Puter

Posted on September 7, 2025 by grumpyoldtin

This is something I keep meaning to post for several weeks. Motivation for anything is hard. I have my journal where I set myself daily tasks and that can be struggle at times. There is no sat around moping, I am constantly busy, but it seems so pointless. Mostly I have set myself the task of going through various projects which have been started and the abandoned as I get distracted by something new and shiny. Generally they seem to be scattered around in various boxes, so I have been compiling them into one box or actually trying to finish them. One project, some Ork barricades was started twenty years ago. I have now started slapping some paint on them. I need to reduce my clutter which can seem overwhelming at times.

Back on topic, my new computer. It was a budget build and some mistakes were made. But lessons were learned.The reason I needed a new computer was that my old iMac died (again), it was the graphics card. A known problem, Apple had used a cheap solder which degraded over time. I could have bought a new card for about 200 Euro but there were two problems. Firstly my clever neighbour who has helped me over the years with technical stuff had died. And secondly the iMac really struggled with with anything processor intensive like Blender or BambuLabs slicer.

In all I ended up spending around 1600 Euros, this included several bells and whistles. Knowing what I know now I wish I had saved up a bit more and bought some more advanced parts to future proof. As I said it’s my first time.

On to what I ended up getting.

I bought two parts second hand. The first was this case. The NZXT Phantom full tower. Originally from around 2010. I now regret this. It looks lovely but it is huge and not really up to the job with modern components. It cost just over 40 Euro, with P&P, another 30 or so and I could have got a modern case.

The next second hand part was a BeQuiet! 750W Gold PSU. It arrived boxed as new and at half the price I would have paid if I had bought it new. No complaints.

For the monitor I chose the ODYS i27 monitor with a fancy Monitor mount.

Motherboard is an ASUS TUF Gaming B550 with wifi. Processor is AMD Ryzen 7 5700. 32gb of Crucial DDR4 ram. 1tb ssd. The GPU is NVIDEA GeForce RTX 3050. I got roasted so badly online when I had posted my build spec. When I had been researching it had been recommended as a decent budget GPU. So I am not quite sure where all the hate is coming from about this.

I did spend, probably too much, a bit on a keyboard. An Epomaker Leobog Hi86 mechanical keyboard with a solid aluminium body. It weighs a ton and feels so lovely. This I do not regret.

A Samsung Galaxy Tab 6E was bought for use as a graphics tablet. So far I have spent over five hours with Technical Support trying to the registration sorted out. It requests that a verification code is sent to my phone. No problem. However the code takes upto twelve hours to arrive. The verification window is two minutes. The helpdesk people haven’t been able to sort it out. Maybe there is a problem with my network? Well how come we are communicating almost immediately? They refuse to stray outside their script and when I request an upchain I’m told that there are no supervisors. I can’t request an escalation as the ticket is open. I am promised call backs which never happen which means I have to repeat the problem again to another person. GRRR!

My old scanner finally gave up the ghost. It was an Epson with the ability to scan negatives. The replacement cost was eye wateringly expensive. So I have gone with a Canon.

Money was spent on various USB cables, velcro strips for cable tidying, desk light Mouse, Mousemat, influencer lighting strips and a USB hub.

For sound I dug out my old speakers.

Once it is dark I will attempt to take some pictures so you can see it in all it’s influencer glory.

Was Geht

Posted on June 4, 2025 by grumpyoldtin

This was written a few months ago and a few things have changed which I will update in another post.

What’s going on? Well a few things actually.I have been seeing a Psychologist on a weekly basis, which has been helpful. Sadly this has finished due to cuts in Government spending. It did involve some art projects, which was nice. And to make a YouTube playlist starting from depressing to uplifting.

Originally it was supposed to have nine tracks, from a low mood, to middling and on to happy. But me being me stuff had to be added.

Health wise still pretty much the same. The Doctors at the Hospital still don’t know what caused the thrombosis, so I have to continue taking blood thinners. One of my cancers has to be biopsied and that resulted in another operation. When the results came back the tissue was precancerous. I had an all clear on the other one and having checkups every six months.

I did write a long piece on dentistry, but it was long and boring. I will just say I have ongoing dental problems.

Kids, go for regular checkups, worth it when you’re older. Damn my fear of dentists.

