A day out yesterday visiting a friend and some model work completed yesterday morning and today. Traffic was remarkably much easier with fewer vehicles on the road. Lots of rain and wind during my travels and apparently a huge storm is hitting the west of the UK. It's autumn and we get wet and windy weather. This is my favourite time of year and I like the change in the trees with the autumnal golds, reds and browns.

The 'Frank' is gradually coming on with a thinned brush painted green coat to the upper surfaces and the orange identification marks painted on. I will seal this and brush paint the underneath in some shade of grey although I am still deciding on which. Fifty shades indeed! 

I made a start on the diorama base and tried out two versions but I think the Jagdpanzer is too big alongside the Sdkfz 234 so it will have to be the little Schwimmwagen which has sat unfinished in a drawer these past two years awaiting such a diorama. The base has an application of torn egg box pieces, torn tissue, watered down white glue applied liberally and then airbrushed with shades of earth and brown. White glue again and snow sprinkled or painted in. Once dry, I will add more and see if I can scratch build a pine tree or two. I am looking at techniques for ice as I would like to model a wintry and icy cold Ardennes scenario. Both photos taken without flash but it does look too dark.

With the flash and I can see how many errors I need to amend with paint touch ups, a rail for the Jagdpanzer and spare tracks to be added.

In other news Sue has to change her lifestyle following a GP follow up at the new surgery she is at. She doesn't drink alcohol since she had covid as she no longer enjoys the taste but she has to change her diet, eat more whole foods and less processed foods so I have suggested she join me in dieting. That will be interesting as she loves white bread, dislikes most vegetables and hates pulses and beans apart from baked beans and peas. I have dusted off the various diet books and we will both start from Monday. I enjoy cooking and will explore how to hide various green vegetables in my cooking! She does like salads but not anything I grow in the garden which I say is her loss as home grown tastes best. I have bought some red lentils in plus coconut milk as I do like a tasty Dhal and I plan to cook that with spinach and some brown rice. I suspect I will be eating that alone. But tomorrow, we will have cake and I will have a couple of beers to celebrate turning 63. Apart from my body falling apart and the various aches and pains I don't feel like a 63 year old. I am gradually approaching the age when some bureaucrat will bring in mandatory Soylent Green for the plebs as an answer to the over population of the planet marketed as a green solution to climate change. 

TTFN.

 For the past two weeks I have been trialling a carb light diet, an almost but not quite ketogenic diet and I feel much better on it. This weekend I decided to reintroduce more carbs including beer after over three weeks of no beer. Remarkable, yesterday and today I felt bloated, lacking energy and under the weather. It's a nice day out with some weak sunshine and hopefully when I shake this lethargy off I will do some gardening clear up before the rain hits us again. I think after my birthday I will once again stop drinking beer but today I had a breakfast of bacon, sausage (97% pork) and tomatoes, no bread and tea with full fat milk. That new bread maker we bought is glaring at me each time I enter the kitchen! I have found recipes for keto bread but I might stick with the occasional slice from a small Hovis loaf kept in the freezer.

Meanwhile, work in progress on the Jagdpanzer IV /L70 and apart from some further weathering it is complete. I have spotted some errors in the picture above and I will rectify them, always after I have photographed the build!  I have started on a diorama for the armoured car and  I also plan to do one for the panzer, both from December 1944 and the Battle of the Bulge. I also have a planned late war diorama for the models in the picture below as well as the M10 Tank Destroyer although it might be I opt for a couple of smaller dioramas.  

The Japanese Nakajima Ki 84 has had the seams filled with sprue goo, sanded and filled again so that is a slow work in progress. I will return to that over the next few days as I await contact from the plasterer as to when he will be calling in to do the work. I hope it is next week as I would like to get out and about this week although the prediction is for wet and windy weather or, according to the hyperbole from the media, hurricanes, tornadoes and death to anyone out in the open! That's when they aren't predicting the next plague or war.

TTFN.

 Well, that was an early wake up call this morning. I fell out of bed and I can't even blame drink as I'm not drinking beer! I didn't realise this was part of the ageing process and I have no idea how that happened. A quiet day in as I recover instead of my planned day out in the garden, savlon applied to the scrapes and pain relief taken. I did manage to replace another kitchen cupboard door, the awkward one with the screws that refused to budge so I am pleased with that. 

Progress on the panzer this morning which just needs the washes and weathering and there is a queue of other models awaiting that and the diorama base to complete. In the meantime I started on another build as I wait for clear coats to dry.

