Listening to the Solstice

[hendie]

glad to see the 'opportunity' was not passed over.  Damn fine looking plectrum

[keefr22]

16 hours ago, bbudde said:

The place, there, where  I  posted you the liittle cementry photos from

 

Those are lovely pictures Benedikt, you've even made electricity pylons look good!

 

Glad your mum is improving.

 

Keith

[bbudde]

1 hour ago, keefr22 said:

you've even made electricity pylons look good!

Thanks Keith. They just came into my focus and I thought it could be a nice contrast to the nature in the right light/ backlight. Glad you like them.

Cheers Benedikt

[TheBaron]

On 9/15/2019 at 7:12 PM, Hamden said:

Great recovery with the rudder soon be ready for paint

Almost Roger! (That's if I can stop discovering detail that can't be lived without....) 😁

On 9/15/2019 at 7:13 PM, Pete in Lincs said:

Ruddery good work that chap. And welcome back to the bench.

Thanks on both counts Pete: you're a diamond geezer.

On 9/15/2019 at 7:14 PM, CedB said:

the nap obviously did you good

Thanks Ced. Yes - you're right!

Experience has taught me that that sleeping on a problem is often a short-cut that the conscious mind is too logical for.

On 9/15/2019 at 7:24 PM, giemme said:

Pardon me for asking: is the dent at the base of the rudder, close to where it hinges to the fin, made on purpose?

You're quite right to ask Giorgio.

There's meant to be a *slight* discontinuity in that region where there's a semi-circular plate that acts as a fulcrum for the rudder to rotate on, buuuuut...at this scale that structural change shouldn't look like a dent as you point out so I've remedied that now with a smear of Humbrol filler:

23 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

All good on platform one.

Just time for a vintage British Rail sandwich then!

Waverly Station, Edinburgh.

20 hours ago, hendie said:

glad to see the 'opportunity' was not passed over.  Damn fine looking plectrum

Just out of shot in that photo above is a young @hendie turning a cruet set into a Wessex engine...

21 hours ago, bbudde said:

Btw to ease you more, if you don't mind. The place, there, where  I  posted you the liittle cementry photos from

Beautiful. Always love to see your photos Benedikt.

Love the melancholy biomechanik feel to this mixture of natural and the man-made:

Quote

Glad to hear your mum's health has picked up.

 

The landscape where we are in Connacht one of the main native trees is hawthorn like these that in winter look like ink spilt across the Western skies at dusk:

Caspar David Friedrich would have had a field day here with all those gnarly forms against winter skies I reckon...

 

In high summer, rapid heating of the air near the Atlantic wrings lace from blue skies.

Soon the only green will be ivy on the hawthorn's arms:

 

Whilst I was remedying the flawed rudder, I also took the opportunity to use some CA/flour to reinstate a properly 'sharp' apex to the back of tail above the rear light. The fairing for this needed to be sharper and more blade-like both vertically and horizontally at  the terminus:

Still in repairing mode,I wiped some PPP around the tail surfaces:

You can see how badly battered Annie has gotten in places with all the modifications to her over time but just gently rubbing the excess PPP away with a moistened finger I find lets you feel as well see when a surface has reached the required uniformity.

 

I'll have to go over the whole aircraft like this before priming of course as it never ceases to astonish me how much I overlook such matters when engaged on other tasks....

 

Hope your weeks have gotten off to a good start mes braves.

Tony

 

 

 

[giemme]

More good ruddery, Tony

 

Ciao

[CedB]

Love those photos Tony. 

And the rudder of course  

Good tip about rubbing the PPP with your finger - noted!

[perdu]

Outstanding

 

 

 

 

 

Model's damned fine too

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's amazing how much Ced still has to learn about PPP...

 

 

[hendie]

59 minutes ago, CedB said:

Good tip about rubbing the PPP with your finger - noted!

 

Note to Ced - he said 'finger' - Not gerbil!

 

 

1 hour ago, TheBaron said:

Just out of shot in that photo above is a young @hendie turning a cruet set into a Wessex engine...

 

Nope.  I don't think I dated any of 'em

 

 

That tail region is looking very swish Tony, but why does that tail fin remind me of a certain Aha video ?

 

 

Edited September 16, 2019 by hendie

[keefr22]

2 hours ago, TheBaron said:

The landscape where we are in Connacht one of the main native trees is hawthorn like these that in winter look like ink spilt across the Western skies at dusk:

 

2 hours ago, TheBaron said:

In high summer, rapid heating of the air near the Atlantic wrings lace from blue skies.

