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A Summer Where the Bad Light Stopped


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Thanks, PC. I don't need them now, as it's too frikkin' cold up here, on the Backside Of Beyond, to try spray painting. At 9:00 this morning, just before the sun cleared the trees across the street, it was -32C. That's -25F for you Americans.

 

Below is a visual representation of how cold that is:

 

46931360171_6b10078b69_c.jpg

 

 

 

Chris

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4 hours ago, Procopius said:

It is, handily the best paints I've ever used. I am getting a bit nervous because apparently the US distributor is in ill-health and there hasn't been a restock in a while...

 

Always helps to buy skill rather than acquire it through hard work, I find.

Why don’t you become the US distributor?! All the paints you could ever want!!

 

Rob

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1 minute ago, rob85 said:

Why don’t you become the US distributor?! All the paints you could ever want!!

I actually thought about it, but you know the old joke: the best way to make a little money selling modelling products is to start with a lot of money.

 

If I had the spare capital, I would, absolutely, despite my total lack of business skills or entrepreneurial spirit, but when Jamie told me the usual order sizes and the shipping costs to get them here...well, Mrs P would kill me. 

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1 hour ago, Procopius said:

I actually thought about it, but you know the old joke: the best way to make a little money selling modelling products is to start with a lot of money.

 

If I had the spare capital, I would, absolutely, despite my total lack of business skills or entrepreneurial spirit, but when Jamie told me the usual order sizes and the shipping costs to get them here...well, Mrs P would kill me. 

Selling the house, pocketing the money, then living a quiet life as a paint distributor.... could be an option!

 

i jest, my dad tried to convince me I should start a model selling business. Which I suppose is a lovely idea, but he was unwilling to stump up the capital as he quite right doesn’t trust me with money and and endless supply of models.

 

Rob

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2 minutes ago, rob85 said:

i jest, my dad tried to convince me I should start a model selling business. Which I suppose is a lovely idea, but he was unwilling to stump up the capital as he quite right doesn’t trust me with money and and endless supply of models.

You could include a fancy artisanal sandwich with every kit! Meals4Modellers, I can see it now.

 

2 minutes ago, rob85 said:

Selling the house, pocketing the money, then living a quiet life as a paint distributor.... could be an option!

I have my eyes on a higher prize.

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23 minutes ago, Procopius said:

You could include a fancy artisanal sandwich with every kit! Meals4Modellers, I can see it now.

 

I have my eyes on a higher prize.

Ha! That’s a good shout, not sure it would be too fresh if posted... maybe just a little snack bag of haribo 

 

I really, 100% feel, there is NO ONE else who deserves this job more that you... in fact having this job is your duty, ney your destiny! It would be some of the most entertaining content on the net. Shall a write to your wife to show my support, I can be fairly convincing.

 

Rob

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2 hours ago, Procopius said:

...well, Mrs P would kill me. 

She wouldn't actually kill you but make you want her to soon thereafter. I believe Mrs. dogsbody would do the same to me. Those Albertan farmgirls can downright vicious when P.O.'d!  Ask me how I know!

 

 

 

Chris

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3 hours ago, Procopius said:

I actually thought about it, but you know the old joke: the best way to make a little money selling modelling products is to start with a lot of money.

 

If I had the spare capital, I would, absolutely, despite my total lack of business skills or entrepreneurial spirit, but when Jamie told me the usual order sizes and the shipping costs to get them here...well, Mrs P would kill me. 

I’ll be the Stockboy/shipping guy, you can be CEO. I only ask for paints in payment. 

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Tails are done!

 

IMG_20191213_191352

 

Now that I think about it, the flash shouldn't carry on to the rudder itself, so I'll probably have to fix that:

 

IMG_20191213_191415

 

If I were to do this again, I'd add the vertical stabilizers after painting the fin flash, as their fit is good, and they make it very hard to mask the area properly.

 

 

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Looking good Edward... but... weren't you tempted to mask all the roundels and spray the colours all together - i.e. do the white for all the roundels, then the yellow where appropriate, then the blue, then the red, rather than completing the lower roundels, then the uppers, then the tail-flashes and finally the fuselage roundels? It seems that introduces a lot more airbrush cleaning and takes more time but I could be missing some important benefit in doing it the way you have done it? Is it for ease of handling, or breaking it down into a set of more easily achieved smaller jobs?

