First to Fight (2x1/72 Arma Hobby Fokker E.V)

[Procopius]

11 hours ago, amblypygid said:

Great to hear that you had a good time, PC. I'm strangely curious as to what terrible sci-fi you were reading? The little Fokkers look right snazzy with Polish markings on. Having just substantially expanded my stash, I'm manfully trying to resist the temptation of Arma's P.11c, and you're not helping.

Give in, you know you want one! It's such a cool-looking airplane, with that 1930s half-WWI, half-Buck Rogers air to it. 

 

8 hours ago, stevehnz said:

Thanks Edward, you just tapped into 45 years of suppressed guilt.

That's the idea, build it now in my own children. It's an uphill battle, as Mrs P is unashamed of her own body (with good reason), and she works to impart such pernicious notions to our own children.

 

11 hours ago, amblypygid said:

That's one heck of a B'tech game! Must take ages to get through a turn with that many on the board...

I used to do battalion-on-battalion games with 40 'mechs to a side. To speed things up, we moved by lance and used playing cards for initiative order.

 

11 hours ago, amblypygid said:

On a recent visit to my mother's house, I rediscovered some World of Darkness fiction; dear me.

 Oh dear. 

[Cookenbacher]

Those are looking fantastic PC, and that may be the best version of "The Talk" ever.

[Procopius]

Humidity is at 95% here today, which makes it feel roughly like walking around on the bottom of a standard Olympic-sized pool filled with hot soup, and I hate soup. Minimal chance of rain until Monday, when I expect the heavens will open halfway between work and the train station. 

 

In other news, possibly my only remaining chance in life to actually meet or even just see a RAF flying ace (Allan Scott DFM, 6 victories) in person will be 150 miles from my home at Airventure in Oshkosh on 23 July, which is a Monday night. I am seriously considering making a three-hour drive out to see him and then turning around and heading right back at 10 PM (there's effectively no room at the inn at Oshkosh during the airshow if you look for a hotel this late in the game -- even airbnb lists a room for one person as $300 minimum then), virtually ensuring I'll die in a fiery car crash. Weighed against this is that soon he and everyone like him will be all gone, and the urge to brush the hem, as it were... Decisions, decisions...

 

In any case, I got down into the grotto and did some more work tonight.

 

I added the decals on the other side of one of the iterations of "001", and finished painting the fuselage of the aircraft from 1925. 

 

20180714_220545 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

I also assembled the ingenious jigs that will make putting on the landing gear (hopefully) not the exercise in hear-tearing, screaming frustration that WWI-era aircraft landing gear usually is.

 

20180714_224523 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

And started decalling the vertical stab.

 

20180714_224541 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

I'm puttering along on these -- I'd hoped for a faster pace, but the fact of the matter is that most days I'm exhausted by the time the kids are in bed, and reading political and legal tweets all day can be remarkably draining. I know many people are encouraged by, say, reading a book that's utter crap, because it means that they themselves could be published someday, but I find it deeply discouraging, because clearly these ingrates are more tenacious than me and have more of whatever indefinable quality one needs to ascend in the world. But I guess David Bowie would have been a nobody if there weren't all those nobodies buying his records, so perhaps the world needs me in a way as well.

 

To close on a happy note, Winston wanted a "black Spitfire" from the grotto, which was weird, because I haven't built any, and ultimately he settled for me playing a song that had a black Spitfire in it...you see where I'm going with this, right? Anyway it did my heart good to hear him try to tunelessly warble along with Kate Bush singing "dropped from my black Spitfire..."

[Andwil]

Have a "like" for the Kate Bush reference.  That song always brings a tear to my eye.

 

Great work on the wonderful little Fokkers.

 

Andrew

[Stew Dapple]

Those transfers do look superb, I hope I can get results like that when I use mine

 

I posted the spare serials yesterday, hopefully they'll not be long in arriving 

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[CedB]

Nice work PC  

I'll join you in a rain dance if you think it will do any good - we could do with a freshen up here too...

 

Six hour round trip to see an 'Ace'? Tough call... That said, I think the excitement might keep you alert for the drive back.

[Procopius]

This was extremely stressful:

 

20180716_204518 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

The photoetch hubcaps are, thank god, only on one of the aircraft, On one side (shown) they're dished out, the replication of this effect being at the outside limits of my capabilities. But it could be done, and it WAS done!

 

I've also glued the jigged undercart struts to the...whatever the thing that connects them and the wheels are stuck on to...axle? 

 

20180716_202552 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

That's working quite nicely so far. 

 

I'd do more, but the heat and humidity are overwhelming my industrial-strength dehumidifier in the basement, and I don't want to risk problems with clear coats right now.

[Andwil]

Axle wing I believe.

 

Handy little device that undercarriage strut jig, must make assembly much easier.  Pity more bi-plane/parasol aircraft models don't come with this kind of assembly aid.

 

AW

[CedB]

Nice PE PC, good job! 

Those legs look to be a right pain... best wait for a peaceful period (if they still exists with two youngsters in the house!)  