 

2 hours ago, TheBaron said:

Soon the only green will be ivy on the hawthorn's arms:

 

You have such a wonderfully descriptive way with words Tony, that you almost didn't need to post the pics! Glad you did though as they also are wonderful, especially the inky, dusky hawthorns...!!

 

Annie's back end looks pretty good too! (I used to work with a girl called Annie, who I often thought that about too!  )

 

Keith

[pheonix]

Catching up Tony and glad indeed to see that you are once again back into action. The details are stunning - just like the real thing as I remember a certain set of advertisements used to proclaim. (But you would need to be of a certain age to remember them.....  which means that I have just given an indication of mine!)

 

P

[bbudde]

15 hours ago, TheBaron said:

The landscape where we are in Connacht one of the main native trees is hawthorn like these that in winter look like ink spilt across the Western skies at dusk:

Beautiful, Tony. Love those kind of pictures Yep, a place to stay for a while and just letting time goes by

And your Anson of course too!

Here the unzoomed picture.

Cheers and thanks

Benedikt

Edited September 17, 2019 by bbudde

[Brandy]

17 hours ago, perdu said:

It's amazing how much Ced still has to learn about PPP...

And, apparently, about rubbing with moist fingers too!

 

Lovely remedial work on Annie's behind Tony, although I can't help thinking of a dalek when I see the mass balance!

 

Ian

[TheBaron]

23 hours ago, giemme said:

More good ruddery, Tony

Cheers G. Time to move on from that region methinks!

22 hours ago, CedB said:

Love those photos Tony. 

And the rudder of course  

Merci on both counts Ced.

21 hours ago, perdu said:

It's amazing how much Ced still has to learn about PPP...

Clearly he is still a long way from picking up one of these Bill....

 

21 hours ago, hendie said:

That tail region is looking very swish Tony, but why does that tail fin remind me of a certain Aha video ?

Ooohh you're a subtle one H! That took a few minutes for the penny to drop. 🤣

21 hours ago, keefr22 said:

I used to work with a girl called Annie, who I often thought that about too!

That must be a male rite of passage Keith as there was an Annie for me too (from Scotland whom I worshipped from afar....)

20 hours ago, pheonix said:

The details are stunning - just like the real thing as I remember a certain set of advertisements used to proclaim. (But you would need to be of a certain age to remember them.....  which means that I have just given an indication of mine!)

We're talking trains aren't we Pheonix? 😁

8 hours ago, bbudde said:

Here the unzoomed picture.

Even better!

3 hours ago, limeypilot said:

Lovely remedial work on Annie's behind Tony, although I can't help thinking of a dalek when I see the mass balance!

*In Dalek voice* AVIATE! AVIATE!!!!

 

Forgot to bring the adapter home from work with me tonight so laptop battery running on electron-fumes, let's hope this gets out as not a long entry.

 

I got to work on the sunshield for the nose thermometer earlier: an odd-looking rectangular panel on the port side of the nose.

 

Started out as some 0.1mm sheet curved in the rolling rig:

Thence some scrap sheet and rod soldered-on to start building up the required structural detail:

This ugliness was then ground and filed down to something much more approaching the actuality in terms of shape and thickness:

A quick test-fit:

The sunshield still looks a bit wide in these photos tbh  so I'll give that some further action with the needle file next time;  in terms of depth thoughit looks ok when seen from the front:

The connection from the top it loops inward but I'll adjust that for size and angle once the shaping of the part is finished.

 

Thanks for looking in!

Tony

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bbudde]

1 hour ago, TheBaron said:

Even better!

Better than a navi . Sunset in the north west and the wild geese heading south again.

Cheers Benedikt

 

Edited September 17, 2019 by bbudde

[bbudde]

2 hours ago, TheBaron said:

A quick test-fit:

The sunshield still looks a bit wide in these photos tbh  so I'll give that some further action with the needle file next time;  in terms of depth thoughit looks ok when seen from the front:

Crazy!!! Or should I say: You are crazy!! Cheers again.

 

[hendie]

6 hours ago, TheBaron said:

AVIATE! AVIATE!!!!

 

 

 

 

Miniature walkie talkies now for goodness sake.   Is there no limit to what this man can blast with his shrink ray ?

