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Catching Pictures in the Air


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What can I say? Stunning soldering... lovely aerials...

There are no words, just great work.

 

Have a good and well deserved break Tony, Baroness and the Baronettes :) 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Simon, Roger, Giorgio, Ian, Cc, Keith, Håkan, CJP, Ced, Crisp: thanks all for those kind thoughts and words! :worthy:

 

Just suffering from M5-M6-M6-lag, having driven successive motorways into the small hours of this morning from the South coast of England to the West of Ireland. Left Lyme Regis at 8am Friday and got to bed here about 3am and now predictably unable to sleep with the highway still rushing past on the retina....

 

The Worker's Paradise of Dorset was as enchanting as ever:

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Sunrises followed by moonrises. 

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This was moonrise over the tip of Portland Bill seen from the bedroom window - the over-exposure here conceals the fact that said orb was a gorgeous virulent tangerine leaving a glitter path across the bay on successive nights. 

 

Tankfest was duly taken in over at Bovington - we'd taken the lads round the museum a few times when they were smaller but there was nothing like the smell of the greasepaint and roar of the crowd roar of the engines and smell of the soldiers to bring home the reality of combat machinery, both for those inside as well as those facing it.  

 

The other big event of the trip was getting both of our lads up for their first flying lessons! 

Both boyos are currently highly interested in flying careers so we took them to Compton Abbas airfield and each got up for an hour of stick time in the care of Major John, to return to earth delighted and alive at the experience. The airfield is in a superb setting up on the downs between Wiltshire and Dorset if you've never been there, and everyone onsite was most calm and kind:

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Super restaurant too, compete with Ced-like ceiling display dangling over your ham and eggs!

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In the turnaround between the lads going up with the Major in the two-seater, I managed to bag some shots of the Chipmunk there going up for a quick test flight as well.

Taxiing:

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Take-off!

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For some people it's the smell of new-mown grass or strawberries & cream, but for me the lazy drone of such an aircraft in the distance is the quintessence of summer...

 

A great day at a great place.

https://www.comptonabbasairfield.co.uk/

 

I'm starting to ramble a bit from lack of sleep so less of the travelogue now...

 

What else are you going to buy at Tankfest except an aircraft?

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This was going at such a bargain price that I'd have kicked meself for passing it up. :nodding:

Having checked out previously that the kit provides a good basis for work (and being too much of a tightwad to lash out moolah on the pukka new Airfix version of same) this now raises the 'BilLoon' project with a JB-2 under each wing to the status of 'going to happen'. :thumbsup2:

That white Milliput I bought simply to see how it performs (I gather it's suitable for porcelain): I'm perfectly happy with the results from the standard variety but when you see 'superfine' printed on a box, well, something stirs within one's inner modeller - don't it? :laugh:

 

In recent years I've become most enamoured of wartime HMSO publications (indeed it was shots in the Ark Royal one that convinced me to build the Dornier in the flying boat GB last year) and was lucky enough to find good-quality copies of these in the Sanctuary Bookshop in Lyme:

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The FAA one is from 1943, the BoB one from 1941. Although there are plenty of caveats about treating these as primary history, I find it fascinating holding such contemporary publications in your own hands and looking at how ongoing events were represented at the time. As well as this is the fact that such volumes frequently contain series of photos that I've not seen reproduced elsewhere (they quite likely have been but I don't have that many books on military history), such as these taken from Warspite's Swordfish at Narvik:

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Likewise the evocative 1940s graphics and typography make for interesting design history:

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The BoB volume contained this un-illustrated pamphlet of the same text as well - possibly a cheaper version, though whether for public sale or distribution to the armed forces I don't know?

 

Only other aircraft related news was on Thursday of last week; what looked like a Skyvan tooling around above Lyme Bay with a Typhoon and what appeared to be an F-18 in attendance, followed a bit later by a Merlin chasing it directly overhead, all of which I'm presuming was pre-Yeovilton publicity filming.

 

Right.

You sat very quietly through the dreaded display of holiday snaps so I'll torture ye no more. It'll take me few days to recover equilibrium and get back to the Iron Chicken - you will of course be first to see any resulting activity, despite a bitter and protracted bidding war with OK! magazine....

 

I hope you've all been well since last we spoke - nice to be back with you all despite the pleasure of the trip away.

Delighted also to see Mr. @Fritag pop up in the notifications earlier! :smile:

 

Toodle pip and TTFN,

:bye:

Tony

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Glad your holiday went well Tony.

A lot of driving then.

 

Looking forward to the "Iron Chicken"  continuation .

The Revell B 17 G mmmmmh.

Got in the stash, lot of clear parts...

 

 

Simon.

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Looks like a great time was had by all - hope the lads enjoyed their flights, I did a practice cross country for my PPL to C.A. back in the dark ages, lovely little field!

