Glad you had a good trip 

I've never been into Halloween. When I was a kid it was very much a "middle class" thing here in S E London, whilst us "working class" urchins celebrated revolution, blowing up Parliament and then burning the villain of the piece, after trying to kill each other with fireworks on 5th Nov. Much more fun 

Quote from: NARSES2 on November 02, 2024, 06:10:34 AMGlad you had a good trip 

I've never been into Halloween. When I was a kid it was very much a "middle class" thing here in S E London, whilst us "working class" urchins celebrated revolution, blowing up Parliament and then burning the villain of the piece, after trying to kill each other with fireworks on 5th Nov. Much more fun 

Question!  Are we rejoicing at the survival of King James and the discovery of a dastardly plot, or are we actually  celebrating a worthy attempt that nearly worked?   

 When I was but a lad, middle class Carlisle ignored Halloween but went a bundle on 5th November.  Setting fire to things and lots of explosions were much more fun than a dead pumpkin.

Quote from: Rheged on November 02, 2024, 12:46:10 PM

Quote from: NARSES2 on November 02, 2024, 06:10:34 AMGlad you had a good trip 

I've never been into Halloween. When I was a kid it was very much a "middle class" thing here in S E London, whilst us "working class" urchins celebrated revolution, blowing up Parliament and then burning the villain of the piece, after trying to kill each other with fireworks on 5th Nov. Much more fun 

Question!  Are we rejoicing at the survival of King James and the discovery of a dastardly plot, or are we actually  celebrating a worthy attempt that nearly worked? 

 When I was but a lad, middle class Carlisle ignored Halloween but went a bundle on 5th November.  Setting fire to things and lots of explosions were much more fun than a dead pumpkin.

No revolutions in old Scandinavia, I'm afraid. We do celebrate an old king that got himself killed in a foggy field in Germany on November 6^th, but we only do it by eating some ridiculous cookies. Fireworks and bangers would admittedly have been more fun, but then again, fireworks and fog don't really go that well together, do they?

Quote from: Rheged on November 02, 2024, 12:46:10 PMQuestion!  Are we rejoicing at the survival of King James and the discovery of a dastardly plot, or are we actually  celebrating a worthy attempt that nearly worked? 

That's certainly a question I've asked myself more and more over the last few years 

Quote from: Pellson on November 02, 2024, 03:11:53 PMNo revolutions in old Scandinavia, I'm afraid. We do celebrate an old king that got himself killed in a foggy field in Germany on November 6^th,

So Gustavus Adolphus at Lutzen. I thought the battle was mid November ? And yes I am a bit of a nerd when it comes to 17th/18th Century European wars 

Quote from: NARSES2 on November 03, 2024, 01:40:28 AM

Quote from: Pellson on November 02, 2024, 03:11:53 PMNo revolutions in old Scandinavia, I'm afraid. We do celebrate an old king that got himself killed in a foggy field in Germany on November 6^th,

So Gustavus Adolphus at Lutzen. I thought the battle was mid November ? And yes I am a bit of a nerd when it comes to 17th/18th Century European wars 

Indeed. It was a remarkable battle where the Swedish "can do"-spirit threw the on paper superior imperial troops off the field, but, as said, at a cost. But it was a close call, and there has been a lot written about it, and even a board game made, where two opponents can replay the events and see if one can rewrite history. 😌

In my view, however, it is the Swedish aftermath that really is interesting. Learning of the kings death, a council under the kings friend and teacher Axel Oxenstierna assumed power in anticipation of the juvenile crown princess reaching mature age. Oxenstierna not only led Sweden out of the 30-year war, but also thoroughly reformed the entire apparatus of the state, no longer accepting positions within the administration due to social status, but rather enforcing adherence to requirements of competence and dedication as well as a certain independence from outer pressures. This shaped an administrative tradition that only recently seem to have begun to wither away as personal political gain and criminal gang influence is gaining foothold in an increasingly corrupt state apparatus. It is heartbreaking to witness. 

It was probably equally heartbreaking for Mr Oxenstierna to witness the abdication and emigration of the crown princess, turned queen Christina, eloping to Rome of all places, and converting to Catholicism whereas her father had fallen leading the Protestant forces against a catholic league about 20 years earlier.
That said, the memory of the young queen, fiercely defending her own interests and rights has inspired women to this day, and is, possibly together with the even older French memory of Joan of Arc, a rather unique example of where society has gained long term impact from individuals breaking the gender norms.


Stormy weather here today, but nevertheless some outside chores to be taken care of. Well, well. I might get a little time later this evening to have a look at my Lightning. I have discovered that the ailerons actually were slightly clipped at the tip, forming a square angle at the very end. Not so much the Airfix model, though, so some careful filing would most likely be a good idea.