 

They are looking remarkably lovely in any case B) 

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

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Wow!! Those roundels look fantastic!  It really makes me want to take up painting roundels, but how do you get them centered?  I had to try and center a couple of circles on my latest P-40 (the nose cone) and it didn't go so well.

 

The paint job on both of those is marvelous. Nice job! 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 12/14/2019 at 1:13 AM, opus999 said:

Wow!! Those roundels look fantastic!  It really makes me want to take up painting roundels, but how do you get them centered? 

I use the TLAR method*.

 

On 12/14/2019 at 12:08 AM, Stew Dapple said:

Looking good Edward... but... weren't you tempted to mask all the roundels and spray the colours all together - i.e. do the white for all the roundels, then the yellow where appropriate, then the blue, then the red, rather than completing the lower roundels, then the uppers, then the tail-flashes and finally the fuselage roundels? It seems that introduces a lot more airbrush cleaning and takes more time but I could be missing some important benefit in doing it the way you have done it? Is it for ease of handling, or breaking it down into a set of more easily achieved smaller jobs?

I was, Stew, I was, and in the alternate universe where I had everything together, that's just what happened. But I know that this is not that universe, and I was worried about stuffing things up, specifically planting my big dumb thumbs right in the centre of the fuselage roundels and providing the authorities with an alternate method of identifying my body after I threw myself into the Chicago River in despair. 

 

Sorry for the long radio silence, folks, but I've been on a hellish ostensible vacation with my wife and children at my in-laws' in Michigan, and I can handily say this was the worst trip up there I've had in years. And I've had some doozys. Mrs P had made some pretty definite, not to say explicit, promises about what would happen to me if I went up with her and the kids this time, as opposed to staying home in blissful solitude, but as with all Mrs P promises in that line, that, as Swiss Toni once remarked, never happens. It's not much of a spoiler to tell you that ol' Swiss was bang on in this case. 

 

The trip started well enough; we left late on Saturday of last week, which meant that we passed through Muskegon, MI in time to wander into the rather nice local hobby shop, and I got a TSR.2 for under $25. This was somewhat mitigated, however, by Mrs P asking Winston if he wanted to go in with me, and of course once he saw daddy get something, he needed a model too, and all their child-appropriate trinkets were lethally overpriced, because that's how they getcha. I couldn't afford a Winston meltdown at that time, because Grant was finally asleep in the back seat, and if he was awakened by Winston's outraged yowls, he would fill his own hideously powerful lungs and scream so loudly that it would feel like the last trump was happening in my car at that very moment. So ultimately it ended up being a $42 TSR.2. Less of a deal. This is why I did not ask Winston to come in with me, but Mrs P labours under the delusion that you should offer children a choice even in situations where they should not be permitted one (e.g. "Would you like ice cream?" when it's an hour past their bedtimes and they just had their baths, something that actually happened). 

 

Anyway, I should mention here as well that I had a sore throat and both of the children had the croup, which in Winston's case meant that he would sometimes cough until he vomited, because he has asthma, and because god, offended by my disbelief, has afflicted me with a child who vomits at the slightest provocation. Mrs P's parents, not fortified by daily exposure to the abandoned Salisbury perfume bottles that are my children, invariably catch whatever we bring with us, and then spend the rest of the time being extremely short with us, but of course, Mrs P needed to see her parents now and we couldn't wait or postpone the plan, sort of like MARKET GARDEN. My own parents thought I was possessed by a demon and had me exorcised, so while my relations with them are cordial now, I rarely feel any urge to visit them. The short-term difficulties engendered by my system were immense, but long-term I think it's better than Mrs P's, since she deliberately overstays her welcome so that she doesn't miss her parents as much when we leave. This is, for obvious reasons, a terrible plan, not only for her, but for the three innocent people dragged up with her.

