Leopard 2 and Lynx attack of the cats

Well hello to you all! and I bet some of you are thinking what is Gowan going to post this time? well this may come as a shock but models are in the post today (crowd in disbelief). yes it's been too long but finally I have some thing to show you and I think it is a well rounded post including a Kit, Diecast and a figure, but also, a vehicle, an aircraft and and infantryman.

Well lets start off with my personal favourite the Tank! the Leopard 2 A6(M) according to the Revell box. But as with nearly all the tanks it's Oronegrean built and bred.  The kit was a bit of a hassel to build certainly the solid tracks were not nice to put together and I failed misserably at doing the whole warming and bending thing. (one worked OK but the rest snapped and have been glued into place). Another problem was the garage clear out that took place half way through construction meaning that the decals were lost and now are possibly out with the rest of the rubbish. So the tank has no markings or licence plates that would have been nice to add but one problem can be another opportunity. This tank because of its unique camouflage can be an Oronegrean tank, a German one or another nations tank. certainly what decals would have given the tank aesthetically is made up with new found usability.

a soldier for scale purposes... no decals but that doesn't bother me. it just makes this all the more usable.

This being Oronegro, the tank is clearly Oronegrean built so this is the Leoplard O3 with advanced gun, a lighter varient of the same nigh impenitrable armour of the Oronegrean Challengers and Abrams. Not to mention a ridiculous engine that makes the advanced hydrogen fuel cell of the challengers look sane. this tank is Nuclear powered! (extreme disbelief) now, now don't you worry not all are so powered many have conventional internal combustion or hydrogen fuel cell power plants but a few of these tanks incorperate nuclear powerplants... which I'll explain later and (as with the challengers) back up diesel engine.

this one was an interesting build with all the many parts... not the hardest kit I've made but not an easy one

noo the table is showing I thought I had got all shots with only white background

from behind

 Right lets talk about the engine as we're at that end of the tank (previous photo). it is nuclear but uses an element that does not exist on the normal periodic table, this element decays very slowly but gives off lots of energy, three rods are placed in the reactor which is shielded by a casing of ridicolouslydenseium  which shields the crew (though the reactor manager does wear an NBC suit for extra safety). only one of the three rods is ever active at one time, all three would potentially cause a meltdown. in case of an emergency or one of the rods going out of control the rods can be automatically loaded into special shells and fired out of the main gun (which has a shieled autoloader) these shells, if loaded into armed shells (there are two types eject, for emergencies, armed for using them as weapons) explode with a reasonably large nuclear blast. should all three rods be ejected the diesil engine can let the big cat limp away at a stately 15km/h.

the required "propoganda" shot

 Next up is a Lynx this is an advanced version based on the AH7. this one is built (wait for it) by AgustaWestland NOT IN ORONEGRO (more disbelief) this lynx has been given the most powerful, reliable engines on offer so that it can reach the top speeds of the fastest models, i.e the fastest of all helicopters. equipped with the TOE missiles (advanced version of the TOW) and a door gunner occasionally opens the door to cover the side (mostly they stay inside, its unnerving flying low at such high speeds)
Now this lynx came with helicopter magazine... I had a difficult choice as I had to choose between the lynx or a German eurotiger (would have gone well with the Leopard) but as I have an apache kit I thought another transport would be better and the missiles gave this one the edge. Now I do have a comparison shot later of both Lynx (what is the plural?) so you can see the difference.

this is a nice diecast, although I have had to cut and glue a few things here, I clearly got the runt of the litter.

 Now for the figure. Sorry about the photo's as I didn't get the lighting right. This man is Oronegrean Special forces (haven't decided which... marine?) who unusually for my figures has the Oronegrean flag painted on his shoulder. he's one of a few figures I have been working on for a while, real mixed quality as some of the figures had unexpected flash (strange for caesar figs) and were primmed with nasty Tamiya primmer (really thick sticky coat) but many are also conversions so it's interesting to see how they're turning out.

sorry about the lighting

still too dark but you can see the camo pattern reasonably well.

 Now for that comparison! Scale difference is minimal which is nice although clearly the new lynx is of better quality. I don't have any british forces in Oronegro but they along with many NATO forces were involved, so perhaps down the line I should get some. have the helicopter but no-body for it to support to transport. the old lynx is pretty generic though and despite its either Soviet or Polish origins its not too bad compated with the new one IMHO.

from above

different angle.

