Mortars - various

 Thanks to everyone for their kind words regarding my latest efforts at CAD design, laser cutting and Polyfilla gap closing. Unusually for these strange times I have some progress to report for a second consecutive day.

I was going to try my hand at scratch building some Gribeauval style siege mortars, in a similar manner to this. But then I came across Speira Miniatures and decided to take the easy option and order some from them instead. They duly arrived from Helsingborg this morning.

They are 3D printed and they can therefore supply them in whatever scale one wants. I obviously went for 1/72 and can confirm that the dimensions are spot on for a 12" Gribeauval mortar, at least according to the Osprey book on the subject. In other words substantially more accurate than I could have made them.

While I was at it I bought some Coehorn style light mortars. These are actually from their ACW range, but van Coehoorn's orginal design wasn't changed overmuch from its first use in 1702 until its final outing in 1915. On top of which, those are 1cm squares that they are sitting on, so one would have to be a pretty enthusiastic rivet counter to spot any difference.

So, a thumbs up from me for Speira Miniatures, excellent products and good service.

One last point: you may, like me, be wondering why my cutting mat appears to be covered in crud in those photographs. I have been to take a look and can confirm that it is, in fact, covered in crud. 

Moscophoros

Unusually for me, I rather like the latest show at the Henry Moore Institute: Votives by Aleksandra Domanović.

The sculptures, made in the tradition of Greek korai, are intended to 'fold the aesthetic of classical sculpture into her investigation into how developing technology relates to the societies that create it'. I'm not entirely sure what that means, but nevertheless I'm going to say that she has achieved it. The pieces manage to be both recognisable in form to those who have visited ancient sites or museum galleries and yet are distinctly of the present day. I must be going soft.

The artist claims that all technology is gendered, but doesn't elaborate. Of the two technologies that she uses I'm going to guess that she thinks 3D printing is female (creating something from nothing) and inkjet printing is male (creating by emission on to a blank canvas), but that might prove nothing more than that I'm both a pseud and a good example of Freud's psychosexual theory of personality; neither of which will come as a surprise to readers of the blog. Still, a modern art exhibition that makes one think something other than "this is a bag of shit" is an event to be cherished.

Pot57pouri

I have still not received the new laptop charger ordered some weeks ago, indeed it has not yet been dispatched.  I am therefore unable to post to this blog on a daily basis as I would wish. This delay is the fault of - and this is the honest truth - Elkie Brooks. I know that is going to upset her greatest fan and quondam blog reader, but I have to say it as I see it. Ms Brooks is playing the Royal Hall in Harrogate later this year and I think I might have to get myself along there and take her to task about this charger business. In the meantime various other things have occurred.

Somewhat unexpectedly, even to me, I have been on a stadium tour of White Hart Lane. The place does have vague connections - via Harry Hotspur - with things that I am actually interested in, like medieval history and Shakespeare, and I have actually been there before on numerous previous occasions as a spectator. Indeed I have very fond memories of a game against Ipswich (Spurs 5 Ipswich 3) where Carl and I happened to meet two visiting Rhodesian nurses keen to be shown the sights of London. Their country of origin is an indication of exactly how long ago it all was - living in the past, moi? Anyway, I enjoyed the tour more than I thought I would and was rather surprised at a couple of things, notably how small the dressing rooms were and how uncomfortable the chairs in the directors box. I was impressed by the medals won by the incomparable Dave Mackay during the double season of 1960-61 and, to a much lesser extent, by the hideous monstrosity that is the Costa del Sol Cup, a trophy whose size is in inverse proportion to the number of people who have ever heard of it.

"Where's them nurses at?"

I assume that everyone has, like me, been expecting 3D printed figures to become available to wargamers for some time now. I have only just become aware that they are already here (and reviewed here).That link is to the 1/72 page, but there are others, and by the nature of their design and manufacture they are of course easily scalable. They are ridiculously expensive to the point of being completely unaffordable, but what a brave new world that has such figures in it.

Anyway, in tomorrow's non-daily post there will be some non-wargaming news. Stay tuned.

3D Printing

I have seen a 3D printer for the first time in the flesh as it were. And I was very impressed. Naturally on seeing something new my thoughts turn to its possible wargaming applications; and after the triumph of the non transitive dice who is to say that I am wrong. I don't think that the technology that I saw could produce figures to match the best plastic available from say Zvezda, but I would say that they could be easily as good as the lower end of the 20mm plastics market and most metal figures that I have seen. And I was only watching a demonstration of a portable set-up from a small local company that has extended into 3D printing from its core business or repairing photocopiers, inkjet and laser printers etc. Presumably there are more sophisticated machines elsewhere.

Who wants one?

 The big adavantage over moulding would appear to be the fact that one doesn't need to have a, mould. Obvious, but true. All of the sculptor's constraints regarding undercuts etc just disappear.  How the economics might stack up, I don't know. The business to whom I spoke mainly use it to reproduce parts for obsolete printers and copiers that are no longer available and so the cost of the produced part is not that relevant. My accountant's intuition (not as oxymoronic a concept as it sounds) tells me the issue will be running cost rather than the capital cost of the printers. Perhaps the use of recycled material in the feedstock will drive those down in due course.

On a different subject, Miniature Wargames have now sorted out my subscription problems. As I said all along Henry Hyde is clearly a saint like figure who has presided over the smooth succesful integration of two seemingly unreconcilable systems.

Henry Hyde