Sunday, 31 March 2013
Happy Easter!
Surrexit hodie Christus was the fourteenth century hymn on which today's mass' first hymn was based. I hope you're all having a lovely day, whether in the joy of the risen Lord or in the joy of chocolate. ;) Happy Easter, folks!
Friday, 29 March 2013
Terrain Mega-Project: Tower continued!
I have begun work on the monster! I cut out some floors for the quadrants. I am 70% sure I shall be going with the external lift-shaft suggested by Porky, but for now I am just omitting one of the quadrants, so I retain the option of having an internal one. The floors are made from a layer of 5mm-thick foamcard. I then cut a layer of 0.5mm-thick plasticard, and scored half-inch squares in it to give the impression of a tiled floor. I cut through some squares, suggesting that whatever has happened to the building, some of the tiles have been broken and dislodged. I cut a few doors from 0.5mm-thick plasticard: 2" by 1.5". I laminated two pieces, cutting a hole in the middle of one, giving the impression of a door-frame around a sliding door. I have glued several of the upper floors in place. I was a little worried, having done so, that it could prove difficult to move models around when they are close to the middle, but this proved not to be the case.
Recently I have been trying out this idea of inserting pictures into the text, but it hasn't been going so well. Everything looks fine when I type the post up, but once it's published, I realise the system just hates me. So in future tutorials I shall be going back to labelling things with numbers. For now I'm just going to throw a load of pictures at you. They're pretty self-explanatory, and this isn't a tutorial, so no need to worry. Keep your eyes peeled for a tutorial in a few months!
Recently I have been trying out this idea of inserting pictures into the text, but it hasn't been going so well. Everything looks fine when I type the post up, but once it's published, I realise the system just hates me. So in future tutorials I shall be going back to labelling things with numbers. For now I'm just going to throw a load of pictures at you. They're pretty self-explanatory, and this isn't a tutorial, so no need to worry. Keep your eyes peeled for a tutorial in a few months!
Wednesday, 27 March 2013
Terrain Tutorial: Nissen-inspired hut
This is not quite a Nissen Hut, as those were formed from corrugated metal, whereas this version is smooth. But if you want to make a version that is truer to life, all you need to do is glue some corrugated card to the outside of this creation.
Desiderata:
* Base
* Large cardboard tube
* Hot glue gun and glue sticks
* Cardboard of plasticard for detailing
* Polystyrene cement
* Superglue
* A few bits and pieces from your box of bits
1) Cut a large cardboard tube down. Measure your base so you can be sure it will fit on it. So you will probably have a tube a couple of inches tall. Cut the tube in half so you have two little tunnels.
2) Glue them to the base with the hot glue gun, and glue a big sheet of plasticard or card on either end. Let it set, and then trim it. Knock up a door from plasticard, and glue another few small bits to the outside to detail the structure. See Figs. 1&2.
3) Apply some PVA to the base, let it dry, and coat it with some dilute PVA to lock it in. Once dry, paint the building. I applied the old Foundation Knarloc Green, I think, and then stippled a variety of other colours atop that: yellow, black, light and dark green, and dark brown. Then I applied a load of Agrax Earth across the whole thing. See Figs. 3&4.
Until next time, folks, happy 'gaming!
Desiderata:
* Base
* Large cardboard tube
* Hot glue gun and glue sticks
* Cardboard of plasticard for detailing
* Polystyrene cement
* Superglue
* A few bits and pieces from your box of bits
1) Cut a large cardboard tube down. Measure your base so you can be sure it will fit on it. So you will probably have a tube a couple of inches tall. Cut the tube in half so you have two little tunnels.
2) Glue them to the base with the hot glue gun, and glue a big sheet of plasticard or card on either end. Let it set, and then trim it. Knock up a door from plasticard, and glue another few small bits to the outside to detail the structure. See Figs. 1&2.
3) Apply some PVA to the base, let it dry, and coat it with some dilute PVA to lock it in. Once dry, paint the building. I applied the old Foundation Knarloc Green, I think, and then stippled a variety of other colours atop that: yellow, black, light and dark green, and dark brown. Then I applied a load of Agrax Earth across the whole thing. See Figs. 3&4.
Until next time, folks, happy 'gaming!
Tuesday, 26 March 2013
Occasional Irritated Blog
As you know, Bob, I've been out of work for a bit. So I have an employment advisor. I made a big mistake last time I was supposed to see her. I overslept. I was a bit worried about volunteering at a shop in town. It's nothing serious, just the residue of a social anxiety so crippling I hadn't worked in half a decade. She was upset I missed our last meeting, so when we met this morning I got loads of unusual questions. It's reminded me of the importance of deceit. I shouldn't have told her the truth about why I missed our last session. I ought to have lied. When I went along today I should not have responded honestly to her questions, as it's only got her annoyed with me.