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Quote from: NARSES2 on November 03, 2024, 01:37:05 AM

Quote from: Rheged on November 02, 2024, 12:46:10 PMQuestion!  Are we rejoicing at the survival of King James and the discovery of a dastardly plot, or are we actually  celebrating a worthy attempt that nearly worked? 

That's certainly a question I've asked myself more and more over the last few years 

IMO, it was the right idea for the wrong reason.

Thank you for that piece of Swedish History    I had no knowledge of any of it as post the 30 Years War my brain jumped to The Great Northern War, which shall we say gets slightly complicated 

A quick touchdown at home tonight between travels. It's been a couple of good days at the major Swedish grid conference but it's good to go to sleep in my own bed. Tomorrow's another six hours plus in the car again, however, and Saturday is threatening to be another day on the road, unfortunately. But next week is looking distinctly better, at least from a distance.

Having seen quite a few shots from Telford, I'm as usual not so little jealous. There's one (1) show in my reasonable vicinity (2 hours drive away), and usually, I'm unavailable due to family logistics. Ah, well. One day..

Better off tucking in now, as there's another abominably early morning tomorrow.

First snow yesterday morning, and today, -9,8 C. I'm not entirely pleased as I'm more of a cold bugger than a cool one. However, it's the way of the nature, I suppose.

Still more work than leisure time, I'm afraid, but I feel I've landed the plan for the Airfix Lightning, and that's at least something. Such things tend to stall my processes a bit, but now I have confirmed the final hardware changes as well as intended colours. Still, however, there are a few other projects still lingering. The three Lansens, f.i, that, however complete from a construction and decoration perspective, still are lacking loadout. The same goes for the two Tunnans and the recon Draken, and also two of the Danish projects, the Hun and the Hunter. Someone seeing a pattern? Me too, I'm afraid..

Also the early Draken project is still on the table, and that's actually at a marginally earlier stage compared to the Lightning despite the latter being started after the former. While the operator is decided (yes it is and will stay Swedish), neither the loadout/armament nor the paint scheme is decided. And that can take time to land, experience shows. But then again - making these final decisions is an integral part of my way of doing this hobby, as it often carries with it those studies and investigations that gives you more understanding of why and how things were done for real, back when I was just a kid. And that is quite cool, actually.



The above J35B, showed on an arctic war base in the early experimental camouflage (again), is not how I'll paint mine, even if the airframe as such is about in the same generation as mine. But it's a cool picture, it does match the weather outside somewhat, and I like to decorate my threads a bit when i can. 
In lieu with the research I was writing about above, this Draken shot has a few details that are interesting.
The font of the numbers is the old, 1944 vintage font, and this is just before that was changed to the current font, starting to appear in 1962. Also, the tac no on the fin indicates that the F13 wing at this time had at least 84 individual airframes on it's rooster. All of them weren't fighters, there were a number of hacks and prop trainers as well, but sources give that at least 70 fighters were allocated to F13 during a transition period when the new SAAB interceptor was TACEVAL'ed at the 131 sqn while the 132 and 133 sqns were busy converting from the J29F Tunnan.
Also, this individual has the twin Y pylon on the centerline, with rails for two Rb24's (AIM-9B) but also rails for nine unguided rockets under each outer wing, giving a reasonable multirole capability despite the very short endurance of about 40 minutes without any external fuel. While that was to get somewhat improved in later versions, (i.e from the J35D onwards), increasing weights somewhat counteracted this and a standard practice mission would stay around 45-60 minutes all the way until the more longlegged JA37 was introduced in the early eighties. However, to give context, the standard intercept mission against a MACH1,5 attacker was foreseen to last for ca 35-45 minutes, meaning that each fighter was planned for 6 to 10 missions per day in wartime, given the 10 minutes turnaround sequence.
One could argue that this wouldn't leave much time for larger maintenance, but then again - the calculations was for 50 to 80% attrition during the first week only, after which foreign (NATO) assistance would have arrived on stage. A grim perspective, but it was the same for the navy as well as for the rangers/commandos employed to bear the initial brunt of an invasion attempt. This was how we viewed the Cold War going hot back in the day, and this was the perspective my dad, an officer in the navy reserve, trained for every year during my childhood.

Interesting times, and busy ones too.

Well, well. Speaking of busy. Back into the mine again. Still a few hours to go before we can call this weekend.

Fridays can be the longest day of the week... hang in there, the weekend is almost upon you.

I always find it interesting just how much one can glean from a photo... one reason I guess, why the military spend so much time 'sanitizing' them... or simply not allowing them in the first place.
And you always find something more on another viewing, which is why I take notes (well, that and my sieve-like memory...).