From Failure to Failure

[Procopius]

8 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

Good stuff with the running though. I'm currently stuck at around eight and a half minutes a mile on a good (and infrequent) day...

At my best, in about 2013-2014, I could run a 6:40 mile four times in a row and no stoppin', but I blew out my knee jumping up a flight of stairs late in 2014 and it's been a long slow road back after my knee surgery, a road that mostly seems to have been in the wrong direction. Hard to feel like you have the energy to slam a few miles out and then come home to endless screaming. 

 

8 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

On the school front I'm tempted to agree, having carried out an extremely expensive experiment with a statistically insignificant number of offspring. We were pushed into it by the lack of decent primary schools at the time in inner London. For my elder child in particular (and he was the reason we even started on that track), it was almost counter productive, because private schools deal with pupils who don't fit at some stage by suggesting they leave before they damage the school's academic statistics, not by trying to help them. For my younger child, it was a mix of good and bad teachers and a few close friends, just like it would have been at pretty much any (cheaper) school. And the induced financial stresses act the same way as the stresses induced by parenting.

 

8 hours ago, amblypygid said:

 

My experience (as a pupil), too. Amazing how they milked some parents for years of fees, then found a reason to expel their child in the final year. The reasons weren't concocted, but the school had overlooked similar offences before, and for abler pupils. That said, my academic year set a (short-lived) school record for the number of expulsions, all of which were drug or sex related.

 The money is to some extent my primary concern, as there's simply no way we could afford private school without radical alterations in the bearability level of our lives. These kids are killing me as it is. My experience as a pupil at a private high school school for Gifted and Talented Youth (many of whom had high IQs but were barely functional, or not even functional) has left me deeply sceptical of their value. Mrs P's school deliberately expels low-performing kids to ensure a high-performing crop (they rejected me as a small boy outright, in fact, so they can go do something that rhymes with waterfowl to themselves), and while I had a miserable school experience and got made fun of a lot, and I don't particularly believe that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger (tell that to anyone in traction), I think it's not unhealthy to be exposed to the broader variety of viewpoints found in a large public school system, in an environment where you actually might have to defend your ideas or think critically about what's presented to you. Plus, right now we live in like the #2 public school district in the state (Mrs P says it's got drug abuse problems, because we abut a wealthy suburb, but if she seriously believes kids whose parents can afford access to private schools don't have access to drugs...well...I mean, come on). I am living proof that you can grow up in an affluent area, go to the best public schools (and then as part of a legal settlement from the public school system, to an expensive if not good private school) and emerge without ever touching drink or drugs, thanks to the impenetrable armour of being profoundly uncool and the invincible shield of my own deep contempt for all of my schoolmates, most of whom are now infinitely more successful than me, bless their glue-addled souls. I also learned first hand that parents can try to protect their kids, even going to kind of weird and insane lengths, and it still won't do a bit of good, because teenagers rush joyously to their own destruction. But that's a deeply depressing story for another time. 

 

 

In any case, Winston seems to be enjoying Easter and is now passed out, along with Mrs P and Grant, so I'll try and run outdoors so that I can feel how truly, crushingly old and used up I am.

 

 

[Space Ranger]

Sorry to hear about the domestic situation. As a wise (ha!) old fart of 71 who has been married twice, once when I was 27 and the second time when I was 56, and still married to wife number 2, I have learned exactly two (2) things about marriage:

 

1. Marriage does NOT change your spouse, at least in any way you would like or think your spouse should change.

 

2. Marriage DOES change your spouse, but in ways you least expect and may wish she hadn't.

 

(I will not be going into the marriage counseling profession soon.)

 

Can't help with children, I'm afraid, as I have none that I know of, in spite of plenty of opportunities to make some when i was younger. My wife's two children by her previous marriage are both adult, and the less said about them the better.

To return to our regularly scheduled and required modeling topic, I CAN offer some advice that may be worthwhile. For canopies such as that of the Bisley, with many frames and many small clear panels, I have found that replacing the molded frames with painted strips of decal often produces a superior result than trying to mask the molded-on frames. I have even sanded frames off canopies and polished the remaining plastic and dunked it in Future* to restore the clarity, then once the model was complete and canopy installed, applied frames of pre-painted decal strips†.

 

*Or whatever it's called these days.

