Moving the Hobby Cave - The Hobby Cave MkII

Yikes, has it really been almost two months since I last posted?  Yes, yes it has.  It's been even longer since I put brush to model.  Bummer.

Settling into my new digs, a new social situation and, more importantly, my new job has been a bit more time consuming than I could have guessed.  Great for me in a personal sense overall, but my hobbies and my blogging have taken a hit.  Worth it to be out of Wretched Connecticut, though. 

I did, however, get a fair amount of  Hobby Cave unpacking done (under the guise of helping Special Lady Friend empty out some moving boxes) and even managed to buy the furniture I'll need to upgrade fully to the MkII version.

I also got to hang the Guinness sign that's been in storage for the last 4 years.

The past 8 weeks have been a kind of a blur of unpacking, getting settled in, plugging back into a social life and trying to hit the ground running at work.  Not a whole hell of a lot of time for hobby stuff.

But I did sneak some in.  I did my first bit of commission work in over 14 years for Lo and the Dude over at Armored Gopher games.  I had donated an unused, but totally rad set of gaming boards and a smattering of terrain to the Gopher and it turned out to be a crowd favorite.  But only if you could play on a 4x4 surface.  Which, apparently, was harshing the buzz of the 40k players.  Phone calls were made, deals were struck and an additional pair of 2x2 sections where dropped off last week much to everyone's satisfaction.  

With that out of the way and the beginnings of a routine shaping up, I jumped right into a project I've wanted to do for 5 years. 

Last week, I built a gaming table.

Behold its glory! (pretend there's a trumpet fanfare right here)

Really happy with the way it turned out and I can't wait to get some games in on it.

I could probably spend the better part of two more posts detailing the planning, construction, and the hiccups I went through to make this bad boy.  I dunno if I will though.  I didn't take any pictures for one.  For two, I just can't commit to a blogging schedule right now.

The general idea was that I wanted a kind f universal table on top of which separate gaming surfaces will be placed.  You can see my Malifaux board below.  Other than that, I also wanted a storage shelf on the bottom and for the whole thing to be semi portable.  The legs are only bolted on, so I can break it down for (relatively) easy moving.

If any one has any questions about it (or anything else for that matter), shoot me a comment and I'll do my best to answer.

Moving the Hobby Cave - Update #16

All that's left between me and completion is getting the terrain boards ready to go.  This was actually pretty fun, so it was a much better way to end it all then trying to clean a 5 year old stain off the wall.

Mixed in with the boards were all my extra materials.  It's all pretty thin and would cost a fair bit of money to replace so they're going in the truck along with all the rest of it.

I've got a 3x3 board and a 4x4 board that breaks up into 4 sections to pack.  Which isn't all that bad - especially given the manageable sizes.

Just for funzies, here's the 4x4 in all it's glory.

My plan to protect these things revolved around a bunch of old towels, some duct tape and my increasingly trusty plastic wrap.

In a general sense, the idea is to first wrap the board in a blanket or towel...  (In the case of the 3x3, some extra towels were added in on the turf side for extra padding.)

and then wrap some tape around the whole thing to keep it fixed in place.

A few layers of plastic were added to make things more secure.

Lastly, some left over blue insulation foam was taped on to provide crucial protection for the corners.

The 2x2 sections went down pretty much the same with the exception that I did them two at a time, face to face with some blue foam placed in between for padding.

 See, looks the same.

And the group shot.  I think this should do a pretty good job of protecting the investment.

With this last little bit, all of my hobby stuff is packed.

Except for that damn tress stand!  Shit.

Now, if I may get serious for a bit:

The hobby cave Mk2 had been a much needed little haven, if you will, from the last few years of my life.  So the packing has just that little bit of a bummer in it.

 It was a little 56 square foot closet that was completely mine - a place where I could get a much needed breather from a 5 year period  that really has been the worst in my life.   I'm moving on to better things and most likely a better hobby space to boot, so I have everything to look forward to.  But when I was isolated from friends and family, stuck in the worst job I've ever had and drowning in a see of assholes, I had somewhere fun to go where could do something I was passionate about and escape all the bullshit.

It's all packed now and while I will miss the sanctuary and what it represented, I'm looking forward to the possibilities of the hobby cave Mk3 and moving my hobby away from all the negativity in my life on the east coast.

It's a lot to look forward to.

Moving the Hobby Cave - Update #15

I got back from the dumpser and got back to the hobby cave.  After a touch of vacuum maintenance, though.

First order of business was to get at all the little bits and such that had collected over the years.  Mostly it was toothpicks, paperclip bits and some tape.  Again, I'm not too sure the carpet can be saved, but I don't want anybody getting stabbed by all the sharp things that I carelessly left behind.

Plus, it's just part of being a good tenant.

To my surprise, the whole endeavor went a hell of a long way towards making the room look presentable.  Or at least bordering the concept.

The gross foot-dirt stain got some love, but the results were much less impressive and further ruined by all those mysterious red paint spatters.

Speaking of gross, Hobby Trashcan 2000 is also on it's way to the dumpster.  There's no way in hell I want that thing anywhere near my good stuff.  Plus, I can get a larger one once I'm settle in.

The last thing to do for the actual hobby cave itself was to re-hang the door.  I had pulled it down to save space and keep it from getting beat up.

All I need to do now is wrap up my terrain boards and number the boxes.  Should be an update or two left in that.

Moving the Hobby Cave - Update #14

Well, the fun and interesting part is pretty much over (though there is one little bit of fun to be had) and I'm staring the worst aspect of this venture straight in the face.  And by that I mean the cleaning.  Blech.

The folding table is first up and mercifully easy.

Followed by the rug thing I put down to try and collect some of the hobby dirt.  It's pretty gross and pretty torn up so it's just a matter of rolling it up, putting a bag on one end to catch the bits and chucking it in the dumpster.

based on the amount of dirt around the edges of the rug, I was almost of the opinion that it had been a waste of a rug.

Then I pulled it up.

Ladies and gentleman what you are seeing is no illusion.  The elderly and those of you with weak hearts should leave the room.  

What you have just witnessed is the end result of years of hobbying over a light color carpet.

I'm too worried about it since the 5 years of habitation and the cats tender ministrations have ensured that the cheap carpets in the apartment will need to be replacde anyways, but I do need to vacuum up all the loose pointy bits and at least make an attempt at cleaning the schmutz off the place where I was resting my feet.

Welp, I'm off to get the vacuum up and running.  See you in a bit.