Paints Table and Paint Storage

Hello There! I have seen how a number of painters keep 'control' of their painting table, (or not!), and thought I would post what I have done with mine.

These would all sit on a large lipped plastic tray. When the number of colours I had became unmanageable I separated the rows using strips of plywood. This then grew some more and the tray was not large enough!

I saw this laser cut MDF tray, which for the life of me I cannot remember where I purchased them from!, and clipped the standing ones together with bulldog clips on the back.

The Vallejo paints are in number order and I have become accustomed to the order they are in, although from another view the colours and shades of the same colours are spread through the entire range! 

The other products I use for painting are equally messy and I found some small boxes for sale in 'The Works' They are only in lightweight wood, (probably balsa), with a small clip on the front.

I used some different colours paints for each one and when I still could not find what I wanted quickly I then printed some labels off and encapsulated them and glued them to the boxes.

It took a little time but had saved far more time searching since.

Minster Gate Book Shop, York

Hello There! I have visited York a few times in the past and have always tried to visit the Minster Gate Bookshop.

The stock has varied considerable from year to year but always seems to have something of interest on their shelves. This year was a very good year!

I found that they had a number of plates and pictures on offer. After flicking through a number of trays I found this. As I am painting Front Rank French Napoleonic Legere at the moment, I took that as a good omen and rescued this plate. 

I have a couple of publications by James Holland so this was a nice surprise to find. Especially as his style of writing is easy to read.

I have seen this book used as a reference on a number of occasions, by other authoritative publications. This is the first time I have seen one available. Although I am not greatly interested in the sieges of this period I have listened to a few podcasts about them so thought I would pick this one up.

I have a few books on the Marshals of France and Marshal Ney has always been of interest to me.

I have heard that this has been a bit of a contentious volume in the past so I thought I would read this. So much of this battle and campaign has been related in a very Anglo centric way that I would like to see what this has to say.

My Grand father missed this debacle but was out in this theatre afterwards.

This is that last volume from Adkins that I wanted to purchase having already obtained Waterloo and Gettysburg.

This bookshop is certainly worth visiting if you are in the area.

Vapnartak 2025

Hello There! I have just returned from Vapnartak and had a lovely weekend out and about in York with my partner.

I was a great weekend and here are some quick posts about the weekend and some of the sites, and buys, there,

First the show. Unlike Partizan the show has some demonstration games and some for display. While the game quality is not up to Partizans standard there were a number of games that had been at The Other Partizan, from last year and looked splendid.

This 'Wings of War' games had a nice base mat for the ground which went well with the game. The players were also very welcoming.

This game was very well attended and had a number of players which did seem to move along quiet well. I liked the castle walls, which appeared to be foam board with block work etched into it.

I have a few large 28mm ships sitting in my store cupboards and this game reminded me I need to get them sorted!

Here is a close up of the castle walls. The cannon was obviously manhandled from the ship!

This 28mm game was certainly a different period of history for me but looked good on the table.

Close up it was possible t see these were 28mm Perrys plastic ACW cavalry, converted.

The Yarkshire Gamer also bought this magnificent set up from The Other Partizan.

This game, set in a snowy waste, looked good and there were some nice snow effects used.

I have been experimenting with different foliage for trees recently and I thought these trees could have benefitted from the seafoam I have been using recently.

Tucked in the corner of one of the sub floors was this 28mm AWI game which while it was good was in a position in the building with poor lighting making it difficult to get some good photos of it.

Another way of making trees for scenery can be seen here.

Lastly this spectacular D Day game in a very small scale.

This view reminded me of a feature in one of the very old wargames magazines from the '90's where 1/300th Normandy bocage scenery had been made for a large table. I must dig up that edition!

The water effect was very well modelled.

Overall a very nice day. We arrived at 10 am and while there was a long queue that went down very quickly indeed and was well stewarded.

I left at 1.30pm and felt like I had been there for hours!