Desert Storms (1/72 Arma Hurricane IIc and I trops)

[Col.]

2 hours ago, Procopius said:

Hullo chaps...did some work on the Hurricanes, getting the canopies on and masked and sprayed interior green, and clear-coating the props, only to then realize I'd blundered. Bert Houle's Hurricane IIc BE643 had a white spinner, possibly with a red tip (I can't find a photo--DANGER DANGER DANGER--only colour profiles). I've painted my spinner all red. So I may have to prise it apart so I can repaint the lower half, or try and get clever (dangerous) about masking it, or just throw up my hands and do a Hurricane IIc with an all-red spinner, like The MacRobert Fighter. I welcome your suggestions.

Do a MacRobert's Reply. I take it you know the story behind all four of them?

Alastrean House and Douneside House are fairly local to me and my wife worked to set-up the former as a care home following its renovation from the disasterous fire so for these reasons over and above the story behind Lady MacRoberts desire to 'reply' will always bias my opinion in favour of the subject.

One day I'll take up the Trust's offer to research their records for details of the machine sent to Russia then repay the favour by painting at least one picture of the Hurricanes for them. Along with one of the Buccaneer for myself.

[Procopius]

4 hours ago, Col. said:

Do a MacRobert's Reply. I take it you know the story behind all four of them?

 

I do! I have the book about the Stirling so named, and planned on doing her and the Bucc (and at least one of the subsequent Tornados and the 6 Squadron Typhoon...) at some point in the indeterminate future.

5 hours ago, CedB said:

Doesn't look like it'll be this year, does it?  

Depends on how long you intend to stay, I suppose. 

[Col.]

1 hour ago, Procopius said:

I do! I have the book about the Stirling so named, and planned on doing her and the Bucc (and at least one of the subsequent Tornados and the 6 Squadron Typhoon...) at some point in the indeterminate future.

You truly are a gentleman and scholar with impecable class and taste  

There's a Buccaneer GB starting soon ya know...  

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

10 hours ago, CedB said:

Doesn't look like it'll be this year, does it?

Sad but probably for the best for safety. 

[Procopius]

Well, I haven't been doing nothing of late. 

 

The models are primed and the undersides sprayed: Sky Blue for the Hurricane I, and Azure Blue for the Hurricane IIc:

 

 

Colourcoats, of course. Azure Blue was the first Colourcoats paint I used, and it was so beautiful to spray and to behold that I never looked back after that.

 

So far, the Hurri IIc definitely shows that Arma listened to feedback from the Hurricane I kit; fit is even better, pretty much all 'round. 

 

I keep meaning to do a long update, but I'm again totally bushed, so must retire to bed.

[CedB]

Nice undersides PC - sleep well!  

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

38 minutes ago, CedB said:

Nice undersides PC - sleep well!  

Ditto on the great paintwork. 

[Hamden]

 

Your Hurricanes are looking good. Awaiting the next update with interest!

 

       Stay safe       Roger

[Space Ranger]

10 hours ago, CedB said:

Nice undersides PC - sleep well!  

You're referring to the models, I hope!

[Harley John]

On 13/04/2020 at 08:48, Col. said:

Do a MacRobert's Reply. I take it you know the story behind all four of them?

Alastrean House and Douneside House are fairly local to me and my wife worked to set-up the former as a care home following its renovation from the disasterous fire so for these reasons over and above the story behind Lady MacRoberts desire to 'reply' will always bias my opinion in favour of the subject.

One day I'll take up the Trust's offer to research their records for details of the machine sent to Russia then repay the favour by painting at least one picture of the Hurricanes for them. Along with one of the Buccaneer for myself.

I live close by as well and can also recommend the memorial at the University of Aberdeen for anyone that wants to visit. 

[Harley John]

Those undersides are lovely. The Azure Blue looks fantastic and is on my list for my next small order for Jamie when the world is a better place.