 All together now.

Rebels beware more forces have joined the goverments cause.

Well thats it for today.

Prizegiving... THE AWARD

well what can I say... a fortnight ago the school had it's senior prizegiving. a big formal event where the awards are given out. Well it went as expected though I did get up at the wrong moment luckily I realised though I still looked silly. Anyway I collected my humble endeavour awards (for working hard in my classes) and sat down not expecting to get anything else and just to be an average person. I was a little sad as I had hoped to do a little better... BUT THEN...

happy

Well as you can see from the picture I clearly have an award. :-D it is a big one too one I never expected to get. Anyway this is the story...

I was sitting feeling a little glum though I was happy to see my friends and fellow prefects getting their awards. Then it came to the Principals award chosen by Mr Vanderlaan himself. for a student who has overcome adversity, still I didn't expect much but then there came the speech... (this is roughly what he said)

this was an award to a student who at his primary school was taken out of class to receive special help with his mental disabilities. Asperger's syndrome, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and ADHD which made it hard for him to socialise.

At this point I knew it was me, the smile on my face went from ear to ear (it would stay like that for a while too, fortunately its gone back to normal now) I also started to notice how the prefects next to me were one by one figuring it out also.

The speech went on for a while but when it came an end I rushed up on stage to applause, certainly a moment I shall not forget... I shook hands with Mr Vanderlaan and looked across my stage to see my dad being given the award to hand over to me. not knowing whether to hug him or be really formal I collected the award from my father and walked off stage... shaking... that was an emotional moment for sure. the prize-giving went on for a bit longer I watched good friends getting the top academic awards, but I was happier than ever, I didn't need 3-5 awards (our head boy Ethan did, or more, one of the nicest people I know)

Well that was a while ago, I was just waiting for the picture! the award I'll have to give back for the next year's recipient but I have a nice certificate and received $100 with it. Although now I am going through my BIG EXAMS so it's not all over yet. but I think that MY FINAL DAY OF SCHOOL EVER (apart from the exams and university which doesn't count) could not have ended in a better way.

hope your all well and happy yourselves. I have a Leopard 2 (my favourite tank) and another Lynx (a die-cast) to show off to you next so don't worry I will show some models on this blog soon enough :-D

happy, happy, happy, MAD, happy, happy, taken to the mental hospital, happy, happy, happy. (ok that's enough of that)

A 2 Day Treck from...

two weeks ago...
Well I must say that despite my apparent big re-emergence on blogger post I have not actually been that present. actually I haven't even worked much on my models which is another thing I expected I would be doing.
Well anyway onto the big adventure. you see before the recent two week holidays, vacation, time out of school with study and some fun thrown in, my friend and I thought it would be cool to go on a hike in the hills. He and his family have just come back from a 6 month world tour (not your usual one though) and Miles himself did a 30 day hike up in Alaska with a group of boys and their instructors hiking and practising survival skills in the Alaskan wilderness.
Anyway it was decided (i.e. our parents found out our plans and then re-made them for us :-P) that we would walk in the beautiful Coromandel ranges. it was great two days walking along trails kept clear only by the walkers who use it and the occasional DOC official. we had to ration our food, climb under and over innumerable fallen trees, go around many obstacles (and then find the path again), cook our own food and carry all our supplies, sleeping bags, and equipment on our backs.... in short Great fun and even Greater exercise.

well that there is table top mountain and this place was the start of what was to be our great adventure

Our trip ran from the Kauaeranga Valley along the middle of the three main westward running tramping tracks up to Crosbies hut and then down out of the hills to Te Puru. Miles and I had chosen the path (well which of the three tracks to start at and which of the three possible places to end up at) and along with getting all our gear sorted and going back over our map skills (he had learnt in Alaska, I got top of Level 1 Geography at school, so we were pretty good in that department) and what to do in an emergency (Miles had learnt what to do there, I had a rough idea what to do) we were ready to go (except I didn't have hiking boots but my old munted "dog walking" trainers rose to the challenge)!

 At 10-10 am on Monday the 7th of October we set off on our big adventure the first day of walking ahead of us... roughly 5 hours we were told. or was it we would get there at 5 pm????