 

†Spray a sheet of clear decal film with the cockpit interior color and allow to dry. Then spray with the exterior color and allow to dry. Using a new scalpel or hobby knife blade, cut strips of this painted decal to desired widths and lengths and apply as an ordinary decal. you can add a bit of white glue to your decal water to help promote adhesion of the strips to the canopy.

 

Edited April 1, 2018 by Space Ranger
Correction

[Courageous]

I have heard of this technique but have never seen the results or done it myself.

[The Spadgent]

Holy hell PC sounds like you’re having the time of your life! 

I’m not going to blow smoke etc so I’ll just say I hope it all comes good in the end brother.

The little plastic aeroplane looks just fine. A bit thick on the canopy but a bit of nice weathering will settle everything. Are you going to Matt coat it?

 

Run, look after yourself and have fun. 

 

Johnny.

[CedB]

Sorry to hear of your ongoing woes PC... chin up and all that!

I’m away at the moment so only have the iPhone... posting is a pain as I’m not a thumb typist. 

That said I HAVE to defend both ‘macaroni cheese’ and ‘mac and cheese’ as I like both. Yes, they are different IMHO:

- macaroni cheese is tubes of pasta about 1cm in diameter and 5cm long cooked with proper cheddar cheese. It goes brown and lovely on top. 

- mac and cheese, as PC says, looks like big maggots in that yellow cheese like stuff that I’ve only seen in the US

Both are great comfort foods for me but I fear one might be (slightly) healthier than the other? Which one? Only one way to tell... [insert Harry fight video - my thumbs hurt too much]

[Procopius]

Thanks for the good wishes, all. It seems for the present that Mrs P will not be divorcing me, pleasant though all the extra modelling time would be. In the meantime, my work is undergoing a massive reorganization (I've been told my job is safe) and probably a lot of people will be looking for work in the not-for-profit association field soon. I've been told we don't have enough followers on social media by people who're totally unqualified to know this, meaning I spent a lot of valuable time today fulminating and angrily drafting a long email explaining that I couldn't fix our biggest problem, which is that their leadership has taken us from a pre-eminent position when I started work there twelve years ago to one of precipitously declining market share. I can only make us kind of not look like idiots on Twitter. 

 

Anyway, enough about my troubles. I realized I missed a frame on the Bisley, so masked it up and sprayed it on:

 

20180406_215827 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

Man that framing looks B A D, doesn't it? Oh well. 

 

That wasn't all I did, though. 

 

20180406_215837 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

Her pins are on! I need to add some struts and the landing gear doors, and then do the props, and then we're so so so so so so so soooooo close. 

 

I've had to order more bits and pieces for this one: Quickboost .303 barrels for the B.X dorsal turret and for the FN60 undernose mounting, which should hopefully be here next week, along with my 0.4mm wire, and more Colourcoats Dark Earth (along with many other tins of Colourcoats), since I seem to have used all of mine.

 

Chicago is presently in the grip of winter, because nothing says April like snow on the ground and sub-freezing temperatures, and I seem to be once again coming down with a cold.

 

 

 

[Sturmovik]

The framing looks fine, don´t worry too much about it.

[Stew Dapple]

Props for not inserting the ZZ Top video for "Legs" after that picture of Lady Bisley's underparts  

 

And, tempting though it is, I'm not going to either. 

 

I'm glad the home life seems to have settled a bit, that was getting a bit fraught for a while. For a  moment when reading that I thought you had referred to your wife as "the present Mrs P" in the manner of the late Irish entertainer and wit Terry Wogan. He got away with it for years; try it at your peril.

 

The canopy framing is fine. I suspect it looks worse to you than it does to me because the modelling gods want it that way. Looking forward - as no doubt you are - to seeing the finished article

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[Brian]

Have followed your saga, with both interest and sympathy.  No one can warn you how much children change a marriage.  A friend of mine has 7 daughters; last two twins.  I never really understood why he spent so much time outside working on the lawn, until my own daughter was born and the inter—female “communication” began.  Now he has moved on to grandchildren and small grand dogs;  still has the nicest lawn on the street.  Best wishes.

[amblypygid]

I agree with the honourable members for Dundee and Buenos Aires; the framing looks very neat and opaque. The straight parts attract attention, and they're straight and have neat right angles, which I never manage.

[perdu]

I think its possible that I share your relief re:Mrs P and spare time availability

 

Maybe, some days I wonder about Them!

