The Original Banana Republic Store

I remember back in the 1980s when Banana Republic stores featured Safari gear and other travel accessories that harkened back to the 1930s and Indiana Jones movies or a 1950s Stewart Granger safari movie. The catalog also featured one-off finds that the owners discovered during the course of their global travels.

The company was headquartered in the San Francisco area and it issued wonderful catalogs on a regular basis (monthly?). The cover always had a hand drawn, somewhat whimsical, drawing on the cover that was a little work of art in its own right. Some of the stores had funny displays such as a real army Jeep or artificial animal Trophy heads, or even a full sized artificial giraffe. Every visit to Banana Republic was a travel safari in its own right.

I was a regular customer of Banana Republic in the 1980s. I had my Indiana Jones fedora, Khaki pants and safari shorts ( outerwear, not underwear, LOL), various backpacks and travel bags, etc. The clothes were of very good quality and you could wear the trousers, shirts etc. without looking like a poser. They were really handy for hiking trips.

Alas, somewhere along the line, the company was bought by The Limited, a national retail clothing chain, bought Banana Republic and turned it into a high priced clothing store that targeted Yuppies ( Young Urban Professionals) and more specifically young women.

No more colorful catalogs to look at. Once my safari trousers had worn out, there was no way to replace them. It was a sad loss, indeed.

When Will You Return To Live War Gaming?

Last weekend on the Virtual War-game Club ("VWC") on-line forum we had a discussion about how and when we would return to live person to person wargaming. One member had a game scheduled for that very weekend. Hello Mr. Canary; how safe is that coal mine? Others were on the fence of yes and no a couple of people were not ready for person to person contact, due to health issues in their families. 

So that sort of runs the gamut of all possibilities and I suspect that the majority of us are sitting on the fence at this moment in time. I was in the fence sitter camp, but a day or so after the VWC meeting, my thoughts started turning in the positive direction; and here's why:

Since the pandemic lock down began in mid March and basically ran through the end of June, I have been making regular trips to the grocery store, gas (petrol) station and the pharmacy. I take great care when I am out in the public domain, wearing a face mask, wearing disposable latex gloves, carrying a pocket sized bottle of hand sanitizer, and being mindful of keeping social distancing.

At the risk of karma going bad or my being jinxed by saying this, I have not contracted the Covid-19 virus. That got me to thinking: "if I can make a trip to the grocery store and be safe (mindful that there are a good number of other shoppers in the store), why not give person to person war gaming a try?" When you think about it, it seems that one would be relatively safe, or at least as safe as being in the grocery store, in a group of four to six people who are wearing masks and following all of the other protocols of virus safety. Wouldn't the grocery store be riskier than playing a game set up in the garage, or outdoors?

In the VWC meeting last week, members came up with a number of ideas that could help make group war games safe:

1) the obvious one - following the established protocols (masks, gloves and distancing)

2) each player only moves his own figures in his command

3) each player has his own set of dice, dice are not shared

4) each player brings his own beverage refreshments and snacks, no sharing of snacks.

5) wiping down surfaces with disinfectant spray, as needed (this would not include giving your first battalion of the Prussian Winterfeldt regiment a heavy spritz of disinfectant after each handling).

6) keeping six feet distance among players.

7) limit the number of participants to four to six people.

8) possibly set up the game table outdoors provided the weather cooperated.

I believe that the implementation of these protocols would make for a low risk war gaming event. Are there any other ideas that you can think of? If so, please make a comment in the comment section at the end of this blog post.

My garage can accomodate a rather large wargame table, being that it has three car stalls, of which one is not in use. My wargame tables are those 2.5ft by 6ft "school cafeteria " fold up tables that you can buy in stores such as Staples or online at ULine and other similar suppliers. I have enough tables to set up a single 6ft by 20ft table, or a smaller length of table, but with two parallel tables and a virtual aisle. Airflow should be good with all three garage doors open.

Another idea is to set up the tables in the drive way adjacent to my garage. The air breeze and circulation would be even better than that inside the garage. I could purchase one of those portable "flys" or open sided tents that you see at local farmers' markets or outdoor craft show. This would provide needed shade on a sunny day. 