A view of table top mountain taken later on that day. as you can see we have moved quite far as we are now looking at the mountain from a completely different angle

 

a view taken slightly later on that day. our view of the mountain helped us greatly in our attempts to determine how far along the track we were.

if you can see the bottom down there you might also be able to tell that this was an overhang... not a nice thing to realise when this is a good track and one you'd think would be in a safe(er) place.

A big bracket fungus.

a look back the track... can you see where it goes?

well after hours of debate we finally reach the join between our track (which had already joined another track) and the third track, now its just a short leg to the hut (a short 2 and a half hours)

WHAT A VIEW!!!!!!

urr not sure what we're looking at here.

Is this a repeated picture???? yes it is. I thought I had deleted them all :-?

getting close now. its been a long walk up the sides of some pretty steep hills and along some really difficult paths, this is not the sort of walk for people who are not to sure of their fitness.

as you can see I am not that good a photographer.

 AND WE MADE IT!!!!!
we got to the Cabin at 3pm... so if it was a prediction of arriving at 5pm we got there very early, if it was 5 hours we got there on time.

the view of Table top mountain from the hut! completely different view from here.

 Anyway Table top mountain had never been that far away and the view from the hut was great. Miles and I had a debate whether it would be cooler if there had been a James Bond style base (my idea) or Giant Castle (Miles' idea) on top... What would you choose?

far off in the distance can be seen Coromandel town! a really cool little place.

 looking roughly north towards Coromandel town.

some information about the hut... if your interested you can always look it up.

 The hut itself is very modern, and well insulated, which was good as it was very exposed on top of the hill.

very interesting little place, good thing those winows were double glassed.

 We were joined later on my two other guys who had come the same way as us. we had last seen them at Orange peel corner (and there was orange peel there) I did get a picture of them and Miles but I was not sure if they were too keen of my sharing the photo (it's their choice and I shall respect that)

there are the bunks. that's one of my dry bags which were inside the Giant back-pack.

 most of the time was passed just looking out the windows. I had bought my binoculars which meant we were able to tell that it was Coromandel town in the distance. anyway later as night drew on we boiled some water and had our pot noodles and soup, we had brought things that would last well and keep well.... the other guys had bacon, pasta, milk?, chocolate pudding things and other nice food... we were clearly over prepared for quite an easy walk. They also had toilet paper for the long drop, which we didn't and Miles dearly wished we had brought (our parents had convinced us it was not a good idea to bring it). Fortunately for myself I never had to worry about a lack of toilet paper for the 2 days we were out there.... actually thanks to avoiding using the school toilets I didn't have to worry about a lack of toilets for the duration of our walk on the first day.

sunset on day one

just another shot... for good measure. over the hills there, somewhere, roughly, is Waiuku.

And that concludes day one of our adventure! sleep that night was not so easy as one of the other two guys who joined us in the cabin that night snored all night long. Poor Miles didn't get much sleep and was tired the next morning.

good Morning table top mountain

 We got up quite early on day 2, around 6:30-6:50 instead of the planned 7:30 which was quite good as the sunrise was incredible, as I said earlier I am not a good photographer but mother nature provided some very beautiful and easy to take shots that dawn.

I was really happy with this shot.

and this one.

 as the sun rose steadily we got ready for another day! We had our breakfast... just add Milk/water (in our case water) porridge. I had two flavours, golden syrup and cinnamon, which I combined (bad idea). Miles had two golden syrup ones and was fine but mine was horrible and I had to eat is slowly to keep it down... and then it got cold and adding more hot water made it worse so it had to go.

really nice (unlike breakfast)

Coromandel in the morning mist.

 After a tiny breakfast, that was really unpleasant we took our time in getting ready... and at 8 am (10 past to be precise) we were off! day two was predicted to be a 5-6 hour long walk from the hut to the coast. before the trek we had measured the distance and day two was meant to be shorter than day one but that was before we actually encountered the terrain.

our state of preparedness rose higher in sync with the sun.

anyway it was great to get going. and any aches and pains from the day before were soon forgotten (we intended to make them worse :-P) I had bad rubbing on my collar bones as my back pack was borrowed... and meant for women so it really didn't fit me, but there was no alternative so the sore shoulders we necessary.

first marker not far from the hut.

A last look at table top mountain

and the hut (really hard to see) I don't think table top mountain is in shot here.