 

Can I commend to you, young sir, the canopy framing advice you had from our Space adventurer

 

Paint up a bit of clear 'Dec' film as proposed and use it on the occasional frame wot worrits thee

 

Then you can happily move on

The Bis looks the bizz, really

 

I'll keep my fingers crossed re: the other stuff!

[CedB]

I too am pleased to hear that Mrs P has returned to 'normal' - never good for us 'thinkers' to have options to consider, over and over, especially when our partner has, probably, forgotten all about the drama... I get accused of being 'too sensitive' which I thought was a good thing. No pleasing some people

 

The Bisley's looking very smart PC. If you worried about the framing (you're focussing on the small windows aren't you? The rest looks good) you could try what I've tried - new blade gently down the 'proper' line and careful scraping with a cocktail stick then touched up with a long, thin brush (keeping the stick to hand if you wobble). Or painted decal / book repair tape. You know it'll niggle. Not to be attempted while you're distracted though

[Space Ranger]

10 hours ago, Procopius said:

 

20180406_215837 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

I have one of those snazzy assembly jigs as well. Like most of my models, it, too, is unassembled!

[Space Ranger]

9 hours ago, Stew Dapple said:

I'm glad the home life seems to have settled a bit, that was getting a bit fraught for a while. For a  moment when reading that I thought you had referred to your wife as "the present Mrs P" in the manner of the late Irish entertainer and wit Terry Wogan. He got away with it for years; try it at your peril.

Once at a party, half snockered, I introduced my then wife as "the future ex-Mrs. S.R." The other guests thought it funny, but she left in a huff. Turned out to be true! She divorced me a year later. Some women just have no sense of humor,

[dogsbody]

I know what you mean about the weather. Yesterday morning at 06:00, it was -24C ( -11F ). Today was much better. Only -14C ( 7F ).

 

 

 

Chris

[Space Ranger]

10 minutes ago, dogsbody said:

I know what you mean about the weather. Yesterday morning at 06:00, it was -24C ( -11F ). Today was much better. Only -14C ( 7F ).

And 35°F here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area as of noon. BRRRRRRRRRR! Sumpin' ain't right.

Edited April 7, 2018 by Space Ranger
Clarification.

[Procopius]

On 4/7/2018 at 12:03 PM, Space Ranger said:

And 35°F here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area as of noon. BRRRRRRRRRR! Sumpin' ain't right.

A veritable blizzard today. Fie on this life.

 

Sad news today as one of my favourite bands, Portland's post-punk The Thermals have broken up after fifteen years. 

 

Here's what was arguably their best album, and certainly the one that resonated personally with me the most, The Body, The Blood, The Machine:

 

 

It's in some ways less hard getting old than it is to realize I'm just no longer young. The world's not made for thirty-five-year-olds, a discovery that I suspect is only going to become more clear to me as I age.

 

Anyway, I meant to do more on the Bisley tonight, but we didn't get the ████ing kids to bed until well after eight, and since I have to go to bed by 10:30 PM or I'm totally used up the next day and don't get anything done at work, that basically killed my evening. Yesterday I managed to get the landing gear doors on and paint the prop tips, so once I finish the props and replacement gun barrels arrive I think we can mark that one done. I'm so tired, and so sick of trying to reason with a two year old. My parents just beat the crap out of me, and while I think that long term this strategy didn't pay off, sometimes, when tired, it seems like it might be at least cathartic to take out my self-loathing on a tiny person who unquestioningly trusts me and who couldn't possibly defend themselves. This really is no way to live a life.

[CedB]

Like sad haha nope, can't click any of those buttons...

You're only as old as you feel PC and I feel like a 25 year old, but where can you get one of those at this time of day? Boom boom tish

Lots of quotes to try and help but I bet you know more... "If you're going through hell, keep going", "If things aren't going right, go left", "When you come to a fork in the road, take it" etc etc.

You can't reason with a two year old so give him what he needs - parameters and rules. They like those, little ones.

Can't be as bad as this guy though eh?

[Andwil]

On 08/04/2018 at 2:33 AM, Space Ranger said:

And 35°F here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area as of noon. BRRRRRRRRRR! Sumpin' ain't right.

Moving into mid-April and its forecast to be 36C here tomorrow.  Crazy.

 

Andrew

[Gorby]

3 hours ago, CedB said:

You can't reason with a two year old so give him what he needs - parameters and rules. They like those, little ones.

 

Ceb's got it bang on. Don't try and reason with a toddler, it just confuses them, they need to know who is the boss/parent. Praise usually has a bigger effect on their behaviour than scolding and I found that making them laugh helps lighten the mood of everyone, and makes them more willing to cooperate.

