Friday 8 November 2019

Operational!

The Operations Room is now up and running and all the major work has been completed after months of preparation. It's taken a lot longer than I had hoped because I have been waiting for some furniture to arrive, but now all is in place and I can start using the room for painting, gaming and of course updating my blog. Nothing is ever fully 'finished' though, and I suspect we wargames know this more than anyone else. Let's just call it a work in progress! 

I now have lots of storage for modelling materials and finished projects. My games table is only modest in size but is more than adequate for 6mm wargaming and small skirmish games. The Padawan and I are already looking forward to more games here, away from the distractions of the family room downstairs (TV mostly)




This picture has already been seen when I posted my first Batrep from the room earlier this week. Overlooking the table is my picture wall with various items of artwork to inspire me. I have Alexander and Hanibal looking down on me... I desperately need some of their genius to rub off! There is still a lot of bare wall around the room so no doubt I'll add to this collection over the coming months and years. I'm planning on making an extra top for the table to make it a little bit bigger but that's a project for later... I've tested my wife patience enough for the time being! 




My painting desk is in position and I have treated myself to a new hobby lamp. There are now three of these puppies illuminating my desk with a combined 1350 lumens so goodby to shadows and hello to the centre of the sun! Oh, and I put a 1500 lumen daylight bulb in the ceiling as well so you definitely need sunglasses when entering my room! My trusty metal storage unit has been brought up but I'll be transferring my finished miniatures from here to my new units over the next few weeks. I may sand this old unit down and repaint it mat black to match my new ones but again that's not a priority job so I'll probably tackle that next year. 

On and above the desk are all my uniform guides, Ospreys and most of my reference books. Not everything has made it into my room, however. I still have a small computer desk downstairs and some of my book collection - items I don't need as reference books - are being kept there simply because there isn't space for everything upstairs. The top shelf has more of the larger reference books and a modest collection of board games...and a big ass Dragon I bought over 20 years ago when I still had a disposable income! 

In the corner is the first of two storage units for art materials. All my painting and modelling materials are now in one place and I suddenly realised I don't need to buy any more varnish (probably for the next ten years!). I've been a little amazed at how much 'stuff' I actually have now that its all in one place. I plan on doing a full 'stock check' over the next few days so I can make a proper shopping list for my trip to the Warfare Show in reading next week. 




Three new metal storage units arrived yesterday and I'm unreasonably happy with them. I now have enough quality storage to keep me happy for many years to come. My miniatures will reside in style from now on! The books in the unit on top are mostly various wargame rule books, painting manuals and my collection of roleplaying games including all my old DandD books. 

In the corner of the room, I have yet more storage for art materials (some of this is the Padawan's) and boxes containing my wargame terrain. I may have to find another way to store this as I don't have a lot of spare space to grow my collection! It's not a very big room (just 7'5" x 8'5") so I'm having to be a bit creative with my storage options. It doesn't help that the outside wall is very cold and gets damp easily so I don't want to store anything against it that might be damaged by water. I've installed some portable dehumidifiers and hopefully between these and better ventilation and heating in the room, this will keep the dreaded black mold away. These old, pre-war council houses are bigger than the little rabbit hutches being built today but they aren't exactly up to modern building standards! 

Now I need to get cracking on preparation for this year's Painting Challenge. I have a rather large pile of lead (considering its mostly 6mm) that needs to be cleaned, sorted into bases, mounted and undercoated before the fun kicks off at the end of December. I'd better get cracking because the next few weeks will no doubt speed past. 

5 comments:

  1. That's not a bad games room old chap and hopefully one day I'll have something similar.

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    1. Thanks Steve. Its only taken the best part of three decades to happen!

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  2. Looking good ol boy, looking good!

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  3. So, so jealous, but well deserved Lee. A space you can call your own.

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  4. Fantastic use of space Lee - love the file cabinet. Looking forward to seeing you during this years challenge!

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