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

[NARSES2]

Is that Free Travel Pass just a 'London Thing'?

As far as I'm aware, yes Kit. Introduced by Ken Livingstone whilst Mayor and then improved somewhat by Boris when he was Mayor. Within the Greater London area us over 60's get free travel on everything bar National Rail at all times and on National Rail services post 9-30 Monday to Friday and all day at the weekends and bank holidays 

Across the country what you get can be quite varied. In the Tyne and Wear area for instance you can add a years travel on their Metro system to your bus pass for £20 (I think) if you are local and £30 if you are not. So I have that on my card as well and get it back within a few days of visiting my family 

Meanwhile back on the bench the Whitley has completely unexpectedly decided it wanted to be on finals ! One minute you've loads to do and seemingly the next you are looking at transparencies and transfers. So I've obviously made more progress then I thought.

[NARSES2]

Turned my attention back to the CR. 32 and made a start with it's transfers.

The transfers in AZ kits are their one weakness in my view. They come off the backing sheet as soon as look at the water, which isn't a problem as long as you are ready for it and colour density, especially on a scheme such as this 32's, can be an issue. The thing you have to be careful of is that they can be a tad fragile, which again is not a problem as long as you remember to coat the transfer sheet in Klear or something similar before soaking. Guess who forgot this time  The one thing I would recommend is that any long tansfers, the unit ID/aircraft number of this model for instance, are cut into shorter lengths. Otherwise given how thin they are they will try to fold.

[NARSES2]

Progress ?

The Whitley can now see the finish line, but to be honest I've not done this any kit justice at all. Nothing wrong with the kit, indeed it's quality is as good as any of Airfix's latest tools, I've just screwed it in various places  I'm afraid once finished it will have a couple of photos taken and then be put away in a box and stuck on a shelf not to be taken out again  . *

The Kingfisher on the other hand is coming along nicely  *

The CR 32 has had it's transfers and I now come to the bit I've been dreading : fitting the top wing. I've dry fitted it and I know how I'm going to go about it, but, and it's a big but, I think given my current hand/eye co-ordination problems its going to be a struggle. I'll just have to start it on a day when I'm feeling good and my confidence is fairly strong and then take my time and do it strut by strut. So you may not here to much about this kit for a while, but she will be finished. However I think this will be my last 1/72 scale bi-plane model. They are just to tiny for me now. I've an Eduard 1/48 Fokker D VII in the stash so I'll see how I get on with that. Don't want to give them up completely.

* I don't know if it's had any effect on the builds, but I never really had a plan for the Whitley, made it up on the hoof. Whereas with the Kingfisher I knew what I was going to do with it before I opened the box. And I'm the type of person who likes a plan. Once I have one I can amend it, change it and respond to any enforced changes, but I do like one to start with.

[NARSES2]

Progress.

The Whitley has had it's matt coat, now just need to fit the clear parts and do the framing.

The CR 32 has had her top wing attached to the cabane struts. In the end I used 5 minute epoxy for this as it gave me a little "wriggle" time. Now need to work on the Warren struts, but first I need to make a small work top which will raise the model to my eye level, otherwise it won't be possible for various reasons  . I've bought some cheap "box shelves" (a set of 3) of which the largest raises the kit to almost exactly the right height. Need to cut a bit of thick chipboard into say a 12" square and then bolt that to the top of the shelf and hopefully job done  Wonder what I'll do with the 2 smaller shelves ? 

The Kingfisher is progressing although the fit of the cowling to the fuselage was a tad tight, down to me I think. Mind you the soft plastic Sword use came in useful here. Normally I avoid using Contacta with Sword kits as the stuff seriously melts their plastic, but with this that property meant I could apply the Contacta, wait 30 seconds or so and then "screw" the cowling into place. The melted plastic then meant no filler required. All fitted and cleaned up now 

Finally I started on the Tamiya Skyray. What more can I say other than it's Tamiya  . I sat down to do 30 minutes or so and hour and a half latter I had the bulk of the main parts assembled. It's a genuine click into place and apply glue kit 

Starting on the Skyray got me musing on the subject of white. Now USN WWII Insignia White was not really a pure white, or so I believe, but an off white. So was the underside of USN aircraft in the 50/60's a pure white or something like an Insignia White ? All academic anyway as it will be getting done with Halford's Appliance White spray, but it would be nice to know.