The Employment Service have enrolled me on a German course. Apparently my age and lack of German are the two big hurdles to me getting meaningful employment. After roughly thirty minutes it all starts to go “Blah, blah, blah” as my mind starts to get overwhelmed. I just forget everything and I feel so stupid. But I have to keep reminding myself that compared to some members of my classmates I am not that bad. It has been stressful and as a result I have had some spikes in blood pressure, giving my blurred vision in one eye and headaches.

My plan this year hobbywise is to finish off some projects. I get excited about things, start a new project…..

Oh look a squirrel!

….and then get excited about something else and this has left me with quite a few unfinished projects.

What I want to finish this year is Bloodbowl and HeroQuest. I also need a way of storing the components. I also have two unfinished armies from Dragon Rampant, Elemental and Undead, which would be good to have finished.

There are also plans to go through my stuff and try and de-clutter and sell surplus bits. And some work in the house.

Don’t worry there will be more hobby updates coming.

A bit of a photo dump

Posted on June 2, 2025 by grumpyoldtin

As, somewhat belatedly, promised here is a photo dump of painting from 2024.

As you can see a bit of a mish mash. I am trying to get get various projects into a state of completion. My focus is Bloodbowl and HeroQuest. I do want to get my Mighty Fortress parts assembled and painted. The problem I have is that I get easily distracted and move on to another project.

Slow Return

Posted on April 13, 2025 by grumpyoldtin

It’s been a while and still a long road ahead in terms of health, physical and mental.
One day at a time.
I kept up my painting. It has been a chore at times and I don’t take the same pleasure in it as I used to do.
One change I did make was to move my painting area upstairs. I used to paint in the cellar and that time was used to escape the clamour of daily life. Now I find it too isolated. Whereas upstairs I can hear voices and not feel so lonely. Plus I have cats sleeping in the window, drinking my tea and I have a view.
Having a view is nice. I didn’t realise I missed having a window until now. I used to have a view in London and it is good for the eyes to change focus every so often.
My lighting set up is still downstairs as it would be a mammoth task to unwire it all.

I didn’t realise that it had been over a year since I last posted. There are going to be posts covering this period. Yes with photos! One thing that did throw me a bit was my computer giving up the ghost. Yes I know one can still post on a mobile, but it isn’t the same.

Physician Heal Thyself. Or. Third Time’s the Charm

Posted on January 25, 2024 by grumpyoldtin

I am trying to reverse engineer my way to happiness despite the best efforts of my lovely Wife. This is the philosophy I am attempting to use.

“Retrophrenology:
It works like this. Phrenology, as everyone knows, is a way of reading someone’s character, aptitude and abilities by examining the bumps and hollows on their head. Therefore – according to the kind of logical thinking that characterizes the Ankh-Morpork mind – it should be possible to mould someone’s character by giving them carefully graded bumps in all the right places. You can go into a shop and order an artistic temperament with a tendency to introspection and a side order of hysteria. What you actually get is hit on the head with a selection of different size mallets, but it creates employment and keeps the money in circulation, and that’s the main thing.”

― Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms

Quote and image used without permission

I can gauge my mental state by my surroundings. The tidier and more ordered it is then the better mental state I am in. So I am attempting to reverse engineer a better mental state by organising my environment. Having a now fully functioning laser cutter has been a huge mind saver.

The third time is the charm. There are boxes of tools that I have inherited from my Father and Grandfather, and from my Wife’s Father and Grandfather. I have been sorting through everything, getting rid of any broken bits and setting up tool boxes for my Boys with any duplicates. What I have left has been slowly organised.

Some gouged out sections to allow for bits

Had I enough wood I would have attempted a third go to correct those mistakes.

Tool cabinet slowly getting organised. I inherited it from my late Father in Law. It originally was well equipped with tools, but when I got it there were a lot of mysterious gaps which I am now trying to fill.

The corner is gloomy no more.

I have started painting a bit but the joy has been stolen and I am finding it hard to get my mojo.

Some Night Goblin Netters that I got as a present

Wot i am workin on now

This guy is going to be part of an Empire Mercenary band. Based for Dragon Rampant.

I have been designing some bunker facades for my trench terrain

I must mention the competition being run by Old School Miniatures to design an Orc War Machine

https://www.oldschoolminiatures.co.uk/blog/design-a-war-machine-for-the-osm-mean-green-challenge

Greetings for 2024

Posted on December 31, 2023 by grumpyoldtin

I can’t honestly say that 2023 was amazing. Firstly dealing with the side effects of medication and the my Wife’s life changing announcement.

