perdu

What them lot says.

Being disreputably old does not always qualify as adult obviously...

Do they offer a choice of flavours? For the nervous taste in the mouth. Today I have to go get fitted for a cardio tracking device which apparently they want back! Tomorrow. But that is after the other test to see if I am actually breathing air into the old tubes this arvo. What are they doing to my precious model making time huh? Wishing you well mate, catch you later.

But for now it is Lightning time The kit's wheels are 0.103 thick, I know this because things are getting serious inside the wings. And I have my trusty Mitutoyo one inch and I measured them. No I didn't photograph the measurings, but that is the mic. I use. The plastic of the wing upper surface, the wheel well interior is 0.078" and the thickness of the combined wing halves is 0.138. I add 0.103" to 0.078" and find that a scale depth will need er, 103+078=183... Pencils wildly flash over scraps of paper er, 183 - 138 which is the wing thickness (at the specific point of chord against tip taper) the model will need to accommodate a wheel and a wheel door... Means stop before the light shining through the plastic will blind you. By the time I have come to this pause in the proceedings I have a definite ridge from the first planings but hey, there's a hell of a long way to go. In there. Can you see the two parts of a Hasegawa Lightning canopy? Me too, phew. I thought I'd lost it and was dreading having to make a moulding buck, instead I found the Pavla bits box and a nice Sea Vixen nose leg, That was courtesy of a generous James if my poor to atrocious memory serves me well, it was several years ago now. Laters folks.

Tease

super

"your order is too low in price to qualify for posting..." Buy more stuff... No dammit I'll do without, so will BigH have to do without my cash. Plasticard is about to become king.

That seems a suitable way to do it G, I might go to E.A if it isn't clashing with my trip to France in June. Might be fun, maybe even less frantic than meeting buddies at Telford. Maybe

Outstanding paintwork Massimo I really SHOULD try to be as good and careful as you, always mean to but usually go into overspeed and mess up A fabulous Jag sir

Looks likely Johnny, plans?

Hasegawa a good fit? I have a Lightning which disproves that theory. You have really sorted the look of it all, so really good. Go Ced, go.

Ah! Remember ordered a few days ago? Ah! Well. Seems that was not what I ordered at all... Oh well best build some bits from plasticard for an interior and get on with it. although today I will be mostly painting Avtur tanks on the ends of Jet Provost wings. Got them masked this morning so 'down into a ditch garage'.

But, but but I have been promising myself this butchery for ages, don't spoil it perlease. I already had the kit 'in stash' awaiting the razor saw, but if I wanted perfection I would certainly send a missive and money to Erin's Isle. On with the butchery as soon as the Airwaves arrives, due this morning.

Well that works, nicely too. Enjoy the snow. Looks like you could have stayed in Yorkshire according to all the dire forecasts, but I don't suppose apres-ski Theakston's has quite the cachet a hard working chap relishes.

Sheet metal working was within my skill range when I was tool setting/making if you need a hand Martian, should be easy enough with a scriber/blunt modelling knife and a centre punch. Show us the shapes?

Borrow mine if you cant find yours.

In the meantime... The Frog Lightning (yes I know) has its own designated area for the crew to gather sit which makes no allowance for Pavla ingenuity so some consideration needs considering. The cockpit has its own plastic bulkhead, that's got to go and the sides need re-engineering for certain things Pavla likes us to have. So That'll do, now we need to modify the nose ring, without resorting to @Procopius's fabulous metal ring part. For the old buck I added a tail to the radar unit and I intend using the modified part here which means the wall at the front had to go. It has. The intake ring fits in there a bit like this As you can clearly see I haven't begun delining the wings yet Time to turn tail on the beastie now Drill some holes (Power tools rule on this hard plastic) and begin Hacking with SIHRSC's sister, the EIRSC which loves to get stuck in Well that's me this afternoon, getting ready for a pub meal now Yeehaw

It's a thought worth a follow up if I can get up enough nerve Adrian. Steve I (and Ced and others I warrant.) have always found that the mighty uberfile is a good general smoothing device anyway, leaving a sanding-ready finish behind. Don't fear the SIHRSC, instead fear the capability gap not using one cripples you with.

It's on the cards.

I wonder if the alien chum has ditched stuporgoo for this task yet? Sounds to me as if this is a perfect time and place to use UV resin as a nadhesive or even Araldite.

I wonder how deeply I can machine out the wheelwell area in a quite thick upper wing without knackering up the outer surface with melted plastic. These were the wings on the building it buck which is donating a Pavla interior for the comfort and convenience of the driver this time round, the cut-away inside did melt the outer surface a little. I'd rather not get so much extra work, ta. The radar bullet-alike needs further work but the dear old buck gave me a lot of practice which should pay off. Onwards and upwards.

Call me Mister Impatient, but hey that's me huh. Before I black out the black bits and paint the tip tanks I just had to take a butcher's. Canopy white needs cutting back in a few places but... A few little edges to add missing link edge colours but I do declare I like it. No unexpected seeping under the covers at all, now whether that means I finally masked an aeroplane perfectly or whether the Hataka paint resists seeping past masking I don't know. Maybe I will find when I paint the tip tanks... This was Hataka Red Stripe airbrushable LAG, I just happen to have some of their LAG in the brush painting Blue Stripe range too so I don't think I will refill the airbrush paint pot with grey. Calling out for the Wet Palette to add touch-ins

So as we wait for the combination of Hannants and Royal Snail (absolutely no clichés will be spared from airing in this build, right!) to deliver me some Sea Vixen etchy bits, pitot heads and assorted other stuff I did some research on the other pair of mighty Avons thrusting through our quiet little valley. Frogegawanovo raised hell and all sorts of panel lines during the era this kit was delivered to our doors. (In an Airfix magazine from August 1972 the Frog Blackburn Buccaneer was 54 pence at Ernest Berwick's shop in Kettering.) The Bucc and Lightning kits were sold in the same price range. What the hell happened? Anyway diversion over, the panel lines had to go. They should all rub down just a tad more when the halves become a whole. We'll see problems ahead include This wing is way too thick, I have to attempt to import decent enough depth for parking wheels in if the 'plane is in fright. Laters, oh OK tomorrow, and talking of wheel wells the Vixen has nice well roof details moulded in, but as with the Lightning, insufficient depth, which will need to be imposed... Another day another possibility.

I think 8AEF were at Shawbury in the 70s I never saw that badge on AEF aircraft at that time. Did they move to Stafford or have I got it wrong as so often?

The knee? One to one of course. Oh the Wokka, that was the venerable Matchbox kit in 1/72 scale. 7 squadron Secret Squirrel machine, all over aerials in green, grey and black belly finish. It's on BM somewhere. At Telford a couple of years ago a guy who used to fly in the actual machine told me it was exactly like his'n.