The News at TIM – Mid Week Musings (No: 37)

Welcome to this weeks Musings!

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Modelling Pretensions

Having been to a few model shows now it’s clear to me that accuracy is very, very important to a great many show attendees and participants.  In fact some people I’ve encountered seem to take great delight in highlighting inaccuracies.  It’s one thing to take constructive comments from peers and respected experts, it’s another matter entirely when the critique is from pretentious twats who can’t model to save their lives and just want to put people down.  From my point of view it takes great deal of will power not to give them a smack!

Now don’t get me wrong, as far as I am concerned I try to be as accurate as I can be or on occasions want to be.  I wouldn’t paint a WW2 British Uniform blue for example but if the colour I have painted is not quite the right pan tone of khaki then to put it bluntly I couldn’t give a toss, I’m not about to go to bed worrying about it.  In any event weathering plays havoc with colours anyway so who’s to say exactly what shade of khaki it should be at any given time in the life of the uniform?  Sadly though this matters a great deal to some people, I just don’t happen to be one of them.

To be fare the highest level of accuracy possible is key for some people and for them this is what modelling is all about.  I do get that and respect it, each to their own.  Personally I don’t have that level of knowledge or desire to replicate microscopic detail to the lengths some people will go to.  For example, as long as a vehicle has a registration plate number then that’s good enough for me, if it’s the wrong one for a particular regiment then I figure 99.9% of people aren’t going to notice anyway.  Overall what matters to me is does the piece look good?

Now while I can at least comprehend the level of detail some people will go to for historical pieces I do however draw the line when dealing with non-historical models.  There is a new wave of critic out there which is rather disturbing.

When I was at Telford I was asked if one of the wizards I was displaying would really have a cloak the colour I had painted it?  This wasn’t a wizard figure which featured in a movie or anything, just a one off model unrelated to anything.

Really?

It’s a fantasy figure I told him, it can be any colour I, you or anybody else wants it to be, it’s not fucking real!

I didn’t make a dent.

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Autumn (or Fall) and it can only mean one thing …

… yep you guessed it, time to get the leaf cutter out!

The leaves gathered during their various colour changes are nicely drying and when I’ve grown bored of watching paint dry I shall start to build up my stock for the New Year.

Exciting times people, exciting times.

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What do you plan to do with your new display case TIM?

For those of you who were kind enough to wonder what I might have planned for my recent acquisition the answer is a western town scene.  Not sure how many buildings I will be able to fit on it but at a guess I’d say four or five.  It’s something which I’ve always wanted to do so now is the time to actually begin to make it happen.  Don’t expect to see anything soon though.  There is much to plan and buy.

In the meantime there are a lot of other things to do.

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This week TIM has been listening to …

John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett

Who?  You may well ask.  To be honest if you’ve heard of them I’d be very impressed but nowhere near as impressed if you like them too.  To be fare I did say my music taste was random!

I was introduced to these guys by my brother many, many years ago and for reasons which are hard to explain I absolutely love their first album.  The first album was simply called “John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett” and is full of great tracks as far as I am concerned.  Their follow up album entitled “Deep and Meaningless” is made up of the tracks which were not considered good enough for the first album but the two albums were put on a combined CD which is the cover that appears below.

The two of them never really made it to the big time although they did appear once on Top of the Pops and the Old Grey Whistle Test, two UK music shows of yesteryear.  They tour constantly and have done for years, playing at small venues up and down the country.  Often Otway is on his own because he and Wild Willy often fall out with each other.  I can see why they would because Otway is a complete nutter.

In Tavistock which is a couple of miles from where I live we have a small venue and Otway visits every few years or so.  I saw him on his own in 2007 and the whole performance is available on YouTube in two parts, just search John Otway Tavistock and both should appear. I’ve also saw him with Wild Willy a couple of years back and that was another great evening as well.  Very different live and highly entertaining.  I even had a nice chat and a beer with Otway at the 2007 gig, he’s that kind of guy.  In fact at one point, believe it or not, you could even pay to have a place on his tour bus and go on tour with him.  For all I know you still can, I’ll have to check it out.  Anyway the guys are legends are as far as I am concerned.

Below are a couple of links.

First up is a video from one of the live shows where he does his take on “House of the Rising Sun”.  Unique audience participation in my opinion.  Worth a quick read of some of the comments too.

Next we have “Bluey Green” a nice little song and one of my all time favorites for reasons I wont go into but I love the tune and the lyrics.  Gets me every time.

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This week Tim has been watching …

Spartacus.

Not the recent TV serious but the classic original starring Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis to name but two of an amazing cast list.  I’ve been toying with the idea of delving into SAGA and Gangs of Rome, not to play but to paint a few figures of the period.  Not top of my “To Do List” right now but on the list that’s for sure.

As for the film?  Simply awesome.

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Until next time.

TIM