After a very busy day catching up after the holiday - including a further reorganisation of my 'den' (SWMBO prefers the term 'tidying up...!) - I took a little time out to review the ACW collection thus far and the painting that is currently underway. You may recall that I currently have a further nine models roughly two thirds of the way to completion - seven City class ironclads, the Essex and the Benton. These are at th tidying up stage and I had hoped to finish them over the next few days. They will only need a couple of nights work to be ready but I doubt if I am going to get anywhere near them until next Friday. The reason is very simple.
Tuesday of next week sees the arrival of SWMBO's older brother - an ex-paratrooper - from Canada. He is with us for three nights and so I am taking a couple of days off work to join in the family festivities. He is Airborne through and through - the reason he is over is for a reunion - and we have in the past spent many hours talking about anything paratroop related. He served in the Radfan campaign in a recon platoon and his command of numerous Arabic expressions is, to say the least, very colourful! He also wants to go to the Imperial War Museum whilst he is over and so I happily volunteered to discharge this onerous duty....;-)
The Airborne connection is quite strong in SWMBO's family as not only her brother but also her uncle served with the Parachute regiment and another uncle served at Arnhem as a staff sergeant in the Glider Regiment where he was captured. After the war he was interviewed by Cornelius Ryan and is mentioned by name in his book A Bridge Too Far on page 163 - Staff Sergeant Gordon Jenks.
This means then that although my painting will be impacted I will have the opportunity to visit the War Museum (or possibly Duxford) in the company of a 'Vet' who I am quite sure will correct me on points of paratrooping detail - even those that made it into Queen's Regulations!
No comments:
Post a Comment