What on Earth is Procopius building these days? -OR- I am Curious (Beaufighter)

[Procopius]

Mild curry? Really? Tsk tsk.

I suppose you have to start somewhere.

I am apologetically a creature of the American midwest, "flyover country". We don't do spicy very well here, I'm afraid, and this mild curry was plenty spicy for me. I take comfort in the knowledge that while my choice in curries will never make me a man, biology provided for me long ago.

Remo Williams? That takes me back.

Perhaps that explains why I like Robert B Parker.

I've never read anything by him, although I very much enjoyed the film of Appaloosa. I think it and Unforgiven probably come closest to bringing the reality of old west gunfights to the screen.

To de-clutter is to de-clumsy. I've found, anyway.

To some extent I agree with you, but I find that the cleaner things are on my bench, the farther spills travel.

Failed writer? Do shopping lists count?

"Amusingly", though I'm terribly, terribly shy and inarticulate in person, and come off best with the written word, my wife is profoundly dyslexic, so all of my "clever" turns of phrase are wasted on her in textual format.

Initial tests of the Beaufighter produced a report that read something like,

"Entry to this aircraft is difficult. It should be made impossible"

And yet those brave young men did so many brave things in the machine.

Really?! How interesting! I suppose they all thought the Blenheim was grand upon first examination, though. Yet I know which I'd rather fly in. I'm hoping 2015 is my year for British multi-engined aircraft: Lancaster, Mosquito, Vulcan, Valiant...

Those are some great looking models, impressive output for the year.

Thanks for posting the happy idiot video, not sure how I missed that one.

High praise, given the (infinitely superior) quality of your builds!

[John Laidlaw]

I am apologetically a creature of the American midwest, "flyover country". We don't do spicy very well here, I'm afraid, and this mild curry was plenty spicy for me. I take comfort in the knowledge that while my choice in curries will never make me a man, biology provided for me long ago.

Next time you're in this neck of the woods, stop in at the Taj Mahal in Hales Corners. They make spicy good enough to rival what used to be my local (the Tandhoori Ghor in St. Leonards-on-Sea in England - purveyors of the best chicken Madras in the known universe).

[Procopius]

Next time you're in this neck of the woods, stop in at the Taj Mahal in Hales Corners. They make spicy good enough to rival what used to be my local (the Tandhoori Ghor in St. Leonards-on-Sea in England - purveyors of the best chicken Madras in the known universe).

You know, I've never been to California, or the west coast at all, BUT, if I get confirmed in my current interim position, I will actually be travelling all over the country to attend our annual meetings and "tweet" about them. For 2016, we'll be in San Francisco. Yes, my job is incredibly stupid.

[Navy Bird]

"Amusingly", though I'm terribly, terribly shy and inarticulate in person...

Having spent the better part of an evening in the confines of an Irish <gasp!> pub in downtown Chicago with our young Mr. Procopius, I can attest to the fact that he is neither shy, inarticulate, or terrible. His only vice appears to be that he is not a beer drinker, but I've forgiven men for far greater sins than that.

I am so delighted when I meet young people who are actually intelligent, are able to reason critically, and can spell "I really don't care for rap music." The fact that he prefers British aircraft is proof that he has good taste as well.

Quite a collection of models built this year, grasshopper! What happened to the Beaufighter wing? An errant drop of liquid cement or manna from heaven?

Cheers,

Bill

[John Laidlaw]

You know, I've never been to California, or the west coast at all, BUT, if I get confirmed in my current interim position, I will actually be travelling all over the country to attend our annual meetings and "tweet" about them. For 2016, we'll be in San Francisco. Yes, my job is incredibly stupid.

But it pays the mortgage, right? . Doesn't matter how stupid it is...

[Procopius]

Having spent the better part of an evening in the confines of an Irish <gasp!> pub in downtown Chicago with our young Mr. Procopius,...

Oh my goodness! Well, I'm blushing now. Kind words from il miglior fabbro, and all that.

What happened to the Beaufighter wing? An errant drop of liquid cement or manna from heaven?

It was indeed a drop of Tamiya extra thin. It turns out that it's unwise to contemplate the infinite with the brush suspended above the styrene.

But it pays the mortgage, right? . Doesn't matter how stupid it is...

