general melchett

This is a great example of what can be achieved with 3D printing now. Sublime panel/rivet detail. A follow-up Yak-38U, would also be very welcome.

I resemble that remark Pete…..luckily, I don’t take umbrage, quaaludes yes, umbrage, definitely not…

Along with jackets, tee shirts, chinos and socks...it's almost as if we are one and the same person...weird!

I think you can tell by the photograph that Martian has actually been arrested for his own good, in accordance with an edict handed to Graf Heinrich by the Intergalactic Council (Mars-Wibble branch) of the Prussian Guards against the gratuitous wearing of inappropriate items of uniform (he had one eye too many and his floppy eye-stalks should stand proudly erect). He will face banishment from the Martian Silly Bu**ers Society. He will, of course appeal (to whom, I'm not certain) and probably be let off with a good slap on the tentacles and a caution. This would normally act as a deterrence but in Martian's case it will probably only lead to more infractions in the future....

Agreed, a great time was had by all. The social side of the event is always the highlight for this old grizzled veteran. A valiant effort made by your multi-tentacled effluence/eminence and the ‘Brockhouse Belles’, all-star wrestling team really paid off. I received a communique from cousin Heini that read ‘Generally ze whole shebang vos vonderbar but a distinct lack of young frauleins, scantily clad in black vinyl lederhosen, Maßkrugs of Moorhen’s Shredded Sporran unt Imperial pink Prussian pickelhaubes was most regrettable. Ensure zis does not happen again or honour will be served via cannonette …H’ Later, in the hotel we had trouble keeping him away from the bar and the inevitable altercation with His Majesty’s First Foot & Mouth and resulting carnage left us with a crippling bill that’s been forwarded to the Weimar police department in Berlin. Good luck with the Bristol show…

No, no, no Pete, I'm pretty sure Bill was the culprit and I'm sticking to that.... Me, postulating.....don';t be ridiculous. Great to catch up again Bill, hopefully see you at Leeds next year. Thoroughly enjoyable time was had, great to meet up with many old faces and some new. The weekend seems to pass very quickly and whilst it's nice to be pulled from pillar to post it's also nice to get back to Melchett Towers unmolested, unwind with a glass of paraffino and chill out for a while with the memsahib before braving the onslaught of emails and messages. Thanks must got to the organisers, great effort all round.

By thunder Pete, you really must lay off the mushrooms old son, they’re messing with what’s left of your faculties. Stick to the window licking, far safer. Black emoticons eh….I’d report that to the MO as soon as possible, who knows where you’ve been, might be contagious. (I’ll send Baldrick round to check you out in a day or two).

If you're at Telford over the weekend, stop by Martian's table and say 'wibble. I'll be there too, so be nice to have a chat....but don't, under any circumstances, expect a reasoned and coherent conversation.

I sincerely hope you intend to let him out before the weekend. The sound of his maniacal laughter and black bin bags, filled with Hydrazine-de-Menthe, being dragged around the place would be sorely missed. You could always take a portable naughty step with you in case of any emergencies that may present themselves.

Flange is a nasty one. I always found putrefaction, smear, and squirt rather unsettling. All music to Baldrick's ears of course, describing his culinary skills to a tee (along with phlegm, which is a given).

I refuse to be assimilated under any circumstances....well, not without a few Shredded Sporrans and Fillet Mignon's down me first. Resistance may be futile, but at least it isn't a dirty word!

Beautifully done, Martian—yet another to add to the party. We have guests arriving from Sweden tomorrow, so sadly, I won't have my Spotted Cow finished in time for next weekend as we have made plans, this coming week. I put this firmly in Darling's lap, as he seems to have made a complete pig's dinner of the calendar. As things progress, I'll keep updating on the wee beasty and hope to add it to the collection at some point soon. I've managed to prime and apply the first coat of MRP Doped Linen on so at least a start has been made. I might be able to squeeze a few 0.7mm Aizu tapes around the Teutonic loofah before the Vikings descend on us...

I let slip this info to Darling, and he immediately fell into a highly agitated state of excitement and expectancy, almost feverish. I thought it prudent to douse him with a bucket of cold water and keep him away from sharp knives, pencil sharpeners, and staple guns for now.

