Brickvention 2011 and The Warrnambool Model Train Show 2011

Wow, after the last couple of weeks I'm going to have to have a rest from nerd activities. First there was the Warrnambool Model Train Show then the boys and I went down to sunny Melbourne for Brickvention.

Brickvention is a Lego convention that has been run in Melbourne for a number of years by volunteers and had also been advertised in the latest Lego Club magazine with the footnote being that the first 50 Lego Club members through the door would receive something special. We've been planning on going for the last couple of years but never made it because of other commitments. We made the effort to get there at 9:30 thinking that would be early enough but didn't make it there early enough to even get in the first two hundred!

By the time we got to the front door (about 45 minutes from Russell street) the line ran right around the city block and started at the front door.

Providing some much needed entertainment in the line and rattling their cups for charity were the guys and girls from the Terror Australis Garrison dressed up as various Jedi, Stormtroopers and assorted Rebel scum.

 

 Anyway we made it in after the boys were very patient to find the Melbourne Town Hall jam packed full of Lego fans big and small. Lots of displays some of a mind boggling size, a few stalls selling various Lego bits which it was really hard to get too in places and some very entertaining setups including Star Wars, Trains, Pirates/ Vikings/ Island. I managed to grab some Lego City Train minifigs, B1 got the Harry Potter Bellatrix Lestrange figure and i finished a series 2 collection for one of the ladies i work with.

Some of the Lego 12 volt trains were really rocking along

I'm not sure why B2's finger kept moving towards the Lego.

Lots of details i didn't spot on the day like the crows on the power pole in the bottom right of picture.

More rain...

Even the frogs think its wet, this little fella was hanging on our front door last night. Possibly Litoria ewingi the Southern Brown Tree Frog. We have this dark brown version and a pale one with green stripes living in our yard.

Coat d'arms World War II German paint set

I'm doing some 20mm WWII German figures up for TMP and i thought this might be a good chance to try out some new colours in a range of paints that I've been buying occasionally from Maelstrom in the UK. So they've turned up but now i have to work out what each colour is designed for as the descriptions are vague and they don't seem to match other colours even using silicon dragons excellent color match software. Black Hat miniatures in the UK are the distributor? for this paint range and they have a pdf download which gives some idea but doesn't seem to cover all the colours in the pack.

Colours in the set are numbered below with the suggestions from the Black Hat pdf:

• 102 black - boots
• 227 field grey - ?
• 503 military green - zeltbahn base colour
• 505 green grey - helmet
• 515 black green - gas mask case
• 516 iron grey - early war trousers
• 518 field blue - ?
• 521 army green -  gas mask cape (this is a bit strange as I've yet to see a figure with a cape being worn)
• 525 uniform grey - early war tunic, late war tunic and pants
• 533 slate grey - ammo pouches

Also needed would be a flesh, 509 (brick red) & 514 (pale green) for the stripes and pattern on the zeltbahn, brown for late war boots and water bottle cover, green and white for early war shoulder patches and insignia.

Colour chart from Black Hat Miniatures website

 Olympian Games in Canberra sell these paints although they don't list this set on their website and have a good jpg of the WW2 range shot through the bottom of the bottles.

Cardinal Hawkwood has kindly put in his opinion and taking that and what my own guesses are the revised table might look something like this:

• 102 black - early war boots, ammo pouches
• 227 field grey - tunics
• 503 military green - summer uniform
• 505 green grey - early war trousers and tunic
• 515 black green - bare helmet & gas mask case
• 516 iron grey - early war trousers
• 518 field blue - luftwaffe field division uniform
• 521 army green -  mess tin, gas mask cape (usually seen rolled on the outside of the gas mask case), summer uniform
• 525 uniform grey - early war tunic, late war tunic and pants
• 533 slate grey - tunics

Black library reading over the holidays

I've been doing a lot of reading over our Christmas holidays. Not least because I happened to find a cache of Black Library books which had just come into our Warnambool public library. These include four books from Sandy Mitchell ( Alex Stewart) who is the author of the Dark Heresy series and the Ciaphus Cain series as well. I'm liking his writing style.

Currently I'm plowing through the Ciaphus Cain omnibus. These omnibus books are great value with three novels and a couple of extra short stories thrown in.

During a trip down to Geelong I happened to walk into an Angus & Robertson bookstore and was very surprised to find a pile of current release Black Library books on deeep discount. Standard novels for $5 AUD and the omnibus editions for $10 AUD. Two bags of books later I was a very happy shopper.