 

In any case, we made it up to Michigan, as we always do, and I spent the first half of the week so sick that all I did was sleep. My children have an amazing superpower, incidentally; they'll look like they're playing calmly as long as you lock your eyes on them, but the moment you go for a lie-down, secure in the knowledge that the woman you chose to spend the rest of your life with, and her parents, who you did not, are watching them, they produce a series of hellish dopplering shouts as they ricochet about the inside of my in-laws' very un-childproofed shouts, and if you blearily get up, you'll discover nobody's watching them, and it's in fact your fault. That was the first four days. Winston also broke my laptop charger, because he cannot stop doing something stupid when you tell him to stop, and telling him more frantically to stop just makes him do whatever he's doing with even more intensity. I don't believe in hitting children, but this past week I strongly considered giving it a try, just to see how it felt.

 

The second four days, Mrs P got an ear infection and a sinus infection, and a small painful discoloured spot on her head which may (or may not be) fatal skin cancer. She is convinced it is. I'm worried myself, because she refuses to get life insurance and the children won't go with her. There are two kinds of people who get sick: those who lie down and accept their fates, and those who teeter around and try and "help" you do things. Mrs P is the latter, and she lurched about bent double, looking like a giant lanky spider and giving not-terribly-helpful instructions to anyone who got too close. My mother in law also had lots of advice for me. 

 

It's not that I dislike my mother-in-law. She is, in many ways, a very generous, kind, and helpful person. She has given freely of her time and money to help us out. (Whether or not we should have asked her for the help is another matter, but that's not important right now.) She is, however, constitutionally incapable of asking a question without making it sound like she's a Gestapo interrogator, even a very innocuous one ("Why did you not have eggs?" sounds like a fierce recrimination in her hands). She's just as god made her. But after the eight hundredth "why would you do that?", when I tried to play an audiobook for Winston (he loves them) of beloved children's classic Mossflower, by Brian Jacques (a boyhood favourite of young Messr. Procopius himself) she accused me of wanting to be a bad influence for letting him listen to something so FRIGHTfully violent, and something deep inside me snapped. I reacted with all the fury a milquetoast overweight suburban dad can, and used my ultimate weapon: withdrawal. I went to bed, since that way I would no longer be depriving her of the privilege of raising my children properly, which she seemed to know so much about and I so little. I'm notoriously passive-aggressive, and Mrs P's family is not, and while they may mock me for it, it's a little like shibboleth: if you don't know how to do it, you don't know how to handle it. Two hours of quality time with Winston and Grant later, I received my apology, albeit a grudging one. Thereafter we observed a guarded truce.

 

Today, with Mrs P barely recovered, we headed home, and even made it. My vacation for the winter is all used up, and I have to go back to work tomorrow. Hooray.

 

49296856342_edb8c68674_4k.jpgThe Grinch Who Stole My Thirties by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

49296658901_9c0b9c2de0_4k.jpgKing of the Magpies by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

The boys did well for Christmas, though it can hardly be said they deserved it. Really, they were getting presents intended for me about thirty years ago, which is true of all spoiled children everywhere.

 

IMG_20191225_092102

I would have shivved my own grandma for this X-Wing as a boy. It would have been cool if Winston did, but no dice.

 

Grant got a giant R2-D2, which he's both terrified by and fascinated by. He plays with it in his own highly inscrutable manner:

 

IMG_20191227_095201

 

 

Anyway, the Spitfires! I made it downstairs and masked and sprayed the yellow, and then, to boot, I fixed the rudders:

 

IMG_20191229_203218

 

One small problem. I used Dark Earth highly thinned with Gunze Self-Levelling, and this overly thin paint curdled a bit:

 

IMG_20191229_203410

 

This has happened before when solvents like TET get on Colourcoats, and usually, it sorts itself out eventually, so I'm hopeful. I thinned the Dark Green with the Colourcoats house thinner, and didn't run into the same problem. So that's good to know for future resprays.

 

IMG_20191229_203443

 

 

Also, I did the prop tips. 

 

IMG_20191229_205118

 

Anyway, work tomorrow. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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... but apart from all that, it was a great vacation :lol: 

 

One plus side to a bad holiday is that it could almost feel like a relief to get back to work :D 

 

Unfortunately, perhaps, I had a good holiday; a weekend at my folks and a day tinning paint with Jamie at Chez Sovereign Hobbies, then two days of drinking tinned beer and watching Game of Thrones before returning to work on Friday for a day that was like having Hell directly injected into my brain via headphones.

