Dr Tony's Workbench

Sorry Richard, no red here, just a hot chocolate, need full facilities for this
I managed to complete 21 figures, plus maybe that many again in an advanced state of almost finishedness.
The unpainted Prieser figures are cheaper than their painted ones and so much nicer to paint than the cheap ones, the castings are very crisp and clear. Some of the painted chinese ones are very rough indeed, i pulled a number out that have a splash of orange or green as their only colour, with the same paint on the shirt and all over the face! which is not ideal. Static people on platforms and the like have to be half decent at least yes.
Cheers
Tony

 

Haven't had too much modelling time lately, lots of gardening instead. Looking at plants in the real world and lots of watching Gardening Australia on TV at night has fuelled some creative juices as well as some bush walks.
I figured i could make some Xanthorrhoea, which is a type of grass tree, which are plentiful in these parts.
I started with some home made static grass tufts i already had. I bought some coconut fibre scourers a while ago, thinking they looked much more exciting for modelling rather than washing up.

I then pulled some fibres out, dipped the end in clear craft glue, and then rolled it around in some very finely ground material produced from putting a bunch of leaves, twig and bark into the electric coffee/spice grinder. I then stuck this stem into the grass tuft.

I think it has worked quite well.

I started off making Gladiolus using the same method, but coloured foam on top of the stem, this has gone quite well. Haven't got around to taking a photo of them yet.
Cheers
Tony

 

Well, it's not modelling, but it lives on my modelling bench. Lately I have been acquiring more cordless tools, or finally fixing old ones, and I need somewhere to charge the batteries and store the batteries and chargers. The best place in the workshop is the modelling bench, as this is the least dusty area and has good power access. This was all starting to encroach too much on my modelling space. So I managed to find a perfect shelf that someone was getting rid of. I was also sick of trying to remember which lead was which, I like turning things off at the wall when not in use, rather than on standby. Due to various accidents of history there are quite a few different types here. Some orphans such as the Panasonic, a drill I bought over 30 years ago, bought a few replacement batteries over the years, and just recently a new chuck, but it is a great drill. Then other odd things like a micro Stihl pruning chainsaw, and a Ryobi drill that I got for the right price. I would not have put my own money into Ryobi, not my favourite unit.
Found on cleanup was a piece of fairly flexible Perspex, made a frame with the remains of a pop up gazebo that got destroyed in a storm, a few other pieces of hardware, and I have a dust protected setup that I can still tell when the batteries are ready. Vent holes at the rear, only the Makita charger runs a cooling fan.
Now to get back to real work.

Cheers
Tony

 

More organising things. I have been struggling for a while using my styrene efficiently. It has been stored in a fishing tackle box, the only thing long enough for the packets. There is a lot of wasted space, but the real issue has been going through all the packets just to find the one I want.
Then I found this drawer thing. Very heavy, 11 shallow drawers that are well long enough and if you pull them out too far, they simply pivot downwards. The whole cabinet is crazy heavy when empty, but it has allowed me to sort by category.

As I'm moving into the scratch building/ kitbashing phase of layout construction, this find has been quite timely.
Cheers
Tony