As 2023 has left the building and a new year has dawned I thought it was about time that maybe a return to my blog would be timely. It has been some time since my fingers danced along the keyboard and a good start would be to share with you some thought and feelings from the year gone and the year ahead. Since the lockdowns of 2020 my output in builds completed has been around the zero mark and although prior to last year I had spent quite a lot of time tinkering around at the workbench I had not really committed to actually finishing anything. I think, rightly or wrongly we judge ourselves and our progress on what we actually get finished which is probably a bit unfair as it is a hobby for most of us and it should be treated as such. We should not be judging ourselves too harshly if we only complete one kit a year as we should be using our time at the workbench to forget about all the worries in our lives and in the world around us.
2023 had been a bit of an up and down year within the workroom at Average Modeller HQ, a start of a new year always promises much and usually delivers very little, I always promise myself that over the Christmas period I will get to the bench and spend some days building away when actually in reality it is quite nice to kick back and enjoy not being at work and to spend time with family and being a newish Grandparent it is nice to spend some time with the little one. Sitting here as I do 12 months or so on from then it is kind of tricky to remember if I had modelling time or not however I do remember going back to work very quickly into the new year unlike this year when a return to work is imminent but not quite yet. It is quite normal for me to say that no new builds will start until I have cleared the backlog and the shelf queens however there will always be a kit that catches the eye and it will be started in earnest just to stall when life gets in the way. At some point in the year I started and built the old Tamiya M113, the actual event and when it happened is quite sketchy however it was quite a decent piece of insight as my club did a Vietnam era group build for our display at Scale Model World and having it to hand to finish off stood me in good stead to get something completed. There were a few bits of tinkering throughout the year, I built the venerable old Tamiya 88mm and their Sd.Kfz 7 to tow it although that stalled due to buying a new house and all the headaches that brings although on a bright note we did spend some time in it preparing it for rental and I managed to get a trio of Tamiya 1/48 scale kits built one of which is primed and ready for paint.
With the year rushing to a close and with our return to Scale Model World looking a possibility the rush to get a few things finished for the table I returned to the M113 I had built earlier in the year and an old shelf queen which I managed to complete with breathing space of about 3 days. The, what I call the Telford rush is not the best way to be completing models as it does not give you any room for manoeuvre and can quite easily bring on a near miss with disaster which happened on more than one occasion. The leave it all to the last minute habit that I have adopted is not something I recommend and having not completed any kits since our last trip to Telford in 2019 it is something one will try to avoid again this year as you kind of get out of practice with finishing and I made that foolish error of trying out something new which always has the possibility of going pear shaped.
So here I am in very early January, a new year beckons and a hope to change the way I approach my building and more importantly the finishing which of course is easier said than done. I have made a silent vow to not start any new kits and just work on what has been hanging around the workbench starting with a Dragon 1/35 Mule with recoiled rifle, I did plan this for the Telford table however I was getting frustrated at it so I put it to one side to return to it once time was on my side. I have also made a promise not to buy any new kits unless I am at a show which I think is a fair promise that is until new kits start appearing and I will fight to hang onto my resolve. So there we have it, a return to my blog, a return to the workbench and hopefully not. A return to the old ways. Before I sign off, there are a couple of people that deserve a mention and a big thank you, firstly is my Wife Kerry who has to put up with all my modelling moans issues and frustrations thank-you my lovely, and to my 2 modelling stalwarts Andy and Keith who without their humour, encouragement, and silliness I would probably have given the hobby up years ago, cheers Gents.
The Average Modeller.
The Average Modeller 