Thursday 24 December 2020

Happy Christmas 2020 - What an Interesting Year!


As regular followers of the blog will know, I like to theme my Happy Christmas greeting on the eve of celebrating with a suitable picture that captures the current theme of the blog and, with 2020 being rather nautical here on JJ's, I thought a view of the officers table, suitably adorned for the upcoming festivities and feasting seemed appropriate.

Of course this Christmas is likely one that will be remembered for generations to come after the year that the world has had and my condolences go to all those who have lost loved ones during the pandemic and for whom Christmas will never be the same.

Wargaming has been affected a great deal as has pretty much all activities that thrive on social interaction and, with face to face gaming curtailed since March this year, sitting down to build, paint and rig model sailing ships, together with reading the latest additions to the age of sail book list, has been a fun time filler for my corner of the hobby.

With the festivities looming and filling my time with family, feasting and the normal Christmas activities, I was keen to complete my last bit of model building work before my painting desk shut down for the next week or so and that saw me working flat out in JJ's shipyard to finish off these six British generic 3rd rate 74s, seen below painted and varnished a week ago waiting for their sails and rigging.



Well in between picking up a turkey and other foods, decorating the house, wrapping the odd present, reading xmas cards and moving furniture to accommodate dinning space for our family gathering, I managed to get the job finished yesterday evening, hence the group photo on my table rather than under the lights in the photo-box.


My work pattern during modelling projects is to break the process down into mini-projects and getting these six ships finished has given me a great sense of satisfaction going into the holiday knowing that just twenty more models remain to finish off this collection and setting up nicely my project plans for 2021 which I will announce in my New Year Review.


I hope, all being well that this large collection of models that I have featured being built over this year and late last year will be one we can look forward to being played with around a rather large table when normal social gatherings can recommence and a way of celebrating our hobby and a looking forward to better days ahead.


In that spirit, I wish everyone a very Happy and Safe Christmas with the focus on the promise of better times ahead in 2021.

Cheers all

JJ

22 comments:

  1. Merry Christmas. My you find many new miniatures under the CHristmas Tree

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    Replies
    1. Hi Gary,
      Happy Xmas to you and yes Santa was very good to me this year!

      JJ

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  2. Replies
    1. Cheers Steve and a Merry Xmas to you to.

      JJ

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  3. Grwat looking ships! Have a great Christmas and New Year!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Ray,
      Thank you and a great Xmas and New Year to you to.

      JJ

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  4. Replies
    1. Hi TGSS and a very Happy Xmas and New Year to you and yours to,

      Cheers
      JJ

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  5. Replies
    1. Hi fireymonkeyboy,
      thank you Happy Xmas to you to

      JJ

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  6. Replies
    1. Hi Adam, Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year.

      JJ

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  7. Ah, the workhorse of the line, the 74. Nice to see the odd half dozen added to your burgeoning fleet. All up to your usual high standard JJ.

    I look forward to seeing them on a table near me soon.

    Vince

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    Replies
    1. Hi Vince,
      Thanks mate, I'm sure we'll have some fun with these toys in due time.

      JJ

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  8. Merry Christmas! Lovely ships.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Dan,
      Thank you, and a Merry Xmas to you to.

      JJ

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  9. Merry Christmas to you JJ from all of us. Those ships are really nice and let’s hope we get a chance to see them at the club in 2021.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Lee and a Merry Xmas to you guys to.
      Fingers tightly crossed that 2021 will be a good one.

      JJ

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  10. Hope you had a great Chistmas JJ, and a prosperous coming year. I have truly enjoyed your blog this past year and hope you don't lose interest in this period! Gosh, that was very selfish of me, forget I said it! 😉

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    Replies
    1. Hi Vol,
      I had a fantastic Xmas, thank you and I trust you did to and wish you a Happy New Year.

      Thank you for your kind comment, I really appreciate it. It is really great when others enjoy what you find fun and I know we share a common interest in age of sail and I have enjoyed popping over to your own blog picking up lots of tips and techniques from your posts.

      My focus on the current theme is likely to run for some time yet as I am approaching the conclusion of one project, whilst gathering models for the next and will lay out those plans for 2021 in my Annual Review for New Years Day.

      I look forward to yet more fun with model ships in the New Year.

      JJ

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  11. A first-rate job of those thirds Jonathan and in record time too! Top stuff, they look as marvellous as your others.
    Regards, James

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    Replies
    1. Thank you James, that's very kind and I wish you a Happy New Year.

      JJ

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