So happy to share good news – our first granddaughter, arrived early on December 17th! She arrived weighing 9 lbs. and 10 ounces, and 21 ½” long!
She and her Mom and Dad (Ellen and Chris) are now home and doing well! Merry Christmas!
Thought I’d share some pictures:
I have been casting miniatures with pewter for a while now, and I usually use a spoon to remove any impurities, slag, and ash that are floating on top of my crucible before I pour anything into the molds. Up to now, this material was useless to me. As I am now working on creating retro sci-fi units for Combat Patrol™ games, I came up with the idea of repurposing this material for needed terrain – like old lava flow mounds or industrial slag.
To finish up for October, I created four CD-mounted slag/lava mounds using three regular size CD’s and a smaller one. I used five slag piles, gluing each to the CD with wood glue and letting them sit overnight. I also applied a coat of wood glue to the surfaces of the CD’s for better paint and flocking adhesion down the line.
I then primed the group with Krylon “Ultra-Flat Black” matte spray paint. I took Reaper Master Series Paints “Grey Liner” and coated the slag and the CD’s. After this, I applied a coat of Citadel “Nuln Oil”. To bring out the highlights, I used Americana “Zinc” to dry brush the pieces.
I then let the pieces dry. Then, I used white glue to affix two types of flocking from Army Painter – “Ash Grey” and “Battlefield Black” in a random pattern. I applied two coats of Testors “Dull Coat”, allowing for adequate drying in between each.
I am pretty pleased with the results. It was not a difficult process at all. Of course, I will need to acquire a dark cloth for covering my tabletop battlefield with these. I thought about adding some grasses or tuft, but in the end went for a more wasteland look – devoid of life. I look forward to having figures use them as cover in a Combat Patrol™ game!
Buck A squad of “Space Roomans” See Ma’k Morin’s blog post about Roomans here. Yesterday I painted 13 that Ma’k converted to “space Roomans” by combining parts of a Ral Partha Rooman with the body of a Reaper science fiction figure. I think the conversion was quite effective. One fire team of “Space Roomans” I […]
Buck Or is that Roo-men? Sometime in ancient history, Ral Partha made a single pack of figures, called Rooman War Party, which had Roomans in two poses, but all armed with pikes or spears. They are no longer available. Over the years, I collected dozens of the originals, but they have become quite rare, even […]
Happy Independence Day!
Lynn and I celebrated with a round of 9 holes at Bay Path Golf Course in East Brookfield, MA today. We had picked her up a nice starter set of Top-Flite Women’s clubs on Sunday at Dick’s Sporting Goods in Worcester. We hit the range, and she tried them out. She also got a “fancy” orange towel, some purple Pinnacles, and a couple of gloves.
Today, after all the other golfers were done, we played her first round with her new clubs. She did try golf at the couples league on Friday night by borrowing some clubs from Justyne Smith – but this was just her and I. I am so grateful that she is giving this a tentative “go” so far.
I did want to take a picture there at the course, but I worried she’d get upset. Golf is not easy on the beginner (or the veteran player for that matter). She was a GREAT sport, and did her best. We will be back out sometimes, but I don’t think that 18 holes in in the cards anytime soon for her. Still, I truly enjoyed spending the time playing with her on her first day with the new clubs. I love my wife!!!
Here she is afterwards barbecuing some delicious chicken breasts!
On June 16th, I had the high honor and distinct privilege of attending my wife Lynn’s graduation ceremony from Salter College’s Culinary program. Even though she completed all her requirements back in December, there had been no ceremony for her class until this month. What a great night!
The ceremony took place at Worcester Vocational High School as Salter College did not have adequately-sized facilities for such a large crowd. I got there early and grabbed a front row seat, only to be bounced to the second row by staff. I still had a good seats and Ellen joined me unbeknownst to Lynn. So when “Pomp and Circumstance” played, and she walked down with her class, Lynn was pleasantly surprised to see Ellen and I together at her ceremony. Ellen brought a beautiful bouquet of flowers for Lynn, which she loved.
I was thrilled beyond belief to see her walk on the stage, and hear “Geralyn Morin, High Honors, Student Ambassador”. As she walked across the stage, the chef professors she had all got up from the faculty seating on stage and high-fived her! I do not exaggerate when I say that I shed a few tears of joy and pride at this moment. I am so proud of Lynn, for her courage, and her tenacity. Without any doubt, this was a great moment for her, and I saw so much personal growth from her in the last year and a half – it was AMAZING!
We had a long wait to reunite afterwards because of the crowd, but we successfully got together and went to Kyoto’s in Worcester where Chris Smedile joined us for a celebratory meal at the teppanyaki cooking table!
WELL DONE LYNN!!!!!! LOVE YA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Buck A few months ago, I saw a post on one of the on-line blogs in which the author had taken a dollar store armored vehicle, applied a few bits, and made it a science fiction armored vehicle. The genius is that many of the armored vehicles that came in packs of plastic army men […]
Buck Five Archive Miniatures Star Ducks Late last night before packing for a family vacation, I finished 36 of these Archive Miniatures Star Ducks. Star Ducks with Wargames Supply Dump weapons For a few of the ducks whose weapons were not well cast, I ordered some retro science fiction weapons from the Dirk Garrison line […]
Congrats to Ellen and to Chris on their romantic engagement on Sunday – see the blog post by Ellen below to hear how Chris did an outstanding job!!
Chris called me Saturday to ask for my blessing the beforehand and I was so happy to give it! I was on the 4th hole at Bay Path when the call came in. At first, I was worried that there had been an emergency, but soon I could tell it was an important call. Chris was trying to keep his voice down and Ellen from hearing – but I got to hear all the important parts. WOW!
I was so happy to hear and Lynn and I are so happy for both of them. They are both so special to us and loved by us!
They came over Sunday on their return to show off the ring and we celebrated – including Caesar!
This weekend, Chris and I went out to Provincetown for a convention called Nauticon. It’s a 21+ convention full of all things nerd and geek and awesome (and alcoholic). We went to the first one back in 2012 and were excited to have the chance to go again. It’s held at the historic Provincetown Inn, […]
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