Zeppelin !

[Martian]

7 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

All the better to conduct the high voltages used during his weekly 'treatment' session.

Is that the session for treating his dicky bladder or, as Captain Slackbladder so scurrilously put it, his dicky brain? When asked for a statement by, Mr Harmical Bogstar, action news reporter for the Martian Chronicle (News and views across the Solar System), Lady Melchett declined to comment. 

 

Curious of Mars 👽

[Brandy]

Surely a senior officer's cap should have scrambled egg on it? Not sure whether that conducts electricity but at least it helps avoid Baldrick's snacks!

 

Ian

[Pete in Lincs]

2 hours ago, Brandy said:

Surely a senior officer's cap should have scrambled egg on it?

If the chaps take umbrage, it's likely to have scrambled egg in it at Breakfast.

 

BTW, slightly off topic, (is there one?) not sure if it's correct, but years ago I heard that the Israeli descriptive term translates as 'confused eggs'.

[Brandy]

20 minutes ago, Pete in Lincs said:

If the chaps take umbrage, it's likely to have scrambled egg in it at Breakfast.

 

BTW, slightly off topic, (is there one?) not sure if it's correct, but years ago I heard that the Israeli descriptive term translates as 'confused eggs'.

I seem to recall hearing the same when I spent time in Israel on a kibbutz back in the '80's but it was a long time ago and my memory may be suspect!

 

Ian

[Martian]

3 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

BTW, slightly off topic, (is there one?) not sure if it's correct, but years ago I heard that the Israeli descriptive term translates as 'confused eggs'.

I don't know about the truth behind that but it certainly describes our dear General at times!

 

Martian 👽

[Martian]

Just a quick update as to where things stand. I have made a start on the gondolas but have been incommunicado on a narrow boat for the last week. I was supposed to be helping crew the wretched thing but went down with the worst dose of fibromyalgia I have ever had on the first full day and spent most of the week in my bunk. Feeling a bit brighter now and hope to get some progress; or not, up over the weekend.  I have a plan for making the attachments for the gondolas look better than the kit etch parts, which look pathetically weak and too short. I had begun work on this before I went away but only got so far with it. Off to see how things look now.

 

Martian 👽

[Learstang]

Good heavens! Do I take it that there is actually some modelling to take place here?! Not to be allowed! Why I thought this 'thread', if I may call it thus, was simply for the amusement of us mere Earthlings, littered as it is with bon mots (and some rather mal mots), and a good helping of the General's humour, such as it is. If this turns into a real modelling thread, I'm afraid I'll shall have to take my custom elsewhere!

 

Best Regards,

 

Jason (maker of fine partially built models)

Edited January 23, 2022 by Learstang

[Martian]

Well it looks like I am going to have to disappoint @Learstang as my plan to sort out the gondola struts seems to be working. How I have gone about creating stronger struts is as follows:

 

First, I laminated sone plastic strip together until I had got it to the distance that I wanted the gondolas to sit beneath the hull and temporarily attached it to the hull with double sided sticky tape. I then attached the gondola to the plastic strip, also with double sided tape. I also added some Tamiya tape to be sure that things would not move about too much.

 

 

 

With the gondolas held in place, I cut some Albion Alloys' 0.45mm brass rod to about 1.5mm over the length that I needed and sharpened both ends with a diamond file. Then, starting with the foremost struts, I the applied Super Goo (Gel) to the end of the strut that I wanted to attach to the gondola and then slid the unglued end into the corresponding hole in the hull. The wire was then gently slid up to locate in the previously drilled hole in the gondola roof and the CA allowed to set. This procedure was repeated on the opposite side.

 

Once the first two struts were in place , I carried out the same process with the aftermost struts. when these are secure, the other struts can be fitted as described.

 

Once the CA has had time to properly cure, the gondola can be, carefully lifted clear of the hull and we can then carry on with detailing it. More on that later ,as in many respects the etch brass with the kit is either, too small/so small it is breaking on the fret even be for it has been handled (not good!), is lacking in detail or is just way too two dimensional to cut the mustard.

 

I may try using some 0.40mm or 0.35mm rod on the Q Class build. I need to be careful there though as I don't want to end up making the struts too fragile. I would far rather have them a bit over scale than have a model that breaks as soon as you breath on it, let alone try and take it anywhere.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Martian 👽

 

 

 

 

[Bertie McBoatface]

Clever devil. 

[JohnT]

Lovely and ingenious work there my Martian friend.  I was very relieved when you posted the last two photos though.  When I saw the first two I thought "Wait a minute.  The silly interstellar chappie has allowed Baldrick to hold the plans and instructions upside down again. The last time Baldrick did that he had The General making a full frontal assault on the French Riviera.   Or do Martians design Zeppelins with conning towers?"  I was dreadfully confused for a while and thought I'd need to go back onto the stronger medication again but after a proper reading of the entire post and photos all became clear.  Mind you clever chappies the German scientists.  Wouldn't put it past them to have gondolas on top to confuse our Ack Ack boys on the ground.  