[NARSES2]

No real progress other than fit the canopies to the Kingfisher. I wanted to do this before I fitted the wings (which will require very little work) as I wasn't that sure about the rear canopies fit as I wasn't certain I'd got the rear shelf in the correct position. Anyway although I'd got the shelf a little out (note made for my next one) the canopy just took a little fetling to bed it in  If I'd got the shelf right it would have been a drop in. I've also sorted out the markings  and colour scheme and a plausible ship to base her on.

I don't tend to make much progress over the weekend during the football season and now it looks as though that may extend to the summer as well. My mate who talked me in to playing a couple of games of cricket last year is now in the process of forming a veterans league team and apparently I'm marked down as his off-spinner and No 11  So bang goes my summer Sundays 

[TheChronicOne]

ANY opportunity to exercise under the guise of doing other things should be taken advantage of. You get to have fun and at the same time "be healthy." 

If I were asked to go to a gym and exercise I'd scoff.. if someone asked if I would like to participate in a good ball game I'd be more likely to participate. Physical fitness can be fun.. if more people viewed it this way, we might not have as many health problems in the populace. 

I had to stop and say something because I have been thinking about this a lot lately.... 

[zenrat]

...My mate who talked me in to playing a couple of games of cricket last year is now in the process of forming a veterans league team and apparently I'm marked down as his off-spinner...

Send me your address, i'll put some special aussie sandpaper in the post.

[PR19_Kit]

ANY opportunity to exercise under the guise of doing other things should be taken advantage of. You get to have fun and at the same time "be healthy." 

Does climbing up and down ladders into lofts carrying lots of model boxes count? 

[Rheged]

ANY opportunity to exercise under the guise of doing other things should be taken advantage of. You get to have fun and at the same time "be healthy." 

Does climbing up and down ladders into lofts carrying lots of model boxes count? 

Yup!  As does carrying logs in for the stove, repainting a skirting board (all that bending and stretching) and pushing a temporarily wheelchair using neighbour into the village to do his shopping (but our brief visit to the Old Salutation does not, I suspect, count)

[NARSES2]

...My mate who talked me in to playing a couple of games of cricket last year is now in the process of forming a veterans league team and apparently I'm marked down as his off-spinner...

Send me your address, i'll put some special aussie sandpaper in the post.

Ah cheers mate. I tried to get some when I was in Sydney, but when I asked the way to the shop everybody denied it's existence  (note this was a previous Aussie ball tampering scandal, not the most recent one. At least our skipper was only caught with dirt in his pocket  )

If I were asked to go to a gym and exercise I'd scoff.. if someone asked if I would like to participate in a good ball game I'd be more likely to participate. Physical fitness can be fun.. if more people viewed it this way, we might not have as many health problems in the populace. 

You've not played cricket have you ? More than once I've been fielding in the deep with a pint in my hand 

No seriously I know what you mean. Cricket, especially in a veterans league is the ideal sport for us older folks. I've always been a team player rather than an individual sport person. Other than my half mile days at school, but even then you were part of the school team.

[scooter]

You've not played cricket have you ? More than once I've been fielding in the deep with a pint in my hand 

Sounds like most adult-aged pickup games here.

[Rheged]

You've not played cricket have you ? More than once I've been fielding in the deep with a pint in my hand 

Yup, been there, done that.......and had a dilemma when a batsman really sky-ed  one.  Did I drop the pint or miss the catch?     So I put down my glass, caught the ball and kicked my glass over as I stepped back!!

[NARSES2]

You've not played cricket have you ? More than once I've been fielding in the deep with a pint in my hand 

Yup, been there, done that.......and had a dilemma when a batsman really sky-ed  one.  Did I drop the pint or miss the catch?     So I put down my glass, caught the ball and kicked my glass over as I stepped back!!

Been there and not quite done that  On one occasion I handed my pint to a 7 or 8 year old who was watching with his mum to hold while I caught the ball.  He was quite chuffed, she wasn't 

[Rheged]

I'm assuming that you have read The Art of Coarse Cricket: A Study of Its Principles Traditions and Practice by Spike Hughes.  It describes clearly how to overcome this and similar dilemmas.

[NARSES2]

I haven't but it sounds like perfect reading for my next train journey "oop North"