Listening to the Solstice

[TheBaron]

On 4/17/2019 at 11:46 AM, perdu said:

Awfy bad news re: Telford

 

Not in any way useful of your bosses to lay flagstones over our sociable ambitions

 

On 4/17/2019 at 12:00 PM, limeypilot said:

Shame we won't get to see you, or some of your model gems, in Telford!

I'm reminded of Mr B's earsome ditty in this respect!

 

On 4/17/2019 at 12:00 PM, limeypilot said:

I went to the Abu Dhabi Louvre with my brother last Friday (he's been here for a very short, but highly welcome visit). They have an exhibition of the Dutch masters and it is stunning. I was actually looking for trick lighting such as backlights etc but it's all in the paintings! Unbelievable!

I'd forgotten the Louvre had a branch out there Ian!

The debate still rumbles on in art history as to whether or not some of the Dutch artists resorted to optical aids such as camera obscura doesn't it? I'm not an expert of any kind in this area but given the growth and interest in optics in Europe during that period (plus the manner in which the humanities historically liked to write science out of the master narrative of artistic 'genius'), I'm not at all hostile to the idea that these artists were intelligent enough to look at the world around them in such open-minded ways. Evidence is not of course easy to discern, but curiosity in such matters is such a powerful drive you can't discount it. You only have to look at how adept and observant so many people are here on this forum to get a sense of that capacity!

23 hours ago, corsaircorp said:

Hope you'll get better soon, be carefull with the drugs, I ruined my stomach with that stuff...

V. kind of you CC. Luckily the IBS takes my mind of the back pain!

22 hours ago, hendie said:

I see Vincent has got a spare for you just in case...

 

'Huawei's new smartwatch: users report performance issues.'

20 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Get well soon or you'll be up before Judge Shabby for dilly dallying!

(Best to bring a Febreeze spray bottle though)

'Fragrance in court!' 👨‍⚖️

16 hours ago, CedB said:

Hot water and towels!

Nurse! The screens!

16 hours ago, Stalker6Recon said:

Speaking of of modern cutters

Hi Anthony, and welcome to the forum!

That cutter does indeed look useful and I'd been ruminating over it myself a while back. Iirc though a at least one reviewer  complained about the limited measuring scale on it which compromised its usability as a tool for consistently cutting multiple length in millimetres. 

16 hours ago, Stalker6Recon said:

As for Gator Grip, I have two questions to ask. First, what is the experience you guys have with their regular and their thin cements? Is it best used to attach canopies?

Can confirm that GG is an excellent product: have used the thin version for etch - it sticks tenaciously. The thicker blend I've used happily on transparencies also with good results.

16 hours ago, Stalker6Recon said:

Support your local hobby shops and small business owners!

Hear! Hear! (In fact I'm off to one in Dublin tomorrow...) 😁

7 hours ago, corsaircorp said:

Some of it have been filmed here in Florennes AB !!

Were you in it CC?  🎬 🎥 😎#belgianbeefcake

 

Glued a bit of brass frame onto the turret this morning but without - it has to be said - much enthusaism. Resorted to GS-Hypo in the end as for some reason the GG refused to hold it in place on the curve. No idea why but it didn't improve the mood.

Maybe the bent posture and medication leaving me a bit subdued this morning: with that and heading over to Dublin tomorrow for a large family lunch I reckon a day or two away from the bench will help clear the air. Bright and lovely spring day here so nowt at all to complain about.... ☀️ 🌤️

 

Hope you're getting to enjoy the weather in your respective territories!

Tony

 

 

 

[CedB]

Good song Tony  "Work is the curse of the drinking classes…" Agreed!

 

Have a good time in Dublin and give the back some anaesthetic!

[Stalker6Recon]

6 hours ago, TheBaron said:

complained about the limited measuring scale on it 

Sad that he felt limited to the scale on the tool, as there are many easy ways to accommodate much longer cuts to styrene or whatever he was planning to cut. When I was still doing.carpentry work, the table saw had measurements that you could set the fence to cut at, but I never used nor trusted that scale. I always put a tape from the fence face to the kerf of the blade, knowing exactly how much I was cutting before running the wood thru the saw.

 

This tool is no different, just a much smaller scale, but if one needed to make cuts beyond the built in fence would allow, a nearby wall could work just as well. Measure from the wall to the length of the cut you want to make by lowering the blade onto your tape measure, you can make repeated cuts til your hearts content, just as long as you didn't bump the tool, or MOVE THE WALL! I hate when walls move on their own!

