I don't often post about my other hobbies: this is, after all, a site devoted to wargaming.

Yesterday, however, I fulfilled a long term ambition and added a somewhat bigger model to my collection of figures: a muk yan jong or wooden dummy.

For those of you wondering what on earth it is (or, considering the state of mind of most Lardies, where the batteries go!) it is a wooden dummy for practicing wing chun kung fu, one of the several martial arts that I study.

It , or rather two large boxes, were waiting for me when I got back from training yesterday. I should, of course, have waited until both daylight and the weekend before building it, but obviously just couldn’t. Practically killed me: as I should have added “and for someone to help” to the list of things I needed before construction began.

For a start, it’s oak, so the body bit weighs a ton. Then, of course, you have a to work out how to bolt the base and the body together given the different shapes and heights off the ground involved. Not easy, particularly when you are lining up five six-inch bolts into hard-to-see holes!

But I managed, and very fine looking it is too. All I have to do now is learn how to use it!