Leeds Armoury

In a week where I've been more than a little remiss in my painting efforts (at about half an hour a day on average) and completely redundant on any building efforts I've recruited a 'stand-by' post of my recent road-trip to Leeds Armoury (sorry).

I was invited by a friend to accompnay him, his wife and my #1 son, in late May for the visit.

Leedes Armoury is free to visit, but you do need to book in advance (Covid etc.). 

#1 son and I had been before, just after it had moved from London, but it was a far better experience than the first time -so much had changed in the intervening years.

The photograph above show the main stairwell (all four floors of it - or mayve five ?), showing hundred of weapons, halberds, partizans, spontoons and a host of other weapons, with various armours too, at the bottom are pikemens' armour (with tassets) and at least one set of cavalry armour - all 17thc from what I could tell.

Here's the rest of the printable photos (in no particular order):

Huge diorama of Waterloo on the first floor (obligatory bluury photo_

Henry VIII's armour

The Oriental room

Mounted Samurai

More Samurai armour

Western weaponary (the Wild bunch in the background)...

...and yet more - with the archeatypical 'peacemaker'

More typical western pistols - note the holster, (probably homemade).

Easily recognised carnies, Hery (top) and Winchester

Showing that there weren't just Colt 45s around !

Winchesters weren't the only long arms either...

Various types of firing: pinfire,  rimfire and centrefire (the automatic on the right is circa 1894!

Obviously I took more photographs of all my current interests, but there was something for everyone.

Here's the best of the rest:

Jimland anyone ?

Big game hunter (with added reflection)...

...and his large (very large) target

Faithful gun-bearer ready to throw himself in front of his 'master'

What every adventurer in Jimland needs

Beautifully decorated weapons of all eras and genres on display througout

Shotguns of bores up-to 2-bore !

And if the rhino was a bit too big...

...with a wide choice of your preferred boar-spear

If the boar is a bit  too tame for your tastes...

Superb renaissance diorama (only from the balcony could I get a good pic)

Disappointing pic of Mahdist jibbah (I collect pics ot these)

Over the five floors and interveening mezzanine floors there was a lot to see. I took us four hours or so to see everything, but would have taken twice as long if I'd read even half of the information available - but I did get a museum guide too !  

It was an exhausting day, but well worth the effort with quite a few very surprising exhibits and even more exhibits that surprised me!

Seeing the western weaponary was eye-opening as to just how small most of the pistols were (even the Colts). Winchesters looked like toys compared to rifles that I've held (and in some cased used) which made some food for thought.

The venue is definetly a full day out, but I'd concentrate on my own current areas of interest if I get to go again, this time reading more ! Maybe I'd also get to shoot a crossbow (that particular activity was unvailablee- covid 'yawn'.)

There's also a very good cafe on the ground floor with a  exhibit hall adjacent to the entrance that holds various events throughout the year.

I hope you've found something of interest, and I didn't even mention the maching guns, the cannons outside the venue, the mortars inside or many, many other interesting exhibits.

That's it then for another week, I better had get a move on finishing my first batch of Mexican bandits for next week, but on the plus side I now have enough credit card types to start basing up my forty-something horses. 

Thanks for taking the time to visit and as always your comments are bith welcomed and truly appreciated.

Windows, Doors and more

 As well as doing the odd bit of painting on my Mexican Bandits, I've also managed to keep up my hour-a-day regime by fitting in more work on the shack, jail and blue buildings. The results are shown in the photograph on the right.

  Here's the photographs:

The three buildings in 'real-life', conveniently obscured by a tree !

The back of the shack !

Actual view

Doorway area

'Jail' with that peculiar circular window.

'Jail' door with barred window

The bars on the window above are only loosely in place, to aid painting the window frame.

For the wood above the door in the 'shack' was made from a iece of balsa - a mareial I haven't used for many years (mostly becasue I'm rubbish at using balsa).

Window frames for all windows made from yet more matchsticks

I used clear acrylic for the 'glass', which refused to be glues using pva so I reverted to my old favourite glue - UHU.