 

Every problem has a solution. Matter of fact, I have been blinded by the tools I think I need to buy, not considering my carpentry skills as alternatives. Earlier I was looking for a review on a PE Bending tool, one of the cheaper plastic only tools, when I happened on a DIY video. The guy in the video makes a really nice PE tool using cheap would, some aluminum "L" channel and a very ordinary door hinge. He even made the different width cut outs you see so commonly on the tools from "the small shop" etc. It was very well done and only pennies when compared to the "real" ones, not sure why I did not think of that. Makes me wonder what else I can make with my skills, saving me lots of money in the process. I am always broke anyway, just hit a rough road right now, so I need to get creative to keep up. I already have a spray booth in mind using the case fans from my old PC to move the air, just need to build the booth part (top easy) and put filters in, if all goes well, I won't spend any money at all, but we shall see. It will be fun building it anyway.

 

Cheers,

 

Anthony

[The Spadgent]

Sorry to hear about your poor back Tony. Have you ever considered yoga? It’s done wonders for my holdy up parts. There are some great you tube work outs. ( Steady on @CedB🤣 ) as for the Digital shenanigans, I’m sure you’re not being lazy as it doesn’t seem to be in your nature, especially when Modelling is concerned. It’s just UV unwrap tools have a tendency to lose aspect and flair our, you can pin edges and the like which might help in aligning a digital unwrap with reality. Also if you apply a simple planar map first gives you and the programme of choice a better chance of using its own internal tools to do an auto unwrap or pelt or whatever you feel really. 

I’ll stop moving my lips now. Have a wonderful Easter sir.

 

Johnny.

[perdu]

Yeah, wot 'e said

 

Wotever he said, when he said it

Then

 

Just nows...

[perdu]

Oh yes

Yoga or Pilates

 

Pilates has performed core strength miracles on my back

[Andwil]

14 hours ago, perdu said:

Oh yes

Yoga or Pilates

 

Pilates has performed core strength miracles on my back

Here’s a second vote for Pilates, low impact and will strengthen the core, has worked very well for me.

 

AW

[corsaircorp]

17 hours ago, perdu said:

Oh yes

Yoga or Pilates

 

Pilates has performed core strength miracles on my back

 

3 hours ago, Andwil said:

Here’s a second vote for Pilates, low impact and will strengthen the core, has worked very well for me.

 

AW

Aw really, I will have a look at this !!

Did'nt know about it, I was thinking that it was one more gizmo for the would be little Musclor !!

CC

[perdu]

As part of the treatment for my two broken vertebrae I was sent on a six session course of pilates.

I was originally a bit sceptical but found it was a non-gimmicky period of amazing core strength building.

 

 

[bigbadbadge]

Hi Tony

Sorry to hear about your back ,I hope you recover quickly. I recently hurt mine doing the work on the house, and could not sit at the bench at all to model and could only sit in one chair for any sort of relief. It went twice in a few weeks, so may well have to look at this Pilates that Bill mentioned too. Modelling mojo now restored, so keep your chin up fella, the enjoyment will return soon.

Keep up the great work

All the best

Chris

[TheBaron]

On 4/18/2019 at 12:18 PM, CedB said:

Have a good time in Dublin and give the back some anaesthetic!

A time was had Ced!  A pretty below-average meal in a Korean restaurant it has to be said (last time I trust Tripadvisor notices regading nosh) but good catching up with my cousin and her daughters who've now moved over here. Oh how you feel the baton passing between the generations when the cousin you used to lob apples at as kids in yer gran's back garden has a daughter about to qualify as a lawyer. (And like all members of the legal profession she knew all the good watering holes round that part of Dublin where many solicitors have their chambers,  taking us to a gorgeous little set of rooms for coffee and cake where you could sit upstairs in a loft-type affair and look out over the street through the kind of windows you only get in Jack Aubrey's cabin...)

 

Prior to lunch I did get to pop into Mark's Models in Hawkin St. I'm basically supporting their pension fund one piece of brass at a time and managed to dig out a 15.8mm piece of brass tubing that will be perfect to do redo (for the third time!) the starboard engine cowling on the Annie:

It means having to cut out the undercarriage opening and various openings all over again but with the passage of time I grew less tolerant of my last lame effort effort in this region so that the maxim 'don't try and rebuild out of scraps what somebody's already made an excellent job of producing a blank for' had grown ever more insistent over time. More on that job when(ever) it gets attended to.