 

We had that gorgeous orange moon too, truly beautiful!

 

Keith

 

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Welcome back Tony - pleased to hear you had a good time :) 

 

Compton Abbas is a nice little field and surrounded by some incredible countryside. I've only flown from there once and when we got back the clouds were covering the field so we had to divert to... um... best not say where. Memorable though, as were the boys' flights I hope.

 

Hope you had a good kip (I know what you mean about Motorways on the back of your eyelids - horrid) then get on with it! :D 

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For the second half of my Naval career (i.e. fron 1989, when I converted to the Lynx) I lived in West Dorset, and it is indeed a wonderful part of the world. We sometimes used to drop in to Compton in a Lynx, too - not always easy to find from the air.  Lovely, friendly airfield.

 

All this glory and a Chipmunk, too.  Bliss.

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Hello Dear Baron !

Super glad that your hols went so well !!

Very nice and glad for the flights of the kids !!

So we will have some mini-Barons in the RAF in some years or in the Challengers ???

Thank for the pics too and good haul for the Fort...

Hum now I must look in my docs for the Navy Loons...

Crack on CC !!

PS my son has developed a kind of allergy to the M25, we took it for almost all of its lenght a friday morning....

No comments....

Sincerely.

CC

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Good to have you back again.  I see you enjoyed your holiday.  Well done and  oh, ...a new B-17 in your stash. I'm very keen on that, how you will tackle the Revell beast. It's a good kit, but really not the "non +ultra" (mainly the nose clear part and the panel lines). Cheers

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12 hours ago, hendie said:

there's only one thing to say....

 

 

Oh you swine hendie...................aaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrggggghhhhhh  earworm.......!!!!!  (and that's even without clicking play!!)

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On 7/7/2018 at 1:18 PM, bigbadbadge said:

Welcome back fella. I am glad you had a great holiday in such a lovely area of the country.

Thanks for that Chris. Whether winter or summer, I'm always amazed at the sheer variety of landscape and light in one relatively modest-sized county.

On 7/7/2018 at 1:28 PM, Spookytooth said:

A lot of driving then.

At one time I used to drive for a living so long hauls don't phase me too much, though as an older geezer it does take the system longer to recover! :laugh:

On 7/7/2018 at 2:18 PM, Hamden said:

Glad you had a good holiday and the weather suitably kind.

Cheers Roger. :thumbsup2:

Is it me or is it taking longer to get round those roundabouts on the A35 at Dorchester now at all times of the day?

On 7/7/2018 at 3:00 PM, Martian Hale said:

You should have looked me up. I only live down the road.

I know and I'm only sorry there wasn't time to fit in a visit to the Martian Consulate over at Poole. :sad:

In past years we've often stayed over at Lulworth which is a mite closer but with the lads the age they are now it has to be the Riviera sophistication that is Lyme. :laugh:

On 7/7/2018 at 3:02 PM, giemme said:

Glad to hear you had a great time

Cheers Giorgio. Only problem is I now have to win the lottery in order to buy the rather lovely house we were rented for the week... 👷‍♂️

On 7/7/2018 at 3:04 PM, keefr22 said:

hope the lads enjoyed their flights, I did a practice cross country for my PPL to C.A. back in the dark ages, lovely little field!

Ta Keith. Hope it was a smooth flight back then. :thumbsup2:

The chaps are still buzzing from the experience so we'll see if that endures into them going for a license. And yes, it is a most lovely airfield - of the kind that you almost feel you should turn up to in 1930s clothing and twirling moustachios!

On 7/7/2018 at 3:08 PM, CedB said:

I've only flown from there once and when we got back the clouds were covering the field so we had to divert to... um... best not say where.

Clandestine test flights out of Boscombe again? Say no more Ced, you're secret's safe with the....errr...Internet. :whistle:

On 7/7/2018 at 3:08 PM, CedB said:

Hope you had a good kip

Stupidly I remained awake pouring coffee into myself to watch the England match followed by pouring G&Ts into the quivering husk to catch that mad Russia/Croatia derby afterwards....

20 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

For the second half of my Naval career (i.e. fron 1989, when I converted to the Lynx) I lived in West Dorset

See this?

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That's the range of envy I just went through at you getting to live there Crisp!  :laugh:

20 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

We sometimes used to drop in to Compton in a Lynx, too - not always easy to find from the air.  Lovely, friendly airfield.

They actually had a slideshow of visiting FAA helicopters up on the plasma in the cafe but I'm afraid I was too distracted by ham egg and chips to notice if there was a dashing young naval aviator from Britmodeller piloting any of them!

19 hours ago, corsaircorp said:

So we will have some mini-Barons in the RAF in some years or in the Challengers ???

