Mr T

The way car insurance is calculated is a bit of a mystery, but some things do seem to play a part. Age is one thing most people are aware. In general young men and the elderly are risky, doesn't matter if you are the world's most careful driver, it will still matter. Gender is supposed to be less of an issue, but I am not so sure in real life it is still not a factor. Occupation also seems/seemed to play a part. Nurses did well, journalists less so. At the end of the day, cynical me thinks the insurance companies have you over a barrel as they know you must have insurance to drive. They will push for what they can get. We change our provider almost every year, and it seems a bit of a roundabout, as eventually a company we have used will come up.

Retired a while ago as a health episode meant I couldn't do the job any more. Not the way I wanted it to happen, but at least I am still here and the pension is pretty decent. Mrs T retired last year. She was going to hang on a bit longer, but realised her pension wasn't going to get any better, and was becoming increasingly stressed and fearful about makong a mistake, so she left. Got used to having someone else around and we have good days out, walking etc. We have both lost weight, and are much happier. Trying to get the best out of it while we still can.

Happy birthday to a person that fired the imagination of many a young modeller. He also did some cutaways for the 'Eagle' comic. I hope there is way someone can convey our collective birthday wishes to him

My guess is also that insurers realise that diesels are no longer being produced in any numbers (manufacturers can appear virtuous by dropping diesels, has the great advantage of reducing overheads by reducing engine options). Also, despite offering policies based on age, car etc, there will be a baseline overall cost. My guess that is pretty important in determining how much the premiums are, and keeping shareholders happy. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that companies took advantage of high inflation rates to push their margins up, and I suspect that once they done it once, the temptation to carry on is irresistible. After all bigger margins, bigger profits, happier shareholders and bigger executive recompense packages, what's not to like? (think water companies). Not being political, all based on published information.

Perhaps painting the Typhoon fleet in the Day Fighter Scheme would be an improvement on the current grey, without the D-day special marks off course.

After a frustrating time endlessly spraying my Neptune with an airbrush with a small sized nozzle (Oh Er, Missus), I bought this Lieberwell airbrush kit with an Amazon voucher. It has a 0.5mm needle and nozzle, amongst other things. I choose it on the not very scientific basis that it had a high good to poor review ratio and most of the poor ones were about the poor instructions (agreed, if you are a total newbie), and bizarrely about the number of items in the box. I don't think it will be used a lot, thus buying a cheap one, and all the bits like the cleaning kit and hose etc. will be handy. I was surprised by how well-made it appears to be, with the trigger action being fairly smooth. It comes with a complete set of O rings, and have downloaded the picture off the website that identifies what goes where, the instructions are less than helpful in this respect. I ran some water through it, and no spluttering etc. The action is not as smooth as my Iwata Neo, but that is only to be expected. A test with some thinned Vallejo Black Grey, showed that it least it works OK. The picture overemphasises the graininess of the finish. In real life it looks smoother, and the thinning etc, might not have been perfect.

This is an interesting read, as I am both an airbrush and brush painter. I have an Iwata Neo and Sparmax 35 that I have used for a while and an old Chinese knock off that came as part of a kit with a compressor. Before them I used a Tamiya Spraywork and a basic Badger single action. One thing you have to accept is that airbrushes of any type love to be kept clean. Using an airbrush as others have said, is a steep learning curve, and requires a large investment of patience to get it right. I still don't get it right first time all the time. The Fengda airbrush seems to one of a number of cheap Chinese airbrushes to be found on Amazon. Most probably made in the same factory. This last weekend I succumbed to buying one (not a Fengda, but very similiar) as I would like something with a larger nozzle (I had an Amazon voucher) after spending an age spraying the Neptune with the Neo. The one I got, on the basis of best ratio of good to bad reviews has turned out to be surprisingly well made. It works well, although not as smooth as my Neo or Sparmax, and is not as easy to clean. The instructions are pants if you have no experience and I think that if you can master these airbrushes, anything else us straight forward. Also. acrylics will clog anything without careful setup.

Interesting comment about Pentangle, who have been hailed as one of the first folk rock groups, but I think it is more complicated. Never saw them live, but I like most of their studio albums, They, with Steeleye Span, Fairport Convention and a couple of others very much of their time, and I am not sure they have much appeal other than to old gits like me. I saw Steeleye twice in the early 70's while at Uni in Sheffield. First time they were good, but second time their fleeting chart success had gone to their heads a bit.

Despite any masochistic leanings you may have, you are doing a fantastic job on a very challenging looking kit👍

Do you by any chance take lots of cold showers and belong to some remnant sect of the Medieval flagellants? The kit makes the Mach2 kits I have built look like a Tamiya product.

At long last, paint on. A lot of sea Blue Gloss has gone on the Neptune, and removing some of the masking has revealed an issue that I had completely overlooked. The front of the undercarriage bays do not cover the bottom half of the engine nacelle, leaving a rather obvious gap. With paint on, I am loath to try and make a complete blanking piece. My way round is to put a piece of plastic card horizontally to fill the gap, as if there should be some sort of space. It is not going to be hugely visible anyway once the undercarriage and doors are in place, and better than a void.

