jean Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 Looking at the plastic dust on your fingers, I am sure you are breaking several statutory requirements pertaining to work safety, etc... At least a decade in a max sec jail if they catch you!!! For a (modest) price, I shan't report you! As far as I am concerned, they'll never catch me alive!!! But this is worth it, looking at what you are achieving. JR 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted March 10, 2015 Author Share Posted March 10, 2015 The sun has returned! It hit a scorching 10 C today, and the world went mad. I may or may not have laughed insanely and cavorted and possibly even gamboled about. This is the first time in five months that I have not had to wear a fleece under my winter coat. For once I didn't want to slowly roll over every other pedestrian (and in Chicago, pedestrians are only barely better than cabbies, or, most hated of all, cyclists, who, after Caligula, I wish had but one neck) in a bobcat with some sort of rototiller attachment at the bow. Unfortunately, Mrs. P, deep in the grip of pregnancy/madness decided she wanted chicken pot pie for dinner, a meal I'm ambivalent about at the best of times, but whatever, I get that I'm not calling the shots on meals right now, but she decided that she wanted to make it from scratch at 6 PM this evening, and as a result, we didn't eat until almost nine, and since it's generally accepted that I must cool my heels aboveground until we eat, much precious time was wasted on something we could have ordered in a restaurant for half the time and price. Looking at the plastic dust on your fingers, I am sure you are breaking several statutory requirements pertaining to work safety, etc... Oh heavens no, not in America. I've stripped asbestos floor tiling up with a shovel, and my own father sneered at me for wearing one of those Breaking Bad bunny suits. I'll be amazed if I live to see sixty-five. Some progress on this Legato intake: If anyone looks at it too closely, I'll fell them with a single blow to the temple. Did some filling on the Tomahawk II: And put the wings on the Special Hobby short-tail: All of the other P-40s, save the Hasegawa kit, require you to laboriously box in the wheel wells. Legato has easch box as a single piece, but those [adjectives] at Sword have it in four ill-fitting pieces per well. I didn't have the heart to even attempt it tonight. God I hate P-40s. I'm glad I'm building all of my kits of them (save one) right now, because I never will ever touch one again after this. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 Even the so far blameless Airfix kit has proved a bit of a bee (other words starting with "b" also available) in this area, as we can see: A gap so big, a London Underground employee burst into my grotto and tried to throw up a placard. Honestly! Good Heavens, man, you call that paper-thin trifle a gap?! I've had gaps so big on some of my builds that small African nations could easily fall into them (Lesotho comes to mind; after all, it does fit comfortably in its entirety into South Africa). I didn't so much fill the gaps as span them, as one might span a large river's gorge with a suspension bridge. Come on PC, man up and on with the build! Regards, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazdot Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 Coming on nicely pc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Dapple Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 They are looking much better now PC, crack on mate Cheers, Stew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 PC, may I suggest simply skipping the gear bay boxes on the Sword kit? I laboriously added them to my first build, but the wings don't really fit together with them there. I filed and sanded and eventually just clamped the trailing edge down until the glue cured. On the second build I just added a ring of blu-tack that I'll use as an anchor for whatever 'canvas' cover I can come up with. As a bonus, the wings actually joined. Congrats on building an AZ P-40 with a presentable front end. I know it wasn't easy! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted March 10, 2015 Author Share Posted March 10, 2015 PC, may I suggest simply skipping the gear bay boxes on the Sword kit? I laboriously added them to my first build, but the wings don't really fit together with them there. I filed and sanded and eventually just clamped the trailing edge down until the glue cured. On the second build I just added a ring of blu-tack that I'll use as an anchor for whatever 'canvas' cover I can come up with. As a bonus, the wings actually joined. You certainly may suggest that, and somehow, I suspected. Oh Sword, you sneaky petes! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob85 Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 (edited) If I may: Sleep, exercise, and food all play into happiness. It sounds like you don't sleep well, or much. Exercise can be a pain, but even 5 minutes of jumping jacks or something similar can lead to more energy. Food is the tough one. Making sure you get enough raw veggies is paramount, and staying away from processed grains and sugars has helped me fight the worst of my moods. Winter sucks. Winter just sucks. I keep forgetting to check down here in the GB section, not a sign of disinterest. I am floored that you are taking on so many at once, but I recently described my chain-modelling success to my wife and we agreed it was better to do it this way. Carry on PC, hope you feel best soon. MG are you actually called Laura and live in the Midlands??? All of what you just said sounds just like the conversation my wife and I had last night! Its some great advice as they are things we take completely for granted but what you input dictates your output.Keep it up Mr p there appears to be a mixed bag of kit quality but your doing a great job of making the best of them! Also what an amazing change in weather. I'm glad the lady finished the chicken and by 9 she has done well... Like I said earlier at least the craving is not at 1am..... Rob Edited March 10, 2015 by rob85 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelglue Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 MG are you actually called Laura... No, but I have been called pretty once or twice. That is a very nice name. Lately Missus and me have been going over potential baby names, and Laurana was one of my favourites since before I even knew my wife or touched a girl. It comes from a Dragonlance character, the Golden General. PC that is a nice solar shot of Chicago. The street lamp which is dark in comparison to the sunny beam is a nice contrast and very artistic. Good job on recognising an opportunity like that. Would you try attaching the upper wings to their respective fuselage halves before gluing the lower on? It worked really well for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted March 14, 2015 Author Share Posted March 14, 2015 AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH I could have sworn I posted an update. Long story short, I suspect that while my IP is in roughly the right place here, there should be a coaming and there isn't. Or I just put it out too far. Freaking Sword. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
06/24 Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 Looks ok to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Dapple Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 Well, call me picky, but it does appear to me to be lacking a coaming; I'm not an expert on... well, anything really, so perhaps some P40 variants did not have this... but to me it does look to be missing one. Cheers, Stew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazdot Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 Looks OK to me PC I think some had a coming some didn't Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookenbacher Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 I ran into this conundrum too PC. I looked and looked at ref pics, and like Dazdot says, sometimes there appears to be a coaming, sometimes not. I added one to the AZ kit, but not the Swords, because the Sword gunsight fits directly to the IP, and I didn't want to mess with figuring out how to add a coaming to the mix. Of course, I just realized that a lot of K/III's still had the ring and bead sight. Oh, well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Hall Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 By "coaming", you mean the sun shade for the back of the instrument panel? On derelicts there may not have been one that lasted very long, but even on the Kittyhawk (P-40E-1) desert derelict, there are remnants of a coated fabric awning/sunshade supported by wire, very much like coat hanger wire. Anyway, would you want to have to build all the little cans, boxes, tubes and wiring on the back side of the instrument panel? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted March 14, 2015 Author Share Posted March 14, 2015 By "coaming", you mean the sun shade for the back of the instrument panel? Yes, I fear I was using the incorrect term there. On derelicts there may not have been one that lasted very long, but even on the Kittyhawk (P-40E-1) desert derelict, there are remnants of a coated fabric awning/sunshade supported by wire, very much like coat hanger wire. Alas! Anyway, would you want to have to build all the little cans, boxes, tubes and wiring on the back side of the instrument panel? I think you flatter me with an overestimation of my work ethic here, but shame is a motivator for me, so I'll probably bodge up sunshades for these guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Hall Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 Just a snippet of foil should do. Apparently a trapezoid shape for the P-40E and E-1, but an arch later on. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted March 14, 2015 Author Share Posted March 14, 2015 Thanks, Tom! Off to steal my wife's aluminum foil. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Hall Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 (edited) Click on the second, third and fourth images from the left, top row of photos on the right. There you can see the remnants of the wire supports and the coated fabric. https://www.google.com/search?q=P-40E+Kittyhawk+desert+derelict&biw=853&bih=410&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=13gEVerQJIb7oQSQ6YLYAw&ved=0CCQQsAQ#imgdii=v0FdqLj4fX8mbM%3A%3BSM0YjKu7jNV2LM%3Bv0FdqLj4fX8mbM%3A&imgrc=v0FdqLj4fX8mbM%253A%3Bl1L5Prh0bwC4GM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fi.telegraph.co.uk%252Fmultimedia%252Farchive%252F02215%252Fkittyhawk-cockpit_2215734b.