Listening to the Solstice

[giemme]

Fin flash = easy fix for you, Tony

 

Great progress all in all, very curious to see how that Mr. Metal Primer peperforms in this mixed and varied situation 🍿

 

Ciao

[perdu]

I still kinda tend toward the regular unspiced Sky Type S scheme, especially given the picture shown in my now notorious book "the Luftwaffe over Birmingham"

I base this on the early war years mundanity of it all

 

The aircraft got its Hallicrafter radio set, skilled operatives to run it and then got caught in a blinking balloon cable in Stechford

 

If you know Brum you will know just how mundane Stechford always has been

 

But Tony has made a strong case for blacking it out, complicated huh

 

 

It is just that home service I would not expect night camo to be needed stooging round the Midlands waiting for Hitlegruber  to send out his beams for detecting

 

That is me out of this un, black looks very good in context

[perdu]

2 hours ago, TheBaron said:

Anyone know if they ever came back?

And preparing for another Friday visit Tony mate, wish you were here

[perdu]

Hmm just noticed double radio antennae on the picture of 'An Anson like the one illustrated'

Could that actually be one of the Wireless Intelligence Development Unit aircraft?

 

I am not actually aware of the antenna fit on WW2 Ansons, maybe double antennae is normal

[CedB]

On her legs - great stuff!  

[Spookytooth]

As above Tony, looking great on her legs.

 

Simon.

[TheBaron]

On 11/22/2019 at 8:15 PM, giemme said:

Fin flash = easy fix for you, Tony

Your faith is heartening my friend! 😁

Time to break out the Titanine!

On 11/22/2019 at 8:15 PM, giemme said:

very curious to see how that Mr. Metal Primer peperforms in this mixed and varied situation

Meet too G: progress was slow today with everything else going on so didn't get a chance to try it. Tomorrow hopefully!

On 11/22/2019 at 8:16 PM, perdu said:

 

That is me out of this un, black looks very good in context

No one can deny that it is easy to get carried away with the black at times Bill...

Looks like a conger eel!

On 11/22/2019 at 8:21 PM, perdu said:

And preparing for another Friday visit Tony mate, wish you were here

Kind of you my friend. Fingers crossed for Telford next year!

23 hours ago, perdu said:

I am not actually aware of the antenna fit on WW2 Ansons, maybe double antennae is normal

No - me neither Bill.

D.V.Pritchard's series of articles on the Battle of the Beams in Ham Radio magazine (June - Oct 1989) has a lot of technical information about beams and lobes etc. of the various German systems but the closest it comes to discussing specific aircraft antennae is to mention that the Lorenz precursor of 1934 required vertical rod antennae. Whatever the actuality of the original BATDU/WIDU aircraft fittings were seems to have been lost in the shuffle of history leaving only an aviation folk memory of the actual discovery event.

 

As to the aircraft pic in that book - those cowlings make me think it a perhaps later variant or upgrade than early BATDU/WIDU Ansons as it lacks the gorgeously baroque nacelles of the early mark.

 

20 hours ago, CedB said:

On her legs - great stuff!

 

6 hours ago, Spookytooth said:

As above Tony, looking great on her legs.

Ta Simon &Ced. Took a while to get there eh? 😃

 

Odd dark day here today, power cuts and a kind of restlessness to the November atmosphere that made it feel like something vast was shifting or changing just out of sight. Hard feeling to define and one that had me checking it wasn't actually a full moon today. Cold and damp too and at least one kitten was secreted beneath the warmth of the kitchen stove:

Nowhere near as much done as I'd hoped as with power off not enough light to do anything significant: mercifully I'd just finished respraying Annie's tail feathers just before the flow of electrons ceased:

By later in the day the mojo was quite low and I desultorily pecked at a few parts, getting the replacement sliding side windows and associated fittings sprayed up:

I had in fact made a couple of runners for either side out of brasss that would hold the sliding windows in place but after looking at them painted, realized that they were too deep compared to the real thing. In the end it was simpler and stronger to aglue some plastic strip along the top:

What looks like dust on those rear cabin windows is actually some kind of mold. I'm not happy with it but at this stage not a lot I can do. it catches the light and shows up badly here but from other lighting angles doesn't appear so bad.

Oh well. 🤷‍♂️

 

Some thinner framing added on those quarter windows at the front corners as well:

That's about as much enthusiasm as could be summoned up today.

