Holidays 2018 - Dorset and Wales

Hi folks,

Sorry for the lack of posting recently, I've been off gallivanting around the south of England and the middle of Wales!

Hobby wise, I had the chance to pick up the new Team Yankee book 'Free Nations' as well as a few FoW bits and bobs which have been sequestered away by the lady wife for my birthday. I also managed to pick up a few interesting books - 'Fighting the Invasion', which is full of translated German reports relating to D-Day and 'Assault Crossing', which covers the 49th Wessex Divisions crossing of the Seine. '6 Armies in Normandy' is also interesting, covering the perspective of various forces fighting in Normandy. From the Tank Museum, I also picked up some copies of documents regarding my grandfathers regiment and a book about modelling Sherman tanks.

Hobby wise, as usual I took along some stuff to build - having first asked permission! I find that taking some stuff with me to assemble in an evening means I then don't have to spent as much time building models at home when I could be painting them...

German halftracks from PSC and Battlefront (the Battlefront ones were by far the easier to assemble). 4 of the PSC ones are built as 'Stummels' using the PSC upgrade kit, while one is built as a 'standard' 251/1D transport. Two of the PSC ones will be HMG carriers while the other two have been upgraded to Mortar carriers, again using the PSC upgrade sprues.

Another 5 German Panzer IV's, from PSC, And a single Tiger, also from PSC. All now filed away awaiting their turn in the painting queue. Having just painted 12 Panzer IV's I do feel like I should start on those I've just built, but at the same time I'm a pit sick of painting Panzer IV's and I've still got German armour in the painting queue currently!

Locations wise, I got to spend a day in the archives at the Tank Museum and Bovington as well as a visit to the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovil.

I also stumbled across a 'vintage vehicle rally' which had a load of WW2 stuff:

And a couple of random plinths in some of the seaside villages we visited:

As well as the obligatory Welsh castle - which also included an ECW battlefield:

View of the Battlefield site from the castle grounds

All that remains of the castle...

 And with views like this:

It's easy to see why someone would build a Castle up there in the first place! It offered views into both England and Wales, I understand.

I also saw a load of these both on the ground and in the air:

As well as F-15's, V-22 Ospreys, Chinooks and Hawks in flight over Wales and Dorset.

Other than the hobby and military stuff (which is, as usual, my main focus when it's about), we had a lovely time in both countries, with the weather being amazing in the second week and the only failing of the Welsh holiday home being the internet - but it had a pool and a hottub, which made up for that slightly. It was also set in a very rural location up on a hillside with some stunning views. We travelled a lot to the seaside, ate bucket loads of ice cream and tried to keep cool! Great couple of weeks!

Holiday snaps and loot - 2017

Hi folks,

Over the last two weeks, no painting has been done... for the first time since my honeymoon last year, I believe!

Instead, I've been off gallivanting around Dorset (in England) and Snowdonia (in Wales) for a week each. Thoroughly frazzled due to all the sunshine we had, and very glad to come back to a rainy Teeside! Our car last weekend showed an outside temp of 40oC, and it must be the longest period of using suntan lotion I have every had in this country. Suffice to say on our last day (Thursday) it was overcast, cool and windy. We didn't put any lotion on and both got burnt!

Anyway - the visit to Dorset came about as my Mum and Step Dad, who are normally residents of Spain, are in the UK for the summer. As they are working/residing in Dorset, we decided to visit. Or to put it another way, when my mum mentioned a week before that there was a tank museum near by, my response was 'why do you think I'm coming to Dorset!'.

My long suffering wife and I spent a full day at the Tank Museum in Bovington, more or less from opening to closing time. I'd happily do the same again (though I'm not sure she would be so enthusiastic..).

Highlights were seeing up close some of the vehicles I have been painting and modelling, sitting in the turret of a Chieftain and getting to just wander round the vehicles on display. Of specific interest to me were the Buffalo and Shermans as well as the other allied vehicles - but the two types my Grandfather drove were really cool to see close up. I'm not afraid to admit that on visiting the memorial chapel and seeing his regimental cap badge I got a little lump in my throat.

As any good tread head would, I took a whole lot of pictures, which can be seen on my Facebook page here. Some of the ones with me (for scale purposes!) can be seen below, as well as the panoramic shots I took inside the turret of the Chieftain and in the Tiger hall.

We also went fossil hunting along the Dorset coast, and found a few bits and bobs.

I managed to fit in a visit to Entoyment in Poole - an impressive wargames shop, with a lot of variety. I picked up a few bits:

The Commandos I can use for my recce Brits/Poles - but importantly the pack contains a Piper and I needed another one. The objective cards sounded interesting and I wanted some lighter A/T guns for my Germans. I'll paint these up as Normandy guns and crew, and they should be fine.

I also picked up a Birthday pressie, which Amy paid for. It's now been taken off me till my brithday, but at least I know it's there:

I had a chance to pick up a few book in various book shops (and at the Tank Museum):

The Goodwood book is excellent, full of aerial recce pics taken during the fighting. I'm going to pick up the authors other stuff. Unfortunately it seems he died in a plane crash a few years ago.

As well as a souvenir from the Tank Museum:

And I managed to find a box of figures I've been looking for since last year - still in shrink wrap and for a reasonable price. The package was waiting on me when I got home:

During the quiet evenings, I had a chance to put together some models from the lead pile (taken only after permission for such light hobby activity had been obtained):

We also visited Tyneham village, which is in the middle of a MoD live fire range. My head was on a swivel checking out the range target vehicles! The village itself was interesting, but very sad. The people were given short notice in 1943 to evacuate as the area was required for training as part of the D-Day prep. They were never allowed back and the area is still a MoD Training area.

The other location I managed to visit was the Dorset and Devon Regimental museum in Dorchester. Very interesting museum - the the usual terrible lighting. I mainly took pics of the WW2 stuff, but again there is an album on my facebook page.

The last week we spent in Pennal, at the southern edge of Snowdonia. Not a huge amount around to interest me, although in the field next to our cottage was a suspicious (smallish) mound which I correctly guessed was a Motte and Bailey castle. A few fields away there was a Roman fort discovered and we found a memorial to the crew of a Wellington bomber that had crashed nearby in 1941.

The area was also under the 'Mach Loop' which is a RAF/NATO low level training area. While we heard jet engines constantly over the two weeks, I only managed to catch sight of some Hawks and some Eurofighters at low level. In Dorset I'd also spotted some Tornado's at low level as well - although I got to see lots of military vehicles on the back of low loaders down there as well - and had Challenger training tanks drive past in Bovington (making the whole car shake!)

So other than the military stuff, lots of shopping, ice cream shop hunting, picnics and spending time with family!