Farmer matt

Not really my thing, but heading south on the A23 this morning, an uninterrupted close convoy of (at least) 10 Audi TTs. There were a few stragglers too, but the run of them all together looked quite impressive. Then, taking up most of the local BP, a tidy but faded 1955 Cadillac 2-door in white with black roof. A (classic) mini pulled in as they were leaving, it would have been interesting to have had them at adjacent pumps. Matt

@John_W it does have this... c30.18 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr @Malc2 The low parts count is largely responsible. It is the construction part of a build that interests me so I tend to crack on. Detailing and painting I find frustrating, and usually serve to stuff up a good build. Being on here has motivated me to make more effort and stops me just sidelining a build thats going awry. The ASK would have been consigned to the shelf of doom at several points in the latter stages for example. The Jodel (not forgotten but a bit stalled) would probably still just be a vague idea if I wasn't sharing. I will probably now try and get more if they turn up, and the financial director allows. That was certainly never my intention previously. With a bit of luck the postman will be bringing something very special quite soon! Anyway enough rambling. After some cleaning up, some more filler on the port side, some more cleaning up, and a few smears applied before the pics, we have c30.16 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr c30.17 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr Once those last smears of filler are cleaned up that hopefully will have cracked it. I will get some primer on then to make sure as I don't want to be cleaning up around struts and things. Matt

@ianwau This is just Humbrol model filler, I find it works just as well on the metal as anything else. It looks dramatic here, but thats why its masked so I can be a bit heavy handed with the application. There are not so much gaps as mismatch steps. @TEXANTOMCAT, you are not really missing much with the decals, assuming you were doing G-ACUU you only get the reg and some stripes. EDIT the civil scheme is G-ACWR Cleaning up showed a bit more of a step on the port side than I would have liked but nothing too dramatic. Will have another look at it later. Matt

Time to join the fuselage halves properly. A bit of adjusting showed that filler would still be needed in most areas so I just aimed for straight and level and taped her up. c30.12 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr As you can see, the tail in particular will need some work c30.13 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr An odd feature, presumably for aerodynamic reasons, is that the port stabilisor is set higher than the starboard. c30.14 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr And so on with a large quantity of filler. I find that masking tape is helpful to control the first heavy application, otherwise you just get filler everywhere and lots of unnecessary tidying. c30.15 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr Hopefully it will clean up ok, we will find out later. Matt

Giving the battered one a new lease of life is the way I would go, the Dinkys do have far more charm. I spent many years re-finishing various diecasts as a sideline, and I was always a bit loathe to interfere with anything that was in really good nick. I do like these personal connection projects, they give a bit more emotion to the model. Matt

If that is the original paint and box on the Dinky Toy, you would probably be better leaving it and using a Corgi or Oxford diecast to repaint, or starting with a battered Dinky. Of course if its already a repaint then no such worries. Nice idea to replicate the box style if you can. Matt

Attaching the undercarriage is something of a juggling act. You need to hook the casting over the front of the lower fuselage which is easier said than done and most probably how the part became damaged. Any fettling to the location and test fitting means hooking and unhooking again. Great fun. c30.10 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr As an added bonus, you cannot properly align the u/c without the upper fuselage in place, but you cannot attach the upper fuselage until the u/c is located. So the solution was to position the u/c and then strap the upper fuselage down over it whilst it set. c30.11 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr There will be a bit of filling needed to tidy up around the locations once the fuselage halves are properly joined, which is the next task. Matt.

Inevitably I could not resist fidgeting with the Cierva, so first task to remove the rear seat to leave room for Johnny pilot. The hole in the front of his plinth is for the rotor control to fit in from above. c30.7 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr Then front seat in to lower fuselage, Johnny into upper c30.8 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr Not much will be seen once the pieces are joined c30.9 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr But the u/c needs to be attached before that happens. Matt

And this is how baby looks after an encounter with a hairy stick laden with Humbrol 14. bb29 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr bb30 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr Got to get some white reg'n letters which should set her off nicely. Anyone know if an underwing serial needed? Matt

Oddly rare considering its a modern Ford, a tatty Mk1 Scorpio saloon in I would say dark grey rather than black, on an L- prefix. Not special? It was a Cosworth 24v. Driver looked old enough to have had it new on his retirement, well done to him if so! Matt

Back to slightly smaller fare, parked up near Reigate last night, a rather lovely E-prefix Daimler Sovereign V12 in maroon. Matt

Closer inspection tempered my enthusiasm slightly, as it transpired that the u/c is not only potentially irretreivably twisted, but snapped at the starboard axle. c30.6 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr I suspect this would have happened during a test fit, as you have to hook this piece over the nose in a particular way to locate it. Of note is that this is an early issue of the kit, and the u/c casting was changed to zinc later. Also, the wheels are cast in place for this release but were seperate on the later issue. I decided that discretion was the better part of valor and will leave the pylon joined together, and clean up the glue residue. Removing the seats revealed whatever adhesive was used to be pretty tough stuff. @KayFranz, the decals are not exactly comprehensive, did you mean lacking in things like werknumber or potentially inaccurate? As a civil scheme pre-1936 would have had stripes on the starboard tail - not provided-, but post '36 a swastika both sides would be correct. I would also suggest that the G-ACUU decals should be silver, that has been discussed elsewhere on here, but that airframe carried many schemes it seems. EDIT don't know why I made this reference, the civil scheme is G-ACWR. I do not intend using any of the kit decals anyway, I will probably do a later civil scheme. Matt

The triangle patterned car looks to be based upon the January 1925 Vogue cover illustration featuring the 'simultaneous' fashion design style of Sonia Delaunay. Not sure if that one was just a picture, but there was a real car with rectangles rather than triangles. Matt

I'm more worried that Mrs F is watchng me.

