lasermonkey

A couple of miles away is Tempsford airfield. A few of you may have heard of it. Home to nos. 138 and 161 Special Duties squadrons amongst others, it was probably the most heavily guarded airfield in the UK during WW2. I have visited the Gibraltar Farm barn, where the SOE agents kitted up before their missions. It’s a sobering experience, for sure. Standing on the remains of the runways, one can imagine Stirlings and Halifaxes lumbering past, lining up for their takeoff runs. Or Lysanders heading off for Manston to top up with fuel for a long flight. The proximity of Old Warden and the Shuttleworth Collection means that there is occasionally a Lysander flying around, something that never fails to get me right in the feels (as I believe the young people say.)

I just realised that I forgot to comment on the Air Graphics tanks. Anyway, they were miles better than the Pavla ones. I shall likely go down this route again when I need more. I also bought the practice bomb carriers, which I was also happy with.

Shuttleworth’s Lysander flew over about an hour ago. I never get tired of seeing the Lizzie. With Tempsford being the neighbouring village, it just seems right to have a Lysander based in this part of Bedfordshire.

After having had a mystery tune stuck in my head, I eventually managed to work out it was by The Stranglers and correctly guessed it was from The Raven. Considering it’s probably a good 25 years since I last listened to that album, that’s not too shonky. Anyway, I rectified the situation and the song in question was Dead Loss Angeles.

A couple of the Haynes Owners’ Manuals, namely the Buccaneer and Spitfire ones. I paid just £2 each for them, and that included postage. I have no idea how the seller will have made any money from them, but there you go.

Is it me, or does that canopy look more like the early Mk I windshield than the rounded type of the PR variants?

The Infini Models Easy Cutting Mat Type B- the one with the circles. I found it to be 1: not very easy at all (the scalpel blade kept riding out of the grooves, which, IMO, are too shallow) and 2: the circles are actually a series of straight lines, rather than a smooth circle. I know some people like it, but I thought it to be a great idea, very poorly implemented. If they used a manufacturer with a more precise laser engraving device, it might have worked. As it is, if I want actual circles (which was the whole point!), I have to resort to my compass cutter, which I find fiddly, but not as fiddly as the Easy Cutting Mat. And yes, the seal ring on Tamiya Extra Thin is a pain in the backside.

Well, that’s disappointing.

Some masks for my Airfix MiG-17F from Hannants. I initially thought it would be easy to mask the canopy myself, but my hands just aren't steady enough any more. To get free postage, I added the Modeldecal sheet with the non-operational Lightnings. There were just three left when I bought it, but it seems to be out of stock now.

Stunningly good!

Looking good there! It's funny, with you not being a fan of the '190 and not being afraid of the challenge and me, very much liking the Dora Nine, deciding that I'd rather eat my own earwax (or, indeed, someone else's) than attempt this kit. Generally speaking, I don't mind a challenge, but not when it involves photoetched parts. I despise PE with the kind of passion I reserve for Marmite. *shudder* Also, being unashamedly lazy, I shy away from unnecessary work. Life's to short to spend time on bits that will never again see the light of day, and I kinda resent having to pay for the privilege of having those parts included. Yes, I'm looking at you, designer of the Airfix Wellington! Anyway, I'm enjoying watching this build. Sometimes it's more fun do do things vicariously. Cheers, Mark.

That’s really nice. So nice, that even though the type never particularly interested me before, I think I might have to get one! Cheers, Mark.

Just a couple of Spitfires today.

A Spitfire flew a lap of the village this afternoon. I also saw the first banded demoiselles of the year.

I was offered an AMK 1/72 Aero L-29 Delfin for a shade over eleven of The Queen's Pounds, including postage. Having seen a beautiful example of the model here on Britmodeller recently, I gave in to temptation. I also got the Xtradecal T-33A/F-80C sheet which includes the 81st TFW example. As that's the only subject on the sheet I'm interested in, I'm glad I only paid three quid or so for it. Anyone know whether there are any decals for other UK-based T-33s in 1/72?

Probably my favourite car, in my favourite colour, nicely done. Lovely job.

When it all goes well, it’s such a great feeling! I recently removed the masking from my Airfix Beaufighter. Full invasion stripes, and the masking worked perfectly. I’m just hoping it goes well on the Tempest I am just about to spray.

Same here with Firefox.

That's amazing!

I'm sure it will be an unpopular opinion, but I'd love to see Airfix and Humbrol freed from the shackles of Hornby. I honestly think they run it as nothing more than a means of propping up the model railway business, and nothing I have seen makes me think they know what they're doing on that side either. There. I said it.

I made a cheeky, low bid on a second-hand Zvezda 1/72 Ka-27 on eBay and was successful. I have a mind to do it as the HeliSwiss Ka-32 that I have seen fly over my house a couple of times. When you hear that coming, it certainly grabs your attention.

Mrs Lasermonkey is a huge fan of sci-fi and enjoys most war films. It's just the superhero movies (with the exception of Deadpool [probably because it's a comedy] and Guardians Of The Galaxy [because it's a sci-fi crossover]) that she doesn't like. I'm with her on the superhero films. I just don't get them at all. Anyway, you won't get any rom coms in our house!

Very much this!

A bunch of old enamels arrived today and two of the Airfix ones are write-offs. The M23 Golden Brown is actually just a random, mixed dark brown in an M23 tin and the M1 Brick Red's pigment is a solid, rock-hard lump at the bottom of the tin. Considering the seller had supposedly checked the paints, I'm not best pleased. I now need eight colours to complete my collection. In my experience, Airfix paint survives very well and these are the first two I have come across that didn't, which makes me suspect the entire lot he was selling may be duff. At least the Humbrol Authentics were ok. I got three out of the five Swedish colours and these almost never come up.