[Willanthry]

Good Morning to everyone!

Well, this is my first post on my thread on MLU for over two years...two years in which a great deal has been going on. I've been all over the place with the Navy and haven't had a great deal of time to settle down to anything, including (unfortunately) Blitz Restoration! I'm currently in Sydney, but I'm once again about to post up North to Darwin to join a Patrol Boat. It'll be nonstop for a few months and then back to Sydney by October. Hopefully, I'll be able to get onto some serious Blitz work prior to Christmas.

Two excuses (among many) for such a long delay in staying up to date and for doing any Blitzwork are as follows;

1. My studies at the Australian Defence Force Academy, from whence I have successfully graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (History) following my thesis on the Australian Naval Contribution to the Boxer Rebellion.

2. The Navy has kept me busy with work, postings and courses, and I haven't had much time to get home to my babies.

The main reason, however, is not as happy or busy. Just before Christmas last year (a few days after I went on leave for Christmas), my main restoration partner in this enterprise, my dad Glen, was killed in a workplace accident. I toyed with the idea of selling my trucks, as I could not envisage continuing the restoration effort without my Dad (who encouraged me to begin in the first place and has helped and supported me every step of the way).

Now, however, as time has passed and I've had time to think, I'm more determined than ever to successfully restore these trucks to their former glory. I think Dad would have wanted that. I'll have to learn a lot more new skills to do this, as I relied on him for a lot of the technical aspects I never had (I'm good enough at dismantling the trucks, not so good as restoring and putting them back together). It's going to happen though, I guarantee it!

I have something of a plan in place to facilitate this. The first step (when I get back from up North) is to have a clean-up and stock-take of the ridiculous amount of rubbish I've managed to accumulate surrounding this restoration (with a view to getting the scrappy out here) and have a general clean-up and maintenance period of my trucks. Next is to use funds gained from the sale of my car to finance a shed (which has long been on the agenda but not necessarily viable) in which to store the trucks and gear. Once this has taken place, I'll have a much firmer foundation upon which to base my restorations and also will be conserving the trucks much better than they currently are under tarps out in the elements.

Looking forward to consulting the accumulated wisdom of this Forum once more on the technical problems which will inevitably arise and keeping you up to date on the restorations.