 

Aside from the metal, chatting with the owner (lovely guy) revealed that an elderly modeller had dropped in some old catalogues he no longer wanted to give away at the till so I scored this:

I wonder how many of you remember this issue from 1976?  Talk about being age 11 all over again! For some reason the 'tips' section at the back had always lodged in my visual cortex - that transfer being put on the Blenheim's wing most of all:

Odd what fragments of the past remain impressed upon you isn't it? Enough to make Proust dip his madeleine in some Klear...

On 4/19/2019 at 8:18 AM, The Spadgent said:

Have you ever considered yoga? It’s done wonders for my holdy up parts. T

 

5 hours ago, perdu said:

As part of the treatment for my two broken vertebrae I was sent on a six session course of pilates.

I was originally a bit sceptical but found it was a non-gimmicky period of amazing core strength building.

 

10 hours ago, Andwil said:

Here’s a second vote for Pilates, low impact and will strengthen the core, has worked very well for me.

Johnny, Bill and AW: I'm going to have to investigate this path gentlemen - thanks to all three of you for the reccomendation.

On 4/19/2019 at 8:18 AM, The Spadgent said:

It’s just UV unwrap tools have a tendency to lose aspect and flair our, you can pin edges and the like which might help in aligning a digital unwrap with reality.

I hear you and agree Johnny.  

I literally wanted just a rough segment though to export into the Silhouette software in this instance, knowing that it would undergo plenty of adjustment and revision there during cutting out of the Washi test outputs.

Like all obsessives  I've a tendency to try and put too much polish on at every single step of the way and have to keep reminding myself that it's a process where you can decide at what stage to really dig in to the final tolerances.

It seems to be going OK thus far, though I've yet to cut and test these:

And it is currently looking a bit New Order album cover possibly... 🙄

5 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

I recently hurt mine doing the work on the house, and could not sit at the bench at all to model and could only sit in one chair for any sort of relief. It went twice in a few weeks, so may well have to look at this Pilates that Bill mentioned too.

It can happen so easily too can't it Chris? Looks like we're both on the hunt for a Pilates teacher mate. 👍

 

In and amongst everything else going on, some further work did occur on the turret:

That central slice had to come out in order to build some convincing looking framing both for the sliding 'central door', and the runners into which it fits. The original Airfix part I gave away as too crude for my purposes but the Special Hobby moulding for this parts looks pretty OK from what I see in photos (although it lacks the wind balance vanes of the original and is frequently incorrectly painted with a transparent - rather than opaque - central strip at the back into which the sliding door runs up and over into.) This is my attempt at building the runners and balance vanes:

0.3mm tubing flattened and rolled to the correct curvature, with the vane soldered on top being an offcut of PE reshaped with a file. Have to say that in gluing the runner to the turret, that the GS-Hypo was mightily impressive in respect of attaching two curved surfaces strongly to each other with a minimal gluing area, but learned that it pays to use plenty of micro-strips of tape to hold the parts in place whilst drying, due to the tendency of the brass to spring up if the turret flexes between your fingers:

The eventual result:

Once the glued has dried I was able to gently sand the wind vanes down to follow the curvature of the original:

I've also dipped that part in Klear, which should assist with the bonding of those metal strips. At some point during these proceedings I've knocked the cut-out section of the central door into the void so will have to fabricate a new part but that's anough for today. A final squint with the innards in place to see how inside and out match each other:

Bit of tidying up of swarf needed in a few places with a scalpel blade  but otherwise that glazing should sufficeand can  be masked. I've put the kit part for the Vickers in the shot for you to see also:  it's a bit 'Minecraft' to look at of course, but some judicious cutting and adding of detail should enable me to give a decent representation and have it hanging in the turret ready to be mounted.

 

Hope you're all enjoy either your weekend or some modelling or both!

Thanks for watching.

Tony

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[keefr22]

Marvellous work on that turret Tony, just marvellous!

 

1976? Second year in uni and an Airfix catalogue was the furthest thing from my mind....!!

 

Keith

[Brandy]

That turret is incredible Tony, well up to your usual high standards! I'll be using a Miniworld Vickers K for the Battle. It's a lovely piece of kit and is just begging for such a detailed turret to house it......

