2014

Wow, my first blog post in a year.

2014 was a year of ups and downs.  A little over one year ago my father unexpectedly passed away. He and I had discussed my upcoming move many times, so moving without his help last April was bittersweet. I packed up my life and moved from Akron, Ohio to Seattle, Washington driving almost 2,500 miles.  After making another cross country drive (El Paso to Seattle) to pick up my Dad’s car, moving into a much larger apartment, and taking on a new job - as well as finishing up responsibilities with my old firm – modeling and blogging time has been scarce.  It is late December as I write this and life is starting to feel settled, even with a new job search in the cards.  It’s finally the right time to get back to blogging.

The last few days of any year always seem to make one take stock of what was completed and what lies ahead.  In modeling terms, 2014 was a total bust.  Only three projects made any headway: an Airfix “old tool” Spitfire Mk. I was built in Ohio just before I left, I recently started an Airfix Mustang 4 for a Museum display in March 2015, and I spent some time plugging away at a Cyberhobby Vampire.  Each project will get its own post as 2015 proceeds and the projects are finished.

However, the biggest modeling change of the year was a major culling of the unbuilt model collection.  It made no sense to move models I never planned to build across the country, so many were left behind with friends in Ohio.  Even then, as most of the remaining models went into storage, I realized that even a collection half the size it used to be was still ridiculous.  After some additional pruning, I no longer feel weighed down by all the excess.  I’ve got about 30 kits in the apartment and I’m excited to build all of them.  I no longer have kits I’m saving for when “I get good”.  I don’t have kits that I think I’ll need for mythical collections.  I just have some kits I’d like to put together sometime – and that feels great.

So what does all this mean for A Scale Canadian?  Hopefully some posts in 2015.  I doubt I’ll average more than one a week, but look for modeling, book reviews, and maybe even some historical photos and essays.  In some ways, business as usual; in other ways, something entirely new for me. Here’s to finding the real joy in modeling, and in life, in 2015.