It does, it's true! I'm fabulously lucky, because nobody with my highly marginal qualifications should ever have been able to advance into the serried ranks of the American middle class, no matter how much Suetonius he's read. But I think I owe it all to organizing a hot waffle (not a euphemism) breakfast for my entire floor about seven years ago, before I was dating Melanie and when my life was otherwise at rock bottom. I think my superiors were impressed with the zeal with which I promoted the event, leading them to eventually assign me to one of a series of special projects that lead to a job where I did not have to talk to our customers. Here is an actual flyer I created, wayyyy back in 2007:

[Navy Bird]

Oh my goodness! Well, I'm blushing now. Kind words from il miglior fabbro, and all that.

Well, you have to admit that particular occupation comes in handy when dealing with photoetch antennae that are measured in nanometres.

And wow, it took Stalin to convince your staff to eat waffles. You must work with lawyers.

Cheers,

Bill

[Procopius]

And wow, it took Stalin to convince your staff to eat waffles. You must work with lawyers.

As millions of Kulaks found out to their dismay, Stalin could be very persuasive.

[John Laidlaw]

Pride and defiance are wonderful motivators - excellent work . You must be in marketing...

[Learstang]

How dare you for to using the "Vozhd" to the promotion of your capitalistical waffle venture! Long live the Vozhd! Za Rodinu! Long live the exclamation point!

Best Regards!

Tovarish Jason (Sub-commissar for Petropavlosk Oblast)!

P.S. Great collection of models for this year - I especially like the Meatboxes. I only have about twelve or thirteen of them in my stash that I need to get started on someday (both the Meteors and my stash).

[foresterab]

I was jealous of the stash even without water bombers

I'm suffering from long winter syndrome

But I'm sorry you lost me at the Indian food. Used to eat that stuff until a) got married wife got the spices to make her own and c) discovered Vietnamese food

Good start on the plane though

[Procopius]

Pride and defiance are wonderful motivators - excellent work . You must be in marketing...

I am! Though not actually in the marketing-qua-marketing side of things, for the most part. I was tasked with writing some "cheeky" (their specification) copy for some ads a while back, but this, though fun, is rarely something I get do, and it's mostly behind the scenes stuff.

I was jealous of the stash even without water bombers

Yes, I'm afraid I haven't got a kit of anything that puts out fires -- unless you count fires extinguished by blast effect.

But I'm sorry you lost me at the Indian food. Used to eat that stuff until a) got married wife got the spices to make her own and c) discovered Vietnamese food

Mrs. P is an excellent cook, but Indian -- or Vietnamese -- food isn't really in her wheelhouse. For my own part, I make a mean croque-madam.

In any event, some more has happened:

The kit is really very good, although I wouldn't go so far as to waste the superlative by saying it's perfect. As you can see, the dread disease of Hasegawaitis (not to be confused with its near-sister Fujimienza) has struck, and the need to slot extra bits in and out of the kit to make different versions has resulted in a slight step for the after part of the observer's turtleback or whatever you want to call it. Weirdly, the Freightdog instructions seem to indicate the tailgun glasshouse back there, can't imagine what it'd be needed for over Malaya. Large-scale pheasant hunting?

The underbelly, which is two separate parts, also is less than perfect for fit; I think if I could have thought of a way to clamp it, it would have gone better:

Likewise, when test-fitted, the radar nose didn't fit particularly well; it seems to be slightly wider in diameter than the mating surface.

This is of course, nothing I can't handle.

I've also belatedly drilled out the mounting points for the rocket launcher plates, having forgotten to do so in my excitement when first I closed up the wings. No matter:

I'll have to leave the plates off so that I can first apply the serials to the wing undersides when it's painted and whatnot.

Does anyone know of decent RAAF Beaufighter decals? I also have a Mk.21 and a FB.VI in the stash.

This song reminds me a bit of roadtripping with Melanie; every summer since we started dating, we've driven up to Michigan, the last two years up through Wisconsin and through Michigan's upper peninsula before circling around and coming back through the mainland of the state (Michigan lost a city to Ohio back in the days of yore, and as compensation, received a non-contiguous parcel of land that should rightly be part of Wisconsin, and which culturally is. The UP is full of breathtaking natural splendor, mining, a handful of human beings, and the world's worst Mexican restaurant, which is within sight of Canada; this should have set off alarm bells but did not.)

[Andrew]

Hi Ed,

Lovely rapid progress. I'm grateful for your documenting the build so thoroughly.

cheers,

Andrew.

[MikeW]

We have some photos of my late great-uncle, a travel agent, debarking from a Vickers Viscount in some third-world hellhole in the 1970s that look very cool. There's a beautiful sadness to those old British airliners, to my mind, the sense of a world passing and becoming incomprehensible.