I had a couple of days away from the table as walks and reading was my preference and to avoid modelling taking over every day. I have to admit I feel quite relaxed and work is gradually becoming a distant memory. Yesterday, I looked at what voluntary work is currently available just to get an idea as to what is out there. There is an awful lot of form filling to complete before you can volunteer so I will leave that for now as I really can't be doing with an overload of paperwork when I am offering my time for free and do they really need to know what gender I identify as? My views on that nonsense and the cancellation of women is best left unsaid. Back to the book and a welcome cup of tea.

TTFN.

 

A couple of days of chores around the house including sanding an interior door that kept sticking and needed to be slammed to shut it. Annoying for us and the neighbours but I always believed that wooden doors swelled up in damp weather, not in warm weather. Apparently they do as the wood fibres expand in warm weather so this is the second time I have had to sand this door. I bought a small sander for it instead of doing it the hard way which I did last time for this door. But I also had a couple of days sat out in the garden, soaking up the last of the summer rays, admiring the plethora of spiders which Sue detests. Unbelievably, Sue found the Willow tree sprouting again so we have removed those shoots and the stump is slowly rotting away. I have also taken to enjoying short walks as part of my daily routine to build up my strength. Early days yet and struggling with it but patience and perseverance will hopefully get me through this.

I also quickly dived into a new build as can be seen above, a Jagdpanzer IV / L70, a turretless tank destroyer although this one is currently missing it's gun and is very much a work in progress. A simple build but fit of some of the parts leaves much to be desired and will require extras on top to camouflage the gap. I plan to finish this in a small diorama once I have completed some more research for an Ardennes battle vehicle.

Sherlock is thriving since his operation and this is one of the rare occasions he was in overnight. The little bugger has a new lease of life and he is lively, out exploring most evenings and he has a healthy appetite. When the weather finally changes I suspect we will have no problems getting him in at night.

Otherwise a quiet but productive weekend and I am slowly getting used to this retirement lark. 

TTFN.

 A day out yesterday to scout out some of the Barrows shown on my OS map as the weather was dry and reasonably warm. What I hadn't factored in was forgetting my walking boots and the mud from the previous days rain which lasted nearly twenty four hours. So I looked from afar and made a mental note of where I can see them again in the future and having now found the above page I have a better idea what to look for. A pleasant day out and as Sue pointed out to me, I can hug trees, get fresh air and get away from the modelling table. Speaking of which...

I focused on the three figures for the diorama and there will be some other additions as I work out the base. Despite brush painting a slightly thinned matt clear coat, the Puma still looks shiny. Washes and weathering required next but I shall leave that for tomorrow. A quiet day in today as despite keeping my walking yesterday to a minimum I am paying the price today and having to rest. It shows me I do need to walk as often as I can within reasonable limits although the rain today has put the kibosh on that. But it also allowed me to clear out some of the cardboard boxes in the back room as they have piled up there. Something satisfying in breaking them down and now all in the recycling bin. There is so much packaging but I guess we'd complain if the contents were damaged because they weren't protected!

We have booked a plasterer via Trust a trader for the ceiling work and interestingly he is originally from Essex as I surmised from his accent. He's not available until the end of the month but I'm happy with that as the work isn't urgent and apparently plasterers are in great demand.

TTFN.

 Whoever thought Henry could cause such damage as I had to take a day away from the modelling and rest my left hand as I had lost all feeling in it. Beware the anger of inanimate objects. Failing that, beware one's own stupidity! It's ok now, feeling and movement has returned and a lovely great bruise and scrape is all that remains. We have had hot and humid weather with thunderstorms and some spectacular lightning over the last two days.  It coincided nicely with the darts and rugby on the telly and allowed me to enjoy that. I eventually got some modelling in once I could use my left hand again.

A simple build but one that fought me all the way and it turned out ok in the end. The decals were old and fragile, white paint is difficult to get right but for once it's 'chalky' effect suited the white washed stripes. A Beaufighter TFX following the D Day landings.

This is the current work in progress as I have further painting and weathering to do plus the associated figures. This current build will likely take up the next week although if the weather remains ok I fancy a couple of trips out. No 1 son's car is having problems so he is borrowing mine for work so it will be nice to have it back and to go out. 

TTFN.

 I had a lengthy chat with the insurance company and it is seen as fair wear and tear which I expected. I was chancing my luck as there had been cracks there over the past year. It looks like there was water damage many years ago, long before we moved in here. I'm not surprised as the amount of bodge its and short cuts taken by previous occupants accounts for why we got the house cheap.