The 'blue' building's side wall had a bit of work done too...

...to try and make it look like this (notice the alcove too)

The arched building...

...and my version; this had a lot more filler applied...

...using my non-patented filler applicators...

...to try and get this effect.

The roof of all the building have been completed with pieces added underneath them to stop them slipping and sliging everyhwere, The 'blue' builings veranda has had a frame added and the roof ridge has been 'tiled' too (using a plastic straw cut to size).

It may not look like I've done much this week, but I'm happy enough, knowing I've really have been usy on the building front, even if I've been a bit lax on the painting side of things,

So that's it then for another week, thanks for taking the time to visit, hopefully you found something of interest.

As always, your comments, critiques, criticisms etc. are always welcomed and truly appreciated.

Banditos

After a week of enthusiasm and motivation, this week saw me reverting to my hour-a-day regime for the hobby. I've avoided doing any work on the buildings, even though there's still a lot to do. I've got various reasons/excuses  for my inactivity on this front, mostly real-life problems. 

Nevertheless, I did start painting my Mexican Bandits (all 48 of them, mounted and dismounted), with an initial output of 16 mounted and dismounted figures - sans horses, as that's all that would fit on my painting tray. Not a single one is finished however and their final colours may well change too; they still have shading highlighting and detailing to do, but some may well be finished in a weekIor so. 

In any event, here's the photos:

Mounted versions of the above, bandit leader fourth from the left !

Another eight in identical poses to the above, with a bit of variation

Again, the mounted versions of the above.

So, not a lot to show and no rear-views for those that are interested in that sort of thing !

I did spend an hour or so trying to re-pose one of the two batches, using my usaul hot and cold water treatment, but these seem very reticent to hold their new poses; the plastic used obviously having a high 'memory'. Despite repeated efforts they always reverted to their original pose and as I'm not that gifted  (or brave enough) to cut and re-pose limbs etc. I guess I'll be stuck with the same eight figures .

That's all for this week, no much I know, but at let I've made some progress even though I'm not really motivated atm.

Thanks for taking the time to visit and as always your comments are welcomed and truly appreciated.

Buildings 6,7 and 8 - progress !

I've made a lot of progress over the last two weeks on the production of buildings 6,7, and 8 of my current build (building nine was the arched building).

The builidng, from left to right in the photograph, are nicknamed, the shack, the jail and the blue building. They have a footprint of about 2' x 8" (60cm x 20cm).

The 'shack' beacuse of what is is - a shack ! The jail, becuase it held some of villagers as prisoners and has bars on its right front window, whilst the plaster on the last building has (read will have) a bluish tinge. The arched building will be to the right of this block.

Here's how I got to where I am at currently:

Walls being cut out, with the three fronts as a single piece.

Horizontal brick being 'carved' into the two left-hand buildings

Note the large (overly large) circular window

All walls ready for assembly, two arched internal walls and a barred window for the  'jail'

The fronts in place on the one-piece floors of '7' and '8'

Roofs being assembled, corrugated card onto a 'stepped' card backing

Roofs trimmed of excess corrugations

'Plaster' added to the front of the shack...

...and to the blue house alcove, to hide the kinder egg piece

Rear view of block, note the gateway isn;t the entrance to the shack !

Aerial view of the jail and the blue house

View of the jail and the shack, showing the latter's doorway

Roofs loosely in place, the jail will have a flat roof, just below the level of visible bricks.

Another view of the same  (padding - Ed)

Another look at the first picture, but compare the circular window with the 3rd or 4th pictures !

And that's it then for another week. There;s still  a lot to do on these three buildings, window frames, doors,  roof assembly and probably a host of other stuff that I haven't thought of yet. Painting will follow in due course when I complete all eight (or maybe nine) buildings at some future date and some of the other scenics still need doing too - walls, a well, more walls, hay stacks, corn cribs a walled in tree (?) and probably a lot more too.

Thanks for taking the time to visit and hopefully you've found something of interest.

 As always your comments, are always welcomed and appreciated