A MODELMAKER’S LIFE: SNOW, WALKS AND RANDOM PERIODS OF SLEEP…

9th January 2026

It’s definitely been an up and down day. Despite feeling as though I was getting over this flu, another broken night’s sleep and another dip in energy has made things trickier than I wanted it to be.

We started the day off with a walk. Having snowed last night, I was keen to continue with our recording of the winter around our little town so decided to kill two birds with one stone: get some much-needed fresh air and take those pictures.

Truth be told, we wondered if we’d made a mistake from the minute we left the house. The freshly-laid snow had partially melted to create deep layers of slush that not only looked awful, made walking less than easy. Still, we were out so made the most of the time we had to enjoy the scenery, and wildlife, a particularly confident robin being a most welcome highlight.

Once back, I did manage to do some work, completing the decalling inside the Tomcat’s cockpit, as well as trimming the intakes and surrounding structures. Those decals were a ‘fun’ part of the build needing repeated applications of softener to drag each design over the moulded detail. In all honesty, I’m sure it would have been quicker – though not tidier – to have painted the panels, but I wanted to see how they looked once in place!

And so into the afternoon. Having had lunch, I took a few minutes out to read my phone in our snug only to fall asleep and lose two hours. So deep was this nap, that I was only woken up mid dream by my phone ringing. I was completely out for the count, a state of rest that I then found really difficult to shake off. In fact, it took another hour before I was back into the swing of things, the lack of sleep overnight catching up with me mid afternoon.

As it stands, despite going to the Coventry vs Stoke game tomorrow afternoon, I’m going to have to work this weekend to try and further catch up. I should be okay time-wise with much of the prep work now complete. All I have to do is stay awake, which, if this week is anything to go by, might not be entirely a given!

See you tomorrow.