[Procopius]

On 7/18/2018 at 3:50 AM, CedB said:

Nice PE PC, good job! 

Those legs look to be a right pain... best wait for a peaceful period (if they still exists with two youngsters in the house!)  

Thanks Buffers!

 

I opted not to follow the directions (more fool me) on set of gears, and clipped out the jig before affixing it to the fuselage. Bad idea; one of the legs snapped off shortly thereafter when I bumped it. So: wise to keep the jig on until the gear is in place and dried. I anticipate some coaxing and swearing will be needed on the pegs the wheels go on, too. They look a bit tumescent. 

 

Other than that, what else have I been up to? Well, the guns are painted, I ought to but have not yet started on the props, and I painted all of the struts this evening. Right now the heat and humidity persist, which make painting or indeed even sitting in the basement for any length of time something of a trial.

 

In other exciting news, I've managed to lose nine pounds this month, the unit of weight, even, not sterling, which, sad to say, is only about 25% of my goal to get my down to what I once regarded as my "fat weight".  

 

 

On 7/16/2018 at 1:37 AM, CedB said:

Six hour round trip to see an 'Ace'? Tough call... That said, I think the excitement might keep you alert for the drive back.

 Sadly, it appears he'll be unable to attend after all, so yet again, I miss a chance to meet an RAF ace before there are none left. 

[Stew Dapple]

Thanks for the tip about the wheels mate, I shall be wary and follow the instructions when the time comes...

 

Also, nine pounds in one month is not to be sniffed at. Perhaps you expected better of yourself, but that is no small achievement and you must have had to work pretty hard for it. In those temperatures too... *shudders*

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[Procopius]

Just now, Stew Dapple said:

Also, nine pounds in one month is not to be sniffed at. Perhaps you expected better of yourself, but that is no small achievement and you must have had to work pretty hard for it. In those temperatures too... *shudders*

I mostly do 5Ks on a treadmill indoors at work, or if I've been lazy, the 4.75K round-trip run from my house to the next train station past mine, so happily the heat is less of a factor. The goal is to run four times a week, which I've managed to be pretty consistent about. When outdoors, the humidity and the omnipresent wind (Illinois is incredibly, unbelievably flat) which always seems to be a headwind, even when you turn around and run in the opposite direction are the big killers. Well, that and people who won't look up from their phones as they weave all over the sidewalk, a major pet peeve of mine, I yelled at someone for it last night, in fact, because a 200+ pound man hurtling along all-out at his top speed of 7.6 MPH is about as able to change direction abruptly as a Saturn V rocket.

[Stew Dapple]

2 minutes ago, Procopius said:

...always seems to be a headwind

 

This must be a universal constant I think, I experience the same effect on my cycle to and from work  Think of it as a little extra free exercise...

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[Procopius]

Another run this evening, and I fear either an overly-large suburban family or a balbo of teenagers (impossible to tell when running at night without my glasses) were subject to a torrent of obscenity when they rather abruptly formed up in line abreast across the sidewalk and into the street, requiring a series of rapid 90-degree turns on the part of yr. corresp. The sidewalk is two people wide for a reason, and that reason is not so that large groups of people can all walk down it in one direction. I feel this very strongly. 

 

Ironically, I missed out on a 5K this morning, because Mrs P, upon hearing about it, thought it might be great fun to hand out coupons to runners crossing the finish line as a volunteer for our town, leaving me to hang out with The Weebs, who discovered they had a facepainter. Now, as a child I hated facepainters, and I still do a little today, because without them the clown menace would be much abated, and Winston seemed to share this view, as after Mrs P plopped him in the chair he looked remarkably unenthusiastic about it and expressed zero interest in any of the nine things the painter could apparently paint. Oh no, he wanted an airplane. The poor woman didn't seem too enthused, because I gather she really only did the nine things on her sheet, but to her credit she gave it the old college try:

 

20180721_091351 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

In any case, I managed to stagger down to the grotto and did a teeny-tiny bit more work, attaching the engines and the cowlings to the kits. I am sorry to say the cowlings simply don't fit very well over the engine, leaving a very noticeable gap. I opened up the hold for the peg a bit and trimmed down the back of the engine, and had to remove the rudders so that I could use rubber bands (the only thing I was certain wouldn't ruin the decals) to pull them close until the glue could dry.

 

20180721_230603 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

 

[Procopius]

Oh, and if you're wondering why Winston's dressed in what appears to be a discarded costume from the Beatles' Sergeant Pepper photoshoot, you can blame my mother, who made two jackets of this type, one for him and one for Grant, so that they could really blend in if they ever had to travel back in time to Carnaby Street in the sixties. Naturally, Winston insisted on wearing his brother's coat.

[Rob G]

4 hours ago, Procopius said:

Oh, and if you're wondering why Winston's dressed in what appears to be a discarded costume from the Beatles' Sergeant Pepper photoshoot,

 

Nah, nowhere near enough gold brocade. And what's wrong with The Beatles, eh?