[giemme]

5 hours ago, hendie said:

Is there no limit to what this man can blast with his shrink ray ?

Apparently not.  Impressive. 

 

Ciao

[TheBaron]

On 9/17/2019 at 9:17 PM, bbudde said:

wild geese heading south again.

Evocative shot Benedikt. Can hear the faint whistle of wingtips from here... 😊

 

Yesterday evening.

Last light before the Equinoxe.

 About a fortnight either side of the spring and autumn equinoxes the sun has moved south along the horizon enough at sunset that it hits the disco ball on the upstairs landing (don't ask) and turns it into a prismatic field of lights across ceiling, wall and floor:

Drives the cats made when you turn it!

On 9/18/2019 at 2:19 AM, hendie said:

Miniature walkie talkies now for goodness sake.   Is there no limit to what this man can blast with his shrink ray ?

 

On 9/18/2019 at 7:27 AM, giemme said:

Apparently not.  Impressive. 

Came across a great troll line on Twitter the other night from someone I presume of Goth predelictions:

'If I had one wish it would be to be able to shrink myself very small at will and crawl across the faces of spiders at night whilst they are sleeping.'

The internet is basically the human race in TMI mode..... 😆

 

Sprang for one of these mini-towerss during the week to help tidy up all the power cables in the studio/workroom/dump:

It reminds me of the interior decor of Moonbase Alpha in Space 1999.

It of course remains a source of deep personal regret that we do not wear zip-up trouser suits with coloured sleeves.

 

After some therapeutic digging in the garden this morning my thoughts had inevitably turned to cracking on with Annie but truth be told I'd been vacillating on building the baroque windscreen wiper fittings for the front of the windshield on account of lacking a couple of crucial shots of the lateral aspect showing the separation between (what the maintenance manual refers to romantically as) the 'eccentric gear units' and the surface of windscreen.

 

'Blow me down' and indeed 'it was meant to be' &etc. but wasn't me old Uncle Bill in a posish to send some bespoke shots of said structures. Bill.

Let the work commence!

At this scale it's going to be a case of building something representative rather than a slavish replica of those projecting 'eccentrics' on the grounds of strength. for the gear boxes themselves I resorted to filching a couple of circuit board components from an old Xbox controller:

The mounting bracket for these needed to look accurate however but without @Fritag & @hendie levels of etch-alchemy had been approaching the task with (I must confess) some trepidation.

It seemed time to unveil The Finger of God:

I may have mentioned in cavalier fashion over the summer my intention of investing in one of these etching tools for the Silhouette cutter for etching designs into metal. I bought this direct from Amy Chomas herself who makes them over in the States as it's hard to get this side of the pond at any kind of a reasonable price.

 

It's not that you couldn't cut out freehand the kind of basic shapes I needed as a one off but to maintain uniformity in making several this seemed to be a solid investment worth making. This is the design prepped and ready in the Silhouette software:

The triangular sections at the end of each rectangle are the sides that need to fold backwards from the front  mounting plate. When outputting the designs the brass sheet I tried both a one (upper) and two-pass (lower) setting for comparison that you can see in here:

Not a huge difference when looked at through the magnifier, the line of the lower two-pass one is *slightly* more pronounced and although it was this one I scored with a scalpel and snapped out of the backing sheet, I'm pretty confident that one-pass version would have been sufficient to give a pre-existing mark to score along with the scalpel blade

The scored lines at each end are of course to help with subsequent bringing-in of the ends through 90° in the etch folding tool, like so:

The windscreen wipers themselves were made from 0.3mm tubing crushed along most of their length to form the wiper blade whilst retaining a barrel cross-section at one end to mount on the gear axles:

Finally, the wipers, gear units and mounting brackets were all soldered together, along with some (currently overlong) lengths of 0.3mm brass rod that will later be bent into correct shape to form the flexible shafts connecting each gear unit to the electric motor inside the nose that drives the wipers:

When seen from the front and Blutak'd into position for a dry fit they look a lot better:

And thanks to Bill's photos, I've now a reliable guide to setting them at the right distance from the windscreen when the time comes:

There'll be some tweaking and fettling to get them finally aligned when locking them into final position but otherwise we can move on from here now. Pretty sure I'm going to have to remount the cockpit windscreen prior to painting now as I'll need to shape the fairing along the bottom of the windshield with some Milliput before adding the windscreen wipers - a job that can't be done in reverse order.

