CedB

A fight? I hope not, but I fear the worst (NO SAUSAGES!) Welcome Giorgio Welcome John No rubbing in the pews please… Welcome Roger - fully loaded is the plan Thanks Bill All those names… sounds like my Mother-in-Law, bless her. She usually goes down the list of family names and, often, stops at the right one. It's been confirmed - nasty, hard Airfix plastic. I had to move up to the 'Medium' Molding Flash Sander: I think I'll leave that on the bench and go over the parts before I start. Bound to be more flash eh. Rats. The boys have had their coat of Ratskin Flesh: Now I have to drive off to Leicestershire again. The Puppy is under the knife today to correct her bendy front legs, poor thing. We've volunteered to have her for the two weeks recovery. All we have to do is stop her jumping. A ha ha ha. This is the pup that one minute is across the room and next thing is on your chest. Should be fun.

Thanks Ash I think you're right. According to Scalemates it's a rebox of the Frog 1974 new tool. Whatever, I wish they hadn't used that horrid shiny plastic… Forgot to include a link to the WiP which is:

Nice work on the turret Heather - that's looking pretty special

Great start on the engine Jont - it's going to be pretty special! £9 a HALF for beer? Crikey, that's almost London prices…

Oops, sorry, missed the comments on this page! Thanks Martian I love the AK paste; have I said that before? You have Rob! If you haven't seen the Nimrod have a look (link now in my signature). Happy with that one, at least! RFI done Steve - you asked for it!! Good idea John, it will be so

Out with the tweezers! Thanks John Normal noise will be resumed as soon as possible… Thanks Adrian I recommend holidays where someone else plans everything - very relaxing. Hi Shalako We had a few trips around the island, mostly North West. Based in Agia Marina we had trips to The White Mountains, Knossos and Heraklion, Akrotiri peninsula and Chania, Spili and Aptera. Great! Thanks Simon Thanks Ben - it'll be a long time before I leave England! Thanks Strickers It's 'Ced' by the way but I guess your autocorrect doesn't like that… no worries, not the worst I've been called! We did get to the Gorge (at least the entrance to it) and the Omalos Upland Plain - spectacular! The guides were a bit cross though at the number of people that have to be rescued from the Gorge; apparently there's a sort of world-wide challenge for trekking there and some people don't make it out. The mini-lathe has a speed controller on the power supply that gives seven speeds (all fast). As it's designed for making wooden beads I guess it'll be fine on plastic and I think Hendie and Tony have used them for metal too? Thanks Giorgio Thanks Bill The paintings in the palace were pretty amazing and some of the artefacts in the museum at Heraklion are just superb! The detail on the small items is amazing. Given that the Minoans were 'bronze age people' they seemed pretty skilled… Oh, OK then. By popular demand I've posted an RFI here. Thanks as always to everyone for your help, support and companionship during this build. I've decided on my next build too. As this month is the 75th Anniversary of the Dambuster's raid I've chosen the old Airfix Tornado, started here. Come on over - it's going to be average…

Phil ( @HP42 ) kindly gave me some of his 'spare' kits on the understanding that I WiP them here. Nice man. The latest completion is the Revell EE Lightning F6. I really wanted to do a camouflaged version as I already have 'a silver one' so I ordered the Xtradecal X72155 1/72 English Electric Lightning decals from MJW. Brush painted with Humbrol acrylics and AK True Metal paste for the undersides. Molotow chrome pen for the intake surround. W&N satin varnish on the top. Not my best by a long way but, as philp's club motto says, "Finished is better than perfect." Thanks Phil! Just don't look too closely… on Flickr Finally, my favourite 'Lightning' shot:

Some time ago I grabbed one of the 'Limited Edition' (2000) Airfix TORNADO 617 Squadron kit, Celebrating the 70th ANNIVERSARY of the DAMBUSTERS. As this month is the 75th anniversary it seemed like a good time to build this: (Image thanks to scalemates.com) Scalemates tells me this is a rebox of the 1989 tooling. Old Airfix then. Oh dear. Courage mon brave (that's French, that is) - it may not be that bad. Let's see how the fuselage goes together: Ah. Well. Press on chaps. Quick pictures of the parts trees then… Bit weird these. They seem to have been chopped up to fit in the box: … and this bit seems warped and the seats don't look too hot: Lots (and lots) of dangly bits though… First job is to get the crew primed: Flashy little bu**ers eh? Note that this is the first kit that I've used my new 'Samurai saw' on 'in anger'. Show off

Seconded!

I can see it now too Bill Nice.

Sorry Strickers I bought my lathe from here after looking around for the best UK deal. Aww thanks Steve, kind of you I had some time for some more shots: and my favourite Lightning shot: Must do something about my backdrop. And I need to get hanging these recent completions:

Anyway, I'm back now and, after looking at those flippin' missiles and thinking 'that's the last step, get on with it' I had a lot of problems restarting the mojo… Remember they were, after two or three goes, back to primer? Previous posts (thanks guys) have stated they should be grey with green fins so, using this photo as a reference, I sprayed some green and (some time later) masked up: Not my favourite job. Fiddly. They came out 'good enough for the ceiling' though and, with the refuelling probe and pointy bit on the front, completed the build: I'll take some more shots later but I don't think she's good enough for an RFI to be honest. You're going to zoom in on the missiles aren't you? I thought so. Serves you right… Out to lunch today so more photos and choice of the next build to come. Later.

Crete was great. My first 'organised tour' holiday but it won't be my last; not having to think about anything was very relaxing and the fact that it was a 'Flowers of Crete' tour (and I'm not that interested in flowers) didn't detract from the enjoyment. Our guide Andreas (a botanist) was very knowledgable and an absolute hoot: That's him with some weeds on his head. Funny. He was the sort of Greek you'd expect to see leading the resistance in old WWII films and has some very firm ideas on Greece's 'structural problems'. He also did a 40 minute presentation on the Battle of Crete without notes. Impressive. We spent a lot of time looking for rare flowers: … with Andreas wandering through the fields muttering "I forgot where I put it now; I spent all winter planting stuff for this tour". Did I say he was funny? We went to several historical sites including, of course, the Palace of Knossos: Be nice when it's finished. Those Minoans eh - who knew? As well as the tours there was plenty of time for just lazing around over a cheeky lunchtime beer and just enjoying the sun and surroundings: Very relaxing.

Well I'm back! Actually I've been back for a while but life and lack of mojo have got in the way… Holiday report to come. Oh, and some Lightning progress, but answers to your kind posts first. Thanks Giorgio, Phil, Rob, Bill, Ian, Roger, Keith and Ben I did start counting votes for the next build but I definitely need a mojo booster so I need to choose wisely (for a change). Tony I think a Scalemates stash is essential for old blokes like me... stops me buying unintended duplicates at shows! That is my whole stash though - I'm trying to restrict myself so I don't become 'a collector' Of course my first thought as a mojo boost was to buy a new tool. Top of the list (and not too costly) was one of these: Now I can model like Hendie and TheBaron! Yes, I'm still under the delusion that tools compensate for lack of skill. Some people never learn. I have learned that there are various packages of the lathe. Mine came with these: Chuck key, obviously, then (at the bottom) four things for sticking in your wood to hold it and (at the top) three round things with rough ends. What are they? I had no idea (there are no instructions with the set) but then found a video that showed they're 'round bead cutters'. I'm sure they'll come in for something. I had justified this purchase (under £30) for drawing the rings on the Red Top missiles but things changed (see later). In my (tiny) mind, just owning one will up my game. A ha ha ha...

Nice work Rob and pleased to see you had fun with the kids