[unofficial weekender] man down…. call in reinforcements!

[blinky465 17028xp 6]

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First time visitor to OTT? Then please introduce yourself in the New Member Thread and look around in the Project System. Then come back and read on…

Read all of this before you start as it will save any trouble later.

First thing you must do is make your “pledge”. It can be anything gaming related, big or small, and you don’t even have to finish it. No, in here, happiness is the road. Have fun doing whatever it is, but it is not a race. Accompany your work with pictures or we might think you are do something sinister and just using us for cover.

You are also presented with a few questions. It is to get the conversation started. Try and keep your answers ‘conversational’, no text speak, and certainly no “basically”. This is how we all get to know each other better. While you are here feel free to tell us a story, show a picture, joke, tales of love or woe, or just add your own little bit. This is the whole point…in here it is just us.

If you have never taken part before we may bark and bite, but we also like a cuddle! It is all done in the best possible taste and it is character building. feel free to give as good as you get.

A few other things to note: NO RELIGION & NO POLITICS! Glasgow pub rules are in effect. If you need to make a better point then it is fine, but don’t take the piss. And always keep it civil.

Play plenty of music to go with your work. Loud and through proper speakers. Write us a playlist of things we might not have heard before.

Now, after all of that there is only one ‘real’ rule in here and it cannot be broken: NO DICKS! (Exceptions may be made for little fighting men with little plastic/resin/metal wieners)

And don’t forget the highlights of the weekend: The Weekender on Friday and XLBS on Sunday. And the little show that is the unofficial Hobby Hangout over at twitch.tv

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@sundancer has almost single-handedly kept our off-topic ramblings going in the forums, week-on-week, for literally years now. But this week he’s got the hump. So he needs the rest of us to step up and show him it’s not all a fruitless effort for nothing and that even if the conversation has dried up a little bit by the time we get to Tuesday, he’s not alone in looking forward to the weekend to see what’s going on in “the hobby” (even if we can’t always be bothered to get the paints out and actually “do hobby” ourselves).

 

Questions:

• Cars. A necessary evil? Have you ever given serious consideration to getting rid of your car (or simply not getting one if you’ve never had a car) and joining something like a car club?
• How many of us are currently on “hobby hiatus” – either knowingly or unwittingly? Has it been more than a week since you’ve put paint on a mini or pushed your little plastic men around a table? (I know some people consider watching Youtube videos part of “hobby research” but let’s be honest, most of us do this in place of gawping at the telly of an evening, to just pass the time – so we’re not going to let that count!)
• Back pain – it seems to be something we all become familiar with once we reach a certain age. Have you got to the point where you have to brace yourself before sneezing while putting your socks on? Every hard chair in our kitchen has a lumbar support strapped to it (so I can sit in any at a whim, I’m that kind of crazy) and have lived with a prolapsed disc for about 10 years now. Any coping strategies for back pain?

Don’t forget a pledge. And music. We like music. Nobody gets shamed for their choices, so put something you really like, not something you think we’ll all think is cool (everybody else, no tittering if someone posts Justin Belieber ok?)

Discuss!

[warzanKeymaster 31125xp 5]

@sundancer Feel better soon mate – I know back pain very well!

Here is a little somthing to get you jiggling

Cars: We need em over here as we have probably the worst public transport in the UK. I will absolutely be going electric when I can though.

Hobby Hiatus: We notice a slow down in activity every northern hemisphere summer especially in the UK and Europe regions, the US seems a bit less affected by it. I think it’s pretty natural, as we only get a short spell of outdoorsy weather and I think folk gravitate to that. For me, I’m absolutely having a bit of a forced break as I try to waterproof and fix areas of the new house while I have the weather to do it!

Back Pain: I hate back pain, I have got to the stage of preemptive pain killers now. I’m a big lad and I fell a few years ago and injured my lower back. These days I’m doing a lot of brushing and digging etc and I have to go for a walk every 15mins or so to try and recover before getting at it again. Losing weight would help Im sure 🙁

My pledges for the weekend are working on a little wood work shop at the back. I have a lot of fixing up to do so to make all that work of making new doors etc a bit easier I have been putting the effort into fixing up two old ‘sheds’ so I have space to work and use the tools.

One was an old chicken house that had a foot of chicken shit in it I had to dig out. But the main issue is the dodgy roofs on them. But I have decided to do some patchwork this year and try to get another year out of them and do a replacement next year. So i have patches to do to the felt and a couple of cans of bitchumin paint to put down. Inside I’m cleaning them and putting a couple of coats of paint down and an enamel on the floors. Also switching out the lights and installing some LED lighting etc.

That should hopefully give me the resources to tackle the more complex jobs I have scheduled for my annual leave in July.

