Elefant Construction Complete!

That's the build phase now complete and very nice she looks too. As ever with these 1/48th models they build up very fast! 

The cave has also had a new window blind fitted today, took me all of 5 minutes and looks ace!

Elefant Nearly Built!

The tracks went on last night and presented no issues at all. I'm now adding some handles to the engine deck and filling the tow eyes so I can drill them out later. The scale 75 figures have also been cleaned up which took all of 30 seconds they are that good! I did however remove all the SS insignia because as far as I'm aware they never used the elefant. I stand to be corrected on this as I'm no expert.

Anyway not much more to do now which means I'll have to get my finger out re finding all my paints etc!

Elefant Zimmerit & A Very Nice Surprise!

More quick progress on the model with all the zimmerit now added and a few extra details too. The kit is an absolute gem & the zimmerit set is the icing on the cake as far as I'm concerned. With the speed I'm building this it won't be far off paint soon but that will have to wait due to all my painting gear being still packed away. So I will try and slow down!

Also this morning Mrs sniper surprised me with an absolutely awesome present for the new cave. A limited edition print No 17 of 850 signed by the artist and general Sir Peter de la Billiere! I'm over the moon with it and it will take pride of place on the wall soon.

Tamiya 1/48th Elefant

Started last night and as ever with these 1/48th scale kits the fit is perfect and the construction is swift. Today I've been enjoying myself adding some of the zimmerit using the tamiya sheet which has been very easy. The effect looks very convincing and it will be interesting to see what it looks like under paint.

New Bench, New Model!

Another pleasant day in the cave sorting out stuff and getting all my tools etc stowed away. So to celebrate the new & improved Smudgewerks bench and because I still can't find out which box I've put my paint brushes in it's time to get plastic bashing. I chosen tamiya's cracking 1/48th Elephant & have the zimmerit set and a couple of brilliant scale 75 figures to go with it. This will be part of the Tiger GB currently on the go at Modeller's haven online forum. 

Man Cave Part 9, Desks In!

A very exciting day for me with the carpet fitted this afternoon and the desks built and positioned this evening. I'm really pleased with the amount of space I now have & the two under desk draw units should swallow up a ton of kit. At the moment I'm sorting out the positions of stuff and working out the best location for the task light.  

Man Cave Part 8

It's getting tantalisingly close to the moment I can start modelling again. Yesterday the door received an initial coat of Danish oil and I also moved the cabinets onto the storage module. I will eventually replace all three cabinets with matching units once funds allow. So the carpet will be fitted Thursday & the chippy is back then to fit handles and latches to the door & I'm off to Ikea today for my desks!

Man Cave Part 7 & Happy St George's Day

Finally the door has been hung so I can now stain it before the handle and latches get fitted. I went for a stable door as I liked the idea of extra light and ventilation for the cave as well as being able to hear the doorbell etc whilst at the bench. It may also keep the cat out but I doubt it!

Also over the weekend the skirting boards and storage module where painted so today I'm hoping to get the display cabinets in place. 

As it's St George's day here in the UK some suitable patriotic pictures are the order of the day. I feel we could do with an inspirational character like St George here at the moment to sort out all those useless politicians. Perhaps a lance or two up the arse would make them think of the voters wishes instead of theirs for a change! 

Man Cave Part 6

Almost there now with the walls painted, door frame in and today I've built the storage module for my stash of doom. My display cabinets will sit on top of this as well. I'll also make up some doors later for the base. The carpet should be fitted next week and the door has finally arrived, just need to nail down the chippy to fit it now!

So more wood priming to do & skirting & storage module to paint now and all the hard work will be done.

Man Cave Part 5

Finished off the plastering over the weekend and almost finished painting the ceiling but ran out of paint! Also the door frame is finally going up as I type after some delays thank god! With any luck I'll have the room decorated or very close to finished by the weekend.

In Between working on the renovations I've been thinking about new pictures and displays for the room once finished and today I've received a couple of items which will look brilliant once cleaned up. I've always wanted to get my paws on one so two is a bonus, my sad dreams have come true! 

Can you tell what vehicles they are from? 

Poole Vikings Show 13th April

A day off cave renovations today and a visit to the Poole vikings show with Brian. As ever top down motoring was the order of the day as he drove so jacket and hat on as it was slightly nippy this morning, although the sun did make an occasional appearance.

To the show itself and the usual mix of interesting traders and clubs to keep us interested as well as a chat with friends saw us spend a pleasant couple of hours mooching around the show. I particularly liked some of the dioramas on the competition tables although it was hard to get decent pictures, or see the hard work put into them due to the very poor lighting in that area. 

So suitably modelled out it was time for the usual format of a pint and pub lunch with the Royal Oak again being the venue of choice. Fine chaps that they are they managed to squeeze us in and we had a very nice meal whilst discussing all things modelling as well as general bollocks. 

A rare picture of Brian's car with the roof up, well it did look like it might rain!

My stash additions for the day, as if I need to add to it!

As ever a nice day out and a nice rest for me.