The Hobby, illness and me (or you!)

Hi folks,

First up, apologies for the title. This isn't meant to be a 'pity party' post, it's just something I've been thinking about over the last few days. I wanted to share it/write it down as much for myself as anyone else who might read it.

Last weekend my left shoulder froze, causing me a lot of pain for several days. I'm right handed, but if you think about how you hold a model while you paint, having limited mobility with my left arm and shoulder as well as severe RSI/Carpal Tunnel style pains in my arm and hand makes the prospect of painting... uncomfortable.

This is a concern for me for a number of reasons. 1 - the lead pile is not getting any smaller, 2 - painting is one of my stress management techniques I use to maintain my mental health, and being in pain and stressed with a frozen shoulder, I need to maintain that... 3 - I always feel like if I stop painting, I might not start again!

So, I set about thinking about what I could do with limited physical ability, which would still count as 'hobby time'. I'm aware that in the grand scheme of things, a frozen shoulder is not up there with life altering serious illness - so please don't think I'm suggesting that the following applies to everyone. Mileage may vary! But it's what I've come up with and stuff I feel I can do given my own current situation!

Things I can do that are not painting:

1.  Tidy up. Not particularly exciting, but there is always stuff to be put away, sorted, refiled, stacked, etc, etc. After the last big game my models are mixed up in several boxes with no rhyme or reason to the order. I also want to re-arrange my books and lead mountain storage area to better use the space and put stuff I need and use closer to hand. Lots could be done to make sure when I can paint, my hobby area is ready and waiting.

2. Build. I've lots of plastic kits I need to build for future units (mainly, oddly enough, Shermans!). This takes time and I'm loath to do this when I could otherwise be painting. I might not have the dexterity to paint, but snipping, trimming and gluing takes far less effort. It also constructively frees up 'future' painting time. I dislike having too many built 'waiting for paint' models around, but in a lot of cases the boxes on un-built minis take up more room than the finished models, so building them and storing them frees up space and helps with 'tidy up' above.

3. Plan/admin. I can use the time to sketch out unit lists to represent what I want to paint, need to build and want to buy. Again, this can be time consuming, but it's useful work that will act as a starting point in the future. This also includes stock taking of what I already have, making spreadsheets if I am able, but writing on paper also helps. This can also include working on scenarios or adding my paints to one of the various paint tracking apps (I recently got a new phone).

4. Research. Linked to number 3 above, planning armies means research. Research might involve time with books, with the Internet or just on my phone while laid up in bed. It might be re-reading stuff I've read of confirming stuff I know. But it's all useful - so long as the results are logged and kept. It's pretty important stuff for me, as I do try to keep my armies as accurate as I can for the Operation I'm modelling.

5.  Take stock. Linked to plan/admin - but more for hobby supplies and other paraphernalia. How am I for glue, paint, brushes, etc. What hobby supplies do I have, might I need. How is it stored? Can I re-arrange things, or repack things.

6. Buy... retail therapy is always good! Having the time means I can search around for the very best deals, link to my planning and research, look at what other people are doing, etc. Still useful hobby time, even if I don't pull the trigger on any actual purchases. Be aware though that buying lots of stuff you can't do anything yet might not be good mentally.

7. Paint? Am I sure I can't paint? Are there any adaptions I can use or try. For example, I think one issue is holding my hand open for long periods of time, so I bought some corks today with the thought that these might give me a better hand hold if I glue the stuff I'm working on to them. Can I adjust my chair or work space? What if I'm only priming rather than doing detail work?

8.  Revisit/revamp. I've a lot of early models I finished I want to go back to and touch up, fix or otherwise change. Is this the time to look at whether I can do any of that work?

9. Planning future projects. Is there anything else I can be looking at? Future terrain needs to be planned, storage options to be thought about, gaming space to be planned (I really want to make progress getting a table in my garage). An excellent time to think things through, plan and research and actually look into practicalities.

