malpaso

I usually shop around, but this year I stayed LV again as 50% increase was way less than any other quotes. Pretty reasonable considering they’d had to rebuild half the car following a slope / jump out of gear after being parked perfectly happily as usual for 24+ hours / handbrake / garden wall situation. 😭

Agreed, Quill was bearable to read but Henshaw comes across as an awful snob even by the standards of the 40s!

Flying Fury - McCudden Wings on my Sleeve - Brown First Light - Wellum Airymouse - Penrose Aeroplane Affair -Isaacs I’ve put the last two as showing the love and joy of flight.

Sharpen your cheque-books! Recent USCP Facebook post suggests could be available next week!

As advertised by Madness On tv in Japan

007 was running a side hustle at Romsey Abbey yesterday morning!

Overtaken on the M3 southbound this afternoon by a beige / pale grey Porsche Cayenne or Macan(?). With NO plates front or rear (or trade plates as far as I could see).

Lolita, so called as she was 12 years old and been well-used by her previous 12 owners! A 1975 Spitfire 1500, I kept her going for 6 years or so till daily driving became too challenging (financially). I nearly cried as I listened how the virtually unsilenced exhaust disappeared, I could tell where the new owner had got to by the sound. Possibly my red Clubman 1100 would be the other I’d like to drive again. But I’m quite happy with my orange Mx-5; can’t see why it would need replacing ever. I’ve never actually hated any of my cars, family ones could be a bit dull but offset by usefulness. Eg Toyota Verso, aka “The Tank” had a truly execrable sort-of-automatic gearbox, but had loads of space, could transport daughters plus several friends to events, much more economical than a Fiesta and being a Toyota nothing, repeat nothing went wrong with it in 7 years ownership (or in its previous owners 5 years)! On the subject of hating cars; the sight of the bright orange Mx5 on our driveway so offended our neighbour opposite she moved house!

“Early in the development programme the nose of the Liberator was extended to allow more crew room in that section as well as to balance the “aircraft’s centre of gravity when a power turret was installed in the tail.” p9. Freeman.R.A. B-24 Liberator at War. Ian Allen 1983 “Apart from its armament and operational equipment, the Liberator I was unchanged in design or performance from the earlier development models” p85. Green.W. Famous Bombers of the Second World War. MacDonald 1959 ”[Liberator II’s] main features were the insertion of an additional section in the fuselage nose ahead of the cockpit, increasing the overall length to 66ft.4in.,[and turrets]” p88. Green. Ibid From comparing photos the XB-24 certainly has a shorter nose, steeper ahead of cockpit, as maybe do YB-24, LB-30A and Mk1, than the D? This is very clear in photos of early part of “Famous Bombers”.

I saw the display and briefly spoke to you at Saturday’s show and can confirm it was excellent. The models, memorabilia and the presentation were very impressive; I would say the best, certainly the most coherent, stand on display.

Wheels like that were available on Pontiac Fiero, and there were replicas built on that platform.

That Hasegawa kit really captures the subtle curves of the classic mini, better than the previous choices. May be a better choice to model my early cars, as long as not too expensive to butcher for proper 70s BL “cooking” ones. Great build by the way, I find getting a good gloss challenging, or certainly time consuming!

Fiesta mk1 in 1981 (second attempt at taking as first was cancelled on arrival at the centre - no colleagues believed I hadn’t failed until I passed 2 weeks later; as it was a minimum of one month for a retake!). I’d practised a lot in the family mini, conversely my daughters passed 2018 /2019 in minis having practiced in the family Fiesta! I’d forgotten the advantage of the Test centre in Loughton - no traffic lights or roundabouts available on routes there back then!

It certainly seems to dry quicker and be harder, especially for gloss paints and their X-22 gloss clear.

You can mix the Tamiya acrylics with lacquer thinners and then they act like lacquer paints.

First time I saw one was in the States in 1983 , so well before BTTF. At the time it looked like something special even if it was actually more show than go. There are a couple that appear at car meets round here; they still look good. Yes not as great as the Esprit but let’s not forget the DeLorean saga probably led to the demise of Colin Chapman.

Looks like a cool transkit. Bit spendy once you get the kit + body kit + wheels + decals; even if you don’t get the chassis upgrade. Maybe it’s 1/24 Ford Tax! Tempted by possibility of a road car though. 🤣

On Sunday passed a TR7 whilst out cycling . On a trailer and it looked a real project. Probably it should have been in a body bag. Difficult to see where the metallic brown paint finished and the rust started. I can’t imagine it would have been worth restoring financially! I quite like the proper ones rather than ragtops, but this one was a real tetanus special. I’d mention the chromified V reg MGB that passed me twice, the backdate being the only thing worth mentioning about such things. the guy looked like he was having fun although should have been flogged for having the roof up!

For the Hasegawa or Fujimi?

I think Black Dog do or did a resin set and figures to convert the newest Tamiya standard Jeep; not the old SAS one nor the old stock version with trailer I built in the 70s (which still seemed 1000% better than the Italeri one I built around the same time - though it was probably Italaerei then).

I had a 126 bequeathed to me. I still have the plate on register at the DVLA. My late aunt couldn’t face learning a new reg no so had used the same since her first car (pininfarina A40) through many others to the 126. i commuted for 6 months in it, at first seemed small and limited, but once over that and on message, it was enormous fun. Basically driven flat out and 9/10ths for 99% of the time with no danger of a ticket!

I agree too! But reading Doug Nye’s book about Stirling Moss’ cars the AC Ace was about the 4th iteration of the design starting as an MG based special!

I’ve found old 70s Airfix decals work fine, although may have yellowed. Same with Frog of same vintage. So worth trying before bothering with AM.

Nice model and finish you’ve done there. I didn’t realize there was a kit of this car. My dad had a red 2wd 90; it was a nice car but seemed a step down after a 190E and the E21 323i rocket ship that preceded it!

I find way too thick as it comes for airbrush, fine for handbrushing ! So I’ve thinned at least 50/50 with water or windscreen washer or Tamiya X-20a, each with equal success. I do find straight or thinned, whilst touch dry in an hour, it’s a week or more before the varnish feels reasonably hard. I plan to see if it can be thinned with Mr Levelling Thinners, on the grounds that X-20A works! Worst that can happen is a massive airbrush clean required!