My Date with a Big Cat

Regular readers will know I'm a bit of a treadhead and am a big fan of the Tank Museum at Bovington in Dorset. I've been there several times and was planning on going to Tankfest in June next year. The main reason I wanted to go was the hope that I would get a chance to see the newly refurbished Tiger I tank moving under its own power.

I've had several opportunities to see this unique vehicle up close and personal but I have never yet seen it moving. Well the refurbishment is complete and the Tank Museum have scheduled a display event in March next year themed around the Tiger. Tiger Day will be on Saturday 31st March 2012 and visitors will get to see the Tiger and several other vehicles strutting their stuff in the arena around midday. However the tank Museum are also offering 100 premium tickets for an extra special experience and as its my birthday just two weeks later my lovely wife has ordered a ticket for me.

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Tiger Day - Premium Ticket Holder Itinery
Breakfast with an introduction to Tiger Day from Museum Curator, David Willey.
Lecture: Saving The Tiger with Curator David Willey, Workshop Manager Mike Hayton and members of the restoration team.
Up Close with the Panzers a guided tour with the museums in-house experts. This is a chance to get even closer to the Tiger, Panzer III, Panzer IV and Panther.
Lunch with members of the restoration team.
Tiger Tank In Action The highlight of the day. Tiger 131 will make its return into the arena along with its Axis and Allied contemporaries; including Matilda II, Panzer III, T-34 and Sherman. Premium Ticket holders get to view the display in a reserved enclosure in the spectators area.
Lecture: Hitler’s Pet - Development and Capture of Tiger 131 Tank Museum Historian David Fletcher, Assistant Librarian Stuart Wheeler and Curator David Willey, will discuss the development of the Tiger tank, examining the capture and evaluation of Tiger 131.
Afternoon Tea: A final opportunity to meet and put questions to David Willey, David Fletcher and Mike Hayton, the authors of Tiger Tank, Owners Workshop Manual, published by Haynes.
Plus: All participants will be given a special Tiger Day goody bag which will include; a signed copy of the Haynes Tiger Manual, A Tiger Tank Model, A Tiger Tank T-Shirt, and a 1 year pass to The Tank Museum.

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Frankly the Premium Tickets are an absolute bargain and I just hope we bought early enough to snap up one of the 100 available. My Brother-in-Law, Ray, will also be coming along so we can nerd-out to our hearts content at one of our favourite museums. To say I'm excited at the prospect is a massive understatement.

15mm Shoulder Patch Decals

I had a little envelope in the post today marked as having been sent from Utah in the USA. This raised a few eyebrows at home as nobody could figure out why I was receiving a letter from someone in Utah. Firstly, why shouldn't someone in America write to me (I don't bite) and secondly, it wasn't a letter in the envelope, it was some very very small decals.

These are the US 101st Airborne Shoulder Patches (code MGS-D18(15MM)) made by Mustang Games. I first heard about these on the Model Dads Blog (readers also get a 25% discount!) and so when I bought a box of US paratroopers I knew immediately that these decals were an essential purchase.

I'll be honest though, the prospect of fitting these tiny decals onto the shoulders of over a hundred 15mm figures is daunting. I'm a long way from reaching this stage but when I get there I expect this part of the project will take a very long time. Having said that the decals look excellent and I'm sure they will make all the difference to the finished platoon.

Mind you, when I showed my wife what I had bought she looked at me in a whole new way. You know the look; it's the one that says "you're certifiably insane" without the need for words. I suspect that by the time I've applied these decals to my models I may agree with her.

Underground, overground, wandering free

Its been a busy weekend one way or another, but with little to show for it on the painting front. We had a big family bonfire party on Saturday which required a lot of preparation and an equal amount of work on Sunday clearing up. By the time we had finished I was just too tired to contemplate painting so I watched some Star Trek on TV and read my book instead.

The weekend wasn't an entire write-off though as on Friday evening the Dagenham Dungeon Delvers gathered for the second game in a row (not sure how we managed that!) to fight our way northwards through the Forest of Valric. Our D&D 4E campaign is progressing slowly but we are nearing our goal.

Fridays game was interesting in that it consisted almost entirely of a Skill Challenge with combat encounters and Healing Surge reductions as penalties for failed skill tests. The combat encounters featured us clumsily blundering into Gnoll Patrols, although thankfully these were not as large as the group we encountered and battled in the last game. We've not had many skill challenges in this campaign - most of us struggle a little with the concept - but the Evil GM is clearly becoming more adept as this was a good game and an enjoyable encounter to play through.

I keep the group Campaign Journal and record the XP gained, creatures battled, treasure won etc.. According to my notes we are now just 900 points away from reaching 9th level. And its only taken us two years!!

FoW Kit Bag

A few weeks ago I finally reached the point where my painted Flames of War figures exceeded the storage space available. I did actually have a couple of alternative storage bags (a GW Case and a Charon Skirmishpack) but the foam inserts were designed for 28mm single figures not for Tanks or Artillery bases. So I sold the two bags I had at SELWG on the Bring and Buy with the intention to buy a suitable alternative for my growing Flames of War forces. What I bought was the Flames of War Army Kit Bag (Prod BAG01).

The bag arrived yesterday and by the end of the evening my models had been transferred to their new home. Now that I have had a chance to look the bag over in detail I thought I'd write down my initial thoughts on this product. I know I'm a bit late posting a review of a product that came out two years ago but I was so pleased with it I had to share my enthusiasm.

The bag material looks and feels tough. Some bags I have seen on sales seem rather flimsy but the outer material of this bag is much sturdier and looks like it will wear very well. All the seams are triple stitched and reinforced and the buckles and strap clips are made of metal not plastic.

The walls of the bag are reinforced, quite rigid and when zipped up the whole bag seems very robust. Other cloth bags I have used over the years have had far too much flexibility in them resulting in figure trays flexing and models dropping out of their foam slots. Another feature which will help prevent this problem is the fact that the trays are stored horizontally even when carrying the bag. 

Inside the bag there are six trays each with a different configuration allowing for a selection of different sized bases and vehicles. The foam trays themselves are probably the best I have ever used. They have a high density foam base with the softer more flexible foam inserts glued on top. Other manufacturers I have encountered typically use the same low density foam throughout each layer (whether the inserts are cut from a single sheet or glued onto a base). This means they sag and bend with even a small amount of weight in them. That's fine while they are stacked in a bag or box but murder when you have to lift out trays to get to the models. The trays in the FOW bag are much more rigid and even when filled with tanks the trays hold their shape and are much easier to lift out and move around. This for me is a major benefit over any other bag I have used.

My current forces slipped in nicely and there is still plenty of room for the units I plan on buying in the near future. It is possible to get custom trays made by Battlefoam the manufacturers of this bag. Their custom tray creator allows you to select and position any combination of inserts into a standard tray for about £13.50 each.

Its rare to buy a product and be 100% satisfied with it these days but the Flames of War Kit Bag does hit the spot for me.