A stressful start to a Friday as an emergency visit to the vets with Sherlock who was dehydrated and shut down for the last 24 hours. We feared the worst until I tried to get him into the cat carrier and I now have the scars to show for it. The vet checked him out and pressed his bladder and Sherlock passed a small amount. But even the vet was shocked by the amount of urine Sherlock then copiously deposited all over the examining table, floor, me and the vet! It turns out Sherlock has an upper respiratory tract infection so the options were the expensive £1000 plus stay in, bloods, x-rays, etc…or an anti-biotic jab now, anti-biotic tablets for the next two weeks and home immediately. The latter agreed as it was £900 cheaper and I  really wanted him back home and stress free. He goes back in two weeks as he also has arthritis in one of his legs and, as I suspected, possible thyroid issues as he has lost weight but until recently he had an enormous appetite. Poor old fella, he’s curled up in a cardboard box now and ignoring me for putting him through trauma. The cat box hadn’t closed properly and he nearly escaped in the car park so my stress levels were also raised! He is also grounded for a few days to ensure he rests, drinks plenty of fluids and we can monitor his progress. 

The two photos show progress on the two current builds. The Beaufort isn’t the worst kit I have built but it’s not far off it. I have used CA glue, sprue goo, Mr Surfacer and plasticard inserts to fill the gaps plus a clear part trimmed from another kit to fit the front screen. It still looks a mess but it has finally reached the point where I can consider airbrushing it. 

The MB6 was brush painted using Tamiya acrylic paints and Mr Modelling Levelling Thinner, the latter added 40:60 to the paint and it brushes on smoothly like a dream. The weather is slightly cooler now so I can return to airbrushing paints without worrying about it drying out too quickly in the airbrush. 

It is also No.1 sons HGV driving test today after a week of lessons and tests so that has also been stressful.  He will be able to drive the large rigid trucks, not the articulated vehicles but that will come at a future date. I am astonished at the amount of vehicles he has driven in the past five years in various jobs, from large rigids to EV’s, vans and extremely expensive luxury cars when he worked on the RoRo deliveries from Europe. Fingers crossed he passes today but I still believe he will move to Sweden next year once he has this qualification and his Irish (EU) passport. 

This was when I last had interactions with Swedes, 1983 at the top of Masada in Israel. I’ve never been to Sweden so perhaps one day…Back to sorting out the cats as Winnie is missing and her tracker is playing up. 

TTFN.