 

Ian

[Spookytooth]

Lovely work on the Turret Tony.

The old "Airfix catalogue(s)" nostalgia there.

I remember getting one each year and ticking off the kits I had done and marking the ones that I wanted.

Never got half of them cos they were too pricey.

 

Simon. 

[bigbadbadge]

Hi Tony

Pure wizardry, this looks amazing. What great work fella. That turret looks out of this world.

Keep up the good work

 

All the best

Chris

[CedB]

Oh my, WHAT a turret!

Beautiful work Tony  

[rob85]

That is some beautiful work Tony! 

 

Hope the back back is on the mend. You should definitely try yoga for helping with core strength, my ex wife is an instructor. She has a chap called len in her class that only got about half a lung left and is about 80, so if he can do it! It really does help.

 

Rob

[Martian]

The turret is going to be a little gem in itself

 

Martian 👽

[Stalker6Recon]

So if I understand this right, that is a scratch built turret with rolled copper and lead to make combination frame/seat? How in God's name, do you learn to do this in the first place, and how long did it take to become proficient, then a master?

 

You guys are killing me, you have so much skills, the bar has truly left earth's atmosphere, I bow down in submission and in awe! Phenomenal stuff!

 

Anthony

[Heather Kay]

17 hours ago, TheBaron said:

In and amongst everything else going on, some further work did occur on the turret:

This turret is a tour de force. You wouldn't like to make me one for my Oxford would you? 

[TheBaron]

20 hours ago, keefr22 said:

Marvellous work on that turret Tony

 

20 hours ago, limeypilot said:

That turret is incredible Tony,

 

20 hours ago, Spookytooth said:

Lovely work on the Turret Tony.

 

19 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

That turret looks out of this world.

 

16 hours ago, CedB said:

Oh my, WHAT a turret!

 

11 hours ago, rob85 said:

That is some beautiful work Tony! 

 

4 hours ago, Martian Hale said:

The turret is going to be a little gem in itself

Keith, Ian, Simon, Chris, Ced, Rob, Martian: thanks all for such kind words. Aesthetically yes, I was quite pleased too with the way it looked until running into 'Crimes against Symmetry' last evening! Not that Poirot mystery in which the hair net for his moustaches slipped during the night (and he was forced to greet Hastings with a lop-sided lip weasel at breakfast) but confirmation of a vague disquiet late last night when applying the first test cut of the frame maskingto see what needed revising. Somewhat more than anticipated as it turns out!

Starboard side on the left didn't look too bad when it first went on, just appeared to need the width bringing in on the masks by about a couple of mill. and the outer curves adjusting, so all told I was feeling tragi-comically hubristic. Look at the port side on the right in the shot above though: you can see it how the identical set of masks are not wide enough by a similar amount!

Quite how I could have missed the bleeding obvious in this way defeats me (though possibly not you if you recall some of the choice plums I've cocked up in the past).

Looking the part over carefully this morning it seems that during cutting out the central door, the cut got progressively more tilted towards the starboard side, resulting in that half having an increasingly reduced surface area the further back it goes. Although I did find the part problematic due to it flexing so readily whilst cutting, that's no excuse for undetected incompetence on this scale.

 

In theory you could hide the mismatch by angling the turret so that the forward 'shoulder' of the fuselage conceals the discrepancy from view but such a sleight of hand would gnaw at the soul every time you looked at the aircraft.

 

Nothing for it but to person-up, scrap the transparency and plunge or vacform a replacement, to whit, it is now stuffed full of Milliput to form a blank, single, turret for the moulding of:

Irksome of course, but it does present a fresh opportunity to address something I wasn't happy about with the existing shape of the part i.e., the manner that the vertical sides of it did not reproduce the characteristic tapering waist of the AW.38 turret:

Anyone else suspect the  influence of Lady Duff Gordon within the Armstrong Whitworth design bureau?

Either way, distress in this instance can be turned to advantage and give the next version of the turrent the full Lady D-G treatment...

20 hours ago, keefr22 said:

1976? Second year in uni and an Airfix catalogue was the furthest thing from my mind....!!

Yes.

Of course.

Head in book deep in study. I feel sure of it Keith.

20 hours ago, limeypilot said:

I'll be using a Miniworld Vickers K for the Battle. It's a lovely piece of kit and is just begging for such a detailed turret to house it......