Hello and Welcome to another LDM white metal build. I know I haven't finished the Jodel yet, but look what the postman just brought, thankfully whilst Mrs F was out doing Mrs F things. c30.1 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr c30.2 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr c30.3 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr c30.4 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr c30.5 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr Correctly described as 'complete but started', luckily they didn't get too far with it. There is enough glue on the pylon to hold the entire kit together, the wires attached to the rotor hub need trimming, and the seats are at an interesting angle. Beyond that, happy days. An early boxing with the German markings, and also two very poor pilot figures (well, head and shoulders) of which the less said the better. Probably won't start it just yet, but looking forward to it. Matt.

I was briefly puzzled just now by an immaculate pale blue -K suffix VW Beetle passing by in silence without the customary chug of such things. Explained by the window vinyl proclaiming itself to be 'fully electric'. By coincidence last night I passed in traffic what appeared to be a resto-mod VW camper, also sans chug, but what first caught my eye was that it was on a modern 65-plate.The 'spare wheel cover' mounted on the front seemed perforated like a cooling grille so perhaps fully modern underpinnings, or that was electric too. It was full size, not one of those silly K-car replicas which I think are Daihutsu based. Matt

The Bebe has a very basic undercarriage, but I am struggling to create anything that looks OK, let alone might take her weight. This is the current attempt. bb27 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr Those wheels are from a 1:72 Fw190 in case you were wondering. So to distract myself from this, along with the other major task of trying to create a prop and spinner - never tried that before, not a clue what I'm doing - I turned my attention to a colourscheme. My initial choice was of an airframe registered G-AZBL, as BL was my dad's initials so it seemed appropriate. The first pics I saw showed it in a dismantled state in red and white with black letters, but then I found an earlier shot of her in blue and silver which looks much smarter. To which end we have this... bb28 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr Ford Moondust Silver , which at least shows the Chilton would have looked OK after all. Fuselage will be blue in due course. Matt

Parked up on the A217 just beyond my usual turn, a W123 Mercedes 280 saloon on an -S suffix. It was very nice and all that, but the reason I noticed it and had to drive past for a closer look, it was orange. Wouldnt really have been my choice. Also yesterday looking completely ridiculous, an absolutely spotless new Defender 90 in retro pale green and cream, with a full snorkel kit and extras in equally spotless matt black. I know their money, their car, but.... Matt

Found these photos taken by my father tucked in a book and thought I would share. TSR2 XR222 and Boulton Paul P111A VT935 tucked away at Cranfield in 1970. tsr2.xr222 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr p111.vt935 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr Thanks for looking Matt

Short drive back from the afternoon dog walk yielded an immaculate blue/cream Austin Healey 3000 on a -B , a wire wheel and chrome bumper MGB in cream on an -M , and a very clean looking G-prefix Toyota Corolla, which I suspect is probably the rarest! Matt

And now the moment of truth, first allover coat of primer for the Bébé, which revealed fortunately very little to cry about. bb24 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr bb26 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr Pretty happy with that I must say. Matt.

Pulling away in a cloud of fumes from the local BP, a G-prefix Reliant Rialto in faded light blue. Best summed up by my passing neighbour as ' what the hell kind of an excuse for a car was that? ' . Presumabely they were spared them in his native SA. Matt

Now baby's chin is done, and a look at her belly for a change. The gap at the tail is to hopefully enable a robust tailskid, although it probably should be a wheel. bb21 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr bb22 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr So with the nose pretty much done, I now really must get some primer on her to see what the real state of play is, but first just to show the engine bits roughly in place. bb23 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr Assuming the primer doesnt throw up anything too nasty, all I need now is the prop, undercarriage, a seat for Johnny pilot, and a windshield. And a paint job, scheme as yet undecided. Matt

Well used maroon Triumph Dolomite on an N- plate outside Halfords this lunchtime. I don' t know which variety it was, but it had black c pillars and rear light/ reg surround if that narrows it down. Just said Dolomite on the back, no numbers or letters. Oh, and (presumably the owners) initials on the door in gold, which is both really sad and now quite quaint.

And so to baby's nose. First some bearers bb17 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr Then the side walls bb18 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr The bright idea then was to make two engine pieces, joined by a stretcher across - partly so they actually protude from rather than attach to the sides, and partly so that way they should actually be aligned. This worked brilliantly, so well I forgot to photograph it. However, there was an obvious flaw to that plan. The top piece would have to fit perfectly with no cleaning up, and it was soon clear that was not likely to happen. After a couple of failed efforts the decision was made to build in situ. A random piece of furniture trim proved a saviour, sealed with resin. bb19 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr And after some packing and filler and sanding, we get bb20 by Matt Farmer, on Flickr I also added a shim to the lower edge pieces to reduce their angle a bit, as it was too steep. Plenty more to be done, but she is starting to look aeroplane shaped now. Matt.