Mr T

Thanks, James. Some more progress on the Kittyhawk as other builds move along. Fuselage together and wing added. I had a lot of trouble with the wing until I realised that one of the side pieces to the fuselage was not in quite the right place and so fouling the wing. Once sorted, the wing fitted, but it will still need fettling and filling.

Very envious as I never seen an AMG Hart series kit. Don't seem to be imported into the UK.

The ventral fins were added very early in the flight testing of the Jaguar, certainly before XW560 flew.

Probably going to be the RNZAF option, but using the Ventura decal sheet rather than the kit offering, or possibly a mix. The white id stripes relieve the basic colour scheme.

For my next build in this GB, I am building the relatively new Kittyhawk from Special Hobby. This will be from the box, as it is quite nicely detailed. It looks a nice kit, but sometimes Special Hobby surprise one, and I have already spotted an issue with the instructions in that once you have put the radiators together, they omit to tell you where they fit in the fuselage. It seems obvious on inspecting the fuselage, but it is nice to know. Work has started on the interior, and so with a bit of luck the fuselage will be together by the morning.

Canopy and tailplane on the Skyhawk and now awaiting some white for the undersurfaces etc., which will be this evening's work. So far it has been a nice build. The only stores it will carry, based on photos from their visit in 1977, will be two drop tanks and a TER on the outer wing stations. The aircraft seemed to show up with a variety of fits, but always the big fuels tanks, these have already been assembled and primed.

My dad was a great fixer, as his job occasionally involved fixing things, and to a degree I have picked that up. If it something I can fix safely I will do so. My son is picking up the habit from work which I heartily approve of. I am not a great believer of getting rid of stuff anyway, although as stuff wears out, I try to get replacements that may be cheaper to run.

Completely bonkers, for a start during the war the UK ended up on Double British Summertime during the summer months and GMT +1 in the winter from October 1940 anyway. There also seems to be some misunderstanding and confusion about time and navigation. Like most AI stuff on YouTube complete 💤💩.

Getting into this build now. The fuselage, wing and air intakes are all together. Some filling was necessary, and the intakes caused some issues with fit, that may well by down to me. They still require a bit of work, and the tailplanes will be added once I am happy with the rest of the airframe. The wheels are being painted. The provided masks are too small, but there is good definition between the tyre and the hub and so not a big issue. With a fair wind, I may get to put some paint on by the beginning of next week.

My late dad wored in light engineering as a turner fitter, and most of the non metric drawings used decimal inches, typically the tolerance allowed when machining something would be expressed in thousands of a inch. I have a scale rule that has 1/72nd inches and cms, and so just measure off four inches with a pair of dividers. It also very useful for check lettering and roundel sizes

Well, if you get rid of experienced police officers (or nurses, social workers, teachers), then realise that this was a major error, this is what happens. Instead of well qualified, experienced and knowledgeable staff, you end up with stories like Enzo has recounted. In 2010, they cut nurse training places, on the grounds that there were too many nurses being trained, and if there was a shortful, it would be made up by poaching from abroad. Also more experienced (ie expensive) staff were pensioned off one way or another. 15 years there is a desperate game of catch up to fill vacancies, and serious skills shortages. Despite what governments think, you cannot turn a professional out in five minutes. Irrespective of the above, the officers manner was unprofessional. I am beginning to despair.

@Corsairfoxfouruncle it comes with the kit. There is is a flat plate with engine fan blades engraved on it and then a oval tube is then stuck on to the plate to create an intake liner. Mocking everything up, it seems to work. The plate with the engine face on it was not a brilliant fit and needed a bit of jiggling to fit do that it did not push the fuselage sides apart. A bit of work last night saw the front fuselage with nose wheel bay and cockpit added prior to halves bring joined when I work out how much nose weight to add.

Work underway with the Skyhawk. The rear fuselage has been put together, along with the engine front and air intake. A lot of parts cleaned up and sprayed white, as the Skyhawk has a lot of white on it. The cockpit is also being assembled. Hopefully this going to be a fairly straightforward build. My plan is o have the fuselage together by the end of the weekend and possibly the wing on.

Rather fetching pink wheels off a child's bike? Six stub exhaust, Merlin 60 engine?

Alternatively create a diorama in a freezer? 😉

A train of locomotive hauled coaches had a coach that housed space for the train guard and also luggage, small parcels or even livestock like dogs and racing pigeons. Sometimes trains had more than one brake coach, especially if portions of the train were for different destinations as happened with some expresses, eg a train from London to Aberdeen might have had coaches added and taken off originating in Leicester, Bradford, Leeds etc. Some coaches (passenger brakes) carried no passengers at all and were found on mail or parcel trains.

@Max Headroom not going to disagree with you there, it is a cracking track as are most on that album. My personal favourite is this one 1986 was the year Mrs T and I started going out, so next year will be significant. I have album on video somewhere.

I had not forgotten about this build (honestly), but it is something I have been working on around other things. Unlike my usual modelling, this calls for a different approach. Because the windows are basically a bit of clear plastic behind the frames. The whole body is being built up, and then the roof will be added near the end, after the sides and ends have been completely finished. Now, if I was a proper railway modeller, I would shape each individual window to sit in the frame. However, I am not, and so this will have to do. The compartment partitions are from plastic card and the seats come from a pack you can buy. The colours are based on what I have read in a book on LMS coaches, and the exterior colour is BR Crimson. Most post nationalisation LMS stock stayed in its original colour for a long while post-nationalisation, but there is some colour film evidence that some stock was repainted into BR colours before they disappeared about 1958. Thge roof is finished with its torpedo vents and the end of the carriage has its handrails and communication cord gear added.

Not seen The The so far (but might have missed them, so many tracks) Title track from one my favourite albums Also a track from Soul Mining from 1983, with superb piano playing from Jools Holland https://youtu.be/fPSO8pdAX6c?si=fw9Ribf3AePDm964

I don't drink in pubs very much these days, but when I do the prices always surprise me. I live the other side of Leeds to Capt Glumbo and he is right about the chips, you tend to get a lot around here. The other issue about fish and chips is the quality. I have very good and reasonably priced fish and chips, and very average and expensive ones (usually south of Watford). Best ones I have in the last couple of years were in Whitby.

The 'new' Routemaster (Boris bus) has by no means been an unqualified success, with the new Routemaster being replaced after (for a bus) quite short service lives. Trying hard to keep politics out of it, but a read of 'Johnson at 10' by Anthony Sheldon an Robert Newall gives a flavour.

Oops, missed the never been kitted bit! Been kitted a few times in 1/72nd. Not building Luftwaffe, I tend not to notice.

D2, Hs129 possibly? It had a very narrow cockpit with instruments mounted on the engines and used in WWII.

Well, my cutting back on buying kits has just gone out of the window. That looks really nice, and fills a gap. An S.6 would be nice to replace my wrecked Pavla one.

Not seen that in the UK, I use X20A when brush painting, but would be interested to try that.