This sentiment struck a chord with me ( besides the beauty of that last sentence ). It hit on many of my interests - classic aviation, end of Empire, and a future that ( to me ) seems to make less sense every day. This would make a wonderful basis for a short story.

Also, as a travel agent, have enjoyed visiting many hell holes. After enough exposure, the bus terminal in Guatamala City at midnight is more interesting than another trip to an Hawaiian beach. One of my favourite evenings was spent in a seedy bar in Asuncion Paraguay, where I met up with an American ( from Chicago ) helicopter mechanic. He had been working on a local air base, but for the wrong general it turned out, after a shift in local politics. He couldn't get back on the base to retrieve his tools, and helicopter maintenance tools, are apparently, far too expensive to just walk away from. His stories did rather make me feel as if I were a character in some spy novel.

Keep putting quill to parchment here, and the entertainment flowing.

Cheers,

Mike

[Cookenbacher]

But arguably better quality!

Very arguable, and I've noticed marked improvement on both our parts over the past year. We may become average yet!

As far as build thread readability, I lag far behind, but so does the rest of the modelling world, so I'm not sweating it too much.

The Beau is coming along nicely PC.

The Beaufighter became a favorite of mine after I got my hands on this in 1992:

http://www.antiqbook.co.uk/boox/lit/34459.shtml

I'm looking forward seeing your build unfold.

[Col.]

Ah I see yet more reasons why I like you Procopious. Not only is the greatest part of your stash destined to wear British markings but a good portion of it is Hunters. Now you are building a grey and black Beaufighter. You, my good fellow, have become a hero to me.

As for whoever designed that curry packet feeling the need to explain in detail the main foodstuffs contained within a potato and pea curry; society is eventually doomed to its own stupidity I fear.

[Pete in Lincs]

Commando comics rule!

When I was in the mob, official manuals were called Air Publications (A.P.'s)

RAF Regiment (Airfield defenders) have been called Rock Apes since whenever.

Commando comics and the like were always known as Rock Ape A.P.'s

If you can find the film Ice Cold in Alex there are some nice shots of a Beaufighter.

society is eventually doomed to its own stupidity I fear.

Exhibit A, ''Caution may contain nuts''. Written on packets of nuts.

BTW, Aussie decals, Red Roo. Good but fragile. Spray with a clear coat before soaking.

[Tomoshenko]

Glad to see good progress on the build and the accompanying literary finery. Those Hasegawa chaps do seem to overcomplicate things don't they. Like the stash too. Plenty of Phantoms and Hunters, that's what I like to see. On the subject of the latter: "Cannot believe nobody's made decals for the 112 Squadron ones, they're throwing away money". Now you are talking! I've searched in vain for some, for what transpired was a fool's errand.

As for your alcoholic preference, you are in good company. Indeed many of your country's finest writers liked a touch of the hard stuff. I'm sure Mr Chandler would like your build threads. When I spent a year in the States I shared a flat with another English student who studied literature. He loved Raymond Chandler and often regaled me with endless references to, and influences of his works.

That said mate, mild curry.... Nah, get yourself a good lamb madras.

[bzn20]

Commando comics rule!

When I was in the mob, official manuals were called Air Publications (A.P.'s)

RAF Regiment (Airfield defenders) have been called Rock Apes since whenever.

Commando comics and the like were always known as Rock Ape A.P.'s

If you can find the film Ice Cold in Alex there are some nice shots of a Beaufighter.

Exhibit A, ''Caution may contain nuts''. Written on packets of nuts.

BTW, Aussie decals, Red Roo. Good but fragile. Spray with a clear coat before soaking.

Its all true. My 2nd day in the RAF a bloke in our room reading what I called the day before a "war book". Had the urine extracted because he was reading a Rock Ape AP. .............................................................Another moniker they got was Rock ape trade training manuals. The Valiant,s Capt. Hurricane was their patron saint too! Any "army barmy" type,the ones dressed in cabbage gear (because they wanted to) in the RAF got the name Captain Hurricane. As they were in can't see me mode we didn't talk to them until they went "crab" again. Don't need that kind of stuff on the Queen's shiney Tens!

Our hangar did contain nuts but in secret!