 

4 hours ago, Procopius said:

 travel back in time to Carnaby Street in the sixties.

 

In my dreams... yeah baby, yeaaah!

[Andwil]

Well done getting those rubber bands over without snapping off a cabane strut or two, which is what I would have done, being all thumbs.

 

AW

[The Spadgent]

Lovely work PC. Those little aeroplanes are looking great! 😀 Good luck with the pavement pounding. Or is that sidewalk strutting in your neck of the woods. 🤔

 

Jont.

[Procopius]

57 minutes ago, The Spadgent said:

Or is that sidewalk strutting in your neck of the woods. 🤔

Sashaying.

[Procopius]

This morning the full-length mirror on our bedroom door decided to succumb to gravity's siren song and plummeted floorwards about five minutes after I left for work. It being from the 1960s, it promptly rearranged itself into a large number of discrete and jagged parts, which Mrs P did her level best to clean up after dropping the kids off with my mom (Grant, being a pretty gormless baby at the best of times, little more than an ambulatory punching bag for his brother, really, managed to find the one piece she missed later and cut himself -- not badly thank heavens).

 

Fortunately(?) Mrs P was able to almost instantly discharge her seven years of bad luck the same day when, after sending a defiant Winston to the bathroom to wash his hands, she heard the sound of a child's pure, joyful laughter*. Every parent knows to dread this sound, and Mrs P dashed into the room to find Winston chortling merrily to himself as he held the speaker of her iPhone 6S directly under the roaring faucet. Naturally, they didn't introduce water resistance as a feature until the iPhone 7. What happened next must have been a blur; all I know is that I began receiving a torrential stream of messages at work which suggest that the life of my eldest child was now in imminent danger, and when I finally got home, I found he'd been put to bed for the night as a form of protective custody at 4:00 PM. His normal bedtime is 7:30. For most of the rest of the evening, Mrs P broodily stared at her phone, which is now a remarkably ergonomic paperweight, at one point requiring all the silica packets I keep in my box o' decals to protect them from the harsh Illinois weather. I considered protesting that the total value of the decals in the box far exceeded the price of her iPhone, but felt this intelligence might not meet with a hospitable reception, given the circumstances. 

 

In any case, once Mrs P finally retreated to bed, I stole down to the grotto to get a little done, despite the continuing punishing humidity, which has left me very chary of spraying any clear coats for the moment.

 

After some ruminating, I determined that the biggest problem with the Oberursel engine, the one preventing the cowling from joining nicely with the fuselage, was the raised and bevelled part immediately following the locating peg. This is accurate to the real engine, but it unfortunately makes the kit part a bit too long, and must be ruthlessly sanded flat to ensure a good fit of cowl and fuselage.

 

20180723_222149 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

I also added the spoked wheels to one set of landing gear: 

 

20180723_222225 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

20180723_222227 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

And glued one set of landing gear to one of the kits:

 

20180723_222207 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

As soon as I feel halfway confident about the humidity and I get the serials in the mail and apply them, I'll dullcoat all three kits and then move on to the wings and struts and guns and such.

 

 

* I'm exaggerating for comic effect here. Winston inherited the low basso profundo laugh of his true father, Satan.  

[Procopius]

On 7/22/2018 at 5:12 AM, Andwil said:

Well done getting those rubber bands over without snapping off a cabane strut or two, which is what I would have done, being all thumbs.

 

AW

You might be surprised. They've proven pleasantly durable so far. 

[Stew Dapple]

34 minutes ago, Procopius said:

...and I get the serials in the mail and apply them...

 

Cripes, I hope they don't take much longer, I posted them on the 14th. When I asked for the card in which they are enclosed to go by airmail, I expected access to the full might of modern communications technology, including jets where appropriate, not for them to be sellotaped to a random gull and everyone involved crossing their fingers...

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[Procopius]

Just now, Stew Dapple said:

 

Cripes, I hope they don't take much longer, I posted them on the 14th. When I asked for the card in which they are enclosed to go by airmail, I expected access to the full might of modern communications technology, including jets where appropriate, not for them to be sellotaped to a random gull and everyone involved crossing their fingers...

Never fear, this is about normal for airmail. Anyway, if it's a gull, Mrs P will be excited, at least.

[CedB]

 I do love your stories PC... not because of your trials and tribulations but because of your writing style… you should write a book blog you know  

I hope Mrs P's iPhone recovers and that Winnie is suitably apologetic - though probably not at his age  

 

Great work on the Fokkers - those spoked wheels look really good.

[06/24]

3 hours ago, Procopius said:

 

* I'm exaggerating for comic effect here. Winston inherited the low basso profundo laugh of his true father, Satan.  

Given PCs family history this made me smile a wry smile rather than laugh out loud. Do NOT try the same remedy as your parents!

 

However I digress. Splendid little Fokkers but as a product of the 1960s, like the ex-mirror, I share its dismay at the prolonged effects of gravity, which similarly seem to drag me floor-wards with inexorable pressure!

 

Hope the seagull arrives soon, and the humidity lifts...