Not been to a huge number of live bands, but the two that stand out for me are Suzanne Vega at Leeds Uni in 1986, and Goldfrapp at Deershed in 2018. Alison Goldfrapp was so full of energy and the crowd loved it. At the same Deershed was Public Service Broadcasting, who I know have a big following, TBH I thought they looked like they were going through the motions.

Also, "To Save an Army", the story of the Stalingrad airlift by Robert Forsyth, a topic I've long been curious about, this should satisfy most of that I feel. I have just finished it as an audio book. It is interesting, as it deals with some less regarded elements of military operations, like aircraft serviceability. The discussion of carrying capacity is a bit of an eye opener.

A bit of spare modelling time as the Neptune receives the odd bit of work prior to painting. This has been put to good use to do some work on the Canberra. The fuselage is split to accept different noses and I have added the nose to the fuselage halves as I am never convinced that adding a completed nose to a completed fuselage works terribly well. The kit design follows other AMP/MikroMir kits I have built in that with parts like wheel wells etc. it follows an IKEA flat pack approach. I suspect this is for ease of tool making. The ejection seat at the bottom below a tailplane is an Aeroclub cast metal Martin Baker Mk2. It will be fairly visible under the canopy, unlike the two back seaters. Given the interior colour (black), I can live with the kits ones once they have their PE adornments.

Thanks, it is a surprisingly large, I remember seeing Dutch ones fly at Finningley BoB shows in the seventies, and they didn't look that big. The model is Lancaster sized, with a bit longer fuselage.

What a difference a day makes! After spending what seems like an age sorting niggling problems out, by the weekend, the Neptune started to look as i some paint might be on soon. A day later and some more work, what is hopefully the last bit of primer, although there is the odd spot that will need a bit of work. My plan tonight is tos sort out the odd spot that needs attention and paint the radomes so that they can be masked off tomorrow, before some proper painting. At least it is only one colour.

I have to say, I am not keen on rap at all, and most punk didn't do a lot for me. I wonder if it when it appeared, my life was going through a bit of an iffy stage with a somewhat turbulent marriage. (I didn't realise that I had married my mother-in-law as well as my first wife). It all fell apart by the late seventies and didn't settle until moving to Leeds in 1981. I have found that I am getting a bit more mellow with age. Although I still listen to all my older stuff, I now listen to a bit more laid music like Afterlife and Fifties jazz.

I think people are right about the generation thing. I was born in the mid fifties and so very much a child of the sixties, and had a brother who was four and a half years older. Being married to someone who is ten years younger than I am and not having children until I was 40 exposed me to a lot of different music. I think of my mum who was born in 1927 and never moved on from Glenn Miller, I think partly because there was not the range of music available to her (wireless and expensive records, our first record player was bought about 1965). I am a musical omnivore, and have a varied selection of music I enjoy, and discover more all the time, 'classical', rock, jazz, pop, etc. My latest album is from Elle and the Pocket Belles. Fairly light but good fun.

aviesOK, to add to my previous list, Sgt Pepper is damned good, but not sure about one or two tracks Quadrophrenia, an album I have listened to for 51 years and not a track out of place Aqualung by Jethro Tull Shikasta by Afterlife A Kind of Blue by Miles Davis Over the years I have widened my musical tastes somewhat. I reckon being born in the Fifties has given me the opportunity to experience all the new stuff that has come along as well as being around to use the technology that allows you to find all sorts of stuff

Revolver, Suzanne Vega, name of her debut album Welcome to the Cruise, Judie Tzuke Leige and Lief, Fairport Convention Please to See the King, Steeleye Span

Also to note is that some of the photos show the application of serials on the top surfaces of the wings that some early Ansons had.

Sounds like where my mum lived before she died. They had a bus service that ran once or twice a day three days a week, and only to the nearest town (Kelso). Even when MrsT was younger, her village had two buses on odd days. I have lived my life in or near large cities (Nottingham, Sheffield and Leeds) and so relatively spoilt by urban bus services. My brother lives near Barnstaple so I will ask him about what they have on offer.

What would be nice would be a reliable UK importer. I know they can be ordered from abroad, but sometimes not always straightforward.

I was lucky with the timing. The bus I went to get to Leeds City Station in the morning failed to appear. This is a regular occurance on the 444/446 route especially outside peak hours. Being 70 I am not directly paying the fare, which just about makes it tolerable, but I feel sorry for anyone relying on the route to get to work etc.

Currently on the bus home from Leeds after a trip this morning to Halifax. I went to buy some paints for the South of the Border GB, as not the colours I usually have in stock. Came out with the new Dora Wings 1/72nd scale Vengeance and the RS Model Airspeed Envoy. The bus I am is one of Arriva Yorkshire super-smooth luxury buses (not). Shaking so much the phone screen blurs every few seconds.