We will look for a plasterer and get an assessment and costs for repair and I guess this will take precedence over the garden gate and fence as I would like to stop any further damage. It is dry, no damp or water but the leak long ago and age finally caught up. 

I had been working on the armoured car when we heard the crash and my initial thought was the cats but they were all out. After the clear up it was tea and sitting out in the garden although work outside and the heat drove me back indoors. I forgot to add, during the clear up I was attacked by Henry Hoover! He fell from the landing and luckily he was saved by hitting my left hand which is cleaned up and now covered with a large plaster. 

I think a further quiet contemplation of the garden and more tea might help restore my equilibrium.

TTFN.

  I returned from Essex yesterday and after five hours of driving in a hot tin can with road works, large slow moving vehicles and no air con saw me returned somewhat frazzled around me edges. Hence an early night saw me up very early this morning following a much needed good nights sleep helped by a large single malt to wing me to my dreams. The morning saw a small amount of modelling but I cleared out the room, hoovered, dusted and removed another couple of bags of books which will go to the charity shop later today. I also removed a lot of books to the planned man cave but I plan to donate a lot of history books to charity as well as I no longer need them. I will keep the mediaeval history books as I do like to dip into them from time to time. Following that I enjoyed a couple of hours sat out in the sun until it got too hot for me. We have had a few days of excellent weather, plenty of sun and temperatures of 23 - 25°C so I am making the most of it. 

I spent the last of my gift vouchers on...yes, you guessed it correctly. Ordered a week ago and that's the lot now as I have more than enough to work on. Funnily enough I was looking at figures to go with them but I checked my stash as I was sure I had bought some for planned future dioramas and they were there.

Two kits after Sue told me to buy them whilst I have the money as I have given up beer and she said it would cheer me up during my dieting and a welcome distraction from worrying about my mum. 

My visit left me shocked because she looks very frail now and the combination of cancer and osteoporosis is truly dreadful to see in my mum who was once a strong, independent woman. My sister and I had a frank discussion late into the night about the next few months. I plan to go back down in a couple of  weeks time and mum has asked me to stay longer which I will do. The reality is that we do not know how long she has left but we think it will be a matter of months now. Oddly enough, we have shed tears and undoubtedly more will be shed but it's our brother we are worried about and there is the matter of our other sister whom mum refuses to have anything to do with. It will be somewhat messy but we will deal with that when the time comes. Seeing my mum has confirmed to me I made the right decision to retire as she said we should stop working, enjoy life and people are important, not money and material things. 

Time for more golden vitamin D...

TTFN.

 Second shelf unit assembled yesterday although this one I did alone as No.1 son was at work. I almost regretted it when shifting the half built unit to another position and heard a loud CRACK! but it was ok. In position and ready for some of the larger builds on top and smaller ones on the shelves. I might move the stash upstairs and free up space downstairs, keep it separate from the modelling room. I think there are approximately sixty unbuilt kits in the stash not including figure sets. Many of them will take time to build as some are complex with lots of pieces. Others are vacu form kits which will test my modelling skills and patience and I am looking forward to those. What I discovered from the the assembly and today running to catch the postman is that I now feel more relaxed but also more energised. Sue was right to suggest I have a complete break from everything as I needed to de-stress and catch up on sleep. Mind you, up at 3 a.m to use the loo, I let Maisie out and Mindy escaped so I had to sit up and await her return. She is the youngest, adorable but not very bright and has gone missing a couple of times when she was out. So I was modelling between 3 and 4 this morning but I will leave it alone today as a busy day ahead and we will have to venture out in the rain.

I have ordered some books using the amazon voucher work colleagues gifted me and a scribing tool as sanding the models often removes the panel lines so this will come in very handy. The book is one of two as Sue bought me an early birthday present or rather, she gave me the money and told me to choose something after my description of various models she said was incomprehensible gibberish to her.  

" A  Sd kfz what? No, don't tell me in German...I have no idea what that means". I have stopped buying models now as even I recognise I have enough to occupy me and as BW joked, I would end up needing a unit in the garden or build an extension to house them if I bought any more!

I will be off to Essex next week to see my mum and help her celebrate her birthday. I am planning on monthly trips and staying with my sister as, realistically, we don't know how long she has got. She sounds very chipper when I phone her and it will be nice to catch up. We never did get to the seafood restaurant because of lockdowns, illnesses and deteriorating health for both of us. But I have said I will bring her some canned draught Guinness and various bits and pieces for an indoor picnic. 

TTFN.