lasermonkey

Etched brass. I hate it with a passion. I'll use it for seatbelts and nothing else. I won't buy a kit that relies on it for any major parts and doesn't include a plastic alternative. I'm looking at you, IBG and Dora Wings. Seams. Why is it that you can get a perfect finish and then a week later it's visible again? Does my flippin' head in.

I can't vouch for the other kits as I haven't even seen them, but the Eduard MiG-21s count amongst my favourite kits.

I’ve literally just masked off my JN766. I did 4.2mm for the 12” black stripes and 8.4mm for the 24” white stripes. It’s actually a little more than that, but I doubt you’d be able to measure and cut that accurately! Cheers, Mark.

Mrs Lasermonkey liked Memento (a lot), Inception and thought Dunkirk was ok. She's quite fond of war films, which pleases me greatly! Neither of us are into superhero films as a rule, so she won't have seen the Batman movies. We haven't caught Interstellar as yet and as both of us are incredibly fussy about the mix quality of films are likely to avoid Tenet. You probably shouldn't get me started on today's quality of sound engineers! Cheers, Mark.

I understood that the kit was not without its foibles, but it’s one I needed for my East Anglian collection and was a very good price. I had been considering pulling the trigger at over £16, but I’m glad that my patience was rewarded. Am I right in thinking that the canopy needs replacing with the vacform offering?

I was perusing eBay, as one does, whereupon I stumbled across a Brengun Typhoon Ia for the paltry sum of just over ten of Her Majesty’s Pounds, including the carriage of said item toy humble abode. Wide eyed, my trembling hands fumbled towards the board of keys. Would I be in time, or would I be beaten to it by an accursed knave? Dear reader, I was victorious!

I’ve been using an original Optivisor (that I fished out of a skip and repaired) for ages, but recently bought a clone so that I had a set for the house and one for the workshop. The clone was quite cheap, at £15 posted. It’s very light and possibly a bit flimsy, but it has three sets of lenses and it’s adjustable enough to fit my big, ol’ noggin. Time will tell whether it is durable, but to be fair, the original ones ended up in the skip because someone managed to break them!

Whilst on our lunchtime walk I saw a Chipmunk and a Spitfire. Other winged thingamies included our first speckled wood butterflies and large red damselflies.

I assume it was my friend, when he was much younger. Blame Kurt Cobain! Apparently his dad bought the guitar from the original owner in the early seventies for £25.

I'd love to have seen that! The closest I got was a trip to the RSPB reserve at Lakenheath Fen, when a C-5 that had taken off from the base turned over the reserve. I barely heard it until it was right on top of us. Impressive doesn't somehow do it justice.

A 2-seater Buchon which did a couple of laps of the village, making a rather splendid noise as it did.

An Xtradecal sheet of 1/72 Type D and low-visibility roundels. It’s the original release that had separate centres. Xtradecal aren’t exactly renowned for printing their roundels in register, so I’m pleased to have got these. I also bought a few parts (pickup foam and some brass sheet) for my friend’s 1963 Fender Jaguar. I’m going to be rebuilding it for him. It had been poorly refreshed in dark blue and had some DiMarzio humbucking pickups fitted. My mate managed to remove the dark blue paint, revealing the gorgeous Lake Placid Blue finish which has yellowed with age to a deep turquoise. The pickup cavities have been filled and re-routed and now it’s my job to put it all back together again.

I wish it was happening in the Czech Republic though, as it would certainly be more affordable for me. As it is, I’ll pass.

As good a reason as any!

A Fujimi 1/72 MiG-21SMT off eBay. The "Buy It Now" price was probably as low as I'm likely to see, plus I I had noticed that it was attracting a few watchers. I know the Fujimi Balalaikas are not without their faults, but I ran out of breath waiting for Eduard to release theirs, and I really wanted an SMT. If Eduard do release an SMT soon, you know who to thank.

A mixed bundle of old Humbrol and Airfix enamels. 26 tins in all, including three colours I didn’t have. I also have a few more Humbrol Authentics and Airfix paints on the way. I only need six colours now to complete my Airfix enamel collection.

A Miles Magister from Old Warden. Lovely!

That looks like it's based quite heavily on the old KP MiG-21MF from aaaages ago. I actually rather like the SMT, even if the pilots didn't.

Eagle Cals EC #2 contains Fw 190D-9 W.Nr 210968/Black 8 of 2./JG26 flown by Uffz. Karl Fröb which was shot down during combat with Spitfires on 17/04/45. The wreck has been recovered and is currently being restored. Hope this helps! Mark.

I think that The Scale Model Shop still has some of the Mil Spec colours in stock.

That’s why I was going to order some more. The ones that have gone bad were very old though, certainly over ten years old.

They used to have an eBay store too. That’s not there either, which is a tad worrying. I wasn’t far off ordering some more aluminium shades. Looks like I might have to seek an alternative.

My favourite band of all time.

That got quite Orbital at the end. A friend recommended her to me a while back. I remember a unique take on the Cocteau Twins Sugar Hiccup using a programmable (punch paper) music box.

We have just got back from an epic walk around the village, as the weather was glorious. Honestly, it felt like summer today. The skies were busy with light aircraft. though there was a Spitfire, Cessna 140 and an Auster way off in the distance. We decided to count the butterflies along the way, with an attempt not to count any twice. The final tally was 103. I would have been happy with twenty! I can't remember the last time I saw so many.