Edited December 30, 2014 by bzn20

[Procopius]

Forgive my lateness in posting today; my brother and I observed Arnoldmas today, celebrating with three of the greatest pan-Germanic import since Werner von Braun (and surely, on-screen at least, responsible for almost as many deaths)'s classics: Commando, Total Recall, and Raw Deal, the lattermost being one I'd not seen before. It's growing increasingly weird to see the 1980s on film for me, an era which looks totally familiar, and yet which is twenty-five years past or more. At this rate, I'm sure my forties are going to be fun. A similar thought struck me while watching a Pertwee-era Dr Who, where someone ducks into a pay phone booth to make a call, and I thought to myself "this seems perfectly normal to me, but my future children will need this explained to them."

In any case, I managed to get some work done on the Berferter just now: I added the front of the tailfin, the fit is a little gappy, but not terrible, as might be expected. Also built up the engine housings, which fit very well; I had a moment of sheer, stark terror when I lost the two tiny parts for the port intake and ran through my voluminous store of harsh language, only then to realize as I looked at the drawings for the decal sheet that my Beaufighter in fact used the different, supercharged intakes, and I was free and clear. PHEW!

I left out the tailwheel when I closed up the fuselage, even though the instructions directed me to put it in then, because (a) some [uh, after-the-fact] testing revealed that it could be added later, and (, I'm not an idiot, and adding landing gear early on is a recipe for freely-flowing tears.

I've also started work on the rocket rails and future the canopy glass and other clear parts; in a few minutes, I'm going to go gas myself by alcladding the rails and engines.

And now a little something both wistful and hopeful from Great Lakes-based band Lord Huron:

[Procopius]

This sentiment struck a chord with me ( besides the beauty of that last sentence ). It hit on many of my interests - classic aviation, end of Empire, and a future that ( to me ) seems to make less sense every day. This would make a wonderful basis for a short story.

It sounds like you might have more than a few wonderful short stories there yourself, Mike!

I find the future a rather unpleasant place, myself; having grown up while the USA was reaching the absolute peak of its power and influence in the world, I can't help but feel that now all that remains is to live the rest of my life during its gradual and irreversible decline. Quite a gift to bequeath to my children. One of my favorite things about the British Empire is how it passed, assuming that you, as I do, accept that the Second World War accelerated this: Churchill -- and none of you need me to tell you about Churchill, but I pray, indulge me -- could have opted out of the war to preserve the empire a little longer, but instead, like Arthur impaled on Mordred's spear at Camlann, he chose to push on towards destruction to strike a telling blow. Oh goodness, that sounds very pretentious, doesn't it? At any rate, I hope that the USA's passing will be at least half as gallant and in a cause at least half as worthy.

On the subject of my late-great-uncle Walter, he was a remarkable man; totally unlike his brother-in-law, my paternal grandfather, a plumber and a man who could bend steel pipes into a "u" shape well into his fifties (this trait was not passed on to me), Walter had grown up in luxury and once recalled seeing "all those people [during the Depression] lining up to look for work, as the chauffeur drove us to school." He had served as a Staff Sergeant on MacArthur's staff during WWII in the typing pool, and was allegedly (a) in possession of the carbons for the surrender documents the Japanese had to sign and ( present at their signature. He died this year, and was probably the last person in Chicago to have a genuine mid-Atlantic accent. He was also gloriously indifferent to the travails of lesser mortals, which was everyone: my mother would visit him every week and take him out to lunch, for which he never paid; one year the lunch date fell on her birthday, and my youngest sister let this slip during the meal. "Oh dear," said uncle Walter, with reptilian calm, "how sad that you have to pay for lunch on your own birthday."

The Beaufighter became a favorite of mine after I got my hands on this in 1992:

http://www.antiqbook.co.uk/boox/lit/34459.shtml

Commando Comics! I've never read them, but I've long meant to pick up some. Melanie has promised me that I can get a bunch for the Melward, when or if it should come into earthly vice platonic existence. This and a Spitfire-chasing-a-109 mobile were my only two parenting demands that were accepted; she has the schoolgirl notion that we should love any children unconditionally, whereas I feel a set of "love phase lines" should be established, with a failure to reach any of them being dealt with a la the Spartans.

[Procopius]

Ah I see yet more reasons why I like you Procopious. Not only is the greatest part of your stash destined to wear British markings but a good portion of it is Hunters. Now you are building a grey and black Beaufighter. You, my good fellow, have become a hero to me.

Oh shucks, gosh! Thank heavens we live in these degenerate times, I could never have managed this in a heroic age.

As for whoever designed that curry packet feeling the need to explain in detail the main foodstuffs contained within a potato and pea curry; society is eventually doomed to its own stupidity I fear.