[warzanKeymaster 31125xp 2]

Ohh and thanks @blinky465

Big love for you @sundancer and everyone else who joins in this weekend 🙂

[blinky465 17028xp 1]

I used to work for a car supermarket. I think the most I ever paid for a car for ten years was about £500 (even for a 5-series BMW) by buying up the part-exchange cars that came in. Of course, they were always old, and there was often something not quite right (after all, they were being “traded up”). But I’d often get a year or two use out of them before they became “uneconomical” to repair (when I’d take them to be broken up for spares). I liked to think I was squeezing the last drops of use out of them but the truth is, I’m rubbish at car maintenance so would run them into the ground and need a new one quickly!

Despite loving driving and visiting places, I think cars are rubbish. Not once I’m behind the wheel of one, of course, but the idea of cars in general – here in the UK, we simply have too many; just look along any street and see the way they’re almost abandoned along the roads, encroaching on pavements, making the streets look small and cramped and ugly.

When we moved to Brighton, I vowed to get rid of our car (there’s a very good local car club scheme). But we also have family up in Wales and Birmingham, and over in Germany and Italy we still like to visit. So now we have a campervan, but only for long journeys. Most of our travelling (pre-covid) is done on public transport and – in recent years – on our bikes.

I’d happily see all cars taken off (local) roads. But then again, I guess that means we need more things to become local again, so we can get to them without having to get the car out. So, for me, it’s a necessary evil (and, admittedly, something of a luxury since I’m sure we *could* get by without one, it just feels it would be very inconvenient to do so)

 

I’ve not painted a mini for about three weeks. Sometimes I feel bad about it. But I recently got a new guitar and have learned a couple of “lead licks” so I can finally take a solo at the local jam night (if we ever have another one). So not all *that bad* about it. I might lick my brushes again this weekend. I might not. If it’s sunny, I’ll more likely be at the beach. So I guess I’m on quite the hiatus at the minute. I just hadn’t noticed it!

 

I’ve lived with chronic back pain for over a decade. It’s just something I’ve had to learn to manage. I raised the seat on my bike as high as it will go and put massive “bullhorn” handlebars on (they look ridiculous on a mountain bike) so I can sit bolt upright and stretch my legs while out cycling. But young me gave up on looking cool long ago, so function beats form every time. An ergonomic adjustable stool is a must for working at the computer (sometimes I put it on the mantlepiece above the fire and work standing up) and sometimes sleeping on the floor will sort my back out if it’s been a particularly bad day.

Oh yes, never ever sneeze when putting your socks on.

 

Here’s your music

Unashamedly ridiculous-looking, 80s pop-rock. I know it’s the 2020s. But this stuff can never go out of fashion for me!

Nearly forgot the pledge: I’ve had the resin printer going a couple of nights this week. Maybe if I aim for something acheivable, like getting them all primed and zenith highlighted, it can be a nice gentle way of easing myself out of this hiatus I hadn’t realised I’d slipped into.

 

Your go…..

[warzanKeymaster 31125xp 4]

So these are the sheds that will become a workshop and store. The place was so overgrown we didn’t know we had these until a lot was cut back. We believe they were built in 1936 (I found that date in one of the concrete floors lol) and the bricks apparently were created by hand by the family that lived here and built the old house and sheds etc.

So the plan is for basic repairs to make it usable and survive another winter and then possibly give it a full upgrade next summer.

This was a chicken house, I shoveled shit for a full saturday to clear that lol. Its not cleaned and getting a bit of a white undercoat. Plan is to have it finished this weekend. It will be for storing materials etc.

This is the main workshop. The door is again a temporary fix. It was an up and over door that had to be broken off as it was jammed shut. I have given it some basic reinforcement and rehung it on hinges instead. It will get a lick of paint just to tidy it until I get it replaced with a new home made door of my design lol

 

 

 

Some pics of what I’m up against on the interior of the workshop.

And this is the roof that Im going to try and patchup. I had to go in with a chainsaw and cut away a ton of bushes that had completely overgrown the thing. It was very hard going and Im cut to ribbons. But I dont have the resources or help just at the moment to tackle a complete new roof so I have to make a patchup of some kind work 🙂

[blinky465 17028xp 1]

Absolutely not envious one little bit. 😉

[scribbs 14509xp 4]

I haven’t pitched in on one of these threads for an age, despite having a read each week to see what everyone else is up to.

Pledge for this week is to finish a few shields to complete a small Viking warband. Aiming low, as they are almost done, although it really depends on how bothered I am about addressing small inconsistencies across the four of them. Aside from that, I’ll aim to get my next batch of Napoleonic French infantry prepped and primed just to keep things ticking over.

Questions:

Cars are a bit of a necessary evil in my mind. Public transport here is pretty restricted, and whilst I’m not against walking reasonable distances, when you add children and weekly shopping loads into the mix, a car becomes a necessity. Although I’m firmly against having more than one car. The convenience would be nice, but it isn’t really needed, plus it’s good to avoid teh running costs.