10. Play some/more games. Ok, so you might not be able to paint, but you might be able to play. Maybe it's a good time to badger mates into getting more games in!

Anyway, those are some thoughts I've had in the last few days while pondering what will happen if this arm takes months or years to sort itself out, and the impact that might have on my plans. Hopefully it might give others who read it some ideas themselves, or maybe act as a prompt for those people who don't feel like painting but want to do something hobby related.

40mm Bofors Anti Aircraft platoon - Finished!

"Huzzah" I hear all regular readers of my rambling blog cheer.

"Thank f*ck those as done" I think to myself!

This unit has been a bit of a slog. Originally picked as I thought it would be a quick platoon to finish I rapidly found myself disliking the sculpts and struggling to make progress against my own apathy. Thankfully some support from the blogging community spurred me on to finish these off.

Now they are done, perversely, I kinda like them. Although I think the bases could be doing with more detail (spend brass, ammo crates, etc). Those may come later. 

Missing at this stage is the final 2 guns of the battery and transport. These guys are representing 40th Light AA Regiment, Royal Artillery - As usual, part of the 51st Highland Division. I am tempted to get the last two guns as the self propelled versions (BR182) - mainly because I like them and it saves me having to work on the Forged in Battle mini's again - as I wouldn't like to mix  the Battlefront ones into this platoon. But it would also give me some different models and would be nice for Battlegroup Overlord.

Guns were painted standard Russian Uniform Green (Vallejo Model Color 70.924). Wheels/tyres were just black with a Vallejo Panzer Aces Dark Rubber (306) highlight. Crew were standard Vallejo Model Color English Uniform (70.921) with Vallejo Model Color Khaki webbing  and gaiters (70.988), black boots and well... flesh coloured flesh. Helmets are Russian Uniform Green. Highlights on the crew are mainly shades of English Uniform and Khaki. Khaki was also used to highlight the guns. A coat of Dark tone Army Painter was put on before the highlights, and a matt coat of varnish after the highlights. 

One of the things I am glad I did with these models was to add my own gunsights. The Forged in Battle minis had no gunsight included and I felt the model really needed one. They are very prominent on this gun and the Battlefront model does include them. 

The crew poses are a bit strange - they could have really done with people with binoculars and some different ammo carrying poses. 

Still, as much as i have struggled with these guys they are decent models for the money. Scale wise they fit in well with Flames of War models to the extent I had no worries about mixing them on a command base. It's probably important to note that the Forged in Battle 40mm Bofors guns have no base included and models for command stands. There were a few spare crew mini's, but none that have any real command style.

Once they were based up I was much less focused on the individual models and my annoyance at the one part gun shield/crew sculpt. But I do think the guns are a weak part of the model and I have broken one already. They are also a bugger to keep straight. 

So that's it, another platoon down and time to move on. I'm going to try and pick something I want to paint this time... Certainly NOT the 4.2" Mortar platoon.

The WALL!

Not my picture!

Nearly every night this week I have come home with the intention of finishing off these Bofors AA guns.

And done nothing with them.

This has been the case for a few weeks. I think part of it has been how much I dislike the models... but there is so little left to do on them I'm beginning to think that's only part of the problem. I had a similar issue last year where I went for weeks with little progress - and I think the lack of having played anything for the last 4 or 5 months is now having a big impact as well.

With my better half having moved in (and now working two part time jobs through the week) I've not managed to get to the Saturday club and I cut down my roleplaying to 2 games a week (one on a night A works, and one on her night off so she has some time to herself...) so I want to keep my weekends free for time with her and can't now really fit in or justify any more gaming in the week.

Stalemate!

The result of this has been that even though I have been buying models - I'm not doing anything with them. The Bofors guns have had the crew painted and just really need the earth colour on the bottom of the cruciform legs done. Then they will be ready for Army Painter varnish, etc. I'm hoping (!) that just blogging about this issue will help me overcome it - give me a little motivation this weekend to get over this hump, But it's a big wall, and I am struggling!