Finally completed something... sort of...

Been a while, hasn't it? About 11 weeks, give or take.

So as the suggests, I finally completed something. A replica of sorts, and actually 10 weeks ago - to the day. About 9 months in the making, and alluded to in previous posts. Yes folks, that's right: 10 weeks ago I became the proud father to a bouncing baby girl! Our first!

My daughter, "The Kid", was born about 1 week (more of less) late, but healthy. We went the public health route, and were pleasantly surprised. The quality of healthcare The Missus and The Kid received makes South African private health cover pale in comparison. The Missus pretty much had a private suite for 2 days before being, somewhat, unceremoniously moved at the stroke of midnight into a shared room. Fortunately she was checking out later that day.

I'll spare you the details of 10 weeks of parenthood (which include being bringer home of paycheck, cook, washboy, houseboy, personal shopper and general dog's body) but leave it at modelling time has become increasingly scarce; the time situation exasperated by the fact that I started fencing again about 8 weeks ago (with The Missus' blessing of course). There's nothing that can really be said about the lack of time: those with kids will understand; those without probably won't. Indeed I finally understand why Calvin Tan has less time to paint (he became a new dad a few months ago).

That said, I've got a few reviews on the go at the moment. I manage to put in a few minutes on the morning trains. I've also recently bought a tripod to help stabilise my camera, but am still trying to fine-tune my lighting.

On the bench? Still the Tamiya StuG IIIB. I recently finished cleaning all those Friul links, but the Aber fenders are a real bitch. I wimped out of soldering them, having visions of burning my clumsy fingers or spilling flux on them, and decided to give Gator glue a try. I'm not convinced yet, but maybe I'm doing something wrong.

The news blog, FigureOneThreeFive, appears to be going quite well, although I've let it slip over the past week. I blame the FIFA World Cup. I'd blame a referee, but given that I've blamed them for so much over the past 10 days I don't think it fair to blame them for the BP oil spill, the war in Afghanistan, world poverty or my not updating F135.