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%252Fnews%252Faviation%252F9256879%252FWWII-fighter-plane-hailed-the-aviation-equivalent-of-Tutankhamuns-Tomb-found-preserved-in-the-Sahara.html%3B620%3B387 Edited March 14, 2015 by Tom Hall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 I wondered where you guys had gone and now I've found you. You're all mad. Especially PC x 9! I have an Airfix Hawk in my stash and I think it's going to stay there... resting as it's my company's year end and there's enough madness in the office. Watching you guys though - good luck all! Ced Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted March 16, 2015 Author Share Posted March 16, 2015 I turned thirty-two today. I have always loved birthdays; as a little boy, growing up, we didn't exchange gifts on holidays, so my birthday was always the main event for me. But this weekend has been atrocious, a colossal disappointment. I have to constantly remind myself that I live a life better than that available to 90% of Americans, and thus probably about 97% of the entire planet, to avoid sinking totally into a morass of self-pity. But it can be frustrating anyway, and I'm not a particularly good person, so I indulge a bit anyway. My plans for a nice romantic pre-birthday dinner with my wife were thwarted by her insistence on walking four miles (after I'd just run eight) to an overpriced upmarket grocery store to get food I didn't want so we could have dinner with my brother-in-law, who I had no desire to see whatsoever. Today I had my traditional birthday dinner with my family, which my wife skipped to take a babysitting job (n.b. please that I was very serious about being better off than 90% of Americans, and we do not need the money in any way), and left me alone for the rest of the day so she could walk with her coworker, twice. I get that I'm selfish, I appreciate that. But I'm really tired right now, and tired of my job, and I was looking forward to my last hurrah before we have a baby who takes up all our everything. Like most people who don't deserve them, I thirst for triumphs in a dry land. I have decided I don't give a fig about the sunshades any more, pace Tom, whose dedication to accuracy I admire. But I don't care. I just don't. These kits are for the most part unpleasant to build and of an aircraft I have only marginal interest in, during a time in my life that is fraught with disappointment. I'm going to finish them, because that's how I'll beat them, but this is one of the few things in my life where I can win on my own terms, and I'm going to. I've had it. Sword will rot in hell for their crappy wing roots at the end of days, I'll bear witness against them before the celestial throne and will feel only a twinge of righteous satisfaction as they're deservedly cast into the fiery pit for all eternity with Brutus, et al. Yes I know in Dante's hell it's actually super cold. I am so sick of these damned wing roots, not even PPP was enough, so I dug out milliput, which is one of those modelling tools with in my mind a vintage not unlike, say Morris dance enthusiasts. It is the atom bomb of filler, and I was so angry and tired I forgot about my bottle of plastic goop, so I used it. Screw panel lines. I don't care anymore. I've had it. I'm thirty-two and I've done little to nothing I'd hoped to have done by now. All my triumphs are hollow and petty. I can't even get drunk, because I'm trying to lose weight. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Dapple Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 That sounds like a dreadful birthday PC; sorry to hear it. I'm looking for the silver lining there, but aside from the fact that as you note your lifestyle is probably better than that of 97% (and I would suggest that from the figures involved it might well be nearer 99%) of the world's population, there isn't much to glean from your account. Not that having a comfortable-ish lifestyle is enough in itself, which is pretty clearly illustrated here. It's a credit to you that you still managed to be scathingly funny about the Sword kits, and oddly enough it reading it made me profoundly grateful for the (minor) tribulations I have been having trying to fit the glazing on the Blenheim which made me feel slightly ashamed as I had always maintained that I get no pleasure from the suffering of others... Last point - probably best you couldn't get drunk; after a weekend like that I very much doubt it would have been a happy drunk; best case scenario indicates drinking until oblivious, which is, in itself, not that satisfying. Chin up chap, I hope your week is pleasant enough to lighten your mood Cheers, Stew 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
06/24 Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 Like Stew I struggled to find a silver lining. He's said it all better than I could anyway. We're all rooting for you (did I spell that right?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 Me too - what they said ^^. Rooting for you so chin up and onwards! You'll feel better when the paint's going on. Nil illegitimi carborundum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 Sometimes it helps to see someone who's (perhaps) worse off than you... at least in a small way. Remember the 'issues' I had with the Vallejo paint colours on the Spit? I was also building a Crikey alongside, and this has the same colour scheme (of course). When I had the Spit problems I set this aside. This weekend I picked it up again. Masked it up. Looked at the colour guide and the notes I'd made on which Vallejo colours to use and gayfully sprayed away. Compared it to the picture on my desktop and guess what? WRONG! It's deja vu all over again. I'm such a dork. Or am I getting old? Coincidentally (or was it?) I signed up this weekend as a 'dementia friend'. I may be needing this sooner than I thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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