short week and shipyards

First off, some apologies as I won't be posting photos of work-in-progress this time. Since all three of my girls are cheerleaders, I have numerous parental support venues to participate in. My two youngest daughters are also participants in" Girls on the Run" which promotes cardio and nutritional health in young girls...and also has led me to investigate some 3k and 5k running events in our area for a father and daughters day out. I also have training at work which when coupled with my long week means I only have two free days between the end and start of 12 hour shifts...night guard shifts at that! My 9 year old best buddy also has a fist sized tumor in her mouth which has led to her bleeding all over the house. She is a black lab St Bernard mix and over 150lbs which makes bath time a tiring event for both of us! But household-6 has decreed it must be done, and honestly anything is worthwhile that leads to comfort for Panda Bear.
I did dig out the box of shame from the shed....did I mention my AO(Area of Operations for non-military readers) of Michigan has conspired to be rainy and overcast with a prediction of snow for my two days off? Within the BoS I sorted out my Britains metal knights, Barclay podfoots, and BFG spaceships. I still have to figure out repair for the toy soldiers. I will need enamel paints for the Britains and will also need to pin the broken swords and lances. As they are circa 1998, I could buy them new with little cost. The three footmen and two mounted knights were a wedding gift from my wife, so for sentimental reasons a repair job will be preferable.
The Barclay podfoots are a whole different matter. Some of these old dimestore troops were my dad's when he was a boy, while others were purchased by myself at antique shops. Since they are antiques, painting them is out of the question, yet I would like to repair the broken feet and rifles. Some of the Barclay were crew served weapons out of a resin/wood type substance. A machine gun loader lost his head and the AA gun suffered a broken barrel. I will probably just attempt sparing use of super glue to fix the lads up...I'd like to try pinning, but for the nonmetal Barclays and the age of the material makes for an uncertain knowledge of how well they will handle the drilling even with a pin-vise.
So, now we are left with my broken space fleets.
One of my favorite periods of military history is the WW1 era. I personally tend to group the Crimerian war and the ACW into this era as industry really influenced the conflicts. It is also worth remembering that from the ACW to WW1 is within a half century and advances in technology were huge. The naval and amphibious operations of this period are another bit that I enjoy to read about and model. In fact, it was the dazzle patterns used in WW1 that inspired my paint job for the imperial fleet in BFG.
I used blue, white, grey and some black in painting the imperial ships. I used red and yellow for the prows and also to designate task forces. The ships all have really nice detail in turrets, antennae, and engines. Drybrushing, inking, and further spot colors brought these out enough to satisfy myself. The builds were pretty easy for them all, but I did have to use epoxy to fill in some gaps from construction. Mounting the ships to the flight bases was a huge pain as the base pegs did not fit cleanly into the ships, some of the battle ships were very heavy and care had to be taken to make sure the finished model did not list to a side as if already mortally wounded! I used careful trimming, pinning, and epoxy fill to fit the bases, I also made several jigs to help support the ships level on the bases while drying.
I am not the world's best mini painter, in fact I would say I'm a notch below mediocrity. With that said, I was very happy with how my careful work gave me a wonderful fleet. It was also a benchmark of my hobby as it was the first and only time I had completed all the forces for a game system. The collapse of the track shelves did the most damage to these ships. the spindly flight stands, tall masts and antennae, and the simple fact that hybrid models of metal and plastic ALWAYS are prone to breakage.
Being a consummate modeler, I think I have plenty of masts and plastic bits left over in my bit box to effect some repairs. I am not looking forward to the broken flight stands as my jigs were repurposed into terrain or lost. The pinning will be a huge pain as well.
So that concludes my hobby adventure for this week. Parts are collected and tentative plans for next week's work have been made...the shipyard is now open for repair and refit!