[Bigdave22014]

Shocking pictures of the Martian "Narrowboat" have emerged.

 

[Pete in Lincs]

That's surely just an aquatic Dalek with a glandular problem?

In the meantime, Martian can strut his stuff.

[TheBaron]

I see you've  been strutting around the place in the next possible sense - a great peice of problem solving on those fittings Martian.

 

By the time you took the last photo it already appears to be heading off into The Matrix under its own power... 😁

[Martian]

14 hours ago, Bertie Psmith said:

Clever devil. 

Thanks Bertie, not really that clever. When the idea finally popped into the fevered Martian brain, I was kicking myself as to why I had not thought of it sooner. I spent days trying to think of a solution and the answer turned out to be so obvious. And there's me with a brain the size of a couple of planets! 

14 hours ago, JohnT said:

Lovely and ingenious work there my Martian friend.  I was very relieved when you posted the last two photos though.  When I saw the first two I thought "Wait a minute.  The silly interstellar chappie has allowed Baldrick to hold the plans and instructions upside down again. The last time Baldrick did that he had The General making a full frontal assault on the French Riviera.   Or do Martians design Zeppelins with conning towers?"  I was dreadfully confused for a while and thought I'd need to go back onto the stronger medication again but after a proper reading of the entire post and photos all became clear.  Mind you clever chappies the German scientists.  Wouldn't put it past them to have gondolas on top to confuse our Ack Ack boys on the ground.  

You wouldn't be related to @general melchettby any chance would you?

3 hours ago, TheBaron said:

I see you've  been strutting around the place in the next possible sense - a great peice of problem solving on those fittings Martian.

 

By the time you took the last photo it already appears to be heading off into The Matrix under its own power... 😁

Thanks Tony. I think I would prefer it if the models could see their way clear to staying still until they are finished before floating off into the sunset though.

6 hours ago, Bigdave22014 said:

Shocking pictures of the Martian "Narrowboat" have emerged.

 

Sometimes I wonder where you lot find the time to find pictures like these! Coming from a dry and frozen world, it would never even occur to me to put "floating Martian" into my search engine. Mind you, the last person who did got a bit muddled and accidentally put "Martian Floater" into his and got the shock of his life!

 

With my serious hat on for a moment, yes @Pete in Lincs, I do have one somewhere, for those who are, like me building the P and Q Class kit in tandem, make sure that you keep the detail parts separate from now on in. Many look very similar at first glance and there is every chance they could get mixed up. I am keeping mine in separate and clearly marked boxes. I am also working on one ship at a time, getting to where I want to be and then putting the parts in their relevant box before going on to the next model.

 

Serious bit over, I shall now proceed to lose my serious hat again.

 

Martian 👽

[Martian]

Good job I remembered where I put my serious hat this morning as there is more actual modelling to report on. @Learstang will be dobbing me in to the Mods at this rate on a charge of gratuitous plastic worrying on a public forum. (On with the bracelets, chink, chink, oh god I'm nicked: again!)

 

This afternoon, I spent an hour or so adding the struts to  the after gondola. Having finally worked out how to do them, they went into place in the time it took me to play a CD, plus about 45 minutes cutting and filing thee struts to shape and length. The Albion Alloys' Cutter was a godsend here in helping me churn out lengths of brass to exactly the  same length.

 

One thing I did  do was when the struts had set, I let a small amount of thin CA flow into any gaps in their locating holes for extra strength. I will most likely glue the gondolas to the hull with small drops of 5 minute epoxy cement so as to allow time for any adjustment. I have made the locating holes in the hull slightly over sized to allow a bit of wriggle room during this process.

 

Thanks for looking and back to the mayhem that I so rudely interrupted.

 

Martian 👽 

 

 

 

 

[Pete in Lincs]

All this talk of Gondola's and I fancied an ice cream.

 

 

Then I remembered this one

 

Cheers!

[Learstang]

Mmmmm, ice cream! Now there's a proper subject for a thread! Not all this modelling rubbish that His Martianship is committing now. Modelling indeed. If I want to read a proper thread about modelling, I'll read a Tony O'Toole WIP thread, thank you very much! And just where has the General gone to these days? We need his pearls of wisdom to inject the proper amount of silliness back into this thread and stop all this seriousness about struts, and attaching things to other things, and glueing.

 

Regards,

 

Jason (purveyor of mediocre models since time immemorial)

Edited January 23, 2022 by Learstang

[JohnT]

I always thought the one with a young Melanie Sykes was  a bit tasty too. Young Melanie that is. Never tried the beer

 

 

 

[general melchett]

Sorry to hear about your latest fibro attack old friend, hope you're suitably repaired.  