2024 looks like more of the same, a hostile uncommunicative environment.

The last half of 2023 wasn’t very productive. Any little pleasures that I used to have were stripped away. I barely picked up a paintbrush.

What I did manage to do was to get a new laser tube and have started cutting and designing again.

There are four big projects that I would like to bring to completion if only to get boxes of odds and sods out of the way.

Bloodbowl – everything is printed. It just needs assembly, painting and most importantly storage.

Heroquest – this need the characters and furniture painting. This one is almost there.

Then I have two big modular terrain projects.

The ruined city, all made apart from a few pieces which need laser cut tiles. And obviously painting.

Modular trenches. This has been made with pink insulation foam. It is about three quarters done. I have been laser cutting walkways and wall retainers. There are still some more tiles to make but before I do I need storage. A trip to Ikea beckons.

There has, understandably, been no product of the year for me.

I’ll sign off and wish all three of you a Happier, Healthier and more Productive 2024.

Bad news always comes in threes?

Posted on October 8, 2023 by grumpyoldtin

The saying goes, “Bad news always comes in threes”. I am currently at six.

Separation

Malignant Melanomas

Cataracts

Jasper

Pulmonary Embolisms

Gout

The separation is hard and has sapped any will to live. I love my Wife dearly, she has been the kindest most patient person I have ever met and she has enriched my life immeasurably. Not being able to understand people I didn’t see any signs. Only a week beforehand we had been watching “Death in Paradise” and she turned to me and said that she thought we were doing ok as a couple. What is hard for me is that she just blanks me now. We are not in a financial situation to move apart and the loneliness and the isolation of where we live is difficult. Just some basic civility would help me a lot.

As you hit a certain age, for me sixty, your Doctor will encourage you to have health checks. One of them was a check up of my skin. The Specialist told me that I had two areas of concern and he used the words “Malignant Melanomas”. I have an operation booked to remove them and there will be a biopsy performed to see if there is any reason for concern.

The next test was on my eyes and it was revealed that I am developing cataracts. That would explain why I need more light for painting. The whole process will take maybe ten years to fully develop. I will be going for a further examination in a year so that the speed of development can be more accurately predicted. What I am not looking forwards to is the period when the cataracts are not quite ready to be removed but the visual quality is impaired. My Wife made no comment when I told her about them which is a bit harsh as I am very visually active.

Some of you may have read past posts about the kitten, Jasper, who adopted me last year. He has been a constant companion and a great source of comfort to me recently. About three weeks ago I found him dead. There was no sign of physical injury. This has been very hard to deal with.

At the same time as finding Jasper dead I started experiencing pains in my left calf. After a couple of days and some ibuprofen the pains diminished. I didn’t really think anything about it but I went to see a neighbour who is a Sports Therapist. I was told, firmly, to go to the Doctors first thing. I did this and was promptly rushed off to Hospital in an Ambulance where I went through a series of ultrasounds and CT scans. The main concern was of Thrombosis. I didn’t have one but the CT Scan revealed that I had Pulmonary Embolisms in both lungs. Cue a couple of days stay in Hospital. I woke up crying after the first night that I hadn’t died in my sleep. Life is that low at moments.

The final of the six is Gout in my left foot. I usually have a small glass of brandy as a night cap. But since the separation I have been knocking back five or six in order to be able to get to sleep and I still wake up at about half past four with my mind whirring. Cue the Gout. The Doctor has prescribed me some Passiflora (Passion Flower) drops to help with sleep. So far I am finding them making me more depressed and I have been waking up earlier.

I have had a scan of my pelvis done last week to see if a cancer I had eight years ago is in remission. I get the results later this week. To be honest I would not care if it was a bad result.

Banners

Posted on July 4, 2023 by grumpyoldtin

I don’t know if this a “Cheat” or not, but this is the way I make my banners. Using my Gnome Army as an example, I go to Google images. As I wanted a sort of Celtic look I typed in “Celtic Knotwork Animals” and got a result like this.

Then I download the images I like and resize them in Illustrator and print them out. I have a small sheet of plywood which I then tape them to.

Then I carefully paint between the lines. Once dry I cut them out and fold them around the banner pole. Et voila!

I have something to “Top off” my life

My Wife and partner of twenty two years, who I love dearly, announced two weeks ago that she no longer loves me and wants to separate.

She does not want to talk about it as it it is all over as far as she is concerned.