I think that this idea is doable. Now all that I have to do is convince my regular group of gamers that an outdoor game would carry less risk than a visit to the grocery store.

What do you think?

Modeling The Governor-General's Palace In Khartoum

The Governor-General's Palace in Khartoum.
Work In Progress

Over the July 4th weekend I decided that it was time to grasp the nettle and start buiding 1/32 scale Middle Eastern buildings to represent Khartoum in my 54mm Sudan Project.

Part of the wood framing structure built behinds the foam core board walls.

Cross beams for the second floor, notched to add strength to the beams.

Interior bracing to provide a platform for the roof and to prevent the foam core board from warping .

Foam core board walls have been glue together. A sewing pin (3 per corner) is added for extra strength and then the corners are covered with masking tape to conceal the join.

I found some ornamental wood trim at Home Depot. The twisted piece makes for a nice Arabic column. Another piece of trim is glued to the facade to cover the join of the roof to the front facade.

Cross beams are now glued to the front and back of the building. These will serve as a beam on which to rest the veranda floor in the front of the building. A similar beam on the back and sides break up the mass of the walls and provide an element of architectural interest. Windows and doors will be added later.

Front beam to support the veranda deck is glued horizontally.
Twisted trim wood looks perfect for Arabic architecture.

The roof is now glued to the model and another piece of wood trim is glued to the top of the front facade. It looks nice and it covers the join of the roof pieces to the front facade.

Similar work is done on the sides and the back of the building.

A two-inch wide piece of balsa wood forms the veranda floor which is supported by plain columns made out of dowel rod. I made some templates for the front windows/doorways out of paper and they give me a hint at how the finished model will look. One of the paper windows has been replaced by one made out of balsa wood.

Mock up paper windows give me an idea of how the front facade will look.

The palace would look rather boring or incomplete without some kind of focal point on the roof. I found some pine rosettes in varying sizes at Home Depot. These cost around one dollar each. I stacked them up to create a more interesting skyline silhouette. I might add a roof top handrail on posts, but that might be too much work for me. I think that a handrail on the front veranda would be appropriate though.

Now we have an idea of how the palace will look when it is finished. Obviously there is still much work to do such as adding window on the back and sides of the building and more doors on the ground floor in the front.

The building will be painted either to match the color of the other buildings or it could be an off-white color. All of the buildings will be attached to cork placemats in a modular format. I will be able to mix and match various modules together to create different looks. The cork will be painted.

I sprinkled a few civilians around the town center for the photo shoot. These are 54mm toy soldiers from Trophy of Wales Miniatures. I wish that I could find some Middle Eastern civilians to populate Khartoum .  Any suggestions are welcome.

I placed some architectural rosettes (purchased at Home Depot) on the roof of the building
 to provide some visual interest of the roof. These will eventually be glued in place.

An Egyptian obelisk, purchased from an art museum, provides a nice focal point in the plaza in front  of the Governor-General's Palace. Some of the ex-pats from Britain are inspecting the new building.

And finally:  a pre-made minaret arrived in the mail from King & Country Miniatures. I was going to make my own minaret, but when I saw this model, I had to have it. It is perfect for the scene and gives the town a Middle Eastern feel. I will have to build my own mosque and leave a place on it for the minaret. The dome of the mosque will be made from a lid for a coffee drink from Starbucks.

A new minaret fom King & Country arrived to day and now sits atop the mock up of the town's mosque.

The new buildings improve the skyline of Khartoum.

Aerial view of the whole town and its walls. The wall extensions are works in progress.

 I am tempted to push the town walls out further to create more space for the city behind the walls. The Palace should have a formal garden in the front and I could add the town armory  next door to the Palace.


The model will soon be ready for paint and I am kind of anxious about this step. The main thing is that I don't want the foam core board to warp when it has been painted. I did some test work on a piece of half-inch thick piece of the board and it didn't warp. The eighth and quarter inch boards warped so I won't be using these thicknesses.