[Kitsticker]

Hi PC

 

Well it all looks fab as per a usual PC build, that Azure Blue- beautiful

 

And the sky blue ain't too shabby either

 

Like most here, I have a stash that beggars reality but I am so tempted by these Hurri's, might have to get a couple.  Just for, you know. You know you know! We are all the same under the skin! Always room for one (or two) more in the stash because... well you know! We can smuggle them in or just brazen it out

 

Onwards and upwards

 

(It's the only way to travel!)

 

Geoff

[Procopius]

Hi folks, sorry for the long pause between updates. No real progress right now, it's been a busy month. Our water heater sprang a leak, our basement had some light flooding, and so forth and so on. I also seem to have finally found a hobby more expensive and time-consuming than modelling: shooting. To compound the error, I've decided to reload my own brass and bought a turret press, so expect to hear I've blown my fingers off in the fullness of time.

 

It was our Memorial Day on Monday, so I took the boys to the cemetery at Fort Sheridan to put a Union Jack on the grave of the sole British soldier who's buried there, Cyril Evans, who perished in this country after being liberated from a Japanese prison camp. This year, someone else had left a yellow rose on his grave. There weren't any on any of the other graves, so I can only assume Private Evans has picked up another friend far from home. I hope so.

 

 

The boys wanted to come with me to place the flag, and I was very proud of them; they were quiet and respectful in the cemetery. Winston held my hand, and Grant held Winston's hand, and we made our way over and placed our flag.

 

 

This year, due to COVID-19, there was almost nobody there, but I feel like it's at times like these that the traditions are most important to keep up. 

 

Mrs P and the boys may be off to Michigan next week, and if so, hopefully I'll have more time to work on the models.

 

[CedB]

Sorry to hear about the plumbing woes PC - hateful stuff, plumbing  

 

Good to see the boys joining in with your kind memorial trip and that you're developing your ammunition skills. Have you joined a local club for somewhere to try out your 'builds'?

[Procopius]

Just now, CedB said:

Sorry to hear about the plumbing woes PC - hateful stuff, plumbing  

I almost forgot to mention, I replaced a leaky faucet! Mrs P was hugely impressed, even more so when I subsequently repaired a cabinet door Winston had knocked off of its hinges. 

 

1 minute ago, CedB said:

Good to see the boys joining in with your kind memorial trip and that you're developing your ammunition skills. Have you joined a local club for somewhere to try out your 'builds'?

There's a local indoor shooting range near me that I go to. It's $30 for a hour of range time (plus an extra $10 if I bring a guest); the last time I was there, I brought the Webley IV and Enfield No2 MkI* and between the two of them fired off 254 rounds of 38-calibre ammunition in that time, pretty much all of my stock. I, uh, am not a crack shot. Suffice it to say that should, heaven forfend, I ever have cause to fire an eighty-year-old pistol in deadly earnest at a man-sized target ten yards away, and that target possibly has right side hypertrophy, they're in for a rough time. (The British Army, incidentally, didn't expect much from the Enfield No2 MkI* either, judging by the manual for it that I have. Users weren't even supposed to aim, just fire two shots quickly from the hip, presumably yelling "SERGEANNNNT" as loudly as they could at the same time in the hopes that somebody with a slightly larger weapon could do the heavy lifting.) 

 

I'm also a member of a small national shooting organization that more closely aligns with my limp-wristed namby-pamby politics than some of the larger ones. I have a baseball cap and everything.

[Stew Dapple]

Nice to hear from you again Edward, and good to hear you are all okay  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[CedB]

3 hours ago, Procopius said:

I, uh, am not a crack shot.

3 hours ago, Procopius said:

…aligns with my limp-wristed…

There's your answer - you need some wrist exercises!  

 

254 rounds in an hour is impressive though… 

 

[dogsbody]

My water heater blew out just over a year ago. My hobby room is next to the furnace room, where the heater is, and the floor in my basement room is just slightly lower than the furnace, so most of the water stayed in my room before getting to the floor drain. As I learned years ago, everything is at least an inch above the concrete. The only loss was a small stack of older SAMI magazines that decided that was a good time to slide off the stack and take a swim.