I've been applying for admin jobs for a while. One sits in an office, entering stats into a computer, and waits with growing boredom for the day's end. I know this is what they are like, because they are the only 9-5 form of employment I have had, and three different employers had the same impact. Roughly the same impact: the first job was so boring (typing up documents) that I would get home and lie on the carpet for half an hour as blood gradually flowed back to my brain. I'd like to say this is comic exaggeration, but it isn't. Some people might like them, but I'm not one. Nonetheless, these are the jobs I've been advised to apply for. I have good qualifications, but a terrible (atrocious, dreadful, abominable, diabolical?) work history, so I accept they are a necessary stepping-stone.
Sadly, "stepping-stone" was an even worse thing to say. She asked if I thought such jobs were beneath me, and I said the worst thing possible: "Er." I won a lecture on my ego, and an admonition to find a job I really want to do which can fill the time until I can go into teaching. Problems: I don't know what I want to do because I haven't got the breadth of work experience. Asking for help gets the awful answer "Only you know what you will enjoy doing." Third problem: this doesn't mesh with the mindless government job-seeking orders, which are to check their website and apply for one job daily, and to check several other places and apply for one job from each every week. By telling the truth I have just increased my pointless workload by at least 10%. I say pointless because nobody ever gets back to me. I have had maybe half a dozen responses in the past year and a half, and one invitation to interview. I reached that place and there wasn't anywhere to park in their car park. Or in the road outside. Or in any adjacent car park.
I furrowed my brow pathetically, and sought to convey those ideas with words, but failed abominably, as I only got the same spiel again. So now I have to do all the government-mandated job applications, which never get any results, and I have to come up with some job I can pretend means something special to me. In a word, it's been a frustrating morning. I shall have to get my skates on, finish off this spectacular apartment building, and then demand GW Nottingham gives me a job building scenery for them! And pigs might fly. Yes.
Frustrating as this bureaucratic rot is for me, it's a lot worse for many people. I'm fine, really. The worst that'll happen if the government stop throwing money at me is that I won't be able to put petrol in or buy insurance for my car to get to job interviews which never manifest! Spare a thought for my friends, J&T. T's mum's unwell, but the much-hated ATOS have cut the disability benefits she has relied on for years, annihilating their cash reserves. I spent a couple of months working for a big building society once, and I realised the job wasn't for me when I spent Christmas Eve writing threatening letters to people behind on their payments. I left shortly after, though they'd wanted me to stay on permanently. After all, all that's necessary for evil to triumph is that the good do bugger all when confronted with it.
I've been applying for admin jobs for a while. One sits in an office, entering stats into a computer, and waits with growing boredom for the day's end. I know this is what they are like, because they are the only 9-5 form of employment I have had, and three different employers had the same impact. Roughly the same impact: the first job was so boring (typing up documents) that I would get home and lie on the carpet for half an hour as blood gradually flowed back to my brain. I'd like to say this is comic exaggeration, but it isn't. Some people might like them, but I'm not one. Nonetheless, these are the jobs I've been advised to apply for. I have good qualifications, but a terrible (atrocious, dreadful, abominable, diabolical?) work history, so I accept they are a necessary stepping-stone.
Sadly, "stepping-stone" was an even worse thing to say. She asked if I thought such jobs were beneath me, and I said the worst thing possible: "Er." I won a lecture on my ego, and an admonition to find a job I really want to do which can fill the time until I can go into teaching. Problems: I don't know what I want to do because I haven't got the breadth of work experience. Asking for help gets the awful answer "Only you know what you will enjoy doing." Third problem: this doesn't mesh with the mindless government job-seeking orders, which are to check their website and apply for one job daily, and to check several other places and apply for one job from each every week. By telling the truth I have just increased my pointless workload by at least 10%. I say pointless because nobody ever gets back to me. I have had maybe half a dozen responses in the past year and a half, and one invitation to interview. I reached that place and there wasn't anywhere to park in their car park. Or in the road outside. Or in any adjacent car park.
I furrowed my brow pathetically, and sought to convey those ideas with words, but failed abominably, as I only got the same spiel again. So now I have to do all the government-mandated job applications, which never get any results, and I have to come up with some job I can pretend means something special to me. In a word, it's been a frustrating morning. I shall have to get my skates on, finish off this spectacular apartment building, and then demand GW Nottingham gives me a job building scenery for them! And pigs might fly. Yes.
Frustrating as this bureaucratic rot is for me, it's a lot worse for many people. I'm fine, really. The worst that'll happen if the government stop throwing money at me is that I won't be able to put petrol in or buy insurance for my car to get to job interviews which never manifest! Spare a thought for my friends, J&T. T's mum's unwell, but the much-hated ATOS have cut the disability benefits she has relied on for years, annihilating their cash reserves. I spent a couple of months working for a big building society once, and I realised the job wasn't for me when I spent Christmas Eve writing threatening letters to people behind on their payments. I left shortly after, though they'd wanted me to stay on permanently. After all, all that's necessary for evil to triumph is that the good do bugger all when confronted with it.
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