Plastic kit therapy...

I've always found the act of making things to be particularly mindful, and throughout my adult life they have helped at time of mental hardship, be that depression, anxiety, stress...

We've had a tough few weeks up here in North Wales again, bad weather for a few weeks gets you down when you can't get out for a walk (its amazing what blue sky can do for the soul, especially when combined with the luscious green of our valley), and then other things beyond the modelling workbench and external factors (Covid) all contributing to a depressed mood and a waning modelling mojo. Enough, I decided, was enough at the weekend and reached for the kit pile...

I always have a stash of plastic kits - although more complicated etched metal kits sit in the pile, and I've always got kits I'm designing at various stages of development, the simple act of working with plastic gives quick progress and in the case of Parkside kits, my preferred tonic, a degree of accuracy and pleasure in their assembly.

This pair of hoppers will be great for Pont-y-dulais, I've decided to tackle these pair first - and in the past few hours have managed to get the first one together. This, as usual, was well designed and crisply moulded although was more complicated than previous Parkside kits I've assembled - I will build the second before painting... I'm planning a rusty finish using some of the techniques I used on the Canadian H0 scale box car recently undertaken. 

It's dry today, and although not sunny I'm going to get out for a walk, before turning back to Hudson Hunslet weathering to finish off the second of this year's batch. If it helps to share your own experiences with mental health and modelling then please do comment here. I do feel so lucky to have such a wonderful hobby and job entwined, and sharing it with you all is as much part of it as doing it these days! More soon...