I can foresee a bit of enforced hobby pause thanks to the time of year and covid restrictions being uplifted. Good weather mean I’ll be tying to get out of the house more often, we’re going to take the opportunity to visit family so will be away from home more. Plus once it starts getting too hot I tend to slump in the evenings more.

Fortunately back pain is not a huge issue for me. My daughter’s big enough that there’s no longer any need to pick her up on walks etc., which was the main cause of back twinges as she got bigger and heavier. But having a wee one made me a lot more aware of what I was doing with lifting things and generally making me take better care of myself.

[scribbs 14509xp 2]

@warzan Those outbuildings have massive potential, but I don’t envy you the task of getting them in shape!

[demonsub 12746xp 3]

Thanks for taking the helm @blinky465

I hope things improve for you soon @sundancer and a big thank you for doing the show on Tuesdays, I love it.

My pledge this weekend is hopefully working on some new models I’ve ordered for the next few parts of my Rangers of Shadow Deep game. I don’t have them at the moment but fingers crossed the posty brings them soon.
If not then I’ll start working on some toy cars for Gaslands, then maybe paint some statues for Frostgrave.

Cars. A necessary evil? Have you ever given serious consideration to getting rid of your car (or simply not getting one if you’ve never had a car) and joining something like a car club?

I’ve never owned a car nor do I plan on getting one. I was tempted once around 10 years ago. A few issues my friends have had with their cars in the past include someone crashing into their car which was parked outside his out resulting in an insurance right off the month he made the final payment, and discovering gaffer tape holding the steering column together on a friends second hand car years after he got it.

How many of us are currently on “hobby hiatus” – either knowingly or unwittingly? Has it been more than a week since you’ve put paint on a mini or pushed your little plastic men around a table? (I know some people consider watching Youtube videos part of “hobby research” but let’s be honest, most of us do this in place of gawping at the telly of an evening, to just pass the time – so we’re not going to let that count!)

I hardly painting anything in January just didn’t want to do much hobby related. This was after painting over 150 miniatures last year so I guess my brain needed the break. I played a video game instead. The break worked and in February I started painting 30 barbarians.

Back pain – it seems to be something we all become familiar with once we reach a certain age. Have you got to the point where you have to brace yourself before sneezing while putting your socks on? Every hard chair in our kitchen has a lumbar support strapped to it (so I can sit in any at a whim, I’m that kind of crazy) and have lived with a prolapsed disc for about 10 years now. Any coping strategies for back pain?

For the last 2 years I’ve suffered from back pain on and off. Mostly mornings but eases with exercise. I did sneeze once and put myself out of action for two days.

My favourite music I cannot get enough of is the soundtrack to the game Divinity Original Sin 2.

I particularly like this track – https://youtu.be/W372EX13-Uc

It’s even got some singing and I find this one great https://youtu.be/b_2-Fz-FVw8

[blinky465 17028xp 1]

@scribbs – those shields are stunning. Great work!

@demonsub – sneezing, I knew it! My wife laughs when I brace myself when I feel a big one building up, but I’m not taking the chance again! How does Gaslands play? I did think about 3d printing some bits and bobs to glue onto matchbox/hot wheels cars to use as proxies; there’s something really satisfying in painting up a toy car to give it the “tabletop look”.

 

[demonsub 12746xp 2]

@blinky465 I’ve never played Gaslands and have only recently got the book since a friend was getting into the game and I’d heard good things about it. Also it’s from the game guy who did A Billion Suns. I’ve never played it (not played much thanks to lockdown).
It did feel a little strange buying some toy cars (from Poundland), I felt like a was a little boy again. I guess it’s my mid-life crisis, ha.

[blinky465 17028xp 2]

I got some a few years back when one of my nephews was little. Of course they were for him. But I did hold back a couple of “normal looking” hatchbacks and painted them up with a little quickshade and some edge highlighting. They looked fabulous for relatively little work. Only trouble is, they’re scaled more for about 20mm than 28mm. @warzan ‘s favoured 15mm is just a little too small for them.

At the time, decent 20mm scale stuff was really hard to get hold of. Nowadays with resin printers and so-on, maybe not so much. I might just have to set the printer going again this weekend and take a trip down to Poundland…..

[pagan8thParticipant 10868xp 3]

Pledge… start work on my next RPG campaign. So far I have the concept… Carnevale skirmish as a setting for an RPG… and the primary rule… bad italian accents are compulsory… the rules I’m still not set on, but Carnevale has potential for horror, violence, magic and most important… humour.

Never owned a car, never wanted to. I don’t pay attention when walking… so giving me half a ton of metal moving at 30+ MPH and you’re just asking for trouble.