 

Nice to hear about the gun range. When I get down to Edmonton, I like to go to The Wild West Shooting Range in West Edmonton Mall. There I can rent a pistol and buy a box of 50 rounds and a target. I then go into the range and have at it. I have been there a few dozen times in the last 15 years. I have also fired various handguns, semi-autos and revolvers, in various calibers. The .44 magnum has some mean recoil! 

 

It's good to know you're still out there and still doing models. It's been a bit dull here without your Edwardian familial tales.

 

 

 

 

Chris

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

21 minutes ago, dogsbody said:

The .44 magnum has some mean recoil! 

Speaking from shooting mine... YES it Does ! 

[Procopius]

Hey folks,

 

Sorry for the long silence. Some big changes coming in my life. The first and most important (for you all, anyway) is that I've made a deal to sell my stash -- all of it -- to someone.

 

What happened was that Mrs P got very upset and worried about how much money I've spent as of late. Now, we have a lot in savings, but this has been a recurring issue for us in our marriage, and she came pretty close to asking me for a divorce. As much as I complain about her on here (like why did she think flushing a piece of plastic down the toilet would end well?), I actually really like being married to her, especially these past few months, where we've worked together better than at any other point in our marriage. It was important to me that I show her that she was more important to me than what are, in effect, toys, and toys that, realistically, I will never get around to building even a fraction of, especially at my current build rate. So I sold my kits. The guy should come to pick them up in two weeks or so.

 

It's sort of difficult to admit this to all of you -- one never likes to tell of real failures, that require real sacrifices to rectify, just the funny little indignities of ordinary life. But that's where we are.

 

I'm not done with modelling; I'm keeping all my tools and airbrushes and all of that. I can still build a model whenever I want to buy one. But I think I've mentioned before that my stash is more a source of unease than of comfort: it's overwhelming trying to pick a kit to build next. I was really impressed with Ced's stash when I visited him; it was purposeful and compact. 

 

I'm not done with modelling, and I'm not done with all of you, either; you won't get off that easily. Some of the happiest moments of my life have come about through this hobby, this site, and all of you. I cherish the friendships I've made through Britmodeller. I'm sure I'll have more kits to build in the future. 

[Edge]

Absolutely nothing wrong in selling off the stash Edward. I did it too, then promptly went and amassed an even larger one, please don't do the same!

 

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

51 minutes ago, Procopius said:

I'm not done with modelling, and I'm not done with all of you, either; you won't get off that easily. Some of the happiest moments of my life have come about through this hobby, this site, and all of you. I cherish the friendships I've made through Britmodeller. I'm sure I'll have more kits to build in the future. 

Of course you're not done. You have a group build to host in a few weeks mister ! We wont let you just up and quit now. I get it though SWMBO and the young ones are more important than us in the greater picture of life. 

[John Laidlaw]

Totally understand, PC! It's not failure, though, simply a change and nothing to be ashamed of. Glad you're keeping the tools, and you'd better pop in for a visit on a regular basis, or else!

[Terry1954]

I totally get your decision PC. One of the main reasons I had a HUGE break from the hobby was married life and my larger than average family. With seven children there was a very long period of bringing up a family, and I loved every moment of it. I also had a demanding but enjoyable career. There was just no time to do the hobby properly AND enjoy family life. Obviously in later years and my recent retirement, I now have more ime to spend on the hobby again, properly this time, and my now quite large stash grew from nothing about 10 years ago! I still have a wife (number 2 in a series) and our large joint family has given us 10 grandchildren so far...... still counting! I will never lose sight of the importance of family first. 

 

Much respect to you for your decision and I look forward to watching the builds that do happen going forward.

 

Terry

[Procopius]

2 minutes ago, Terry1954 said:

With seven children

Jesus Christ, Terry!

 

2 hours ago, John Laidlaw said:

Totally understand, PC! It's not failure, though, simply a change and nothing to be ashamed of. Glad you're keeping the tools, and you'd better pop in for a visit on a regular basis, or else!

Of course. And once this virus situation is under control, I look forward to more Britmodeller summits with you and Dennis.