 

Hope to prime those frames tomorrow all being well.

 

One last snippet. Like many of you I go combing through the online archive of Flight magazine from time to time to research various ideas and try and get a feel for how historical subjects were represented to contemporary audiences - who are us, but also not us (if you know what I mean). Always fascinating to see some article that is ahead of the prevailing orthodoxies, like this one on infra-red photography and television from October 1939. The stuff about aerial television now seems incredibly prescient on the part of the author:

Found a helpful article on buying trousers from a 1970s copy of TV Times also:

I believe this is known as 'first principles'...

Tony

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Heather Kay]

Revised fin flashes look the business now. 
 

Getting unintended grollies inside glazing bugs the heck out of me, so I can understand your feelings there. There are times when you just have to put up with it because there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it.

 

Annie's coming together really nicely now. I’m getting sorely tempted to dig my Special Hobby kit out of the stash, but I think the FrankenDornier deserves time in the limelight for a while.

[giemme]

Looking better and better, Tony

 

Ciao

[hendie]

1 hour ago, TheBaron said:

By later in the day the mojo was quite low and I desultorily pecked at a few parts

 

we all get times like that.  I just spent the day masking - and repeatedly painting one small patch about Ø15mm.

 

1 hour ago, TheBaron said:

What looks like dust on those rear cabin windows is actually some kind of mold. I'm not happy with it but at this stage not a lot I can do. it catches the light and shows up badly here but from other lighting angles doesn't appear so bad.

 

I'm too lazy to search back through the thread so I'll just ask... what glue did you use?   PVA?  Was it diluted ?  If so, I wonder if something in the water hung around and started to grow legs.

 

Aside from that particular bummer, The Annie is looking very nice indeed. Them flashes are very flash.

 

 

1 hour ago, TheBaron said:

Found a helpful article on buying trousers from a 1970s copy of TV Times also:

 

Ah, the venerable TV Times.  An Encyclopaedia Britannica for the masses.  Any good pointers in trouser hunting ?  (oops, no pun intended!)

 

 

[corsaircorp]

Tremendous job Dear baron !

And thanks for the pics !!

Nice specific annie fin flash too !

I've been a bit less present these days, but I'll be back soon 

Sincerely.

CC triebflugelled soon !!

[The Spadgent]

Excellent re spray on the flash dear boy.

 On her pins now too. Brilliant work. Pity about the mould, you could call it “internal weathering” 🤩

 

Johnny

[CedB]

Nice flashes Tony  

 

I know how you feel about lack of mojo too - I always feel like hibernating at this time of year. Must be some bear in my DNA. Or tortoise. Nah, I think I'll stick to bear - better suits my mood

[bigbadbadge]

Cracking work Tony, it is great to see Annie standing on her own three feet and looking fabulous she does too.  

Some lovely photos you have linked to thanks for sharing. That place looks amazing, you were very lucky to visit. 

Keep up the good work

Chris

[perdu]

A other q. Tony

 

Are those front windows not open?

 

Wouldst it be a possibility for an dextrous fellow like yerself, given enough light to work with, to touch home on the mouldedmouldy bits with a cocktail stick tipped with Dettol?

 

I would hope the disinfectant tipped stick might counter the infection without polluting poor little Annie

 

Power cuts

 

What is the world coming to?

 

Is Callaghan J still in his pomp over there?

[Fritag]

Just enjoyed marvelled at several pages worth of catch-up.  Bit like saving a few episodes of your current fav. TV show to binge-watch on catch-up....  impressed with the paint and buff technique, love the use of the silhouette cutter, more t’riffic brass work - and positively feverish with excitement for the Baron home brew etch to come.....(either that or I’m not quite over my man cold.....) 

 

 

[hendie]

17 hours ago, TheBaron said:

What looks like dust on those rear cabin windows is actually some kind of mold. I'm not happy with it but at this stage not a lot I can do.

 

print off a 1/72 scale period Kleenex box and position it in a highly visible position on top of the radios.  If anyone asks, you can say you modeled it while the radio op had a severe cold.

[pheonix]

Just catching up again Tony - there is just toooo much to read every time it is posted!

 

Super paintwork and wonderful explanation of your techniques - some of which I intend to try out for myself! They might help me to make better models in future - but nowhere near as good as this .