Gorcy Hussars Minden Pictures

Gorcy Hussars of Württemberg

One of my customers sent me some pictures of some of his painted Minden Miniatures. These are Austrian hussars painted as the Gorcy Hussars of Würtemberg.

This demonstrates the versatility of Minden figures for armies of other countries. This unit is one of the most beautiful examples of Minden figures that I've ever seen.

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Happy Fourth of July

Independence Hall in Philadelphia 

I want to wish everyone a happy Fourth of July holiday today. This is the day when Americans celebrate the declaration of our independence from Great Britain and the creation of what would eventually be called the United States of America.

The holiday is actually a bit more meaningful because it seems like it is the one day of the year in which we are all Americans, all one people no matter what creed or color of one's skin or political beliefs are.

Usually I would take the family to the local July 4th parade and then we would have family and friends visit for a cookout in the backyard, followed by a viewing of fireworks in the evening.

However, this year, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Purky family is staying home today in self-lockdown to stay the virus. It is a completely different feel this holiday. We can only hope for better days ahead.


Meanwhile, here is a picture that hopefully will generate a few laughs:

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Morgan's Rifles At Saratoga- New Greens Pix

The other day Richard Ansell sent me some pictures of his latest work on the Fife and Drum AWI figure range: Daniel Morgan's Rifles at Saratoga.

The greens are on their way to Griffin Moulds where the master and production Moulds will be made and the figures will be cast. There are a total of eight different figures and they will be sold as a pack of eight figures, with one of each pose.

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Behind the Walls of Khartoum

My mockup layout for Khartoum in 54mm

I have been working on some building "mock ups" to portray the city of Khartoum in the area behind the walls of the city.

The Modeling Professionals

Seeking some ideas and inspiration, I found some very attractive model Middle Eastern buildings on the internet. These building models were made by professionals, but hopefully I can use some of them to guide my building of models for my version of Khartoum and Suakin.

Wow!

Another view of the building in the first picture.

Note the narrow street or alleyway in the moddle of the models.

Overhead view of several of the models placed together to form a city block or compound.

Mockup Town Layout for Khartoum

Yesterday I decided to build a mockup of a possible layout for my version of Khartoum in 1885. I already have three 54mm buildings from King & Country Miniatures that form the basis of the town. However, it is obvious that I will need many more buildings, so I started a mock layout using cardboard boxes to give me an idea of how much area I have to work with behind the city walls.

I placed some pieces of ornamental wood blocks on top of some of the buildings to add some architectual detail. The round and oblong bases were bought at Michaels Stores. The Two square blocks are rosettes purchased from Home Depot. The minaret is a cardboard tube from a roll of paper towels, topped by a round MDF base and stacked with some 1-1/2 round discs that were purchased from Michaels. You can see various toy soldiers standing next to some of the "buildings" to give some context to the size.

A view behind the walls: the minaret in the center will be an important landmark.

The finished town walls are made by King & Country.
I plan on extending the walls using the 1/2-inch thick foam core board.

The Khartoum skyline.

Plastic coffee lid from Starbucks makes for a nice dome.

What's Next?

Now the question is, how will I actually make the buildings?

My first building will be made from cardboard, using either an existing box or wall pieces that I will cut from heavy duty liner board that I have been saving over the past year. Some of the liner board used for shipping consumer products are quite sturdy and should be easy to cut to size. Then it is a matter of adding things such as windows and balconies and stairs made from bass wood and plywood.

The big question and concern is, how to paint the model so that it doesn't warp from the paint? I will probably start with a small building to work out some of the construction details and to see if it can withstand warping when I paint it.

I would like to use pre-mixed wallboard paste (Spackel compound) to create a stucco or adobe texture and look. Experiments indicated that nothing less than 1/2-inch thick foam core will resist warping. The eight inch and quarter inch thick pieces warped when I applied the spackel.

I've been reluctant to start the modeling project - fear of the unknown I guess. I think that I can do the construction part, but it is the painting and warp prevention parts that give me pause.

I guess that the solution is simply to give it a go, hope for the best, make some mistakes, and learn from my mistakes.