 

Quote

And there's me with a brain the size of a couple of planets! 

Must have made moving about the confines of a narrow-boat a tad awkward.....or did you take your own Black Hole with you, possibly stowed in a small dinghy tied to your stern?

 

 

Quote

The last time Baldrick did that he had The General making a full frontal assault on the French Riviera. 

By Thor's string vest, that takes me back....full frontal on the beaches of Saint Tropez with nowt but my shredded sporran, regimental gumboots and a rolled up copy of King and Country to prevent that pesky Mistral from blowing up my Antibes...

 

 

Quote

Mind you, the last person who did got a bit muddled and accidentally put "Martian Floater" into his and got the shock of his life!

Yes and I've had a word with Darling about his disgusting Googling habits.....I've had to put a privacy lock on him.

 

Lovely work on the gondola...now, about those windows....

[Brandy]

18 hours ago, JohnT said:

Never tried the beer

Nasty stuff, full of gas to make it "smooth". Stay well away, it is not counted as proper beer.

 

Ian

[Martian]

5 hours ago, general melchett said:

Sorry to hear about your latest fibro attack old friend, hope you're suitably repaired.  

 

Must have made moving about the confines of a narrow-boat a tad awkward.....or did you take your own Black Hole with you, possibly stowed in a small dinghy tied to your stern?

 

 

 

 A Martian's Black hole is his own private kingdom and I shall defend mine with @Learstang's life!

 

Slowly on the mend, maxed out on painkillers a couple of days last week so things could really only go in one direction.

3 hours ago, Brandy said:

Nasty stuff, full of gas to make it "smooth". Stay well away, it is not counted as proper beer.

 

Ian

There is enough gas in a pint of Boddingtons to fill an entire Zeppelin. In fact the Germans did try using it as a cheap alternative to hydrogen, until someone pointed out that CO2 is heavier than air and that might be the reason some of the Zepps were showing a marked reluctance to float.

 

It is a little known fact that exports of Boddingtons to Germany were actively encouraged during the Great War as part of the British war effort.

 

Martian 👽

[Space Ranger]

1 hour ago, Martian said:

 A Martian's Black hole is his own private kingdom and I shall defend mine with @Learstang's life!

 

Learstang need not worry. The right of Martians to defend their own black holes is guaranteed by the United Worlds of the Solar System in accordance with the Treaty of Gluteus Maximus and is enforced by the Space Rangers. They (the holes) are no-fly zones.

Edited January 24, 2022 by Space Ranger

[general melchett]

 

Quote

so things could really only go in one direction

That's what I was worried about. When you visit next, kindly leave your Black Hole at home, there will be no need of it as provision will be made for you within the East Wing of MT which will, of course, include a prescription of Bruichladdich Classic Laddie served with a splash of Oxycodone to cool your fevered tentacles served with Grimsby's finest Haddock and chips (Baldrick will supply the 'mushy peas         ).

[Pete in Lincs]

1 hour ago, Martian said:

It is a little known fact that exports of Boddingtons to Germany were actively encouraged during the Great War as part of the British war effort

It would have been quite a job to get the Horses and Draywagon across the trenches into no mans land. Must have been Hell for the Draymen.

Mind you, it still is. Tomorrow, with a 6:00am start I'm off to Chesterfield and Sheffield!

[Martian]

19 hours ago, general melchett said:

 

That's what I was worried about. When you visit next, kindly leave your Black Hole at home, there will be no need of it as provision will be made for you within the East Wing of MT which will, of course, include a prescription of Bruichladdich Classic Laddie served with a splash of Oxycodone to cool your fevered tentacles served with Grimsby's finest Haddock and chips (Baldrick will supply the 'mushy peas         ).

It was all going so very well. Right up to the point that you mentioned Baldrick's cooking! 🤮 Mind you, Lady M informs me that your i cooking is even worse! 🤮  🤮

Spoiler

 

19 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

It would have been quite a job to get the Horses and Draywagon across the trenches into no mans land. Must have been Hell for the Draymen.

Mind you, it still is. Tomorrow, with a 6:00am start I'm off to Chesterfield and Sheffield!

I believe the stuff went by standard merchant shipping. The Kaiser gave safe passage to this as he apparently liked the disgusting brew and felt that his subjects should share in its "delights". No wonder that the final score was England 1, Germany 0.

 

A lesser know historical fact connected with this "drink" is that, although it is well known that a certain Korporal A. Hitler was gassed during the conflict, the injury was sustained not, as commonly assumed, from Allied action but from him bending over too close to General Kurt von und zu Melchetthausen after a particularly heavy session on Boddingtons. 

 

Martian 👽