As 2024 staggers to an end it’s become something of a tradition for TV news channels to review the past twelve months. It tends to be a reminder of bad times, death and destruction, and rarely of anything to celebrate. I always think such reviews smack of cheap production to fill time more than anything else. I dislike the things.
Why then, if I dislike such reviews, do I want to look over the past year from my perspective?
Consider this a quick and easy way to post something to my blog. I’ve currently run out of ideas of other things to write about. More accurately, I have lots of ideas, but some will take a while to work up to sensible posts.
What follows is a brief look over my modelmaking year of 2024. It’s not exactly going to set the world alight, and I am frankly surprised and a little annoyed at such a paucity of things to show you.
It very nearly did for me
In what I laughingly call my “day job”, I began the year struggling to make headway on a large commission for 16 railway coaches. The 4mm (1/76th scale) coaches were all photo-etched brass, with cast whitemetal fittings, fully sprung bogies (another story in themselves) and roofs that didn’t quite fit.
While all that was ongoing, domestic life was in upheaval. My husband, generally referred to online as Best Beloved, became very poorly. This led to evaluating where we were and what I was doing, as I was much more in a caring role than previously. Time, and interest, in building model railway things for people had been on the wane for some time, and this was the nudge I needed to call a halt.
Happily, the client in this case was very understanding. The fact that I had managed to get the build so far — bogies built and detailed, underframes detailed, bodies built up and detailed, interiors pretty much ready to fit, etc — helped, I think. Anyway, between us we found a willing victim to take the project on and get it nearer completion.
The relief was immense.
I thought I was free at last. I contacted another client, who had dumped a lifetime’s supply of builds on me some years before, and he agreed to take it all away. That leaves one more to deal with, to return the stuff unstarted. Then, a phone call came. I’d completely forgotten about this client. Bother.
So, I have undertaken, reluctantly, one final commission. If I can get myself together, it really shouldn’t take all that long. I just need to get myself together…
1940 and all that
The domestic situation also, obviously, affected the personal modelling projects. I completed one aircraft build, which had hung over from 2023.
I built something different for a forum group build, but only one of those is suitable for my 1940 obsession.
I bought a fair number of kits and bits, but they disappear into the stash until I have time for them.
To try and keep my interest level high, and make out I was still able to do this modelling hobby, I also spent a bank holiday weekend working on some tiny figures and titivating/updating/completing a few vehicle builds that I use for set dressing my photo vignettes. I also spent a while reworking the scenic base I used for those vignettes, which I have recounted elsewhere in this blog.
The Avro Manchester build had been stuck since late on in 2023, and had become a true Shelf Queen. In the summer I decided it was time to get over the problems I had encountered with converting a Lancaster kit, and just finish the damned thing. I’ve been doing just that, but it won’t be finished before the end of this year. I don’t work to deadlines. It will be done when it’s done, and not before.
The future?
There will be plenty of modelling in my future. It’s one of the things that keeps me sane, after all. Once the Final Great Commission is done, I shall be free to follow my interests more regularly. The health of my husband remains an issue, of course, but we do the best we can. At least I am at home and able to look after him, and I’ve received help and advice from the local authorities to help me there. If I can deal with all the domestic stuff, and still find time to lose myself at my workbench, I will be happy in 2025.