Hey there!
Hmmmm.....Two posts in two days. Not too shabby for a guy that ignored his blog for two and a half months.
This is the second half of my experiment of separating the gaming/hobby posts from the personal/general stuff posts.
So here's the thing about 40k Radio: I was on there for about an hour with Romeo and the boys and it was really awesome. I honestly wasn't sure if that would ever happen but I'm sure glad that Romeo gave me a call and asked if I'd like to stop by for a visit. It really was as simple as that, too. My phone rang one day last week and Romeo asked if I'd like to Skype in for their next show and tell everyone what I've been up to since the last time they heard me on the radio show. Those of you who are enlightened and intelligent enough to read this blog have a little insight into my comings and goings since May but no one else does and I have pretty much dropped off the grid since the end of July when it comes to blogging and facebook. Please don't think that I'm vain or egotistical enough to assume that anyone REALLY cares what Chipley has been up to but I hope that most folks found me to be at least mildly entertaining and were happy(or morbidly interested) in hearing me back on a podcast. I really hope I get asked to come back to 40k Radio in the future. I had a great time and realized just how much I missed it. Now if I could only get Romeo to send me plane tickets to fly out and record with him.......
40k Radio is completely in the hands of the new owners now and that's both a good thing and a bad thing. I was sorry to hear that George left because he was really the last guy that had long ties and lots of air time on the old 40k Radio so its sad to see him go. That's the bad thing. The good thing is that George was with the new crew to get them going and help them through the transition. Romeo, Rik and Kyle seem to be clicking and the show is getting better as their cast dynamic grows stronger.
I took the summer off from tabletop gaming. I barely kept up on news and really didn't even think about it for the whole summer. After I parted ways with 40k Radio I realized just how much time and attention that being on the show took. Its hard to see just how much of your resources something is taking up until you are no longer involved and have the advantage of looking at it from the outsider's perspective. I needed this summer...a lot. It wasn't that I didn't want to game or be on podcasts anymore, it was that I had just immersed myself in the games and the show so completely that once I had the chance to break away I took it and just let myself be distanced from it for a few months. Now that the cooler weather is coming and the motorcycling season is all but over in Northwestern Pennsylvania the desire to start building and painting models is beginning to take hold again. With that comes the desire to get some models on the table and start playing again.
So what am I doing about that desire? Meeting it head on, my friends, meeting it head on.
I'm breaking back in slowly. I had a Firestorm Armada fleet that I bought a long time ago with the rulebook and cards. They sat in my attic, neglected for many, many months and they were the first thing I reached for when the gaming itch became too great to ignore. I have a decent sized Terran fleet with the starter box and a few other units. I built them and cleaned them and they are ready for paint as soon as one last model arrives in the mail. Scott told me he painted his whole fleet in a day so I want to see if I can do it too.
The Firestorm Armada models are really nice. The resin is heavy and the details are amazing for such small pieces. I had to clean up a very small amount of flashing but other than one ship, nothing needed sanded or filled to be assembled and ready for paint. The large battleship was the exception. It has a lot of parts(when compared to the other models) and no matter what I did I could not get the rear section to sit flush with the main body. I sanded it a bit and fiddled with it a bit but it was just not going to fit properly without a lot more massaging so I gave up. After the glue dried, I filled the gap with some Testors modeling putty and it looks just fine.
Speaking of Testors modeling putty: I like it a lot. It comes in a grey squeezy tube like the Testors model cement and needs no mixing or preparation for use. You simply squeeze out a little of the watery goo at the tip until the putty starts to flow at a useable thickness and then you can direct it to where you want it and fill narrow gaps or shallow holes with ease. A wet finger to smooth it is generally all it takes to get a gap filled but when filling surface imperfections or larger gaps you may need to sand it a bit before painting. It rarely shrinks or separates from the area filled and is very easy to work with. Because you can recap it and store it for the next use there is very little waste. It will never replace green stuff or the other thicker and more versatile modeling agents but it is superb and simple for the jobs I've described above.
Back to the Terran Fleet. My color choice for them is a white base with Scab Red on the areas that beg to be striped or otherwise brightened up and set apart. For the armaments, engines and other important looking stuff I'll use Gunmetal Grey and Chaos Black. If the mailman treats me well today, I may have pictures posted by the end of the week. I could start working on what I have on hand but that last ship is all I need to be able to paint them all at once. Since I find that I'm much more efficient as an assembly line painter, I want to stick with that method.
Once its ready, my fleet will be going up against Scott and Phil as they teach me how to play.
I think that's a pretty nice chunk of hobby stuff for today.
My next post will be about the new Dark Eldar stuff and how it will most likely be the way I break back into the Warhammer 40,000 scene.
Thanks for reading. Here is your payment for the time spent, that little pearl of wisdom, the nugget of awesomeness that will change your life forever:
He conquers who endures. ~Persius
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Time sure does fly......
Hey there!
Its been so long that I'm not even going to bother insulting you with questionably sincere apologies and miserable excuses. Let's just acknowledge that I'm shitty at this blog thing and move forward under the premise that I'm going to try a lot harder in the future.
I think I'm going to try something new with this blog as a little test to see if I should continue as I have been or branch off into two seperate blogs. This new thing that I'm going to try is making shorter posts more frequently alternating between my personal life and general stuff that's on my mind for some and tabletop gaming/hobbies for the others.
Let's start with my personal life and general stuff....
