Sunday 12 April 2015

A Petulant Pendragon

Hello Gentle Readers,

I am a calm man. A placid and reflective type. I seldom get angry. It takes an awful lot to get my gander up, but once it has risen I turn into the Incredible Hulk. No - really.
Isn't it odd that sometimes it's the tiny, seemingly unimportant things that tip us over the edge?

If I may illustrate my point: I am dabbling in the X-Wing Miniatures game (again) which is a lovely little game once you've got the rules down pat. It occurred to me that some of those nifty card sleeves would greatly extend the life of the cards used in the game, so I ordered a pack from ebay - 44 x 68mm - perfect!

This is what arrived:


Clearly marked 69 x 69mm. Sigh. Never mind thinks I, it's a simple error on someone's part - and I have set in motion a volley of emails that may result in me getting what I actually ordered - we shall see. So I put X-Wing to one side and decided to put together my final Bolt Action plastic kit from Warlord, namely the M3A1 Half-Track.



I know - it's not a very inspiring box photo is it? Winter camouflage wearing off to reveal the original olive drab. Has it broken down?  It just doesn't look very.....martial. Now, I don't know if the incident with the card sleeves had wound me up more than I realised, or the less-than-exciting box art was affecting me, but I suspect I approached this build with insufficient enthusiasm for the subject, and I was actively looking for a fight. I got one. The bloody thing fought me from the start.....


Yes I have built a few kits in my time, and this looks deceptively easy. It wasn't. The parts aren't numbered for starters. OK, I can get round that, I thought. But... which bit is supposed line up with which? There are no locating pegs or grooves. If I glue this bit in place and it turns out to be misaligned then I'll have to pull it apart again. One dry run of the first few bits led to another dry run. I started glueing. The next parts - the side panels - were crucial as the rear panel wouldn't fit if they were out of place.....


So - the Hulk took over and the bits were slung back in the box and the box slung back in the Shed of Delights. Looking back my mood was wrong and it was never going to get built! I am calmer now. I am knocking up some asteroids for X-Wing. I have some lovely plastic stands and some grey lava rock. Things are progressing smoothly. I am in a placid, calm and reflective mood.



But you never know when...



Until next time..........




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