Victor Nelson's

There are two toy shops in Oamaru which dominated my life when I was a kid. In the days when I collected 1/32 Airfix both of these shops stocked them. This was way back in the 1970 when one box cost a princely sum of $3.15. That sort of cash was far out of my league in those days so I had to wait for birthdays or Christmas before I could hope to get a box. It didn't stop me looking though. I can remember that every time we needed to head up to Oamaru (usually for Christmas provisions because we had a crib (bach for you NIers) in Hampden) I had to make a visit to both shops just to stare at the bounty which was out of my economic reach. Victor Nelson's especially used to have about 2 stacks of Airfic boxes behind the counter so that children without the cash had to stare and drool without being allowed to contact the boxes with their grubby hands.

Just this week I was back in Oamaru again, picking up Christmas provisions for my family and on a whim I ducked in to Victor Nelson's again.  It was like stepping back in time.  Bikes lined the aisles and there was a smell of new bike tyres and oil. Toys of all shapes and sizes lines the walls and off to the side was a sizable collection of  ----- model soldiers! I wandered over and found that they had obviously not been top sellers.  The sunlight had faded the front of them and the declining prices that they had been offered for sale dotted the boxes.  They had initially ranged from $50 for the 1/32 boxes and $17 for the 1//72 (unfortunately they were Italieri not Airfix!!!) Now they were all $5. I wondered what the 6 year old me would have thought if he had walked in to the shop and seen such a treasure.  Of course even at that price I would not have been able to buy any of them. Well, in memory of the little version of myself I bought his entire stock. I now have a piece of Victor Nelson's sitting up in Hampden at the crib probably never to be opened but stacked up just as they were when I was a poppet. I guess a lot of my motivation in life comes from actual and percieved deficits I had as a child but no matter what Freud would have said for me this was a victory at Christmas.

Arrival of the Del Prado Collection

Waiting for me at home when I got back from the office was my Christmas present! The courier company had performed wonders and had got my massive and gravitationally challenged box all the way from Whangarei (across the straight even with the Aratere out from the loss of a propeller!!) and down to Dunedin in the space of a day.

I do give myself a little credit for being a bit of a bargain spotter when it comes to auctions and I certainly wasn't disappointed by my latest purchase. The Del Prado Napoleon at War collection was 99.99% mint with only one figure missing part of a sabre.  Apparently, it had belonged to a Napoleonic enthusiast in Britain who had died and bequeathed it to the seller who was not such an enthusiast but had paid for it to be shipped to NZ. It had languished in this chap's house for years until his wife gave the order for it to be sold. Luckily for me he listed it on Trademe under a category which probably wouldn't have attracted the most views so I ended up being the only bidder.

So here I am with a lighter wallet yet a very heavy box full of figures and books. I thought I would photograph all of the figures but it seems someone has already done the job for me. Also in the box there were a few figures from the Napoleonic Cavalry range (something that I had not expected) I will now be on the lookout for this collection as well - although it is 120 figures and nearly double the price of the non-mounted range. I can wait for these. Half the fun of fishing is the wait!

Del Prado Napoleonic Figures

Well since I haven't been blogging for a while I thought I should announce that I am due to get a few Del Prado figures of the Napoleon at War series (Actually I bought the whole Series). When they arrive in a few weeks I'll blog about them. I think there are about 100 books coming with the series as well. I think these are based on the Osprey Men at Arms series so I should be able to give some comparisons as well..

Prussian Hussars and Fathers Day

I don't have a Napoleonic Prussian army at the moment and I have no plans at the moment to paint one. However after a hiatus of about 5 months I decided to open my paint tins and have a go at a set of late war Prussian hussars. Prussian troops of the late Napoleonic period are not exactly the most exciting to paint and hussars are even worse than the infantry. So in this case with much trepidation I picked up the paint brush and proceeded to paint a squadron. The end result? Not too bad actually. The cavalry figures actually look pretty nice as a group. Although unfinished here is the pic. The finished product won't prompt me to paint a Napoleonic Prussian army anytime soon but at least I enjoyed being back at the painting table again.

I keep psyching myself up to paint a Spanish army when Hat releases them around Christmas time so hopefully the pleasing Prussians might spur me on to actually do it.

On another note, it is Fathers Day and I am going to have 삼겹살 (pork slices) for dinner. I don't know what that will do to my cholesterol or my blood pressure (I've been on medication for both - since about 2 weeks ago) but already I am sick of being a good boy.

Hobby dead in the water? Well not quite...

The strange thing about the hobby is that it never completely dies. Just when I thought that my boxes of Napoleonic battalions would never see the light of day again... there they go (or at least one anyway). I pulled it out of storage on a whim and before I knew it I had bought three Osprey books to add to my collection. I can't say I am back in painting mode yet though - perhaps that is a little too much to hope for. But I can say I do feel rumblings in the magma chamber. In the meantime here are some pics.

Chasseurs

Old Guard

Nassau?

New Vanguard titles- make a change from uniformology of the Napoleonic Wars

An interesting book on the Irish military diaspora - of which I knew nothing about.

A very slack blogger...

I apologise for my slack blogging. To be honest I haven't done any of my hobby for the last 6 months. A very sad confession to make. Life is just too busy at the moment! I have bought some more Osprey books which I shall write about later next week. The weather is starting to pick up a bit and the days are certainly starting to lengthen. Perhaps the increased sunlight will bring more vigour to my painting hobby?

7TW

7YW Prussians for Christmas?

800 Figures
150 Cavalry
8 Cannon

Mmmmmm......The house of Hohenzollern shall rise again in Southern New Zealand!