Hello everyone, I thought I had better explain what has been going on in my head.
I kind of feel I am letting all of the 63 members down that are following this thread and yes I know I am one of them.
Last autumn I left my employer to work for a previous one who I had worked for for over 20 years, but this time in the position I always wanted, Workshop Manager, in charge of the whole factory.
Seven months later the firm went into administration resulting in all 70 employees being made redundant. I will not bore you as to the why's but it was clear to me that some very bad commercial decisions had been made by those well above my pay grade.
I am in touch with most of my ex colleagues and fortunately everyone has found alternative employment including myself.
I have been suffering with a loss of self esteem, wondering if I could have prevented it? . Rationally thinking about it, no I could not, nothing short of a magic wand or £3million would have sorted the problem out.
Now I find myself in a position lower down the ladder with the employer I left last autumn. This has been a struggle with my pride initially, however these last few weeks I have been able to realise something missing in my life.
After nearly ten years in management, I finally had a weeks holiday earlier this month when I didn't once think about work, I left it behind at the gate until I went back after my holiday. Not once had I experienced that in all the time I had been in charge. Makes me think I am better of doing what I am doing now.
I found myself thinking about my hobbies and also able to hold proper conversations with my Wife without my mind drifting to work. I HAD MY LIFE BACK!
I was in my localish model shop looking for something small to rekindle the fire. I looked at all sorts but kept being drawn to a completed model of Caldercraft's Imara in a glass case. The whole atmosphere this model exuded was different to anything else I have experienced other than maybe two models I saw as a child. I thought, stuff common sense, I only live once and 30minutes later an Imara kit was in the boot of my car, fortunate they had one in stock, displayed not 10 feet from the finished model in the case
I need something completely different and something to take me out of my comfort zone forcing me to do extensive research on something I knew nothing about, model steam power. I have spent hours on Youtube and the net learning what is an amazingly interesting subject. I used to tinker with full size cars a lot when I was younger, building engines etc and there is quite a bit of crossover with the mechanical engineering side of things, so it fills a bit of a void left by no longer messing with cars, I do fix mine sometimes when it goes wrong but it doesn't go wrong very often.
So, Soleil Royal and others will be on the back burner whilst I fire through my Imara project. Parking Soleil and Trinidad will allow the enthusiasm for these two builds to build back up again.Happy Hunter also needs completing.
Bit of a story to that. After painting the hull I placed self adhesive foam on the work stand to protect the paint. The solvent in the adhesive lifted the paint off in small patches. I will cover the repair of this when the weather improves as it involves some very careful airbrush work in the workshop. Last thing I need is cold or damp causing issues.
Sorry for the long winded post and yes I will be starting a log on Imara. I have started some initial work but have held of with a log as I had come to a standstill waiting on myself making a decision on propulsion. WellI have ordered TWO PM Research No 8 V twin steam engines today that will power the model.The engines are in kit form as well so I will be building those up and covering in my log. Boiler will have to wait a little for financial reasons as I want the biggest I can practically fit and allow room for the various other items that will service the power train.
Kind Regards
Nigel