Not on hobby hiatus… most days I’m writing RPG stuff, painting, assembling etc. Although a console game is not quite a board game… I do play Blood Bowl 2 most days and that’s pushing virtual men around a virtual pitch.

Backpain… old friend of mine… I lug sacks of mail around all day… ibuprofen… deep heat… if it’s too bad… take care… but doctor always says keep it mobile (I have explained that there’s a significant difference between ‘keeping it mobile’ and ‘lugging sacks of mail around’… but doctors have a script and don’t think beyond that in my experience.

[danlee 22444xp 3]

This week’s pledge is to plough on with my spring clean challenge Celts.

 

Thanks to @blinky465 for starting the thread this week.

 

@sundancer sorry to hear about how bad your weeks been. Hold in there and I’m sure things will look up soon. In the meantime either do or don’t do hobby as you feel fit. And thanks for the effort you put in each week with the forum and the threads. I appreciate the effort you put in.

 

I’ve finished another Celt unit – this time some mythical hounds: https://www.beastsofwar.com/project/1490359/

 

 

1. Cars. A necessary evil? – We’re lucky enough to both work within walking distance, and our kid’s schools are only 5 minutes walk away too. We still have a car, but it isn’t used daily so is relatively low maintenance. I can’t imagine trying to do without it though – at least not until the kids have grown up.
2. How many of us are currently on “hobby hiatus” – either knowingly or unwittingly?  – I had a small one a few weeks ago that I mentioned previously. I was able to get through it with a totally different, one-off painting project as a refresher.
3. Back pain? – Thankfully I haven’t got there yet, though I imagine I’m not that many years away.

[crazyredcoatParticipant 13642xp 1]

@sundancer Sorry it’s been a bit rough, mate, but you’re work and effort with these weekly threads are very much appreciated by me. The Event hasn’t been fun and uni was rougher than usual this year, but having this place to be silly has really helped. Slumps happen, unfortunately. Quite often I feel very frustrated with the hobby and things going on, but taking a bit of time away always gives me that little extra drive to get stuck in a covered with paint again. And thanks to @blinky465 for lending a hand this week!

@warzan There was an out-building that you had to excavate from the undergrowth? I knew Ireland is a magical place but I didn’t know the plants can claim buildings! 😛 It’s looking great!

@scribbs Loving those shields, mate! The designs are amazing!

@danlee Are those dogs supporting a local footy team? 😛 They look great! I’m excited to see what you come up with next!

As for a pledge, I have my model of Vargo Hoat to work on. I’m in a bit of a hobby slump myself the passed few days, so I don’t know how quickly I’ll get him finished, but I plan on playing into his turncloak nature from the books and putting that into the mini…literally… 😛 We’ll see how far I get.

But now for questions!

Cars. A necessary evil? Have you ever given serious consideration to getting rid of your car (or simply not getting one if you’ve never had a car) and joining something like a car club?

Honestly, my car is so expensive to keep just because of insurance costs…but I live in rural Canada and in North America they haven’t really learned to connect places together so you have to drive. I enjoy driving, but particularly this passed year I have done very little but the costs haven’t changed minus paying for quite as much fuel. I’d prefer to take trains everywhere, but they are so expensive here and so impractical in where they go that it’s just not possible. On the subject of trains, if anyone is ever in Norway they are some incredible scenery on their train lines! Bergen to Oslo was really quite something!

How many of us are currently on “hobby hiatus” – either knowingly or unwittingly? Has it been more than a week since you’ve put paint on a mini or pushed your little plastic men around a table? (I know some people consider watching Youtube videos part of “hobby research” but let’s be honest, most of us do this in place of gawping at the telly of an evening, to just pass the time – so we’re not going to let that count!)

I am still painting relatively consistently, but I’m running low on paint supplies and getting more isn’t practical at the moment. Having to suddenly try and find somewhere to live isn’t helping, but I think the ongoing mess the world is in right now is kind of getting to me and so much of what I paint I kind of think ‘meh, it’s a mini, who cares?’ I try and keep positive, though, because I think we all need a bit more of that these days.

Back pain – it seems to be something we all become familiar with once we reach a certain age. Have you got to the point where you have to brace yourself before sneezing while putting your socks on? Every hard chair in our kitchen has a lumbar support strapped to it (so I can sit in any at a whim, I’m that kind of crazy) and have lived with a prolapsed disc for about 10 years now. Any coping strategies for back pain?

I’m only 30…but also almost 2 m tall…back pain is a reality of my life. 😛 I have a huge problem with places that save money by converting EVERYTHING to wheelchair accessible because if I want to use a wheelchair accessible desk (which for obvious reasons have no seats) I have to bend half over. I have no coping strategies, really, I just keep doing things and over time it takes me a little longer to get out of a chair, or I make more creaking noises when I stretch. 😛

And now, music! Hopefully  Youtube’s region nonsense doesn’t cause problems again…

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