Bogenwald

Posted on August 21, 2018 by maenoferren22 · 2 Comments

The Gentlemen of Sleepy Hollow

I managed to get some paint onto these.

Sadly I didn’t get them finished☹️. Too tired tonight! And tomorrow I am on the boat south.

Anyway I present the gentlemen.

If I have one real complaint about these it is the faces, some look really good and others look like they have been hit with a shovel. Ichabod looks particularly weird. This coming from someone who has no skill in this area at all. As the others look really good I would suggest it is a problem with the casting rather than the initial modelling skill.

So once I get back I will finish the ones above then move onto these.

That will mean the whole Sleepy Hollow set will be painted.

After that onto the Militia in the background and thence onto the new stuff still in th3 packet.

Posted on August 20, 2018 by maenoferren22

The Ladies of Sleepy Hollow

I did a bit of painting tonight.

I think I needed chill out from my first day back at work.

Anyway the ladies are finished. I much prefer this batch painting to a bit of paint here and there on multiple figures. I even managed to highlight them all. Something I wasn’t doing to the whole lot.

Tomorrow I think I will do a set of a half dozen gentlemen. I will then have to wait until Friday to do any more as I am off South on the boat to some training in Aberdeen.

Posted on August 19, 2018August 19, 2018 by maenoferren22

Headless Horseman and a Pair of Shoes

I managed to paint something…

This pair is from the Blue Moon Headless Horseman set. All of the others are individual characters from Sleepy Hollow. The Horseman comes as a mounted and dismounted figure.

Instead of the all black figure from the various films etc I decided to make him a bit more colourful, well he had been a soldier, Not sure what colour the Hessian cavalry actually were, but as I had a dark green and a red, I thought why not. I went a bit wild on the grey highlights on the horse, this will need sorting. Instead of adding a bit of paint to numerous figures at once. I decided to finish just this pair. The rest of them can be seen in the background.

A right hodgepodge of colours 😱

I think for the rest I will do them in groups of five or so instead of trying to add a bit of a certain colour of paint to random figures.

Once these are finished I have another 72 to make a start on.

Then onto the ……who knows, so much to do.

And finally I managed to finish a pair of shoes.

Posted on August 18, 2018 by maenoferren22

Star Forts, Chips and an Annoying Fledgling

Another mooch about yesterday. Last day of my holiday and I had to be in work. As it is the holidays I had to drag the kids in too.

So instead of haring back home for sandwiches we headed further into town for Lunch. All the cafes were full so we headed for the Fort Chip Shop (the best one in Lerwick). Our normal place to eat them on a nice day is the Fort right above the chip shop so I thought I would take some photos.

This is the oldest part still standing built or rebuilt in the 1690’s. The following photo showing how thick the walls are.

Construction of Fort Charlotte began in 1665 during the second Dutch War. It wasn’t finished before the war concluded. It was rebuilt more than a century later during the War of American Independence but never fired a shot in anger. The fort is pretty much presented as it would have looked in the 1780’s

The fort is a 5 pointed star.

At the minute she is armed with 18lb cannon. These only look out over the sound of Bressay. It had in the past been armed with 32lb cannon

I always fancied starting a re-enactment group here, it would be great fun!

Anyway the Annoying Fledgling…. here he is:

He spent his time calling for food non stop while we were there. On the upside though, he kept the adults away!

Right a couple of random photos taken within… the barracks and the magazine.

And finally a view from above… pinched from a panel at the entrance!

You can just see the best chip shop in Lerwick, small white building near the two story street of shops. Oh and in the background you can see the Lerwick Town hall.

There is a great story from the 1690’s about how 3 cannon from the Spanish Armanda were found. They decided to heat them to remove the rust. ‘ Upon which they discharged balls, much to the surprisement of the onlookers!”

I think Surprisement should be returned to the English language!

Posted on August 15, 2018 by maenoferren22 · 7 Comments

Drummers, civilians,off gallivanting and a leather shoe.

Well I managed to get the drummers up to a ‘yeah finished’ point. I also threw some paint on the civilians.

My order from Old Glory Uk came and sadly it is wrong. My rangers haven’t arrived but another packet of woodland Indians have… I ordered the Indians in error but contacted them straight away to ask for a swap to the Rangers looks like they forgot. Harumph!

I also managed to get a shoe to the Finished point. Only nine to go.

This has a top and back seam to help turn it. 2mm upper and a 4mm sole. I have enough of the upper leather to make us all a pair (I hope) but unfortunately only enough of the thicker stuff to do one more pair.

Our exploration was sort of Viking based. With the dry weather Girlsta loch had dropped enough to allow us to head out onto the holm (an island not far from the far shore. Local legend has it that a Viking princess is buried there (as legends go, they are always princesses). The story goes she was skating on the loch and went through the ice, which was a bit unfortunate as the loch is one of, if not the deepest on Shetland sitting at 78 feet deep. Anyway after a bit of research we came across information in one of the Saga’s.