 

Also, if you feel that they are excessively hyper/naughty etc. there may be a reason...

When my step-daughter was young she used to have quite violent mood swings which resulted in her becoming extraordinarily unpleasant to everyone, even her mum was at the end of her tether. Then, after years of this, I realised that it was soon after she had eaten certain things. It turned out that she reacted badly to yellow and red food colourings. When we cut down on those, her behaviour changed immeasurably and permanently. It makes sense that if food is fuel, if you put rocket fuel in kids they are going to go berserk. If you have concerns about their behaviour or if they often seem hyper, see if it gets worse after something they have eaten or drunk. She is 24 now and to this day she still can't eat 'Skittles' without very negative effects.

 

Nothing prepares you for raising kids and they will try you at every step if you let them, but if you stick with it, it IS worth it in the end.

[perdu]

Yes it is really, when they age (should you all survive the young bit) they give you grandkids you can send home to them when you've had enough

Marvellous feeling

 

The 'give them rules and parameters' thing, you will have heard that before possibly til you're blue in the face

No matter, follow that sage advice

"No you must do THIS before WE do that"

In the end it is the control they accept and appreciate

 

Chin up, get more sleep

 

☺

[Space Ranger]

I'm not having such a good week, myself. I recently discovered that my college sweetheart of 52 years ago, a beautiful, sweet, gentle, loving young woman whom I almost married but broke up and lost contact with due to a misunderstanding, was now in an assisted living/nursing care center in a small town less than a three-hour drive from here. Three weeks ago I wrote her a long, heartfelt letter hoping to reconnect as friends. After receiving no reply, but the letter not being returned by the postal system, I called the nursing care center yesterday. I learned that she never received the letter. She died two years ago. Her obituary was never published, so I have no idea where she was laid to rest. I feel absolutely gutted. Fortunately, my wife is an angel who understands and is helping me process the grief I feel.

 

 

Edited April 10, 2018 by Space Ranger
Add'l. info.

[Procopius]

Just now, Space Ranger said:

I'm not having such a good week, myself. I recently discovered that my college sweetheart of 52 years ago, a beautiful, sweet, gentle, loving young woman whom I almost married but broke up and lost contact with due to a misunderstanding, was now in an assisted living/nursing care center in a small town less than a three-hour drive from here. Three weeks ago I wrote her a long, heartfelt letter hoping to reconnect as friends. After receiving no reply, but the letter not being returned by the postal system, I called the nursing care center. I learned that she never received the letter. She died two years ago. I feel absolutely gutted. Fortunately, my wife is an angel who understands and is helping me process the grief I feel.

 

 

I'm so sorry. I'm no stranger to regret, but I can't imagine the scope of what you must be experiencing, Michael.

[stevehnz]

8 hours ago, Space Ranger said:

I'm not having such a good week, myself. I recently discovered that my college sweetheart of 52 years ago, a beautiful, sweet, gentle, loving young woman whom I almost married but broke up and lost contact with due to a misunderstanding, was now in an assisted living/nursing care center in a small town less than a three-hour drive from here. Three weeks ago I wrote her a long, heartfelt letter hoping to reconnect as friends. After receiving no reply, but the letter not being returned by the postal system, I called the nursing care center yesterday. I learned that she never received the letter. She died two years ago. Her obituary was never published, so I have no idea where she was laid to rest. I feel absolutely gutted. Fortunately, my wife is an angel who understands and is helping me process the grief I feel.

 

 

My heart goes out to you on this, I'm at a stage of looking back on opportunities lost & wondering what happened to those women, where are they now & have they had good lives? It sounds as though your wife will support you so begin jumping through the hoops & ticking the boxes till you discover your friends final resting place, it may help to bring some closure. The nursing home would be the place to start, maybe a family contact, maybe public records, do you have a public advice bureau in your part of the world which might help to open doors. Good luck.

Steve.

[Procopius]

So, and I feel bad taking us back to the mundane, my SBS cowls arrived today, AND my wife and children are AWOL.

 

20180410_174453 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

The pour stubs on the cowls are hollow and came away very easily. The resin engines fit inside perfectly:

 

20180410_174428 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

20180410_174431 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

Magnificent. These look to be a must-have for the rest of my Airfix Blenheims. Really gorgeous aftermarket with minimal hassle and good engineering.