On the Workbench - July 2024

Well, the year is half over and I'm well ahead on my objectives, but the decision is which Napoleonic army to start rebasing next? I've decided to tackle the biggest, but the most useful, the French and allied forces, over 1,500 figures. The other main task will be to sort out the 3D printing now (hopefully) I have two. During the summer I will concentrate on printing the figures and vehicles I need, while in the winter on the terrain. Specifically for July I will be working on:

• Rebasing my German Mediterranean Fallschirmjager and adding a few extra heavy weapons - underway
• French Dragoons for Egypt 1800 - currently being based
• Continue working on my 3D printed oddments as I add more
• Continue 3D printer production to produce more Horsa gliders plus some other new STL files I have bought
• Try and get my FDM printer working
• If time permits start working on the French rebasing

Finally I will down in Wiltshire for part of the month visiting family and also attending the Attack show Devizes on 20th July.

Progress against plan 2Q24

An excellent start to the year with 1846 items completed, however about two thirds of those were reworking/rebasing.

Compared to my much looser plan than usual I have done the following:

1. Rework/Rebase as many figures as possible - underway
2. Enhance/Add some new forces to the collection - underway, but I've still not seen anything to tempt me into a new period.
3. Maintain or ideally reduce the stash - ongoing
4. Exploit the 3D Printer - Now in the middle of my second print run, with a higher success rate than earlier in the year when it was colder. I have also bought an FDM printer for terrain, although it is not working yet due to a disc drive malfunction
5. Enjoy Games & Shows - underway with trips to Vapnartak, Hammerhead,the Easter big game and Phalanx.

Amplifying the above:

1. Rework/Rebase as many figures as possible.

• Start on the Napoleonics (this may take a couple of years to do) - I made a start on the British last year - I've completed the British, Portuguese, Brunswick and Spanish plus my figures for skirmish games
• WW2 Winter Russians - Completed
• Early War German Fallschirmjager - Removed the bases, but not quite started on the basing

2. Enhance/Add some new forces to the collection in no particular order

• 15mm DBA Italian wars army (for the forthcoming inter-club tournament) - bought a Hungarian army but it didn't have all the necessary options, so I sucessfully used some borrowed "Florentines" for the games - This project is now shelved and the Hungarians sold off
• 28mm Female Gunfighters - not started yet
• Add a unit of WW2 Japanese SNLF - completed
• Extra units for the Crusades - completed
• French Dragoons for Egypt 1800 - underway
• Modify the SYW Austrian Grenz to use for Prussian Frei Korps - not started yet
• Some extra Aztecs for skirmish games - not started yet, but I have trialed a couple of 3D printed figures
• Various figures and terrain need for Montgisard 1177 - completed and sucessfully ran the game at both Vapnartak and Phalanx
• WW2 BEF infantry (I plan to 3D print the extra needed figures, etc.) - I decided that the pint files were not good enough so the project has been shelved.

3. Continue to clear out all unwanted items, including painted figures

• Re-assess each existing period, army, and units to consider if I am really going to use them - not started yet
• Reduce the stash (figure and plastic bits box) from 4 crates to 3 - underway
• review my 1/300 collection and decide its fate - not started yet

4. 3D Printing - the bulk of my immediate needs have been printed so I will work on

• gradually replace existing diecast and other poor quality AFVs in my collection - not started yet
• components for houses and other terrain - not started yet - I am planning to use the FDM printer for this
• work on how to make/modify files to meet my specific needs - underway, I've enhanced my 1/80 Waco and I've created a similar bath-tubbed Horsa glider that has printed OK

5. Gaming

• Continue supporting the Beacon Club and attending as many weekend events as possible - underway only one weekend missed so far due to other commitments
• Attend at least as many shows as last year - The list of shows are Vapnartak, Hammerhead, an Easter big game and Phalanx.