Where in the Hell have I been since July 28th? That's an excellent question. A really excellent question. Hmmm.....let's see.....
So here's the thing about summer and motorcycles: Summer and Motorcycles go together, to quote Forrest Gump, like peas and carrots. I had a ridiculously fun summer riding motorcycles. If you all remember that one blog post so long ago in which I talked about how I had realized a long time dream this year by finally buying a motorcycle. I rode that 1996 Suzuki RF900R for over 2000 miles and had a great time on it. It was a fantastic bike to learn on. It was manageable when I needed it to be and silly fast when I wanted it to be. It was aggressive but forgiving. It was dependable and never left me stranded or limping home despite its age and mileage. I dropped it twice and did nothing more than scrape the decals on the fairing which is pretty damn good for a sport bike. Many sport bikes(especially old ones)are pretty much totaled if they land on their sides even lightly. I put it down the first time when it was only mine for a couple days. I had to make a quick stop at an intersection and didn't notice the gravel and sand under my front wheel. I went from sitting on a running motorcycle to standing next to a tipped over motorcycle in the blink of an eye. Once I surveyed the scene and realized what had happened I chalked it up to a lesson learned and took my wounded pride and scratched motorcycle home very, very glad that I hadn't bought that shiny new motorcycle that I had been lusting after for most of the spring. You see, dropping a 15 year old motorcycle that you paid a very small amount for is so much better than dropping a brand new motorcycle that you paid lots and lots for. The second time I dropped it was because the kickstand didn't lock when I put it down and the bike went onto its side like one of those goats that get paralyzed and fall over when you scare them. Another lesson learned and the left side was now scratched to match the right. For those of you who know me well, I'm a little bit OCD so the symmetry of having both sides of the bike scratched in the same place actually made me feel a little better. Not much, but a little. After 2000 miles on the Suzuki, my friend at work let me take his Harley Davidson Fat Boy for a spin and that was all it took for me to start thinking about getting a motorcycle that was a little more suited to the type of riding that I was doing and the amount of time I spent with a passenger along for the ride. More about that in a later post.....
My next personal blog post will be titled: The Smiling Chihuahua Smiles No More.....
Thanks for reading. Here's you're pearl of wisdom as payment for spending your time with this post:
Daylight Savings Time ends on Sunday, November 7th 2010. Be sure to set your clocks back when you go to bed Saturday night. (OK, this was more of a public service announcement than a pearl of wisdom but I think its valid anyway).
Its been so long that I'm not even going to bother insulting you with questionably sincere apologies and miserable excuses. Let's just acknowledge that I'm shitty at this blog thing and move forward under the premise that I'm going to try a lot harder in the future.
I think I'm going to try something new with this blog as a little test to see if I should continue as I have been or branch off into two seperate blogs. This new thing that I'm going to try is making shorter posts more frequently alternating between my personal life and general stuff that's on my mind for some and tabletop gaming/hobbies for the others.
Let's start with my personal life and general stuff....
Where in the Hell have I been since July 28th? That's an excellent question. A really excellent question. Hmmm.....let's see.....
So here's the thing about summer and motorcycles: Summer and Motorcycles go together, to quote Forrest Gump, like peas and carrots. I had a ridiculously fun summer riding motorcycles. If you all remember that one blog post so long ago in which I talked about how I had realized a long time dream this year by finally buying a motorcycle. I rode that 1996 Suzuki RF900R for over 2000 miles and had a great time on it. It was a fantastic bike to learn on. It was manageable when I needed it to be and silly fast when I wanted it to be. It was aggressive but forgiving. It was dependable and never left me stranded or limping home despite its age and mileage. I dropped it twice and did nothing more than scrape the decals on the fairing which is pretty damn good for a sport bike. Many sport bikes(especially old ones)are pretty much totaled if they land on their sides even lightly. I put it down the first time when it was only mine for a couple days. I had to make a quick stop at an intersection and didn't notice the gravel and sand under my front wheel. I went from sitting on a running motorcycle to standing next to a tipped over motorcycle in the blink of an eye. Once I surveyed the scene and realized what had happened I chalked it up to a lesson learned and took my wounded pride and scratched motorcycle home very, very glad that I hadn't bought that shiny new motorcycle that I had been lusting after for most of the spring. You see, dropping a 15 year old motorcycle that you paid a very small amount for is so much better than dropping a brand new motorcycle that you paid lots and lots for. The second time I dropped it was because the kickstand didn't lock when I put it down and the bike went onto its side like one of those goats that get paralyzed and fall over when you scare them. Another lesson learned and the left side was now scratched to match the right. For those of you who know me well, I'm a little bit OCD so the symmetry of having both sides of the bike scratched in the same place actually made me feel a little better. Not much, but a little. After 2000 miles on the Suzuki, my friend at work let me take his Harley Davidson Fat Boy for a spin and that was all it took for me to start thinking about getting a motorcycle that was a little more suited to the type of riding that I was doing and the amount of time I spent with a passenger along for the ride. More about that in a later post.....
My next personal blog post will be titled: The Smiling Chihuahua Smiles No More.....
Thanks for reading. Here's you're pearl of wisdom as payment for spending your time with this post:
Daylight Savings Time ends on Sunday, November 7th 2010. Be sure to set your clocks back when you go to bed Saturday night. (OK, this was more of a public service announcement than a pearl of wisdom but I think its valid anyway).
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