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.

Goliath stick insect comes to visit for the holidays

Charlie the Goliath Stick Insect has come to visit from B2's kindergarten for the holidays. She doesn't do much just eats eucalyptus leaves and drops big rat sized poo.  

Pretty cool colouration when you get up close.

I mentioned that Charlie had come to visit to big dan and he drew me a picture of a bug egg. So when i was cleaning out the tank I had a look and sure enough there they were. 13 eggs from a week or two. big dan has them in the incubator at the pet shop so we'll see whether we get teeny stick insects in a little while. 

On the workbench this week...

Paper shipping containers, wrapped over some packing foam I had squirreled away they will make excellent 28mm scenery.

Sometimes I get distracted. I drew the plan for this shelf unit at least two months ago but only managed to get the shed cleared of projects to get it done now. All recycled chipboard from a motel that was stripping out kitchens and a clothes shop that was being refitted, screws are from pallets that i've broken down. The only waste from the boards was the small pile of offcuts and the pile of sawdust in the foreground. It's designed to go into my FLGS with a Games Workshop paint rack fitting into the centre, GW cases in the bottom and brushes on the top. I've done some more work since the photo was taken and it needs at this point one more piece of trim (i'll have to buy that :() and a coat of paint. B2 is measuring it up.

On the painting table. Necrons, Orks and another squad of Imperial Guardsmen. Task for tonight was drybrushing metal and ground colour for the bases. This is a night time shot with the daylight fluorescent lamp and overhead Halogens. During the day I paint out in our enclosed veranda. I use the bread board out of looong established habit. I can still remember mum saying I could borrow it to cut on as long as it came back to the kitchen.

I finally have my airbrush set up and working at a reasonable pressure and this has resulted in lots of primed figures getting done en mass.

Hasslefree Parcel arrives

Well after dithering for years, and missing the good exchange rate, I've finally got around to ordering from Hasslefree a small UK miniature manufacturer. Prompted by a recent resin Fenris addition to the lines they carry I ordered it and a small handful of goodies. The particular box shaped object which you can see in the photo will be painted for SWMBO's desk at work. I won't say anything else in case she happens to surf in before the date of her birthday.

Anyway everything arrived in good shape, well packed and with a lolly!



And a new hat modelled by b2.

Tara's Killer Chocolate Cookies

Let's try something else. A little baking, ably assisted by b2. This recipe was originally published in an article on ex model Tara Moss in an Australian magazine called Australian Taste in 2002.

1. Wash hands, make sure you have a clear and clean workspace, assemble ingredients, light oven (ours is gas) and allow to preheat to about 180 c. Importantly butter and egg should be at room temperature. Grease and line your trays as preferred.

2. Weigh out sugars, making sure the brown sugar is smooth with no little hard water affected lumps. Cut your butter into cubes then add to sugars. Mix together with electric beaters, don't be shy let it have it.

Keep going until the mixture is light and fluffy and the sugar "melts", you should almost not be able to feel it between your fingers when you rub them together. This photo shows at about the half way stage.

3. Add egg and vanilla. Beat together.

4. At this point you are ready to add the dry ingredients.

NB While the recipe calls for self raising flour in our house we make our own by adding baking powder. The habit developed a long time ago after walking into unfamiliar commercial kitchens where I couldn't be sure just what was in the flour bins. People have a habit of mislabelling things and when you are using kilos of flour at a time the results can be interesting. About two teaspoons to 200 gm flour gives a reasonable result.

Sift the flour and salt together then add the choc bits and sultanas. Mix into butter with a spoon.

Sorry, forgot a step...lick beaters

As you mix the ingredients be mindful of not crushing the mixture, you want to keep as much air in the mixture as possible. Towards the end as it amalgamates scrape the sides down. When there are no floury pockets present you're there.

5. Pull a piece of dough from the bowl. For what I was after about the size of a large marble (or die 20 for the gamers out there). Flatten it slightly then roll between the palms of your hand until it the ball has no large cracks. Pop it onto your tray staggering the biscuits so they don't touch when they expand during cooking.

Put the trays in the oven, it should make about 38 biscuits. time will be about 15 minutes.

The oven we have is a rotisserie oven which has a lot of bottom heat and no fan so things tend to burn on the bottom before they are cooked inside. So the biscuits get flipped over for a couple of minutes towards the end of cooking to give them that little extra.

Refurbished mtb

Well, we finally got the new mtb running after a few years hanging in the garage. I had been riding a bitzer singlespeed with b2 on the back but it had always been the plan to get this bike running.

My normal mtb is a 40 cm frame which is a little big while this one is a 35 cm which is a little small.

Wheels came from my first real mtb which were built by Hendry Cycles, frame came from Full Cycle in Albury, seat and seat post, shifters, brakes and handlebars came from the original reason for the bike which was a friends mtb partially destroyed in a theft attempt and the beast was put together by my brother who works at Ivanhoe Cycles in Melbourne. The final part was an eight speed cluster and chain provided by Gary at Oppy's Cycles and Spares in Warrnambool.

The bike will eventually need an eight speed shifter pod as the current one is a seven speed and the gears skip a little in spots. For the amount i paid for the frame its come up reasonably the only drawback being the fixed rather than replaceable derailleur hanger.

B2 sitting pretty at a recent community ride in Warrnambool.

B2 ready