Airfix 8th Army

Not really painting with any specific goal at the moment, just doing various bits and pieces for fun.  The latest completions are a handful of Airfix Eighth Army, which I've had around since I was a little nipper, and which had originally had received a bit of paint from my Grandad.  Back then of course they had to settle for fighting against WWI germans or japanese infantry, now I actually have some Afrika Korps I can paint up!

The quality of some of the airfix sets is pretty variable, but these are still outstanding, even compared to many more modern releases.

Main uniform was Vallejo Iraqi Sand.  I used khaki for the helmets and green grey for the webbing, not strictly accurate, but I wanted them to stand out.

The rubble of Liverpool

Getting back into the painting saddle, so stuff to come soon, but bit of an aside for this post.  A few weeks back Mel and I went up to the Sefton coast, north of Liverpool.  It was a pretty good trip, saw the Gormley Statues on Crosby beach, (which are amazingly effective at sunset), and got a bit of wildlife and bird watching in (saw red squirrels, which are getting rarer and rarer here, and my first Whitethroat, in case that means anything to anyone!).

However the main reason for posting was what I saw amongst the sea defences at Hightown.  Post WWII, to protect the sand dunes from erosion, the local council decided to dump rubble on the beach to break up the waves.  The source of this rubble?  The bombed out terraces of Liverpool.

Most of it has broken down to unrecognisable pebbles now, but every now and then there is something recognisable, a whole section of wall here, a carved stone plinth or a chimney there.

It was a very strange and sobering experience walking along the seafront and still being able to see the ruins of the everyday lives of the many civilians affected by a war that ended nearly 70 years ago.

Oh, and just for completeness, here's one of those Gormley statues...