Wez

There's a rich seam there Martin, it was also an all arms conflict so there's room for plenty of land, sea and air subjects.

Another great instalment from Pierre, thanks for sharing Martin. There are so many options for this GB, the trouble is choosing a subject...

And you should know if anyone does!

Messily and with great difficulty

You are looking at it the right way up aren't you?

OK... ... I've never understood the appeal of the Queenie (or Sea King as it's mother knew it). Underpowered, wallowed around uncomfortably in any weather, I never enjoyed flying in them (I flew in HAR, HAS and HU versions). The S-61 however was both a better looking aircraft and a much more comfortable ride. Aesthetically, I prefer aircraft of the early to middle cold war period so I'm a fan of Vampires, Sabres, Hunters, Century series and Mirages, less so of the later stuff like the F-14, F-15, F-16, F-18 etc. That said, I've never liked the Supermarine jets, how a company that designed the svelte beauty that's the Spitfire could go on to design the Fat Knacker and the even Fatter Knacker (Swift and Scimitar), is beyond me. Modelling wise, being a now retired aircraft engineer of over 40 years experience, the obsession for covering the airframe with divots (they're not rivets, a rivet fills a hole, it doesn't leave one). Scaled up the surface drag caused by those divots would seriously reduce aircraft performance, would probably result in the aircraft being re-skinned at the very least if not scrapped.

Pretty much sums it up.

Matlock's take on the whole Grundy debacle is that it was Grundy who caused the whole thing to happen, he kept winding them up and had no real interest in doing the interview (it didn't help that they'd made good use of the green room), McLaren was devastated when the interview was over was one of horror, it took him a couple of days to realise he could put a spin on it. I agree with you about Lyndon's epiphany on the US tour when the band finally collapsed. Matlock's book was published in 2023, as of that date (if I understand correctly), is that he's the only one to receive royalties from their classic repertoire.

No, that was the McLaren narrative, Malcolm was trying to make them into a commodity and Sid fitted the image he wanted to portray. Matlock didn't really fit in with that ideal (incidentally, he was more a fan of the Faces and the Kinks). Ironically, about a month after booting him out of the band, Malcolm realised it wasn't working with Sid and they'd lost the man who came up with the tunes, Malcolm tried to get Glen back but he rightly told him where to go.

Took me just under a week, the weather has been mostly very hot in France the past few weeks (la canicule the French call it), so reading while sat in the shade was a good way of avoiding heat stress.

Having been on holiday recently I found time to re-read the complete, unabridged English translation of The Count of Monte Christo, it's only 1083 pages in teeny-tiny type, thoroughly enjoyed it and picked up on some bits I'd missed the first time I read it a couple of years ago. Recommended. Followed that up with Triggers by Glen Matlock, the original Sex Pistols bassist which puts a different perspective on his exit from the band Vs the usual Malcolm McLaren narrative as well as his later work with Rich Kids, Iggy Pop and more recently with Blondie. Then rattled through a couple of detective novels before picking up one of the 33 1/3 series of analysis of a classic album, this one is on the Shangri-la's Golden Hits albums and you get a real sense of why they're much loved by the early punks (e.g. the Ramones and the Damned).

Truth told, the biggest burden has been with Mark @2996 Victor simply because of a change in my circumstances so the biggest thanks should go to him and to all of the GB participants for making it so easy on him in my absence. The good news is I'm now retired and will have more time to commit to modelling and GBs in general.

I can only echo Mark's @2996 Victor comments. Thanks to you all for taking part. Thanks too to Mark for suggesting it in the first place.

Yes, thanks Mark @2996 Victor for the reminder, condolences on your loss. Apologies I meant to say that in my previous response but managed to forget

Jeff, Modelling is just a hobby, a distraction from the real life stuff that's far more important such as the task ahead of you. Good luck with what you have to do and we look forward to seeing the Connie completed when you can return.