I'm not sure HM Armed Forces would survive both at once Cc! :rofl2:

19 hours ago, corsaircorp said:

Hum now I must look in my docs for the Navy Loons...

Other colours besides Navy are available:

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19 hours ago, corsaircorp said:

PS my son has developed a kind of allergy to the M25, we took it for almost all of its lenght a friday morning....

I used to drive lorries around it and can confirm it is of infinite length....

16 hours ago, hendie said:

there's only one thing to say....

Thanks hendie: it's nice to see your sentimental side showing.

Now put it away again. :rofl2:

 

No-one rocks a tank-top like T. Blackburn....

 

16 hours ago, bbudde said:

Good to have you back again.  I see you enjoyed your holiday.  Well done and  oh, ...a new B-17 in your stash. I'm very keen on that, how you will tackle the Revell beast. It's a good kit, but really not the "non +ultra" (mainly the nose clear part and the panel lines). Cheers

Thanks Benedikt. Nowt on the Flying Fortrevell that can't be cured with a little vacforming and filler I suspect. My biggest problem is now being all undecided about what to build next! I've ordered an engine for the Anson and keen to get to work on that but, well, four engines and all shiny with big dangly missiles.... 🤔

4 hours ago, keefr22 said:

earworm.......!!!!! 

Or indeed the classic:

:winkgrin:

 

Still not fully compost menthol after the trip, I limited myself to tidying up the outer wing roots this morning, firstly grinding down the excess hardened epoxy with a sanding drum in the Dremel:

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As well as stopping overspill when applying the glue, the masking tape also performs usefully as a 'tell' that lets you know when you're about to start grinding into the kit plastic. The next stage is the time-consuming one of gently stroking any excess glue flat with a 3mm micro-chisel, sanding sticks, W&D, and a final polish with the felt head in the Dremel to get to this:

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You can see how effectively that epoxy functions both as adhesive and nice hard filler.

I've also finally worked out that using a good strongly-oblique light is much better for this kind of job than continually spraying with primer - you can see below for example where wing-root seam now looks nice and flush but the light shows up that the leading edge of the wing still needs some additional attention:

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Beginning to regret not building something inside that radiator opening to the left of the engine too. I must check reference shots to see if much is visible inside there on the real thing. 

I've also been studying the flap actuators and hinges so have a good mental picture now of how these work and what shapes need building to express these, largely out of brass.

More during the week. 

:bye:

Tony

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It should be possible to remove the radiator section, box in the hole in the wing, add detail and the replace the section.

 

Martian 👽

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43 minutes ago, TheBaron said:

And yes, it is a most lovely airfield - of the kind that you almost feel you should turn up to in 1930s clothing and twirling moustachios!

 

Preferably in a Tiger Moth! Don't recall my flight there & back so it must have been uneventful!

 

46 minutes ago, TheBaron said:

Other colours besides Navy are available:

 

 

I had a pair of powder blue brushed denim ones just like that first pair!

 

46 minutes ago, TheBaron said:

Or indeed the classic:

 

I don't recall that one. And I'm not clicking play to remind myselfof it! :bleh:

 

Keith

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Is it me or is it taking longer to get round those roundabouts on the A35 at Dorchester now at all times of the day?

 

Your right there! takes longer every day

Nice to see you back on this project glad you had a good time in Dorset 

 

  Roger 

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On 7/7/2018 at 12:19 PM, TheBaron said:

 

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Just catching up here. We pop into Compton Abbas now and then as we are fortunate to live down in Purbeck. Glad you enjoyed your visit. Interesting that @Ex-FAAWAFU has visited in Lynx. I've never been fortunate enough to see such exotic hardware on the ground there, but we do get our fair share of FAA and other military trade where we live, very close to the coast. Regularly see C-130's dropping marines into the water!

 

I'm liking the use of epoxy as filler and glue!

 

Terry

 

 

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10 minutes ago, Hamden said:

Is it me or is it taking longer to get round those roundabouts on the A35 at Dorchester now at all times of the day?

I get the same impression, although don't forget we are heavily into grockle season of course!

 

Terry

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well, it seems to me that you have honed your skills on these plank winged flying machines to a respectable level.  

 

 

 

There's nothing for it but for you now to rise to the next level on the modeling ladder, and build a... helicopter

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Are you feeling the envy yet?

 

Dorset, I reckon God will go there to retire

 

We used to stay in a little place just out of Bridport.

 

One pub and views over the little valley towards the west in the evenings..........

 

Lovely

 

But to win the lottery I would have to restart doing it  :(  never going to happen

 

If there is a visible radiator inside that hole why not settle some epoxy inside and as it sets flatten the back out with a tamping stick and slip a replica  rad inside as it sets, I'd hate to see you chopping the wings apart for a whim

 

;)

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