Begone you foul tempter! That Miniworld stuff is just gorgeous isn't it Ian and you knew damn well when you wrote that, that I'd immediately rush over to have a look at said item online didn't you?  To obtain one would be the same price as x4 lengths of 0.3mm brass tubing so I'm going to have a crack at reinvigorating the carcass of the Airfix one first, before possibly deciding that my version is crap and buying Miniworld.... 🤦‍♂️

20 hours ago, Spookytooth said:

The old "Airfix catalogue(s)" nostalgia there.

I remember getting one each year and ticking off the kits I had done and marking the ones that I wanted.

Never got half of them cos they were too pricey.

Remember that feeling too Simon!  It was even worse with the Tamiya and Scalextric catalogues - how many boyish dreams were shattered by the shelf prices in Bentalls department store in Kingston...

11 hours ago, rob85 said:

You should definitely try yoga for helping with core strength, my ex wife is an instructor. She has a chap called len in her class that only got about half a lung left and is about 80, so if he can do it! It really does help.

That is now my aim Rob. Thanks for the sage advice, which makes an overwhelming case to haul the old torso into motion.

3 hours ago, Stalker6Recon said:

How in God's name, do you learn to do this in the first place, and how long did it take to become proficient, then a master?

If my personal experience is any guide Anthony then you can come to this forum without any real modelling skills to speak of and just by hanging around with such talented and generous companions, pick up the skills that interest you as you go along. It's the most incredibly supportive environment on here and I feel privileged to count such amazing people as friends. I don't doubt that in time you'll come to find the same sir.

3 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

This turret is a tour de force. You wouldn't like to make me one for my Oxford would you?

Bluff called Heather!

Yes I will make you one. Interior and exterior plus masking suit you ok?

 

 

Tony

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Spookytooth]

Oh well, back to the drawing board then Tony.

I can see the reason why though.

But ! Are you going to split the mould/dolly to get it off?

 

Yep, those Tamiya catalogs too, All to expensive kits sadly.

Now I can afford them but have no where to put them LOL.

Kits that is.

 

Still, have a great Easter mate, and hope that your back problem eases .

 

Simon.

[Heather Kay]

15 minutes ago, TheBaron said:

Bluff called Heather!

Yes I will make you one. Interior and exterior plus masking suit you ok?

Eep! 

 

I was mostly joking, of course. We have to remember that what fits your old Airfix carcass might not fit Pavla's idea of the same hole!

 

Thank you for the offer, but I really should be able to make a fair fist of what I need, even if it doesn’t stand comparison with the startling brass jewellery you can produce. I am, after all, professing to be professional modelmaker. I should try to live up to what I claim!

[Stalker6Recon]

48 minutes ago, TheBaron said:

It's the most incredibly supportive environment on here and I feel privileged

That is absolutely true, in my short time here, I have been given advice from every corner by all manner of people, it is awesome that their willingness to share their trade craft with strangers, comes so easily. One day, I hope to contribute and pay back for all the guidance I have received.

 

Thank you again, and while this turret did not work out, it is still a spectacular attempt that deserves admiration for the ingenuity required to create a scale replica. Where others might say "this is good enough", you and many others strive for something better than "good enough". You really set the bar high, and while I may never reach your talent level, I am certainly going to push myself beyond what I though was possible because of your (and many others here) input.

 

I know that this is getting old cause I keep saying it, the hobby of modeling has become a fine art, if Da Vinci were around, he would call you master, if you know what I mean.

 

Anthony

[hendie]

an unfortunate kink in the road to Baronial Ansonness but one that I feel will be overcome with relative ease. 

While there's a certain amount of disappointment that the turret did not work out, that was counterbalanced by the anticipation of seeing this thread give birth to yet another problem solving solution  

 

So, Hunters had their Sabrina's and the Ansons had their Duff-Gordons...who knew?

 

 

2 hours ago, Spookytooth said:

But ! Are you going to split the mould/dolly to get it off?

 

don't need to - one slice of the Duff-Gordon down through the gun aperture area will allow enough flex to remove the D-G from the mold

 

 

Tony, can I ask why you are masking the frame ?  Wouldn't it be a lot easier just to use thin strips of BMF or aluminum tape laid down on the outer surface to form the frame?  Then you don't need to worry about curves matching up in three dimensions, paint bleed etc..

If it's purely because of the color showing on the interior, I would argue that there will be so much eye candy on display in there that any viewer is never going to notice the color, or lack thereof of the framing inside the D-G