A nice, relaxing... Aaargh!

After a long day at work, I was looking forward to coming home this evening and starting work on the walkthrough I have promised.

I had sketched the building and noted dimensions, I had all the bits I needed (thanks to Gerald at Macks Track and a big box of leftovers from the construction of Leadwood), and I'd been running through my mental list of tips and tricks to include all day.

I parked the car, said, "Hi!" to my kids, had a bite to eat and eagerly approached my bench...

My incredibly untidy heap of a bench!

Hence the "aaargh!"

Mine is not the bench you see in colourful model-making magazines and books, with everything all neatly laid out, every brush pristeen and wearing its bristle-protector, a shiny new cutting mat and a freshly emptied waste bin waiting hungrily beside a welcoming, oh-so-comfortable swivel chair.

Oh, no!

My bench is made from half an old transit pallette, knife-scarred and paint-daubed, with interesting lumps of gap filler, green stuff and congealed glue here and there that periodically have to be sanded flat. My brushes are looking somewhat the worse for wear but they serve me well ( loyal veteran brushes of many a campaign. How could I abandon them?) My cutting mat is starting to resemble something Doctor Frankenstein might have pieced together, my waste bin growled at me from beneath a mound of scrunched-up sketches, paint-spattered newspaper, shoe liners(?!) beer bottles and some other things I didn't look too closely at. And my chair - well, it's a zombie-swivel-chair, let's face it. But it's mine...

Anyway, half an hour and one big black plastic bag later, having kicked the bin into unconsciousness, I was ready to begin...

And now, I am happy to report that I am well on track. Materials have been prepared, pics have been taken and construction has begun. I have to go away to work in Nelson until Saturday night but the trusty steam-powered laptop will be with me and I should be able to knock together most of the walkthrough pretty quickly in my evenings.

I will be presenting a small, single-storey wooden building with a false front, signwriting, boardwalk, cloth awning, corrugated iron roof, smoke stack and a couple of wanted posters.

In the meantime, here's a big crocodile. Because I can.

Part of my Reptile Horde for HOTT - coming soon. ("Beloved of Sobek" by Crocodile Games.)

Watch this space.