Things that get right up my nose!

Just spent half an hour on the phone trying to explain something to ADT about the alarm and now I've got to get on to NTL to go through the same process and get wound up again by some idiot trying not to understand what I'm saying.  Then, once I've made everyone understand I'll have to take two days off work because neither company will be able to do their piece of the job on the same day - it's a given! The upshot is that I'm paying them to inconvenience me and get me wound up. I realise that there are people who would willingly pay for that service, but I'm not one of them.

While we're on the subject, What about the cretins who dump spam in the comments to the posts on here? I don't want viagra or web design services and I can't speak Portuguese, so whoever it was from Brazil, kindly sod off! 

Still not at all happy, but I suppose I'm getting there . . . .

Finally decided to focus on my AWI stuff and get it all out of the way (until I buy more of the damn' things). The figures aren't taxing to paint, although the old Foundry ones are pretty poor compared to the Perry line. However, the Perry figures aren't all that energetic - quite laid back really. I've uploaded a piccie of some Eureka figures painted up as the 1st Connecticut. I'm not over excited about them as they're not all that well sculpted, but they'll do alright as a unit.

Got Warners Additional to base and there's another unit undercoated and three on the blocks, so we ought to pick up speed. I'm likely to do the cavalry in the old 'oil wipe' style as it's quicker and the horses from Foundry aren't all that great. The Perry British dragoons will probably go the same way, if only for consistency.

While we're at it, the easiest way to paint decent flesh is to give all the areas a coat of 'normal' flesh colour (whatever that is!) and them to give them an oil wash to stain and shade. Once that's dry (very quickly actually),you can add eyes if you want to or more highlights if you wish. It's a bit smelly and you really need to do full units or more to make it worthwhile,but the finish is good and the effort is minimal. The Vietnam Americans  on here were done that way, but with a few highlights added. The oils flow much better than inks and they blend with the undercoat rather than staining everything. Try it and you'll see what I mean.

Have to do something about the bases though because they look like the'yre strolling through sand dunes. The trouble is that the base texture paints go off so quickly and, as I hate basing anyway, I'm always on the look out for easy methods. Not sure about the flowers and horticultural extravaganzas you see on bases these days. I'm not sure many battles were fought in garden centres . . . .

Anyone who does like to add bits and bobs to bases ought to shoot over to Antenociti's Workshop (http://www.antenocitisworkshop.com/). He's got the whole world of modelling and finishing stuff on there and the value is only exceeded by the speed of delivery.

Been thinking of making my own 28mm buildings for the AWI/ACW etc., but I have to confess that idleness has certainly held me back. They're not hard to do, but they're labour intensive and some parts are quite boring to do. However, it's the only way I'll end up with just what I'm after without breaking the bank or my heart.

So, I'm going to do more of this posting malarkey and it'll keep me on the treadmill with the painting. I'll post each unit as it's completed (no, really!) and add comments here and there about the painting and other flashes of genius along the way.