Thank you chaps, glad you approve. Thanks Stuart. I think you might be suffering from a touch of confustication and befuddlement there...I'm not the Martian, and jolly pleased I am about that. I'll let him know you like his floater; he's more into lighter than air floaters at the moment, he be tickled pink! (or whatever's the fashionable colour for tickled Martians these days.) Yes, I sat and painted all 8,749 of 'em...the first 2,000 were the worst, as was the second and the third, but after that, it was plain sailing.

Hi everyone, For those who might be interested, I've posted my Revell 1/700th Colombo Express (as Osaka Express) that I built for Airfix Model World magazine a while back. As a nice change of pace from the usual warships I build, this kit is excellent, dealing with a subject not often covered by other manufacturers. Enhancements to the kit included some scratch building (altered container sizes and accommodation block details), WEM's container company decals, and Tom’s Modelworks generic PE ship's railing and ladder sets. It would be nice to see other companies follow up with some of the even bigger ships of this type, such the MSC Irina and Ever Alot, true monsters of the sea. A brief history of the class. HAPAG-LLOYD saw the Container Ship (CMS, Container Management System) "Colombo Express" as an advancement into a new class of heavy cargo ships. Launched from Singapore on April 11, 2005, the vessel was the biggest container ship in the world when it was completed in just five months of construction. It was built by Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan, South Korea. The ship, which measured 335.47 meters in length and 42.94 meters in beam, could carry 8,749 20-foot containers and had a crew of 23. Her DWT (Dead Weight Tonnage) was approximately 103,800 tons. The powerful main engine, which is the size of a family house, produces 68,640 Kw/h (93,324 hp) of power, propelling the ship up to 25 knots (46 km/h). In addition, there are four auxiliary engines for power when the vessel is in port. Everything is massive, including the 74 m2 rudder blade and 9.10m diameter propeller that weighs in at 104 tons. The class is also equipped with a pair of small lifeboats secured adjacent to the accommodation block and a single free-fall lifeboat in case of emergencies requiring rapid escape from the vessel. Colombo Express has seven sister ships, including two fitted out as training vessels. One of them, the subject of this model, Osaka Express, IMO 9320697, was built in 2007 at Ulsan and usually sails under the German flag on routes between Europe and Asia every two months from her home port of Hamburg. She is currently operating (November, 2023) under the Liberian flag off the English Channel. Regarding the kit, I decided to vary the sizes of the container stacks to match reference photos and add more visual appeal. Revell only provided decals for the orange Hapag-Lloyd containers, which I found a bit mundane, so I opted to paint them in the colours of the shipping companies supplied on the WEM decal sheet, in this case Hapag-Lloyd, OOCL, P&O, and NYK-Logistics. All in all, a lot of fun... Cheers, and thanks for looking. Melchie

Beautiful Neil, great job on another challenging kit, especially considering you were missing several parts to begin with. The extra effort was well worth it. I'll have to get mine finished now so we can kick start someone into producing a decent mainstream kit of the thing. See you next week!

Those sheets of 'sound deadening' were actually rubber matting for the walls and ceiling. The Jungle Room is a form of themed Panic Room where the clan can gather in times of tension, and panic safely around the old camp fire (Baldrick's in charge of the petrol). Pig Haven...now that conjures up a pretty picture. To be honest, my dear marshal, it's quiet compared to the 'good old days' back when I first serenaded the mem with bottles of Watney's Red Barrel, a box of Quality Street, and flowers/stalks nicked from the local cemetery. Back then, there was a seemingly endless parade of Vulcans coming and going from Waddington and Scampton, Lightnings from Binbrook, F-4s from Coningsby, etc. We took it all for granted back then. We do have Cobra Warrior to look forward to a couple of times a year, along with a few NATO deployments hosted at Waddo. Airseeker activity has changed since we almost lost one out over the Baltic. We also get a few choppers, mostly Apaches and Wocka Wockas. Those things are quite dangerous enough without the need to add Baldrick to the equation......now Darling is another matter, what with his propensity towards rearranging stationary supplies.

