To say the least it's been a dismal year for modelling and I'm starting to wonder how the guys who produce quality layouts in quick succession do it. With all that my wife and I have had around our necks this year; work, renovating the cottage next door, fostering, attempting to downsize (as we've decided to stay put and not move into a larger house) by clearing space in house and Man Cave, plus the normal life stuff, I've been seriously thinking of scrapping the whole project and waiting for retirement to make a fresh start. Many nights on the way home from work I've thought "Yep nothing much to do tonight so I'll crack on with a bit of modelling for once" only to get home and something gets in the way. All very frustrating.
What's not helped recently is my wife having fractured her knee cap and damaged cartilage after a fall. This has added another job to my list, that is me being her "man slave" as she's been on crutches for the last couple of months. Thankfully she's on the mend, down to one crutch and starting to weight bear. She's going to be off work until mid January but hopefully I'll get some free time for modelling soon... Well, we've heard that one before but I can but hope...
I've felt what little I have achieved this year has not been worth mentioning in individual postings on this blog. There have been a few little projects started but non completed and little progress on Tredethy Wharf, however, as an end of year round up here goes...
- Converted a few Bachmann wagons to P4 (a very easy task), still need to weather and renumber some of them and/or add detail to them.
- Laid down a few more lengths of Cornish Hedge on Tredethy Wharf but not applied any paint or foliage.
- Tested a couple of methods for the hard standing area around Tredethy Wharf sidings, but not decided on the best method or the paint/texture finish.
- Applied transfers to the first eight clay wagons and tentatively used an airbrush for the first time (with a spray can as propellant) dusting them with a thin coating of white acrylic to represent clay deposits/dust.
- Started cutting out the sides for the Farm Cottage that is required for a scenic break at one end of Tredethy Wharf.
- After the purchase of a lathe at Scalefour North... (a bit of an impulse buy to say the least)... In the last couple of months I've managed to receive one tutorial off a local S4 member but still trying to find time to do the 'set' exercise of turning a few washers.
- One of the S4 guys has kindly lent me a spare compressor for use with my old airbrush. Though all connections fit and it's ready to use I've not, as yet, found time to fully get to grips with it.
Headmaster's Report
Ian must try harder in 2015 and stop coming up with so many lame excuses.