I am devastated.

I gave up EVERYTHING to move here to Austria with her and the Boys. I am feeling pretty lost.

I have started writing down how I feel. But I am not sure if this blog is the right place to put my feelings out there.

Life with eleven cats and other madness

Posted on June 15, 2023 by grumpyoldtin

As promised, third day in a row!

I’ll start with the “down” part then we can progress towards more positive things.

As part of getting old I had a health check up at the local doctors, blood samples galore. One little thing he picked up on was a slight under production from my thyroid gland. Euthyrox was prescribed and the doctor would review the results after a couple of months after a blood sample was taken at the hospital. I try not to read side effect notes until after a couple of months because I don’t want to project them onto myself, just observe and reflect. I waited until after the check up before I looked and oh boy, tick, tick, tick etc. I then stopped the medication and will look at alternative thyroid medication with the doctor. Life is much better without, crushing fatigue, depression, an inability to really concentrate, shortness of breath, insomnia and eating a small amount of cheese resulted in stomach cramps accompanied by by a trip to the throne room. I’m still fatigued, which might be a complication of covid, but it is not like a huge weight of tiredness. I feel a lot better for stopping that particular medication. Yeah getting old sucks.

And just to top things off it’s pollen season. I have two or three weeks in June where my nose is just pouring. Not even antihistamines help.

Anyway, onwards and upwards!

I have managed to paint and I have been finishing parts for my big projects. Bar some little props Heroquest is ready to paint. Bloodbowl parts are printed and ready for paint and assembly. Spacehulk corridors are ready for priming, this is going to be an outside summer job. Escorts and cruisers have been printed for Battlefleet Gothic. I spot a retro theme going on here.

Some ecumenical advisors to accompany the Baron Figure from earlier this year

And more. I have to produce fifty five bases of Snotlings for my 2000pt army.

And finally the high note! Eleven, yes eleven, cats. My cat Queenie snuck out before we could get her neutered. This has resulted in the birth of some more kittens. They are going to a nice family in a couple of weeks. The family has been visiting to see the kitten’s progress and we have been observing the family. They are kind and gentle with the kittens so we have no worries. It always is a difficult parting when cats leave us.

This is Squeeky. I called her this because you can’t keep a cat called Squeeky. Can you?

We don’t have a name for her, but the family are thinking of Kitty.

My boy Jasper has been a bit freaked out by the kittens so he hasn’t been such a constant companion of late. We do seem to have bred racing kittens there is always a blur of fur. And last thing at night we have to check there is nothing loose on the floor otherwise we have a sleepless night.

Some news, some is important, some middling and some trivial

Posted on January 19, 2023 by grumpyoldtin

This is the important one!

Some of you may know Heresy Miniatures?

Well he is in a spot of bother. His words about it.

“Hi! My name is Andy Foster, I’m a miniatures sculptor who has run a tiny indie wargames miniatures maker for the last 21 years. Unfortunately, this means I can’t afford to buy a home in the UK because our housing market is nuts, and the average starter home costs over 12 times what I make in a good year, so I am only able to rent.

And because the housing market IS so insane, rental property prices are also incredibly high, and I’ve just been told that the house we have lived in for the last 8 years is having its rent increased by the landlord from £800 a month to £1175, which I absolutely can’t afford to cover.

The problem is, because I am living hand to mouth, as a lot of indie miniatures manufacturers do, I don’t have the funds in my bank account to pay for a deposit on a new rental home, or the fees involved, which amount to around £1500 for a tiny 2 bed terraced house in the UK, so I must turn to you, dear friends and customers, to help me out. Any amount is gratefully received! Any extra may need to go towards a new bed, wardrobe, etc if the house ends up with a bedroom that is too small for our current one to fit in (and I suspect my existing wardrobes won’t survive another move, they’re decades old self assembly things that are already a bit fragile!)”

There is a Go Fund Me set up and it would be really nice if everyone reading this was able to donate a little something. Even a quid would be amazing.

https://gofund.me/811fdb7b

Now to something of middling importance.

I mentioned the “Not Nog Ball” medball Kickstarter a few days ago. There has been a new addition to the campaign.

We’ve just got permission to add the Noggin character pack to the Medball Kickstarter which is great news! It consists of 3 miniatures; Noggin as a referee, Nogbad as a fan (with separate rattle) and Knut waving his scarf.

And finally some trivial news.