 

P

[TheBaron]

On 11/23/2019 at 9:04 PM, Heather Kay said:

Revised fin flashes look the business now. 

Blessed be Sister Heather and praise be unto her for keeping me from the path of error. 😁

On 11/23/2019 at 9:18 PM, giemme said:

Looking better and better, Tony

Many thanks G. We're getting there gradually...

On 11/23/2019 at 10:23 PM, hendie said:

I just spent the day masking - and repeatedly painting one small patch about Ø15mm.

Those whom the gods would destroy....

On 11/23/2019 at 10:23 PM, hendie said:

what glue did you use?   PVA?  Was it diluted ?  If so, I wonder if something in the water hung around and started to grow legs.

Gator's Grip - but you raise an interesting point re: contaminants. On a number of occasions (including gluing said transparencies) Annie's sat on the stove near to where dough has been rising for breadmaking. Is it possible a few spores travelled?

 

Seamus Blackley's been baking bread from Ancient Egyptian spores so the stuff is damned persistent:

 

On 11/23/2019 at 10:23 PM, hendie said:

Any good pointers in trouser hunting ?

Check the number of legs is evergreen advice for the trouser novice.

On 11/23/2019 at 10:23 PM, corsaircorp said:

I've been a bit less present these days, but I'll be back soon

You're a grandfather for God's sake CC.

You're meant to be sitting at the fireside ruminating how the Death Metal of today is not as good as the Heavy Metal of your youth. 🤘

On 11/23/2019 at 10:45 PM, The Spadgent said:

Pity about the mould, you could call it “internal weathering”

He rides to the rescue! Thanks Johnny, I'll go with that!

On 11/24/2019 at 7:43 AM, CedB said:

I know how you feel about lack of mojo too - I always feel like hibernating at this time of year.

Exactement.

This evocative old Anthony Philips album cover always made me think of the leaving of the sun:

On 11/24/2019 at 9:41 AM, bigbadbadge said:

That place looks amazing, you were very lucky to visit. 

I'm going to join in the New Year I think and support their efforts. It definitely won't be the last visit!

On 11/24/2019 at 11:45 AM, perdu said:

Wouldst it be a possibility for an dextrous fellow like yerself,

Quite so.

I is having a poke Bill, but timorous-like.

The gaff is so full of uprights and diagonals from the internal framing that it's really tight set of angles to navigate.

Am going to leave for now and put aside a time later when patient and focussed, just to have another more determined attempt at:

 

On 11/24/2019 at 11:45 AM, perdu said:

Power cuts

 

What is the world coming to?

Dan and Jake must have gotten off of the pedal generator for a smoke break at the same time, plunging the townland into darkness....

On 11/24/2019 at 12:42 PM, Fritag said:

Just enjoyed marvelled at several pages worth of catch-up.  

Thanks for those kind words Steve.

It's usually that 'difficult second album' but here a case of that 'difficult first Anson'... 😁

On 11/24/2019 at 12:42 PM, Fritag said:

and positively feverish with excitement for the Baron home brew etch to come

Guess who's thread I have bookmarked for study of said process eh what?

23 hours ago, hendie said:

If anyone asks, you can say you modeled it while the radio op had a severe cold.

Or else it turns out I'm just very yeasty... 🧖‍♂️

17 hours ago, pheonix said:

explanation of your techniques - some of which I intend to try out for myself!

Fantastic Mr. P: that's what this forum's all about - a living Wikipedia of Making Miniature Mad Stuff!

 

17 hours ago, pheonix said:

They might help me to make better models in future - but nowhere near as good as this .

Now then.

I've had occasion to warn you before about such inaccurate self-deprecation young man!

(anyone who builds as you from scratch is a source of utmost admiration in my book.)

 

 

Frames.

Those bloody frames for the sliding winders has me driven to obsession point. First attempt on Sunday with plastic strip was but the crudest of embarrassments and hurriedly stripped off again.

Plastic looked wrong and the shapes too 'blunt'.

 

Back to the Bigsworth Drawing Board.

 

Have been playing around with Fusion360 lately, trying to learn more in the way of CAD workflows and it occurred to me that as brass was going to be a likely route to frame satisfaction, why not use the etching tip in the Silhouette to draw out the required designs, as worked previously with the aileron hinges.

 

Why not indeed?

 

Top and bottom designs etched in and ready to trim out:

Sizing of the parts is about 14mm long and about 1.5mm at widest.

