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

[Rheged]

Nope, they leave the patient behind the dustbins, or in the shed, or with old Mrs Trellis next door.

[scooter]

Meanwhile on a completely non modelling note. Whilst coming home from the pub and curry last night the bus was stuck in a rather narrow road by a double parked non-emergency ambulance.

We call 'em invalid mobility assistance vans here (depending on state).  Most of the time they handle limited mobility patients, but rarely on hospital/A&E discharges.  Those get sent home by licensed emergency ambulance, and we call it "basic limo service".  There used to be a category of "transport ambulance", but any that were grandfathered in have long since been retired.

Mind you, there have been times where I've been on a discharge, the patient started tanking, and we had to divert to the nearest ER.

[Nick]

Nope, they leave the patient behind the dustbins, or in the shed, or with old Mrs Trellis next door.

Careful with her or she'll start a letter writing campaign...

[NARSES2]

I was beginning to think there was a conspiracy afoot.

Firstly they cancel all the trains from London Kings Cross to Peterborough on the weekend of the Peterborough Show and any alternatives meant travelling via Cambridge or "somewhere in Beds" and the dreaded "Rail Replacement Bus Service". Both options were being rather optimistic in suggesting a 2 1/2 hour journey there and back. Add that to the 90 mins from my place to KX on a Sunday......and 

Now checking my Southern Expo timings I discover that all the various options overground/underground require some "interesting" indirect options or the dreaded "Rail Replacement Bus Service"  I'll still be going, just have to take some sandwiches and a good book 

So we a certain amount of dread I checked my timings for the MK Show, 10th May, and currently they are o.k. I say currently because given the current "situation" who knows what will happen, but that as they say is out of everyone's hands. Or maybe it isn't, as long as we wash them for 20 seconds or more 

[Old Wombat]

Chris on the 10th of May, 2020:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCdRFMp8Xwo

[NARSES2]

Chris on the 10th of May, 2020:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCdRFMp8Xwo

I hope to be slightly better dressed than that 

Still no progress, other things keep intervening  I really must make some progress next week

[NARSES2]

Had a rummage in the box marked "Transfers - National Markings" this morning to see if there were any I need to look out for at Southern Expo, and there are, but whilst in there I looked in the "odds and sods" folder and discovered I have national markings for all the Baltic States between the wars. So the Baltic PZL 7 is on 

[NARSES2]

I really must make some progress next week

Managed to do some tinkering this morning. A little painting and masking and got the national markings on the Kingfisher.

The latter were a tad awkward because of a) the size of the markings and b) the size of the Kingfisher. However as she is going to be an "unofficial" aircraft I can explain that 

I'm starting to realise that I do need to change the way I build, probably two on the go at the same time, rather than three. Rearranging my modelling area so that my magnifying light can be used appropriately rather than the haphazard way it's used at the moment and accepting the limitations that my eye condition and other problems impose. The later is the important one I think and I'm getting there.....touch wood 

[TheChronicOne]

Brilliant!!  Shake things up a bit and adapt. Some people never try to do these things and they "lose the mojo." My problem is being afraid of changing things sometimes but it seems like when I do, I am always happier with the "new setup." I was thinking just last night about my desk here and how much better my work space has been after the simple addition of a lamp to provide lots of light where I work. I was thinking, "Man, I could never survive without this now, how did I get along without it?!"

[NARSES2]

Finished the transfers on the Kingfisher and don't you just love the joy of individual letters and numbers 

Still it's done now and I can look forward to fitting the floats.

[NARSES2]

Whilst working on the Kingfisher yesterday (actually I was flying her around the room  ) I got wondering about a light dive bomber version ? Spatted undercarriage and larger engine, sold to some smaller nations in the late 30's ?

I have the spatted undercarriage as well 

[zenrat]

Kingfisher with spats?
Here you go.
PDRV Vought Kookaburra 014 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

[NARSES2]

Impressive 

I've also found/dug out a 3 bladed prop of a suitable size and some Nationalist Chinese markings  This could be a goer.

[NARSES2]

Been working on the Kingfisher's canopy framing and initially the plan was to behave like an adult and mask it properly. That plan didn't even get out of the box and I've gone back to my tried and trusted method. It's almost done now so I'm almost at the stage of fitting the floats. AZ provide pins and sockets for these and on test fitting they all seem to line up, so, hopefully this should be fairly painless.

[NARSES2]

so I'm almost at the stage of fitting the floats. AZ provide pins and sockets for these and on test fitting they all seem to line up, so, hopefully this should be fairly painless.

Main float fitted without any dramas. Indeed it fitted very well.

Also made some progress with the Skyray, although the idiot in the paint shop managed to screw the top colour up.  I could have sworn it was DARK Gull Grey rather than light. Still the back preamble will explain that away.

On the subject of the paintwork this was the first time I've used Hataka's Blue Line on a largish surface area and I'm impressed. Now I know I've sung their praises before, but the blue line is specifically formulated for brushing, and two coats on an unprepared surface was all it needed. No thinning needed either, plus the brushes cleaned quickly and easily.

If you brush paint and are looking at getting some new paints then I'd recommend you take a look at their range. I'll certainly be getting a few more of their sets at Telford.