DISQUS

Dammnit, missed my chance for 15 minutes of faux fame :).

"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too."

Never mind watching a launch Ben, I'd love to BE in a launch before I die, which may be less of a possibility due to the current global economic fubar alas.

From a developer point of view it looks like a mildly interesting platform. It's Java based (rather than J2ME) which is nice. However the downside of that is the hardware and UI libraries are all Google code. This means essentially you're coding to yet -another- vendor specific platform - about the only code you'll be able to keep common is your business logic. As lightweight as J2ME is, at least it's standards based.

The G1 as a device doesn't grab me at all though with that fugly Sidekick-like design. Hopefully future Android devices will be sexier...

Glad you like them. I'm looking forward finishing the entire army! I think what contributes to the soft effect on the figures is that I prime them white and then base coat them with watered down Games Workshop 'Scorched Brown' and then paint over that.

You can probably see this best on the Numidian Horse figures if you look at the enlargement. In particular look at the legs of the riders (the brown lines are just base coat showing through) and the horse's legs which weren't over-painted, so they're basically the scorched brown base coat.

It gives the figures a much softer finish and lets me do 'brown lining' instead of the much harsher 'black lining' most 15mm painters seem to prefer. If I ever paint winter/Ostfront forces for Flames of War I'd use black lining though because that would be perfect for a harsh, cold winter feel imho!

Yes lots of bending was tried :). Unfortunately I couldn't bend the elephant's ears out any further because they were pinned and patched.

I'll finish the three Elephant crew tonight and probably the Elephant over the weekend. As you well know being a 15mm gamer, it doesn't take much effort at all to finish a 15mm army! DBA is good too since you only need to paint twelve bases of figures...

Hi Tankred, yeah I notice all the blogs I usually hit up are pretty dead these days too and weetoysoldiers.com has actually closed down! I'll post if you will :).

I've been struggling to get any modeling done since earlier this year. I really haven't had the heart to get much done, but these Ancients figures seem to be a pretty good tonic so far. I've since finished a base of Light Horse and hope to have the Elephant and crew finished this weekend. The shrubbery is just some cut down and dried moss I pulled off a tree at the end of our driveway. I originally intended to use it to represent thorny bushes for my North African DAK FOW Panzergrenadiers but haven't got around to painting them, so these guys got it instead. Works ok doesn't it? Think I'll probably scatter a bit around on the bases for this army.

Played (and lost!) three mad games of DBA last night, suspect we got a few of the basic rules wrong but seems like a fun system, certainly very fast to play.

Picked up that copy of HoTT btw so thanks for pointing it out Daniel.

Hah. Nice find Daniel. I just assumed nobody on TradeMe would be selling a copy. I bid. $20 is a bit more than I'd want to pay for a second hand copy of a decade old ruleset, but what the heck.

Also thanks for that link Brian, I've snagged a copy of the PDF and will have a look at it.

Hi DarkWing, thanks for that link, it does look promising.

Imho the NZ market is unlikely to even have decent data rate plans for mobile devices given the size of the customer base and the infrastructure here - there's simply not enough competition, and the market is too small for the Telcos to warrant taking the hit.

What are the options for Aussie iPhone 3G users btw? That would be an interesting comparision...

Shaping up nicely I think Ben, here's yet another random tip - if you want to turn those cut polystyrene 'cliffs' into more natural looking rock faces, find some wood chips and spend some time pressing them into the polystyrene. If you angle the woodchips consistently while pressing you can get a nice sedimentary looking rock face. With a bit of careful painting you could end up with a representation of something like this. Alternately just say hang it all and actually bit your cliff face out of cut down woodchips.

Wonder if there's any way to gauge N gauge demand in NZ (pun intended)? As I've mentioned I've often considered trying to set up as a reseller in NZ for some of the 15mm lines I war game with, but haven't really got a spare couple of thou to sink into setting up a company/web-site/stock/advertising. Have you researched N scale suppliers widely in NZ? Surely somebody is doing it here?

I should also add you might like to try lightly sanding the polystyrene back to smooth out the gradient, do it outdoors with a fine grit paper and a facemask imho. This is where extruded high density polystyrene -really- shines because you can sand it freely, with closed cell expanded polystyrene incautious sanding will break off individual balls giving you a pitted surface. This is just is a minor annoyance that can be rectified with Pollyfilla mind you - it's just bloody messy!

Madness! Seriously Ben, build some kind of simple sprung armature for your ni-chrome, even a bit of U shaped MDF because you can get a lot more leverage that way which makes cutting easier. 3mm MDF also makes for excellent stencils for hot wire cutting as well.

Also if you're looking to cover and level that polystyrene a bit I recommend Selley's Pollyfilla as it adheres very nicely to polystyrene and is easily textured/cleaned up with a wet brush. This is what I used to cover and texture my North African 15mm WWII gaming table with.

DCC sounds great, totally the way to go as I've seen my father in law's antique Hornby Dublos struggle to change circuit loops, and your initial rail yard/spur line set up looks ok but dammit man you need more track!

Also if you've got a Canadian diesel locomotive you're going to have to get good at simulating snow in N scale :)

Well I picked up a copy of 'Watch Your Back' and have to say there's some very interesting planes in there. Generally they're not as tough as those in 'Famous Aces', nor do they do as much damage but there are a few that seem very maneuverable.

Combining the two box sets should be good fun, although I'll have to come up with a system to keep Griff's and my boxes separate!

I'm heading down to King of Cards to pick up the 'Watch Your Back' boxed set today. I noticed they had all three sets there on the shelf yesterday. Might pick up a plane or two as well, goodness knows which once though...?

Just a cheapo AC/DC adapter, I guess AC/AC would work just as well though wouldn't it? The ni-chrome is just high resistance wire after all so it'll heat up either way surely?

Can't say I'd want to use a decent adapter to make a hot wire cutter like this though because it's a bit shady (my adapter tends to warm up a fair amount too).

Hi Distel, interesting comment. I'm curious though, do you play Inquisitor with the 54mm figures from GW, or just converted standard 28mm character figures from Warhammer 40k?

I believe Inquisitor probably died because GW weren't that interested in supporting it if they couldn't generate sales for their expensive 54mm scale figures. To be honest I can't see any reason why you would use the 54mm figures when there are so many superb 28mm character figures in the 40k range now.

Thanks for the kind words everybody and stay tuned as things will get back to normal shortly. Life must go on after all, just rather differently...

Oddly enough I find Dick Smith actually have competitive pricing these days on a lot of electronica.

But yeah I'm only ever a walk-in customer. I only use their online store for comparative pricing.

And yeah caveat emptor and always check the box seals.

Glad I could help! They really do represent good value for money in my opinion. One baggie gives you plenty of heads to swap around.

Hah! I said pretty much the same thing too. Hey perhaps they just can't take honest criticism :).

They did? That's why I generally don't post to those types of forums. Not the first time they've deleted a post of mine I don't think? Who knows - maybe I should have used BF figures.

www.thedeal.co.nz maybe?