 

First pass with folding these once cut:

The top sections worked out Ok using these designs but on closer inspection of reference photos I realized I needed to redo the lower frames in two parts like so:

This was largely on account of the impossibility of trying to fold that smaller part through 90 degrees at its apex.

 

Patented 'Altar of Satan' rig for holding that thin triangular part in place during soldering:

Having tacked them into place as seen above, a heavy bead of solder was run along the inside of the seam to give the required thickness in that region and making redundant the need to use filler of some kind later.

 

Fiddling around gluing individual top and bottom sections on in previous attempts had convinced me that for strength, these frames all needed to be one single strong structure to avoid falling off again during handling. More study of reference photographs and a simple method of soldering top and bottom together via the diagonal front frame (a region which is visually quite thick on the actual aircraft compared to other bits of framing as it receive the front of the sliding windows on either side) did the job in the end:

Test fitting revealed that bar a little bit of filing and bending/squaring up of parts, this should give a decent representation:

Bottom frame is a tad visually 'heavy' seen from the side - some light filing/sanding reducing it down by about 0.2mm in height should sort that later.

 

From the rear:

-and above though:

The amount those sections stand proud of the airframe seem pretty much Ok in dimension and angle.

 

As you can see in the above shot particularly, the nature of these frames is that they work as slightly angled sections allowing the side windows to slide backwards and forwards over the cockpit glazing and snick snugly into place against the front diagonal framing when fully closed.

 

In other news - yesterday's melancholic tone was revived in the evening by generous application of mood-altering substances:

Bœuf Bourguignon.

 

Tony

 

 

 

 

 

[corsaircorp]

I'm also plugged to contemporary Death metal too !!

And sitting aside the fire is not made for me ... Yet !!

That look tasty... Thanks, I feel hungry now....

Great job on the sliding windows, Inspirational Dear Baron !!

Trad, It will be shamelessly copied... 

Sincerely.

CC

[giemme]

More brassery = More fun!    

 

Ciao

[CedB]

1 hour ago, TheBaron said:

…pretty much Ok in dimension and angle.

Another master of understatement - they look great!

Good job Sir

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Yes, yes, those unfeasibly tiny brass thingies are all very splendid, but trousers, man, trousers!  We’re on tenter hooks here for top 70s fashion buying tips and you’re showing us photos of delicious food instead.  Concentrate.

[Pete in Lincs]

1 hour ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

We’re on tenter hooks here for top 70s fashion buying tips

I was with him up until counting the legs. I may need a hand there. Pockets though, there's a thing. Anyone remember Loon pants? Huge flares, but no pockets!

Nowhere to put your clean hankie for use if you were run over by a bus. (Or was that clean underwear?). And surely I'd remember being run over by a bus. Wouldn't I?

Now, was that Brass window frames or did he just use bits of gold Christmas tree tinsel? And, what's with the French food? Where's the Collcanon? 'Tis surely the season?

Ding ding, fares please (wibble)

[TheBaron]

4 hours ago, corsaircorp said:

I'm also plugged to contemporary Death metal too !!

Now.

Why does that not surprise me CC.

3 hours ago, giemme said:

More brassery = More fun!

Anything to avoid painting G... 😉

3 hours ago, CedB said:

they look great!

Thanks Ced   Certainly a lot better than the previous hideous attempt....

2 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

We’re on tenter hooks here for top 70s fashion buying tips and you’re showing us photos of delicious food instead.  Concentrate.

There I was about to post the latest news for happening guys and chicks:

when:

29 minutes ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Anyone remember Loon pants? Huge flares, but no pockets!

An actual guy started reminiscing about them!

29 minutes ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Nowhere to put your clean hankie for use if you were run over by a bus

Wait a minute: are you actually accusing bus drivers of deliberately targetting loon afficionados Pete?

Sounds like a subplot from that suppressed episode of Dixon of Dock Green - the one where Const. Dixon accidentally necked a tab of LSD in his pork scratchings down at the Dog & Duck and woke up three days later in a hippy commune in Mayfair surrounded by discarded loon pants singing 'Your Tiny Hand is Frozen'.

29 minutes ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Where's the Collcanon? 'Tis surely the season?

You do not err sir. Nowt finer on a raw night.

Wiv two slabs of bacon and a fried egg on top.

Grease all over your loons mind...