A good read and a good place to eat...

Had this book lying around at home for some time and I finally got round to reading it recently.It has turned out to be a fascinating read and one I would recommend highly to others. Whilst recommending let me mention a lovely cafe/deli we discovered in Aberdour yesterday afternoon when out walking there. Great Coffee,baking and a superb menu for a lunch .Do give it a whirl and say the Duchy of Tradgardland told you...

 Mctaggarts is relatively new ,being opened I think in March.I wish them well with the business.

A question of scales...40mm/42mmm

I took this photo today of 40/42mm figures I have in the house.Left to right they are- the Danish figure from my previous post,a pre-painted viking from a Singapore company,an Irregular miniature,42mm and an Elastolin 40mm turk from my youth.
The Danish figure towers over the rest followed closely by the Singapore one.The Irregular chap is very slight even compared to the Elastolin one. I will have to think about just what figures I can get to work together...

I think the future (or part of it at least) is (or will be) 40mm

I have been a tad  quiet these last few days due to coming down with another  bladder infection. The antibiotics have "kicked in" and I feel a little better. I decided to finally get round to painting a 40mm figure I got in Oct 1991 when on a short minibreak to Copenhagen with Jan.

I got it in Model figures and Hobbies I think in Copenhagen along with a large format uniform book .I had visited the Tojhusmuseet and was beginning my love affair with things Scandinavian which has never left me.The figure has never been painted in all these years-

 I decided it was high time to paint him.I hummed and hawed about doing him as an 1864 Dane in one of the three heads you see depicted.In the end ,due to his being such an old friend,I decided to paint him up as the Duke of Tradgardland in suitably Danish inspired uniform but with a Duchy of Tradgardland tweak..

I have sent off for a 12man unit and a sample hussar (all Danes) in 42mm  from Irregular and hope they arrive soon.Table Top FLW is going to be the way forward hopefully.

Out and about

Having decided that it is best that we do not go away over night this summer due to my wee health issue we have made this a week to go some places as a family. On Sunday we went to see the gardens of Crail which were open as part of a Open Gardens charity scheme-

We saw a variety of beautiful gardens ,all different, which gave us great pleasure as well as ideas for our own garden. Crail is also a lovely village just to wander around.A picnic was taken and enjoyed by all of us.

On Monday we went to Culross to see the garden of a 17th century merchant as well as having a wander about generally.

The garden is laid out in early 17th century style with the plants of the period too.All is gardened organically.In the picture above you can see the splendid buildings too.

Although not pictured in this photo I was delighted  to see that one  of my favorite plants Alexanders was being grown. I have it in my garden and it is a  superb architectural plant up to 6ft tall and can be eaten. The plants I grown are direct descendants of  plants grown in the medieval herb garden at Craigmillar castle. It is beginning to set seed and if any UK bloggers fancy some let me know...

On Tuesday we went to St Andrews and enjoyed the beautiful town by the sea.

Some of the family outside Northpoint cafe ( a great place to have lunch and well worth visiting for lovely food and coffee) where William and Kate went for coffee in their Uni days. The cafe celebrated the good news of the royal birth by putting the "Boy" balloon in the window. A walk along the beach and a look at a few shops completed and lovely day.

Today ,Wednesday we had a walk around part of Loch Leven and a lovely coffee overlooking the the loch at the Laird's Larder.Great scones too btw.

Some work completed on my Interwar Norwegians who are moving along well too.

On the paint table and a confession...and great national news

Until yesterday I had never used Milliput.I have read about the conversions of others and seen a variety of putties on a variety of blogs. So as part of my Sweden v Norway interwar skirmish project I ave started converting some figures-

I have been converting some figures to be members of the Norwegian army. I added Brodie helmets to some interwar Swedish bodies and have added bergen rucksacks on to them with Milliput. For the  dismounted cavalry I have used Polish figures in long coats and swopped the Adrian Helmets for Brodie ones  from Gripping Beast/Woodbine.A work in progress...
Finally I must join in the world wide joy at the birth of the young Prince-
God save the Prince!

Mythical Earth Collection

This morning I laid out my painted and unpainted M.E figures on the table to see how the project was progressing- you can click on the pictures to enlarge them if you wish-

The Good and Evil forces mustered...

The Good guys including Ents and  Huorns  with a barrow wight at the top of screen...

Orcs, Dunlendings ,goblins and Uruk Hai on the march.

Various trolls ,Ringwraiths and wargs too.
So here we are,things moving along nicely.Room for a few more nostalgia laden recruits I think...

On top of the mountain and a question...

Yesterday (Saturday)I finished sorting the lead Mountain in the garden room/yurt/shed.I was delighted even if I didn't find the Mythical Earth Elven King I was hoping to find. I am considering giving some of the Lead to a Charity shop ( we have used Cancer Research a lot over the years to donate to) but wondered if they would "appreciate" in terms of understanding what the figures were worth/used for. I don't mean to be patronising but I am just unsure.Any thoughts chaps?