 Now you might not expect this but on the top of these steep and rugged hills there is just enough flat land for some really nasty bogs to be produced. this slowed us right down, and made the path the last thing we wanted to step on.

fortunately the path was like this often enough to make this a walk not a swim.

 We got to the second marker after 1 hour and 30 minutes. up until that point we had been counting markers and had reached around 400! so we decided not to carry on.

3 hours to go! and one and a half hours done...

 anyway after the marker we again descended into a boggy bit, but then climbed back up and into the trees

A HUGE KAURI tree, incredibly thousands once grew here but loggers cleared these steep and wild hills almost completely in the 19th and early 20th centuries, nearly all the tree's we'd walked through were either high enough to survive or re-grouth

heading down the hills, we'd only stopped once ages ago and were getting really hungry (we had trail mix but we were saving it up for what we thought would be a descent leg to go after the first river crossing.

Anyway sooner we descended back down the hills and into the valley that would take us back to civilisation. at our first river crossing we got out the stove again and had some more noodles. it was around 1 and we thought we might get there around 2 the predicted time of arrival.

Miles crossing the river, it was really nice here, so quiet and it felt so far from civilisation yet is was so close.

This is why New Zealand is used in so many films, people are everywhere but so few in number that the wilderness is easy to access.

 After the first river crossing we got out of our boots and shoes, removed the bottoms of our trekking pants to make them shorts (there is a zip, we didn't break them) and I put on my sandals and Miles his crocks and we carried on... we thought we had around 40 minutes to go, we actually had much less.

  

after we crossed. I had to balance to take this photo.

 it only felt like a few minutes and after crossing the river only once more we turned around the corner and saw across the next river crossing my parents waiting to take us home. Half an hour early we crossed the river one last time and all to soon we were back in the civilised world.

Miles and I  after our little adventure. (can you tell I am tired, I'm on the right of the photo for all who did not know)

Well it was good fun! and I would definitely do it again! Perhaps after exams are done and dusted Miles and I and perhaps some other friends can go on a 3 day hike! Certainly a great experience and it was great to get off the computer and away from computer games although Miles and I did think that the terrain would make a fun map for one of my games.... as for the slipping up tolls. 2 to me and 5 to miles.

hope your having a great day/night everyone! Sorry if I have missed posts but I have been either doing important things related to school and several university applications (boring and complicated), playing games (far to much) or prefect stuff. anyway hopefully I can get things sorted out but until then I hope you've enjoyed this incredibly pic heavy post

More Metal!!!! Winttrix work and my own

well folks I have more to show you. some really cool figures here, ones that I really wanted to get and as you imagine when I found them in the box from Winttrix (Emmett) I was really happy. I'll go through what's mine and his (well which one of use painted them) and hopefully you'll like them. I must say that the figs he painted here arrived with a bit to quite a large amount of paint missing so I have done my very best to fix them up again... I must say that parts that I have done are quite easily spotted, well I assume so as I am colour blind and if I can tell you should be able to as well.

anyway onwards!!!
these first four figures are all my own work. on the right we have some special forces painted up for the desert, Oronegro having a very large mostly autonomous arid region to the south (I have yet to upload those maps... sorry...). On the left he have some figs I was really excited to get, helicopter gunners! Or if you like some advanced soldiers, no matter who they are I'm sure they'll find many uses.

all together then the camouflaged guns is an experiment on my part.

these guys do look scary but that makes them so much better.

you can't tell but I thought it was about time to experiment with skin tones, the marksman is Afro Caribbean (just to be interesting)

 Now out of the following three guys 2 are by Winttrix (Emmett) and one is by myself. I am sure you can tell which is which.

in the foreground we have the two figures by Emmett the pants on the guy on the right had to be totally redone and the helmet and other parts of the guy on the left needed re-painting

now my figure, yes he's got a ginger moustache, like my physics teacher who is now a proud father. his partner giving birth to a lovely baby girl named Aurora a few weeks ago (P.S his magazine matches his moustache, now who can claim that?)

all three from another angle

well there you have it folks another post. I am not able to follow everyone's blogs right now so I apologise for that. its the holidays right now so really just a time to kick back and study (bugger) though only 2 hours a day so I am not too busy.

Also I have a new follower greetings to Toma from tomas minis world. nice to have you here.
anyway good day/night everyone!