Strewth I can’t believe I’m 37. Thirty-Seven. It’s not 35, which is the edge of being young, or 36, which is just gone, no, 37 means you’re, no fail, on your way to being 40. Crikey! Rather frightening really. Makes one sit back, and muse a bit. At least before I’m 40 we should have a Conservative government in power in the UK, but I’d rather, if one could chose, give up that for a peace deal in the middle-east. However, both would be nice! I do wonder if we’ll see McCain win, or will it be Obama. I reckon it’s too close to call.
So, to modelling (as I assume you’re here for the modelling). Well, ‘The Bitch’ is no more. Yes, she finally tried my patience once too many times. Having assembled the fuselage, I found that the Revell 1/48 F-14D just will not fit. The final straw was the forward fuselage, which, fitted like a crack dealer at Lords doesn’t (to ape Douglas Adams).
The counterpart to The Bitch is The Dog, another Revell 1/48, this time the B-25J Mitchell, in Red Bull configuration. The interior, in ’stone grey’, from Revell’s own range, was lovely, if the fitting were a tad flat. Trying to enough weight in was a problem, but by losing the front wheelwell (which can’t be seen anyway), and the tunnel (not a huge loss), just about managed it. Also, some more weight dotted around, but it seems to be OK. Fuselage fit is a bit indifferent. However, by using Tippex, Zap-A-Gap, and Mr. Surfacer 500, finally achieved a smooth top fuselage. Now have masses to complete elsewhere! Seat sides are silver, Humbrol no.11, the seats themselves are blue, from Testors, straps are black, with the cockpit in Humbrol, no. 144 I think, but need to check.
Not a bad kit, but raised panel lines, and some indifferent fit. Still, easy to build, and cheap too.
I’ve also been working on the Tamiya scout car. Not a bad kit, although the floor seems a bit dodgy. Still, it is an early kit. Fit is fine, but then, it is Tamiya! Interior is white, with smeared ‘wood brown’ from Humbrol, and smeared black. Dry brushed some of the brown along the bottom corners, where the walls meet the floor, looks good! Exterior is being brushed some Molak black-green. Looks good, and, being a land vehicle, can be heavily weathered.
The Tamiya Bell X-1 was a lovely kit to build. Quick, easy, satisfying. Perfect! Needs now to be sprayed orange, and then, well, that’s about it. Just need to paint the canopy first, then mask off. As for when I’ll do that… Slight problem in that the instructions were for the Eduard 1/48 Bell X-1, but seemed to have worked it all out! Interior was Gunze Sangyo interior green, with details in Humbrol black.
The Tamiya Mustang continues at a glacial pace. Slow doesn’t mean good! I re-painted the instrument panel, as the original job was far too shiny. Humbrol 33 can, unless well mixed, come up shiny. Now mostly OK, with some shiny black (Humbrol 21) for the instrument faces. Using matt and gloss for instrument faces works really well, so, pleased about that.
Speaking of instruments, I dropped some Humbrol 21 onto the clocks of the little Scout car, worked a treat! Will also use it for other instrument panels in the future. Another thing that worked well was the dry brushing of the radio boxes for the Mustang. I use a light grey for this, made them look nicely worn in, but not too worn. Fantastic!
Other bits worked on include: the DFS aircraft, which had a drop more canopy masking; the submarine, which was brush painted with a mixture of Humbrol no.10, Humbrol no.01, and an Airfix which was similar to no.01 (to finish the tin); and the 1/32 Sea Venom, which had bits of the cockpit painted, and the seats re-done, yet again!
One thing I find is that Humbrol no.85, coal black, is not a mid-gloss, between 21 and 33, it is, in fact, a shiny black, more like 21. This is rather annoying, as I have masses of 21, and really need something between 21 and 33. Revell do some nice mid-way black, so I’ll use those. As for modern Humbrol no.33, well, it must must be well stirred, else the colour is far too shiny.
A few new kits around too. Swapped some for a Trumpeter 1/24 Mustang. I will build this in Israeli colours, maybe as Judy/Tink, the first Mustang, or as a later blue/brown from 1956. Either way, should be fun. Also bought the new AFV Club Sh’ot 1973, which is similar to my old tank. For my for birthday, my mother bought me the new AFC Club Sh’ot 1967, which was more like the Centurion base tank. Both of those are 1/35, but I also bought the new 1/48 AFC Club Tiger. The price, just 12 Pounds was the same as the Trumpeter, but far less than the Tamiya, even though it’s a fine product, or so it seems. Time will tell, but AFV Club have a good reputation.
Meant to start the Sh’ot for my birthday, but not quite there yet. Other than that, a few kits here and there, but the interesting one is the Academy F-89J Scorpion, from Hannant’s London second hand section. A mad looking aircraft, so, should be interesting to build!
Finally, I also commenced work on the Tamiya 1/72 Nanzan. Very simple build, but what’s RLM Grey? Decided to use RLM02 for it, from the Color of Eagles range. This range was actually produced by Vellejo for an American company, but not any longer. The theory is that the paints are ready mixed for spraying. Personally, I found them a tad too thick, but not too much so, and so sprayed direct. Not a bad result. Needs a second coat, and also to balance out a slight colour imbalance, where some items were darker than others.
Oh, and really finally, did a tiny bit of work on a 1/48 Airfix Mosquito, but just some painting of the interior (Humbrol 78) and some black for detail work.
OK, that’s it for now, for modelling.
Otherwise, well, been using some dowsing rods, with some interesting results. Been chatting with this lovely girl I met online, from a dating website, and, hmmm, excited to see what happens there. My contract is up for renewal at work, as it’s supposed to finish Monday 30th. They asked me to stay on a fortnight, but, no, I need a break, so, decided to say sayonara on Friday 27th. Then, have a break in July, whilst hunting an appropriate new contract. September’s a good month for new contracts, as is May. June is less so, and July worse. This means I could be up a gum tree, but I hope not! Today, had my first Gaapweb email which had no new jobs in it. Has the market dried up that much? I hope not! Still, I just need the one right job, not 30 jobs!
Car’s still running, running well actually, but decided not to replace until get a good new contract. Likewise computer, which needs replacing, but can do for now, until I get a contract. Actually, I have a virus, or had a virus, rather, but it’s damaged my Explorer. As I need to partially clean my machine, I’ll wait until my break, as it could take a few hours. Hopefully all will be OK.
Ideal? A nice contract, to start end of July. Perfect! Then I can have a break, and start refreshed. Still, let’s see what life brings. Need a break though, and need to spend time walking, getting fit, losing weight, and, of course, writing my blog! Modelling just goes without saying.
Anyway, enough for now. TTFN!