There's something in the air around here, Terry, and I don't mean the fallout from one of Baldrick's plum duffs . I put it down to the effects of spent jet fuel that permeate the locale, although, in fairness, they have started using a 'sustainable aviation fuel blend' that certainly tastes different (minty with a hint of Armageddon). At the moment, we have those pesky Frenchies and their teeth rattlingly noisy Rafales overhead on a daily basis, and when it's not them, it's either the Reds, unceremoniously dumping copious amounts of coloured dye over the mems washing line, willy nilly (at least it's patriotic), or Typhoons/F-35s deliberately throttling up over MT, shaking the foundations, and upsetting Darling's chair-stacking and napkin-folding practice. Honestly, you move to an area expecting a bit of peace and quiet, and this happens....OK, we've been here 25 years and should know better, but that's beside the point; we're all a bit of bonkeroony around here, as Martian will no doubt attest.

I'll drag him kicking and screaming Bill....oh hang on, he doesn't need to be dragged anywhere, he'll be on the Alienmobile so we'll just point him in the general direction and let him loose. Drugged maybe but never dragged. There are so many meetings now to meet up with that I've lost count of whether I'll be coming or going...nothing new there.

Sell SJ's AGD!!! .ARE YOU MAD (don't answer that)).......He would rather sell one of the Martianess's vital organs than resort to that. A little more progress on my contribution to the cause. Everything's now attached, how long it stays that way is anyone's guess...tiny PE has a tendency to ping off into the ether, any chance it gets. I've added a few items just to give some sense of scale.......it's a tiddler. The kit's engine cars decided to make friends with our old friend, the Carpet Monster and went AWOL for the duration, until, naturally, I no longer need them so were replaced with home-made versions. They're only 3mm long so losing them was only a matter of time once released from the confines of the runner frame. Fitting the PE structures was a bit fiddly but when you've been building and rigging 1/700th ships for some while, nothing to get too excited about. Front gondola The anti-aircraft guns are miniscule, even under the magnifier. I have some 1/700th figures to add here which should provide some visual interest....if you can even see them.

Lovely job Martian, a loofah with attachments for those 'awkward places'. What's not to like. While Martian's collection of Teutonic gasbag sundries is impressive he has some way to go to beat this fella.... British fan of German Zeppelins set to sell his 15 TON collection of airship memorabilia worth £1m...

The Golgafrinchans say, hold my Pan Galactic Gargleblaster...

Fantastic result mate, as expected, just shows what can be done with these challenging kits, looking forward to seeing it in the flesh. Mine will be a while down the road unfortunately as I have a few odds and ends to tie up for Telford and magazine article deadlines first but I will keep updating here for those interested. It'll be nice to see the two of them on the SIG table at some point contrasting the early and late war styles. I'm going to pick up the ICM 'Bomber and Torpedo Pilots' set as I have a diorama in mind.

Wonderful stuff my old friend, the mem was particularly impressed and wondered if it's still available from our local branch of Loofah's-R-Us. She's currently auditioning for the role of Mia Zetteling in our local theatre production of 'Gasbagging on Ice'. Communication isn't a dirty word Martian...…seepage and ooze are but communication definitely isn't. Actually, Speckled Jim has officially retired and living a quiet yet fulfilling life as a spotter/target for the Women's Auxiliary Balloon Corps. His young prodigy, Spotted Twerp will be taking over his duties forthwith (culinary requirements from the trenches notwithstanding). So expect some news from the Front. Not exactly sure what happened with Pete and his electric hog/post-it note wheeze...'wild goose chase' comes to mind...and with Baldrick involved that doesn't conjure a pretty picture. I'm not sure people realise the amount of effort Martian squeezes into building one of these things, it's almost painful at times....(or is that unbridled ecstasy )

Cheers Neil, it’s coming along slowly. Yes, the fillets have to be sanded back as they’re too prominent at the moment. As you say the forward nose is a bit tricky, the clear part being slightly wider than the fuselage (of course) so if necessary I’ll add a shim to ensure an even fit. I think it’ll be easier to take care of all that before sticking the wings and tailplane on. Once the fuselage is together things should start moving along…..famous last words. Looking forward to seeing progress on yours, almost there…bet you’ll be glad to see it done and dusted.