Narses2's Blog - or what I'm slowly making progress on

[Rheged]

Bizzarely my and Mrs_PR19's bus passes work going TOWARD Chepstow on the bus, but we can't back using them as they don't apply in Wales..... 

So we buy tickets to Sedbury, the first stop in England across the Wye, and then wave our passes at the driver with smug grins on our faces.

Odd!  I can use mine to go to Llandrindod Wells from Hereford, or the reverse, but I can't use it in Wales alone. Might be worth a brief chat with your pass provider!

[PR19_Kit]

Bizzarely my and Mrs_PR19's bus passes work going TOWARD Chepstow on the bus, but we can't back using them as they don't apply in Wales..... 

So we buy tickets to Sedbury, the first stop in England across the Wye, and then wave our passes at the driver with smug grins on our faces.

Odd!  I can use mine to go to Llandrindod Wells from Hereford, or the reverse, but I can't use it in Wales alone. Might be worth a brief chat with your pass provider!

That's REALLY good to know, thanks so much. 

I'll have words in the right places...........

[NARSES2]

I've used my travel pass in Wales before now.

The one thing I have noticed is that when I go to use it for the first time in a specific local travel authority I have to hold the pass onto the reader for a time to give the reader time to work it out. After that first time then it's just a gentle tap as normal even if it's a year latter.

[PR19_Kit]

I've had words in the right places, and they told me that Stagecoach are '......acting outside their authority in such matters and your bus pass is applicable all over the UK...'! 

So now I'm thinking of calling Stagecoach and suggesting that they repay me all the Chepstow to Sedbury fares we've paid them over the years!

[NARSES2]

MB 5 has it's tail feathers so looks like an airplane now. Hopefully Huddersfield will help my mojo recover.

[NARSES2]

Well my mojo seems to have recovered a tad and I'm making some progress on various projects.

Also been trawling the stash for my next couple of builds and one I've settled on is a Val which will complete my real world Japanese Pearl Harbour trio. Probably do a USAAC P-40 to go with them as well.

[NARSES2]

The Val and P.40 have been extracted from the stash 

Spent a few minutes musing on going to the East of England Show next week (sounds more like a farmers show for some reason ?), but looking it up on the map it's 2/3 miles from the station so probably give it a miss, especially given public transport on a Sunday. Shame as I used to enjoy it when it was on a Saturday and in the Town Hall. I understand why they moved venue and day, but it just makes another show that's just out of reach for me.

[zenrat]

When I read "Val" i'm thinking Valiant (the Australian car make Valiant is abbreviated as Val) and that does't quite mesh with the Japanese Pearl Harbour theme...

...although...

[Radish]

I pulled a Val from a sale I did at last month's club meeting. I'd started it, so I thought, "might as well finish it." It's the ancient Airfix kit....yes, my brother made it when it was released, and it's "basic."
But seeing it, I thought with minor mods and a new scheme, it'll become an RAF Westland Wellard, known amidst the RAF as the "W**ker.

[Librarian]

Bit of inspiration from Robert Taylor





One of his better pictures I've always thought.

[TheChronicOne]

Nice!

I've been thinking about my AVG P-40 ever since first mention by Chris in here. I was looking at a bunch of nice color pictures the other day of them, in fact; RT Smith stuff or something and man... what great photos. I bookmarked 'em.

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/featured/flying-tigers-amazing-color_pictures.html

Probably nothing new, but there ya go..

[NARSES2]

Well the Modelzone franchise in WH Smiths experiment seems to be over.

Popped into the Croydon branch to get some Humbrol yellow spray paint and it wasn't there anymore. The posters are still on the doors of the store but other than a couple of Hornby items and a few Revell paints that was it. The rest of the space it used to occupy was stationary/filing type items.

Not suprised as they'd been running the stock down for ages but it was useful for Humbrol paints.

[NARSES2]

Gradually getting back into the swing of things. I seem to be slowly accepting the effect my eye condition is having on my modelling abilities, although I can still get frustrated at times. I've discovered that for close work it's best to close the dodgy eye although this does give depth of field problems. Is the paint brush near the surface to be painted or not ? 

One of the major problems is judging when something is centralised or not. I look at something from close up and position or cut it and then when I look at it from a greater distance it is a fair way off centre.  Struggling with this and seems to be the thing my brain is taking the longest to adapt to ? Next time I'm at Morefields (the eye hospital) I shall enquire.

[NARSES2]

A little more progress last night and had a problem with masking the 109's canopy. Now I don't normally have a problem masking, I'm not good at it, but I don't have a problem getting what is an acceptable for me. It was the curved frames on the Erla style canopy that were causing a problem. I tried Tamiya tape, Tamiya bendy tape and even Bare Metal Foil and just couldn't get it. So in the end I did all the framing by hand using a sharpened toothpick and managed to get both the interior and exterior colours done and dusted quite reasonably. After cleaning up with another sharpened cocktail stick and water I'm quite pleased with them.

Given the eye problems mentioned earlier I was pleasantly surprised, although it was done with the dodgy eye closed and from very close range. Managed to keep my hands steady as well, perhaps it was the day I should have visited the betting shop ? 

Sufficient progress has been made that I now need to think about my next subject/subjects. Probably something mainstream and relatively simple I think.

[TheChronicOne]

I guess I'm not the only one that has on days and off days when it comes to painting smaller detail!  Good to hear it turned out well.