For me as a full time painter, lighting is one of the most important 'tools'. I use a pair of Daylight company 2 foot, 3 tube lighting rigs, which each give 6500 kelvins of light for 42 watts per lamp. These are not a cheap lamp (well, £120 is pretty reasonable for a lamp, if you value your eyesight I suppose) but you do get a 2 year guarantee on them which is just as well, as I have had to invoke that guarantee twice. The rub is, that if you need to replace the T5 tubes the Daylight Company will rob you blind for what is simply a 14w low energy tube like any other. Despite the claim of 30,000 hours before a tube needs replacing, I tend to change them every 2500 hours as they do noticeably dim. This used to be an expensive thing for me, but I found a company which supplies me with replacement tubes at under £2 each; what's more they are from quality lamp manufacturers such as Osram, GE and Sylvania (all far superior to the Daylight Company tubes) and are available i...

Greetings readers, TGIF has never been so apt as this week... I have just had almost two weeks solid of painting 15mm Napoleonic figures, which whilst rather splendid have left me with a real headache and fatigue, the likes of which I've not had in a long time. So much in fact that I am actually considering ceasing accepting orders for Napoleonic models. 11 hours a day instead of the normal 7.5 is not a fun or healthy regime. In fact I have been so busy that I've not had chance to do much shopping save a couple of cashmere sweaters, a couple of pairs of rather nice moleskins, a copy of the Disciples Of Tzeentch army lists for Age Of Sigmar and 35 old Traveller RPG books. Rather piss poor by my standards I have to admit. The memsahib has been rather ill recently and it could have been rather serious (terminal in fact) to the point that she was hospitalised with an 'or else' warning. She was slated for 3 weeks but made good her escape after a week and is recoverin...

Well, it's been a hectic week on the domestic front, but I did manage to place an order with always helpful Allan Lumley over at Lancashire Games for 616 painted 15mm figures to allow me to refight Culloden. I have wanted to 'do' that battle since the mid 80s after seeing it at Triples in 6mm. I never liked the look of it in 28mm - I don't know why - but 15mm was on the cards a few times. However, as I paint for a living and have zero time or inclination to paint things myself, I decided to go with Allan as I love the gloss finish, old school basing (you know, proper paint and tetrion basing, not static grass which is the norm these new fangled days. I have worked at a flexible 1:30 ratio as it makes for nice sized units which retain a good aesthetic value. I have been reading like mad and giving myself a refresher course. I fear I may have swamped Allan with more detail than he probably needs, bit I am a little OCD like that. Yesterday I finally picked up my be...

Well, Monster Comic Con in Doncaster was a disappointment. The vibe was subdued... Massive venue, lots of trade but a distinct lack of people. The so called 'Cosplay Guests' were a waste of time... They were supposedly giving presentations, but frankly the info was non existent. Also having 4 nubiles in leotards etc, did no really send out a message of inclusion which we hear so much about. No male presence on 'Lechers Row', no Over-30 cosplayers on there... Do it right or don't bother. I could have walked up there with no preparation and presented something better off the cuff. True to form the 'camera carrying mid-life crises' brigade appeared, gently sweating and fiddling with their lens caps - And no I DON'T think that many of these fellows are doing anything more than adding to an unsavoury personal gratification album. As I said, the trade element was good, and I purchased a Polar Lights 'ECTO 1' kit and nerly spen...

Yesterday, I collected the Sylvaneth army I mentioned in my previous post, and I am really happy with it. The day was made even better by a pleasant lunch with the memsahib, who also developed a keen desire to finish her Undead army or steal my Treemen. Today, I have spent a rather relaxing 3 hours, adding foliage to the army because I am of the generation who like their wood to have bush, so to speak. Anyway, here are the pics of the finished army: TTFN