 

More and more bits of the snag list getting their fluoresecnt 'done' mark around them now!

Night night.

Tony

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Pete in Lincs]

8 minutes ago, TheBaron said:

we do not wear zip-up trouser suits with coloured sleeves.

Ha! That's where you're wrong.

[keefr22]

47 minutes ago, TheBaron said:

Can hear the faint whistle of wingtips from here...

 

We had two formations go over this week, missed seeing the first one but was out the back garden when the second one came over the next day - they were literally at tree top level as they suddenly appeared skimming over the top of our wild cherry and then had to do a sharp climb to clear the bigger trees in the small park up the road! Have to say I couldn't hear any whistling wingtips, just what I assume to be the mad cackling of the leader yelling 'pull up, pull up' in goose...!! They really are brilliant to see!

 

Talking about brilliance - that continues apace with your work on Annie Tony - I'm sure you're putting more skill into the build than Avro ever did on the real things!

 

Keith

 

 

[giemme]

1 hour ago, TheBaron said:

When seen from the front and Blutak'd into position for a dry fit they look a lot better:

Holy crap!

 

Ciao

[perdu]

Nice to be able to help

 

We're glad the side-on views helped (both Tomo and I took pictures)

[Andwil]

That is just taking the piddle.  How can we mere mortals ever hope to emulate this level of skill?

 

2 hours ago, TheBaron said:

If I had one wish it would be to be able to shrink myself very small at will and crawl across the faces of spiders at night whilst they are sleeping.'

I think you can already do this as you obviously shrink yourself to 1/72 scale at will to work in your aircraft components factory.

 

AW

[CedB]

Oh good grief... the bar has been raised again! How am I going to reach my wine now?

[TheBaron]

16 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Ha! That's where you're wrong.

 

🎵...and he drove the most flamboyant beer lorry in the East... 🎶

14 hours ago, perdu said:

Nice to be able to help

 

We're glad the side-on views helped (both Tomo and I took pictures)

Spot on Bill.

Plus I've enough shots of Tom's neck now to begin making a brass replica....

14 hours ago, Andwil said:

How can we mere mortals ever hope to emulate this level of skill?

It involves significant neurolinguistic programming AW.

1. Impress upon the mind the fact that the words 'necessary' and 'visible to the viewer' are now redundant terms.
2. Train the gaze to ignore kit instructions and only to focus upon detailed engineering drawings.
3. Repeat steps 1 & 2 until you have acquired sufficient tools to equip an actual aerodrome.

14 hours ago, CedB said:

How am I going to reach my wine now?

Why dear boy - just curl a langorous finger to summon the waiter as per usual... 🍷

 

So.

In the absence of information about any modifications to the aircraft aerials, I figured it must need a big one to picked up the Knickebein signals:

That looked a bit stupid upon reflection so cut it down to form the mountings for the navigation lights:

Much less silly.

Rather than a coloured bulb inside the glass, these lights seem to have red/green glass surrounding the bulbs instead, so the idea is to add some appropriately-tinted blobs of CA on the end of those stumps once the aircraft is painted.

 

After this it was time to face the job of removing all the accumulated gunk and primer that has built up over several months from the flaps and flap trays in preparation for further detailing:

 

Those all got a light wire-wooling to give good keying surfaces for gluing small parts onto. If you recall the kit flaps were too short which rendered my first use of the Flightpath etch redundant once I'd discovered this, however I did save some of the parts and some even survived op on the shelf in a pot.

 

Marking out the intervals:

Those irregular edges were filed square end the edges thinned to scale appearance before a check fit into the flap trays:

Not all of these ribs/framing (whatever they're called) in the shot below were original etch parts - I was short about six so made these up from scrap PE runner:

In the final state of the aircraft it's going to be posed with flaps only slightly dropped by a few degrees similar to what you see in this shot I've posted before:

Not quite as open as you see here in the next shott, which it gives an idea of the limited amount that will actually be seen inside there:

Need to add corresponding framing to the upper flap trays and some scrap tubing (possibly) to give expression to the operating links. We'll see.

That was enough of a strain on the eyes now that we'll call it a day and I'm going to head over to finish roasting a couple of chickens for a late lunch for everyone.

They should be nice and moist - I roast them upside down in a 1/4 bottle of white wine.....

 

Bon chance modellers!

Tony