Oh, almost certainly, but I really can't emphasize enough that curry is not a common food here. If I want to go out for it, I have to go to a fancy foreign restaurant and pay probably upwards of $50 for a meal including enough naan, basmati rice, and tikka masala for two, whereas that's virtually a national dish in your green and pleasant land. Plus, Midwestern Americans are very suspicious of any food that doesn't look like a pie or a sandwich, so this kind of labeling saves trouble later.

On the subject of the latter: "Cannot believe nobody's made decals for the 112 Squadron ones, they're throwing away money". Now you are talking! I've searched in vain for some, for what transpired was a fool's errand.

I couldn't believe that was the subject that didn't appear on the latest all-singing, all-dancing Hunter decal sheet in 1/72. If I thought it would change anything, I would challenge a champion of the sheet designer's choice to single combat to seek redress (and an addendum sheet), and I would win, because my cause is just.

As for your alcoholic preference, you are in good company. Indeed many of your country's finest writers liked a touch of the hard stuff.

Well, let's be honest, US libel laws are much more generous, so we can all come out and say it: most of the best American writers have been raging alcoholics, Chandler sadly no exception, hence his early death. Though I think he died at just the right time; it's clear from his letters and his later novels that he detested the 1950s, and I'm certain he would have hated the 1960s even more. It is in some ways as terrible a thing to live too long as it is to live too short.

As for the rest of you, the poor RAF Regiment! All the abuse heaped upon it here, yet it fared well against the Daleks in Dr Who:

[modelglue]

Man, reading these post have me chuckling and inadvertently gassing myself in a wholly different way. Reading about your pub meetings make me long for my modelling group. I stand firm though, that they are still ____s for not moving to St. Thomas with me. Maybe I could move to Chicago? I would fit in alright*, growing up within view of the motor city has it's perks after all.

I love the engines Hasegawa provided in this kit. I have no idea how accurate they are, nor do I care. Seeing this come together has me yearning to put mine together - again. How did you make out with the thimble/nose section difference? Looks fine to me from your photos. I bought the quickboost thimble and fin insert thinking I would need it for the yet unarrived D-Day combo kit. So now I have two sets. Also, seeing this and reading your anecdote puts me in the mind that I would have liked to live through that prop-driven era, behind a windshield.

*I've never tortured a bird, but I threw a rock at one, once.

[Procopius]

Reading about your pub meetings make me long for my modelling group. I stand firm though, that they are still ____s for not moving to St. Thomas with me. Maybe I could move to Chicago? I would fit in alright*, growing up within view of the motor city has it's perks after all.

Well, I should clarify, I've sadly only met Bill/Navy Bird in a pub once; if he lived around here, I would have zero excuse for being such a bad modeller, since were I to touch even the hem of his robe, some of his power would flow into me thereby. That said, yes, come to Chicago! It's a horrible place, but we have arguably perfected the fine art of pizza-making and (though I know nothing of sports, nothing at all), our sports teams are world leaders in humiliating implosions. We take a lot of crap from Wisconsin for this, but we outnumber them two-point-five-to-one and they know it, and come total societal collapse, no amount of football magic will save them when we come coursing across the border. Also, any man who hates birds is okay by me. This is seen as pefectly normal by one half of my household:

Hateful beast. Incidentally, it's eating a turkey sandwich I made for my wife. Is that cannibalism? You tell me.

I love the engines Hasegawa provided in this kit. I have no idea how accurate they are, nor do I care. Seeing this come together has me yearning to put mine together - again. How did you make out with the thimble/nose section difference? Looks fine to me from your photos. I bought the quickboost thimble and fin insert thinking I would need it for the yet unarrived D-Day combo kit. So now I have two sets. Also, seeing this and reading your anecdote puts me in the mind that I would have liked to live through that prop-driven era, behind a windshield.

Well, the fit problems with the thimble exist just at the edge of perception; I've never indulged, but I imagine this is probably what drug-induced paranoia feels like. I know it's there, man.

I primered the engines and the props, which are held in place by polycaps and not glue, and thus should come out when commanded.

Also, do I recall right, did I read somewhere that the collector rings on Beaufighters were painted black? I've always seen them a glorious copper on box tops.

[Procopius]

And one more before bed: Alclad Dull Aluminium and Citadel Devlan Mud wash. I believe the little...the...things...the...don't know the technical term for them...the bosoms at the front of each engine were black, so I'll have to hand paint those tomorrow, lacking a better solution to the problem.