Another year over and am I any wiser?

As the sun begins to set on another year here at  average modeller HQ and I find myself sitting at the workbench pondering over what has been a reasonable modelling year all round, yes I could have finished more models, yes I could have attended more shows and yes I could have blogged a bit more however overall it has been a decent year. A year which has seen a refurb of the workspace into a more useful and cohesive place to work, out of the 4 kits I started this year I completed 3 of them, 2 of which took their place on my club stand at this years scale model world in Telford to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI, job done and mission completed. My blog sadly took a bit of a back seat as the year went along due to work and life in general getting in the way, all things being equal life should return to normal and I can spend a bit more time at the bench and just as important to me a return to the keyboard and the continuation of the absolute nonsense I write here, the blog which I started last February  was a way to keep myself  involved with this lovely hobby and a way of venting my frustrations in regard to my modelling output, lack of motivation and a near unusable workspace.

This past year has seen a plethora of new kits released, some of which surprised us and of course some that we never thought would ever be released in plastic, I am not one of those that has to buy a kit the minute it is released I usually bide my time and maybe pick it up at a show once the euphoria has died down somewhat, that is not to say that I have not bought kits the minute they are released, the Riich models Skoda RSO a few years ago springs to mind however I am a bit more laid back about kit releases these days and after all if I am honest there are racks full of kits just vying for my attention collecting dust in the workroom some of which I may never get round to building at my current rate of finishing kits which is about 2 every 12 months especially as I have probably bought about 10 kits to replace the ones that I have built. We have seen some great kits released this year far too many for me to list here and in all honesty my memory is absolutely shocking at remembering these sort of things these days plus there are people better placed to comment on these and as I have not built any of the kits released this year I am not qualified either.

After finishing the workroom refurb back in snowy March and with my thoughts moving on to what model would be gracing my new workbench first which in all honesty was quite an easy decision as I unboxed my birthday present from the ever suffering Kerry and built a Tamiya Radio control car which was something I had wanted to do for a number of years since I built my last one back in the early 90’s, I say built it at the bench, I did the fiddly bits at the bench the rest I did crouched on the carpet as you cannot drop stuff too far if you are sitting as close to the floor as possible. Once this was completed and run around the car park where I work it was time to move onto some proper modelling and I started something from the Tamiya 1/48 armour range in the shape of a Crusader which I blogged about at the time and with a bit of luck I will return to finishing off sometime in the new year. This is where life and work took over and of course the smoking hot summer weather that kept me from the workbench until late September which coincided with a long weekend in Folkestone for Euro miniature expo which reinvigorated the creative juices and got me back to the bench with a frenzy. In the time since I have built painted and finished 2 kits ready for Telford with nearly a week to spare which was quite a weird feeling having no modelling stress in the last few days before we made the long journey up the motorway which helped put me in a relaxed mood for the long modelling weekend spent in great company with great friends.

So as the year draws to a close and I look upon it as a good modelling year all round my thoughts turn in 2 directions, 1 is have I developed as a modeller this year? have I made any progress and have I learnt anything new?, now being  a bit of a creature of habit I find it hard to change how I model which is possibly why I do not finish many models however I tried a few different techniques on my two completed static kits this year one of which, the use of pigments I look forward to returning to in the coming 12 months, the other was weathering using oils something else I look forward to exploring more and using in 2019. The other direction is where will my modelling take me in the forthcoming 12 months? that I guess is down to me and the world is my oyster, will I continue in my usual vain of disjointed stop and start building coupled with a rush to get things over the line come October/November in time for Telford or will I model consistently for the first time since I can remember and finish numerous projects so I have a choice come November. I think consistency is the key for me as the year progresses with an early start as possible in January on my first project, I’m not quite sure what that will be yet, perhaps something from the pile of shame or that Spitfire project I have been putting off for the last few months. I would like to dabble in some figure painting in some shape or form as I would like to try my hand at a diorama or 2 as I have a few ideas up my sleeve. Hopefully we will see some surprise releases as the year kicks off and with one eye on the Nuremberg  toy fair in late January which might give us a clue on how the year will pan out and hopefully 2019 will be another great modelling year.

The Average Modeller