Geirhilda the daughter of the famous Flokie Vilgerdason was the young lady in question. Flokie had left Norway to find Iceland …it had been found accidentally twice before, but he was off to deliberately find it. He overwintered on Shetland when the accident happened. He then went off and found what he was looking for. He wasn’t that impressed and named it Iceland after seeing a bay filled with sea ice.

Now local legends also have, star crossed lovers, 🙄🤮. Her suitor was not accepted by her father and after a sneaky meeting with him she fell through the Ice and died. Strangely enough the saga doesn’t mention this, or ice or skating or anything really. It does say that “there Geirhild, his daughter, perished in Geirhild’s water.”

So there we have it … a legend and sort of evidence… Girlsta…Geirhild…there aren’t any other Girlsta’s up here so it could be a match.

Posted on August 12, 2018 by maenoferren22

The Leather Ripped🤬

“Oh poot!”…well I think that is what I said…

Turning the shoe the right way round is always a nightmare, but this time using leather that was old and weary probably wasn’t clever. This stuff had been in a damp shed that froze every winter. I oiled,it hence the dark colour, to try and get it back to a useable quality. The leather, when I started was nearer the colour of the table top.

Luckily I have a half hide of better quality leather that has stayed in my attic. I shall start again tonight.

This time I think I will do a front seam, that should stop it tearing, and make it easier to turn. It will be a shoe similar to these.

Posted on August 10, 2018 by maenoferren22

I have a shoe….

Only nine more to go!

Well I eventually managed to finish sewing on first shoe. The fun bit is going to be turning it the right way round. Now if I had been sensible I would have started with the biggest, then things would get quicker as they got progressively smaller.

I also managed to get shoe maker finger, caused by pulling the linen thread tight. Sliced right into the little finger on both hands.

This thing has driven me demented. I really am out of practice.

To begin with I put the sole on upside down, then part way around I realised that the upper was to big for the sole. A bit of remedial cutting was required to get it to fit.

It is too big for my youngest but as it is inside out, it will shrink a bit as it is turned.

back to the sewing I go!

Once they are both done I will shove them into a bucket of water for a good while to soften the leather and then get them turned the right way out. This usually involves a great deal of swearing and funny grunting noises. So if you hear a lot of expletives in a Geordie accent carried on the wind you will know who it is.

Posted on August 10, 2018 by maenoferren22 · 1 Comment

I really, really need this…

This would help with the unfinished project pile!

Posted on August 9, 2018July 23, 2019 by maenoferren22 · 1 Comment

And Now For Something Completely Different

I have taken a break from painting to making…

Shoes…

After years of re-enactment and then a hiatus of 12 years. I am getting back into again with a new-old period.

Since moving to Shetland I have been going into schools dressed up as a Viking. Partly to do my bit to show what Vikings look like as opposed to the Up Helly Ah version of vikings. Look it up, it does look impressive… they are what Victorian’s thought Vikings looked like🙄

So after starting first Century AD Romans a long, long time ago.

Then moving up though the centuries (years not cohorts). I moved to 3rd century Roman, 15th century and then Napoleonic infantry and then cavalry. Ending as a Polish Lancer.

The photo above is me in Poland.

I loved the Lancers, but there isn’t much call on Shetland for a Polish Lancer and as getting off the island costs hundreds I had to call it a day. On the up side, my stable kit still fits. Sadly my full Uniform went to the group as I had no use for it.

I also sometimes get the chance to play silly Buggers as a knight or a gladiator.

Me as a knight in a castle, sadly a very early 17th century castle but I allowed this inaccuracy to slip past me to support one of my favourite school’s activity day.

Anyway back to the Vikings…my new group is to be Viking. A couple moved up here who are well into their Viking Living history. So we are going to make a go of it. Well Unst does have a reconstructed long house and longship.

My soft kit needed replacing anyway, but instead of just me, we have to kit out five. I am starting with the youngest’s shoes as they are the smallest and easiest.

I made a test shoe out of spare white felt.

The leather was rather brittle so before sewing I had to soak everything in oil to try and make it more supple. Well 12 years in a shed probably wasn’t the best place and conditions for it.

Wish me luck as it is around 18 years since I made turn shoes.

Posted on August 5, 2018August 5, 2018 by maenoferren22 · 2 Comments

Two Drummers Drumming

I was a bit busy off gallivanting yesterday

I did manage a bit of painting last night.

The second drummer is nearly up to the level of the first one. I must of had a shake doing his strap over the shoulder though. The first one needs a highlight on the flesh etc. Some of the dark blue and red also went onto some of the civilians.

Early on in the day we explored a broch in the north of the island. This was an Iron Age structure somewhat tumbled down after 2000 years of wind, rain and theft for building houses.

The base of the wall can be seen in the foreground, this would be heightened with peat. It is thought to be defensive, the site itself is sitting on an islet in a loch. The wall covers the causeway from side to side. You can see the causeway in this photo.