Small Update - Map of Molatero

I'm (very) slowly working on my Molatero backstory and maps in the background, but I have made some progress and am happy that I have the basic geographic shapes finalised...

I'm also please with the graphics style, even if it does look a little Lord of the Rings meets Pirates of the Caribbean! 😂

Now I have the base outline I can start work on making a pictorial history of Molatero using maps which trace it's formation and development. I'll use these to pin-point important periods in the county's history so that I can give my story some character.

As I say - this is a small update but I'm enjoying creating the maps.

Peg Bomber Flies Again!

The little problems I left behind me when I had my break from modelling have now come home to roost. I had forgotten that I had decided to change the way I would display my little peg planes, moving from my thrown together cocktail stick stand to a proper commercial plastic one.

I had bought a set of square acrylic flight stands - made tabletop game aircraft and space vehicles - because I think they look a lot better than a 'stick'. Actually, I think they look better because they are less noticeable than my cocktail stick contrivance...

The problem with this change in direction was that I had already nearly completed my peg model, so I've had to go back and make a suitable hole into which I could fit the new stand's socket. All I could think of doing was to re-drill the smaller hole I had made for my stick-stand so that I could fit the larger diameter plastic socket into the underside of my plane.

It was a wee bit tricky as I had to use a relatively large drill bit and I was quite worried in case I damaged my model during the handling. I took things slowly and carefully and eventually had a hole into which the plastic stand slid.

What I intend to do next is superglue the socket part of the stand into the hole, that way I can take the plane off the stand if I want. I was a little worried that the small diameter of the square base might not support my plane, but it does (at least it does at this height - 4cm - though if I want to increase the 'altitude' for a game, say, I would have to get a wider base). 👍

Well, job done - and with all the touching up of the model complete all I have to do now is a apply a couple of coats of glass varnish and the job's a good 'un.  That's next.

A Slow (Re-) Start...

I've been finding that getting back into a hobby that I have neglected for so long isn't quite as straight-forward as I imagined and it's just not a case of re-finding my enthusiasm.

One of the main hurdles I have had to overcome is simply finding all the modelling gear and paints I had - lots of stuff has either been 'borrowed' or stored (in the infamous 'safe place') or just plain lost! And my work area in my 'man cave' had become a dumping ground for all the household brick-a-brack... I had to excavate my desks from under a small mountain of boxes of junk and Christmas decorations!

So, this re-start has been slower than I would have liked...BUT...I seem to be getting somewhere now.

My first job was to find the selection of paints I had been using for one of my
last projects. Eventually - and much to my relief - I managed it!

One of the greatest worried after neglecting this hobby for so long was the state of my paints collection AND exactly what paints I was using for the several half-finished projects I had.

The good news is that acrylic paints seem to fair quite well after a period of hibernation. Being a old-time modeller I had terrible visions from my long past experiences with 'old school' enamel paints and what they were like if they had been opened and then neglected.

The next issue was a good news and bad news situation. First of all, I managed to locate some of the sets of paints that I was using for a couple of my projects - Huzzah! - BUT then I realised that a another project was one for which I was mixing a specific colour, oh dear!

In the case of the colour mix, I may have made some notes of my colour recipe in a past bog post, but I haven't found that yet. This has made me determined to record my project's progress in even more detail in future so that I can recreate creative modelling techniques again more easily. In fact, it has meant that I have had to reassess my project documentation method and I am considering a fundamental change from mainly photographs to video.

Anyway... Onwards!

So, having found the paints I was using for my little peg light bomber I got my handy portable work tray up and running (as I still haven't cleared enough junk off my attic desk for it to be usable) and I tentatively began to process of working out what needed to be done to the model...

The model was actually very near completion and this makes it a nice 'ice breaker' with which to restart my hobby again. There was some touching up to do and some small jobs - like the above pic of my completing the undercarriage - and, amusingly, I had to begin by giving the model a good dust! 😂

Another tiny chore was to give my aircrew some goggle. Some simple silver coloured 'lenses' would suffice but even this proved a little tricky as my painting confidence has suffered, my hands seem to be a lot shakier AND my eye-sight appears to have deteriorated. Getting older is a pain in the ass.

And, finally (at least for this stage), I had some thinking to do regarding mounting the model. It seems -from what I can remember from two years ago - that I was thinking about adding transparent acrylic stands to my little wooden planes. I had already bought a pack to test and this model was to be a 'proof of concept'.

Unlike my original 'cocktail stick stand' idea - which was a wee bit wobbly and didn't look very good - these purpose built plastic stands are intended for little tabletop aircraft games and really look the part. The only slight issue is that I will have to work out how to attach the connecting socket part...

...Much drilling and super-gluing ensued! 😕😡😉

Well, that's not a bad (re-) start. Next I have to gloss the model in keeping with the rest of my peg models as I like the traditional toy soldier look. Also, it's got me thinking about what I would like to make next, as I love these little cartoon looking aeroplanes. It put's me in mind of a show that I really used to enjoy as a kid...

The History of Molatero (in Progress)

As I made the mistake of not making any notes for my Molatero backstory I now cannot remember where I was going with the project! So, I'm sorta having to start from scratch...

Now, I realise that not everyone needs a backstory for their Funny Little Wars faction - in fact you can opt for a 'off the peg' army using the pre-generated ones, such as 'Army Red' or 'Army Blue' which are loosely based on historical national armies - but I, personally, enjoy making up 'stuff'! 😄

Anyhoo, so back to the drawing board. Now, I am a visual sorta guy - I prefer to doodle than write - so it's easier for me to construct a backstory using pictures. My starting point, then, is to sketch a map of 'Molatero' - where it is in it's fictional, alternative version of our world and what kind of cultural it would therefore have...

To my mind 'Molatero' is a fictional equivalent to Bulgaria (and/or Roumania), occupying a south-eastern position beside an inland sea which mirrors the Black Sea. Though I have borrowed Molatero's cultural flavour from a few different Balkan states, you get the idea.

Having sketched out my map and got a feeling for it's place in 'my world' in relation to the real world I filled in - tentatively - it's neighbours. These would be the protagonists in my make believe war-gaming arena with Turania being the principal 'baddies'! 😉

Situating Molatro's 'culture' gives me a jump off point by which I can then start fleshing out the rest of it's history - political, military and social. And as my interest was in creating a small army for war-gaming a Funny Little Wars campaign chronologically I was particularly interested in a period that equated to the late 19th century (I actually had in mind a date of around 1890).

Romanian soldiers c. 1913 - some historic reference material on which
I based my idea on what Molatarian uniforms might look like.

And that's as far as I got when I originally started this blog - though I had already started getting a little side tracked when I started making little 'peg aircraft' and was already looking at Molatero's later history (1919-1921). But that's a by-product of my fertile (some would say over-active) imagination! 😄

Return to Molatero!

I'm back... It took a pandemic to get me blogging again, but hey ho!

Unfortunately, having left off all things Molatarian for a good long while I'm afraid I have completely forgotten what I had in mind for this blog. Never mind though, even if I have to kind of start from scratch what else do I have to do at the moment? ;)

So, to kick off my return here's a little video I quickly put together to sort of get me going again. Hope you enjoy it...