 

Still, those Spitfires are looking seriously good B) 

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

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5 hours ago, Procopius said:

I use the TLAR method*

Is that by any chance 'The Lost Asterisk Revenge'? For goodness sake man, I now have RSI from scrolling up and down looking for the footnote!

 

I do sympathise about your Christmas PC; an expert on the radio explained that the reason that 'family Christmases' are so much of a trial is that, despite their age, people revert back to their childhood and old feelings re-emerge. I guess it's the same with parents? I'm not telling…

 

Looks like Grant is destined to be a Doctor, or a Nurse, or a Paramedic… or maybe just someone with a sticking plaster fetish? That'll come in handy when he pokes his eye out on a twig (see 'King of the Magpies') :D 

 

Very nice Spitfires though - the markings are looking pukka :) 

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6 hours ago, Procopius said:

I have to go back to work tomorrow. Hooray.

Nothing like going back to work for a break, I've been doing it for years. ;) Especially after visits to my in-laws. I think there is a common theme here. :D

Nice that normal(ish) service may be resumed. :) 

Steve. 

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Ah, Swiss Toni - a philosopher for our times. As usual Edward, a erudite summary that engenders equal amounts of pathos, amusement and guilt, for being amused. 

 

Liking the Spits.

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Oh the joy, the rapture, a letter from America, and 'milquetoast' (a word I will be trying to drop into conversation at the new years party).

Think twice about the Queenie thing, their 'staff' get canned when there's a change in employer, and HRH is not a spring capon.

 

Looking forward to 20-20

 

Box On

 

Strickers

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This morning I crept downstairs with twenty minutes before I had to leave for the train (I was unusually organized and ready to go back to work, for some reason), and masked and painted the blue.

 

IMG_20191230_061803

 

Upstairs, I could hear the crashing of unattended children, which meant that Mrs P had once again sent them down unattended so that she could sleep, a terrible idea that harsh reality has failed to disabuse her of. I finished with five minutes to spare, confiscated the kitchen shears from the boys on my way out, and am now safely on the train. 

 

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I’m sorry I laughed at the Christmas holiday story, it sounds harrowing, however you tell it in such a great way I can’t help but laugh. It’s also the feeling of empathy I feel when you tell these things as your experiences are never to far from my own... but they are always that bit worse... which I’m sorry to say kinda make me feel better... sorry

 

the spitfires look great, more fine work with the masking, I’ve ordered one of their canopy masks for the b-25 to see how it does.

 

Rob

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3 hours ago, rob85 said:

I’ve ordered one of their canopy masks for the b-25 to see how it does.

 

Pmask? The yellow paper tape kind, or the ones they sell on Hannants? Or a Peewit mask for the B-25? 

 

7 hours ago, HAMP man said:

Think twice about the Queenie thing, their 'staff' get canned when there's a change in employer, and HRH is not a spring capon.

I assume that like Victoria, she's grimly hanging on, trying to outlive the Prince of Wales. That's what I'd be doing in her shoes. But the trick is just to get over. As with ham and eggs, there's no going back for the pig. 

 

8 hours ago, JasonC said:

Ah, Swiss Toni - a philosopher for our times.

Philosophy is much like making love to a beautiful woman: I thought about it a lot when I was in college, but it turned out I wasn't any good at it.

 

9 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

A typically superb description of a family Christmas.  Made me smile. A lot.  Unlike you, I fear.

Sort of a rictus grin.

 

9 hours ago, CedB said:

Is that by any chance 'The Lost Asterisk Revenge'? For goodness sake man, I now have RSI from scrolling up and down looking for the footnote!

It was in there, I swear! 

 

14 hours ago, Stew Dapple said:

Unfortunately, perhaps, I had a good holiday; a weekend at my folks and a day tinning paint with Jamie at Chez Sovereign Hobbies, then two days of drinking tinned beer and watching Game of Thrones before returning to work on Friday for a day that was like having Hell directly injected into my brain via headphones.

Sometimes I'm disappointed in myself for not being a deranged psychopath, because I had half a dozen chances to be wearing your skin and living your life last month.

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