Last summer we were looking after two kittens that were dumped on a friend’s farm and were going to get them re homed.

One of them decided that he adored me and decided to stay. I now have a constant companion wherever I am.

2023

Posted on January 9, 2023 by grumpyoldtin

Finally it is here. Last year was a bit of a blur, nothing really of note stood out and it really did go quickly. I did hit a significant number complete with upcoming health checks. Nothing major to worry about, slightly high cholesterol and low thyroid function. I don’t have occult blood which is really not as interesting as one would think.

One thing which I do regret is that Grumpy Old Tin laser cutting is no longer a thing. The makerspace I was using changed hands and the new owners, Pioniergarage- Salzburg, have a difference in opinion about accommodating the less abled. Long covid means that it it is impossible for me to stand for two or three hours beside the laser machine and the computer is placed so you cannot sit and operate it.

More tomorrow as I had a bit of a painting blitz this last week.

Finally my Product of the Year is Vallejo’s Model Colour Vermillion. A really good punchy highlight red. I did get on the cool kids bandwagon and bought some Dirty Down Rust. I only tried it once and I realise I need a bit more practice with it.

That shirt

Posted on September 11, 2022 by grumpyoldtin

I’ll just leave this here for your enjoyment

A little update on the painting

Posted on September 6, 2022 by grumpyoldtin

I have a few more pictures to add, since May. May? Where did the time go?

This is some armoured centaur legs, from the Makers Cult, scaled up from AT scale to 40K scale. The top half is an Armiger. This was a test of the livery I am using on my Titan, sat in a box awaiting paint. The lesson wot I did lern is to not apply gloss varnish until all the armour is painted. The gold was very problematic because of this. My next big print project is a Reaver Titan mounted on the Makers Cult 40K scale centaur legs. Warlord might be a bit much.

This is from the Tesseract Tomb Patreon. I have wanted a train set for ages and he is going to be producing parts over the next few months.

This is the Marauder Giant which is now starting to fetch eye watering prices on Fleabay. Many thanks to the Delta Squad who made this possible. First rule etc.

Finally a Spaash Mareen. Number One Son and I have been taking advantage of the 9Euro German rail tickets and have been travelling to Munich for lunch, As you do. I thought I would pop into WARHAMMER! and try out this newfangled Contrast paint that all the cool kids are using these days. The Red Shirt gave me a figure to try it on. While I was slappinig paint on he was inanely chatting to me in English, but in German was really (like really) pushing the hobby onto Number One Son.

One of our lunches. Nothing too extravagant, just a pork knuckle, potato dumpling, dark beer gravy and sauerkraut.

BUT as a result of the trip to WARHAMMER! Number One Son has expressed an interest in gaming. So now the modular table is getting some use, perhaps I need to get on and paint it? We are using our own version of One Hour Skirmish.

https://penandswordbooks.com/subject-categories/collecting-games-hobbies/wargaming/one-hour-skirmish-wargames.html

A system which utilises playing cards instead of dice which can make the turn system chaotic and fun. Highly recommended.

I also have been distracted by kittens, we are helping a neighbour rehouse kittens. Her farm is used as a dumping ground for unwanted kittens and she finds it a bit too much at times.

We also have been having family days out.

Long covid

Posted on April 11, 2022 by grumpyoldtin

These last few weeks have been a bit of a struggle. Covid has left me suffering with fatigue, lack of focus, demotivation and shortness of breath. I have been doing small stabs at hobby, but I haven’t had the enthusiasm to really get stuck in with the painting.

I have been making progress with Blender, 3d modelling software. And I am attempting to rig, basically putting a skeleton inside the figure, my model which will make posing a lot easier.

I have been making some tools for my workshop. I always need clamps for glueing and I have been eyeing up some right angle aids on that fabulous far eastern trader. My aim was to avoid plastic and as I had a lot of spare wood scavenged from the Happylab bins I thought I would attempt to make my own.

I am now working on a bigger version of this now.

The weather has been going from snow to sunshine and back again in a day.

I have had some nice walks when the weather has been clement. My mood improves after being out.

I have finished building the modular tiles for my 4 x 4 modular ruined city table. Now to slap some paint on them.

My neighbour, who is a bit of a perfectionist, took ten hours to deconstruct my Ender3 3D printer and rebuild it totally square. The difference is amazing and I will be posting some pictures soon.

There you have it. A brief catch up on what has been happening.