Kitbasher's blog: City slicker turned beach bum

[kitbasher]

Good tips, chaps, thanks.  May go to the London Graphic Centre in Covent Garden during my lunch as well.

[kitbasher]

Ooops, forgot to look for paintbrushes today!  Not the end of the world though as slowly but surely I've regained momentum on three builds: PSR on what I laughingly hoped would be The Quick Build; patent sludge wash/dry brush a pair of bang seats and and make bang seat pull handles for said seats on another; resolving vacform canopy mismeasuring crisis on one more.  All good fun, shame none will be ready for Hendon.  Still, gives me time to get the brushes sorted out during the lead-in for painting.  Two of the three have their colour schemes sorted out, the third I'm wavering between two options - one might be a tad clichéd, the other not but may not work.  Both are real world schemes, however.

Meanwhile Chris Hadfield, the man who has made space travel interesting again, plus two astronaut colleagues is back safely on Earth.  The man has over 750k Twitter followers (I was approximately follower 244752-ish) and untold 'friends' on Facebook and has posted some short but insightful updates plus some magnificent photographs (plus the 'Space Oddity' video clip) - the true value of social media, not the 'celebrity' twaddle that predominates.  Worth Googling his name just to see.

And Wigan relegated.  Shame.  Roberto Martinez as Everton manager next season I'm sure.

[kitbasher]

To Pinewood last night for the recording of the 'Would I Lie To You' Christmas special.  Very funny; Rob Bryden, David Mitchell, Lee Mack (as usual) plus Stephen Mangan, Miranda Hart, Barry Cryer and Miles Jupp.  Revelations about David Mitchell, Dr Who, an airing cupboard and a cape - but were they true?  If that bit makes the cut all will be revealed at Christmas.

[kitbasher]

Finally got back to painting a couple of long-past-their-target-date-to-finish items, coming into the home stretch now.

Still admiring the new Airfix Tiffie and Gladiator.  My original plan was to convert the latter to a Sea Gladiator (saving my long-stashed Heller Gladiator for WW2 Gladiator status), and my recently robbed-for-a-whif Matchbox Gladiator will become a Gauntlet.  Change of plan - the Airfix Glad out of the box, and the Heller kit to Sea Gladiator.  Real world, all of them.  Do need to compare the Airfix and Heller kits as I go misty eyed over the Heller example; I fear the memory can play tricks and that the Heller kit my not be as good as I like to think it is compared to the new beasty.

Work has been demanding of late and haven't really felt up to much modelling once home as a result.  Hopefully that will change as I'm nurturing some lng-cherished whif ideas at the moment and wanrt to get these and some real world stuff on the go.  Maybe getting the nearly-dones actually finished will provide some impetus.

[kitbasher]

So, of the two 'almost dones', one is silver, the other blue.  Hard on their heels is my wannabe 'quick build' prop job which has sufferred a bit of 'mission creep', let's say.  Having toyed with a a number of real-world-based colour schemes this too will be silver.  After that I'll be working to finish the real world Battle and Val, plus a whif and a 'secret project' item.  Must do a couple of Spitfires too, I think.  Oh, and the Beaumaris.

Then it will be 2014.

More to follow.

[kitbasher]

Father's Day.  Persuaded by son and heir to go to Hendon, primarily to check out the Airfix display there.
Rather diasppointing to be frank.  Original box artworks on diplay in the gallery and just one display cabinet with Airfix artifacts in them.  Don't know why but was expecting much, much more in the way of Airfix history through its kits, boxings and moulds (there is a part mould for the Me 163 on display).

Airfix Make and Take Father's Day Special: £2 for an Airfix 1/72 Hurricane I (A02082, the 70s edition that was recently reissued with an Irish Air Corps decal option).  I persuaded the pretty girl running the Make and Take to let me Take and Make two of them!  Well, one's for my lad.

Maybe.

For now at least.

[kitbasher]

Finally!  Something finished.
Next item in the queue is built and partially painted but will have to wait until I get back from hols to be finished.  Hopefully won't take too long to wrap it up.
Off to Sweden on Wednesday, my bro-in law's getting remarried next weekend and after that SWMBO and I are off to Oslo for a couple of days before heading over to Bergen for 5 nights.  Being a good boy I've told her that there's a model shop (Smallsize/Hobbyland) a mere 600 metres from our Bergen hotel!  Checked out their website and the range of kits look good, but prices are unsurprisingly higher than in the UK so I don't think I'll be buying.

[kitbasher]

Sweden (Kungalv, near Gothenburg): heaving with rain.

[NARSES2]

Sweden (Kungalv, near Gothenburg): heaving with rain.

Now that's a simile (if that's the correct word - it's 46 years since I did "O" level English  ) I've not heard before. I have visions of some Nordic God having had too much the night before, wasn't that de-riguer back then ?, and having to use the bathroom in a hurry 

[kitbasher]

Popped into Lilla Edets: toilet paper manfacturing capital of western Sweden. Leading brand is called Kräpp.

Honest.

Raining again.

[kitbasher]

And so via a Swedish wedding, some more rain and  some sun (Swedes confused by large ball of fire in cloud-free sky - went into missionary mode to explain it was quite normal and nothing to be afraid of) on to Oslo.

[kitbasher]

And now Bergen beckons.......

[kitbasher]

So at 60^o North, Hobbyland AS in Bergen is the northernmost model shop I've ever been to:


Got me thinking about the rest.
BC Shavers in Victoria BC at 123^o West is the westernmost.  In 1999 I discovered a model shop in Kuwait City; at 29^o North and 48^o East that's both the easternmost and southernmost model shop I've been to.  Wish I could remember where it was in the city.

[kerick]

That was about the same time I was in Kuwait, missed it!

[kitbasher]

That was about the same time I was in Kuwait, missed it!

I just happened upon the shop when browsing around one of the modern souks/malls between Sheraton roundabout and the Sharq Centre off Arabian Gulf St. I can recall the shop itself but not its location.