From TamsinP: The Senior Flight Attendant's Office

 

Good evening Ladies, Gentlemen...and Ray! My name is Tamsin and (according to a tradition I self-established a few Challenges ago) I will be your Senior Flight Attendant for this year's exploration of, oh, what's that? It's a Studio Tour this year? No flights? Well, I never! Hmmm, quick rethink needed...

Good evening Ladies, Gentlemen...and Ray! My name is Tamsin and  I will be your Senior Studio Tour Guide for this year's Challenge. For those who don't know me, here's a brief bio.

In my early teens I discovered wargaming by chance. I was browsing history books in the town library when I came across a book which had been misplaced on the shelves - it was by Donald Featherstone and I decided to add it to my small pile of books to check out. I had seen painted figures before in David Chandler's "The Art of Warfare on Land" (I believe they were from Peter Gilder's collection), but hadn't been aware of wargaming. For a few years I played wargames using Feathertone rules and Airfix figures with a few boys from school, mostly WW2 and ACW. I also played RPGs and it was mostly those figures I painted using enamels and cheap, crappy brushes. However, as I got older other things (exams - bah!, other activities, etc) began to take priority and I pretty much forgot all about it.

Then I got struck down by a chronic illness in 2010 and was off work for several months. Around May 2011 I saw or read something sci-fi related and decided to check some facts on the internet. On one of the pages I looked at the chap had various pages listed in the sidebar and one was "wargaming". I decided to take a look and saw spaceship models and 25mm sci-fi figures. I vaguely recognised some of the ships - they were the ones in an advert I'd seen in an RPG magazine in the late 80s. I followed the link to Ground Zero Games, discovered the Full Thrust rules, eyed up the spaceships and realised that the bug had bitten me once again.

Reader, I bought some...

...and made my first foray of about 25 years into painting. Now, back when I was a teenager acrylics were new and weren't particularly good but I'd read that they were now the way to go. My first attempts weren't awful, but I really wanted to improve. That was when I discovered blogs and various websites explaining how to paint well. Then YouTube, but there weren't many channels doing painting tutorials back then; now there seem to be hundreds of them.

But it wasn't just the sci-fi gaming bug that bit. I remembered those lovely figures from that book and how as a teenager I'd wanted to have my own armies for ancients, medievals, English Civil War and the like and began looking at what was out there. I also wanted to find people to game with. Checking the interweb, I found a club (Central London Wargames Club) that met after work in a pub (bonus points!) that would be easy enough to get to from work - by that time I had recovered enough to return to work part-time - or from home. I went along one evening, introduced myself and watched a game to find out what the main figure scale and rules were. I bought the rules and a couple of army list books and looked through to decide which army I'd like to begin my journey with. As I'd always loved horses, I decided to go with a cavalry army - the Sarmatians. I initially ordered what turned out to be the last stock from Strategia e Tactica - the figures were nice, but tiny and the metal was a bit flimsy. So I ordered everything I needed from Donnington.

And so it began...

On 01 January 2012 I decided to record my wargaming and painting adventures in a blog of my own. I haven't looked back since. I started following other blogs, they started following me and so it went on and I'm still here at the end of 2022.

I discovered this wonderful event during its second running and decided I wanted to take part the following year. AHPC III saw my entry into these hallowed halls and I have become something of a fixture; even in the couple of years when I wasn't a participant I was still a minion.

But that's enough about me, what about my workspace?

The workbench

I'm in the fortunate position of being a single person living in a two bedroom flat, which means that I have been able to convert my spare bedroom into my hobby space. It's large enough for my painting desk, materials and some storage but the last has inevitably spilled over into my own bedroom and the lounge (which now also houses my 3D printer set-up).

Most of my paints

How the workbench would be set up for painting

I don't actually have anything being painted right now; the two glass jars are for my "dirty" and "clean" rinse water.  Switching between brush painting and airbrushing is quick and easy - move a couple of things out of the way, pull the spray booth forward and open it up, plug it in and away I go! For photography it just takes a few minutes to clear things away and get out my camera set-up.

I don't have room in my set-up for a computer or TV, but I do have space for a radio/CD player if I want music to paint to. As it can accept USB drives, I could listen to podcasts as well if I thought about it.

What will I be painting this year? I have one big project and a few smaller, related projects all from the 3D printing I've been doing over the past few months. There may be some non-related stuff as well.

My one big project? Well, it's a single 28mm vehicle. 

"A single 28mm vehicle is her big project? You've got to be kidding!"

No, not kidding at all. Let me explain. Whilst it may be a single 28mm vehicle, it is a rather large one - about 26" long, 17" wide and 9" tall, weighing in at about 2.5kg. And there's a normal-sized 28mm vehicle to go in it.

Fully playable (if somewhat cramped) interior

Some of you may recognise it as the 100 Ton Type S Scout Courier from the Traveller RPG. I missed the original crowdfunding campaign for it a couple of years ago, mostly because I didn't have a 3D printer at the time. Late last year the same company had a Kickstarter campaign for 1:270 and "tactical" scale versions of Traveller ships. I decided to back that campaign (despite the lack of a 3D printer) and went for the pledge level that included the 28mm ships (they'd also done the Type J Seeker variant and someone had done the 30 Ton Gig). 

Their Kickstarter campaign for the 200 Ton Type A Free Trader ship has just ended, but it is (for a little while longer) open for late pledges on My Mini Factory. I've backed that campaign as well but won't be printing the ship until next year.

"You mentioned 1:270 scale Traveller ships..."

I did indeed, and I have printed them. They may appear if I make good progress on the Type S.

Well, that's all from me folks.

Toodle-pip!