pay for it.and don't understand  the idea of the queue or that other chaps buy stuiff too.. Now these chaps are a tiny minority the vast majority understand how this wiorks but when a fella in France orders his gear on a thursday and is asking where it is the next tuesday  I get a bit vexed or a fella orders wednesday and is giving me earache monday morning its a tad extreme. There always seems to be an assumption that THEY are the ONLY customer.
 Now as a general rules we'll try to get stuff out within 72 hours- can't be more precise than that as it depend when in a given week so stuff ordered over the weekend- thats Friday to Sunday will usually go out Tuesday buit if we are busy it may take a lttle longer- you can only pull  proceess and wrap so many orders a day as well as answering enquires - fending off bloody silly cold calls (THAT takes more time than it should ( how many times a day do I have to say **** off) Others will often go out Thursday but again it depends on how big the queue is and what ever else needs to be done. For instance- this afternoon its photos and copywriting for my next magazine advert- 2-3 hours -  if I'm lucky
 The age of instajnt communications is not all  whine and roses ( I choose my words carefully) Just because its on the internetand you can see it instantly  doesn't mean  I can Star -Trek like beam it into you postbox instantly. In the old days chaps would wait at least a week to 10 days before calling- most still do  but sometime you just wonder about the decline of patience...
 Mind you as always If I can't take a joke I shouldn't have joined.....

Landrovers

Sonn to be added to my slowly growing 15mm modern range will be these fine landrover variants. They are such that a simple painjob can make them anything you kije from  the 1960s to well now really . The short wheelbase will do duty in civilian police and military roles all over the planet ad to a slightly lesser extent will the long wheelbase variant. You will be able to choose softop or hardtop and there is a box body

for the LWB variant as well. Ade has done a cracking job . These will of course go with the Rhodesians, Falkland War British  BAOR- again using the soon to be released Falklands Brits. Various African nations of course. Tons of civilian and quasi military usage. The box body variant gets to be an ambulance.
 More of the falklands range are now being sculpted- Mortars 50cals Milan as well as Infantry  weapons and command packs for both sides. As for vehicles Scorpion Sabre and Scimitar variants are all under construction as well as- a bit further down the line this -a 1 tonne Landrover. 
 Hope to have these landrovers available in time for Smoggycon- if not a bit sooner.

Shine on shine on....

Finally finished some more shiny dudes. So here are a few pictures.

Shiny French Guard Horse artillery- Crew Stadden30mm Gun Hincliffe. Note- the lad at the front seems to be having bother getting it in straight.

Capitane Laglosse- about to stick his telescope in his eye !

Almost a unit - Stadden 30mm with a couple of Minot .

Its been a while since I've added anything to the intermittant "Shinyloo" retro project but I've managed a few figures over the last few weeks- though it seemed I'd never fuinish those Horse artillery what with all the other stuff going on at the same time. I wouldn't mind but I've now aquired a fair collection of old 30mm Napoleonics for this project so we'll see where it leads . Cavalry next I think- but other stuff in other periods and scales first.

Russian Quickie....

No not  a vodka based cocktail discovered in a dubious nightclub but simply a couple of pics of Drabants new viking sets painted by Nick Bokarev. I'll have castings of these by the end of the month with luck- and certainly in time for Smoggycon along with the new Normans and re-supplies of  the rest of this expanding range.

The Command group.

The Archers.

...In Vogue this month....

 Well Donnington was really rather good. The car engines sounded fantastic the kharsis wern't quite so insalubrious as last year and I sold some solderis so all in all a win win . Oh and there were a few nice games- not that I had much time to see 'em.Aside from Steve Bedfords nice Medieval  Jousting game and The Stonewall grouips Flodden (lots of OG figs on that one) Oh and Border Reivers Batlle of Trafalgar square  I didn't really see a lot..
Mind you I almost wore out the old vocal chaords over the weekend what with  about 3 zillion blokes wanting to talk to me on various subjects- need a pint or two just to cool 'em down.
 However now I'm back at home- and its taken me over a week just to get the workload below bottom lip level.
 So I thought I'd take a little time for a blog....
So here I sit before my keyboard ... and well ... mind in neutral. Work  has not allowed a great deal of painting  recently and to be honest such has been the  well "pressure" of late that I get sick of the little lead gits
 MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY WARGAMING ALONE.

This is hardly surprising when one considers that over the years it has been the norm to trivialise what we do - even. or perhaps especially, amongst ourselves. But there you go I'm not sure other specialist hobbies do this in the same way- Military modellers don't. Model Railway chaps certainly don't.
 I've recently checked out some past magazines- one from 20 years ago and one from 15  years ago. Neiether were perfect but both had more actual content- despite fewer pages than many of the current offerings- mind you one did have a dreadfyully embarrasing photo of WW2 re-enactors- massively

overweight paratroops... Jump lads.....  AAARRRGGGHHHH SPLAT!!! 

So its hardly surprising that I find myself reading other things.. Private Eye. Vanity Fair, Vogue, and in case you just think I read these last two for the Lingerie adverts think again . After all a gentleman has to be abreast of the times in  terms of art, photography books etc-  and yes Fashion , Now to be truthful it was a bit of an accident. My wife Carole is a bit of a Fashionista- this Devil really does wear Prada and Karen Millen and Vivien Westwood  to name but 3. So it pays me to be aware- just before I  get the Paul Smith .
 Nevertheless- aside from splendid stuff on Art photography(and anything I can learn about photography is  fine by me)  and some cracking book reviews  there was a piece on scent-  in this case how a woman likes a man to smell... So apparently Chocolate is ok so is Vanilla  but  Dockers Armpit is definitely out- Not that the lady author Susan Irvine  put it that way of course bit it caused me to think.
 God knows how many times I've encountered chaps in our hobby who could do with reading this I thought. The number of chaps who need really NEED  to stand closer to the soap- or indeed in the same room- is still a significant percentage of our bretheren... and the odd whiff of  Chanel Pour Monsieur or Dior Eau Sauvage  wouldn't go amiss either. Apparently chaps spend over 530 million quid on "fragrance"  per year  so how come no more than a quid and halfs worth ever gets through the doors of the average show.
 Chaps we need to "image up " - at least some of the time... Don't we....

First Falklands Figs- painted.

It's been a dammned hectic couple of weeks what with Donnington - now been and gone- fine event- and lots of Mail order to catch up with- getting there but still a few days behindhand. Couple that with the inevitable ton of bloody paperwork- mostly to satisfy Dave and his Rich Mates and its a wonder I ever get any sleep - let alone  paint any soldiers- I've had a 30mm French Guard Horse artillery Gun and crew 90% done for the last  fortnight and all I've manged to do was finish some dammable GW wingy- thingies for a relative- of which more in another post
 So  imagine my delight Gentle Reader when on Sunday at Donnington - up pops Jez Griffin of Shakespeare studios with these little darlings .

British Infantry- Falklands War- 15mm Painted by Jez Griffin.

Argentine Infantry- Falklands War- painted by Jez Griffin.

Up to Jez's usual fine standard.. I do like these.
 I'll be releaseing the first two packs of basic riflemen  as soon as I can. More figures-  a prone pack for each side with LMG and sniper and a command pack. Also a British Mortar and Argentine 50cal  with crews. Other models- Milan for the Brits 105mm Gunners and possibly Special Forces for both sides will follow..
 The Brits of course will also do for BAOR "Cold War Goes Hot"  Type scenarios.
Appropriate vehicles are also in the pipeline. and perhaps an aircraft or two.