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

[Old Wombat]

People keep forgetting that once aircraft got past a certain weight & speed combination a carrier deck landing became little more than a controlled crash landing.

The spinal injuries weren't precisely common but there were more of them, due to the greater impact of the heavy, fast aircraft onto the deck.

Carrier aircraft landing gear wasn't/isn't just more robust than land-based landing gear, it also has a different compression profile to absorb the impact more gradually over a shorter period of time. Quite the scientific/engineering exercise, really.

[NARSES2]

Carrier aircraft landing gear wasn't/isn't just more robust than land-based landing gear, it also has a different compression profile to absorb the impact more gradually over a shorter period of time. Quite the scientific/engineering exercise, really.

Not having any engineering background at all can I pick your brain, or indeed anyone else who's reading this, and ask what would be the visual difference in 1/72 scale between a standard P-36's undercarriage and a navalised ones ? Indeed would there be any visible difference ?

I've dug one of my P-36 kits out and it looks as though it could be joining the USN just in time for Midway.

[kitbasher]

Why not check out the difference between Airacobra and Airabonita main undercarriage and extrapolate from ghat?

[NARSES2]

Why not check out the difference between Airacobra and Airabonita main undercarriage and extrapolate from ghat?

I've got built models of both as well 

[jcf]

You wouldn't see any visibly obvious differences
between a standard and a navalised Hawk 75  landing gear. The changes are mostly involved with the structure where the gear attach to the aircraft.
Fixed gear Hawk 75s used many of the same strut components as the retract versions and, yes, they were oleo-type shock-absorbing landing gear. 

[NARSES2]

Thanks Jon  I did have a look at a few aircraft that had been navalised and I couldn't see any obvious differences. So the conversion could well be on, but I'll want to show at least one wing folded so for me it will be quite a major job. It will go on the back burner until some things settle down a bit.

Meanwhile I got a little done on my Thunderbolt yesterday and this one is now ready to start getting her paint job. Also did a little more work on the PZL's canopy.

Now't done today as I got my first haircut in 5 months today (Lockdown  ) and it will probably take me a while to get over the anaesthetic 

[PR19_Kit]

Now't done today as I got my first haircut in 5 months today (Lockdown  ) and it will probably take me a while to get over the anaesthetic 

Did they use an Atco or a Flymo? 

[kitbasher]

Now't done today as I got my first haircut in 5 months today (Lockdown  ) and it will probably take me a while to get over the anaesthetic 

Did they use an Atco or a Flymo? 

And did you get three estimates first?

[zenrat]

Now't done today as I got my first haircut in 5 months today (Lockdown  ) and it will probably take me a while to get over the anaesthetic 

Did they use an Atco or a Flymo? 

And did you get three estimates first?

Should have got Brad C to do it.   

[NARSES2]

And did you get three estimates first?

Oddly I did check first mainly because I realised I had no cash in my wallet, haven't had to use it much lately so needed to get some out, and they hadn't put their price up which did surprise me a bit. Plus I got pensioners rate, there are some advantages 

No real progress today other than sorting the Thunderbolt's armament out.

[NARSES2]

Still really not feeling up to much modelling, hopefully I'll perk up over the weekend.

One thing that did cheer me up a little was an e-mail I received this morning telling me that recreational cricket was back on the cards from tomorrow  The guy who skippered/organised our Vets team last year in the friendlies we played was letting us know that whilst the Vet's league we had joined won't be up and running again until next year (hopefully) he is hoping to organise a couple of friendlies at least for whats left of this summer.

Just need to find my whites now 

[NARSES2]

A little progress on a couple of my in progress kits over the weekend. I started to get some paint on the P-47 and continued fairing the canopy in on the PZL. I am making progress with the later and looking at it this morning with some primer on it I may well be very near to completing the faring in, touching all the wood going when I say that  Once the canopy is sorted then I can proceed with the main paintwork as everything else is done, including the filling in of a few pin holes.

However I did make some progress on something perhaps more important. I decided to have a look at my "shelf of doom" and see exactly what was on there. To start with there was a part started Pavla Blackburn Roc. A kit which set out to be obnoxious from the beginning and succeeded. Well as I have the Special Hobby one in the stash, which surely can't be any worse, touch wood, it's been reduced to parts and those that might prove useful in the future have been filed.There were a couple of other Anigrand kits which I'd completely forgotten I'd started. They have been noted, and left on the shelf as I will come back to them at some point.

However the big leap forward was when I had a look at the couple of bi-planes on the shelf which were complete apart from having the top wings attached and rigging applied. So the step forward you ask ? I finally accepted that given my eye conditions I am not going to be able to do this as I just can't see the struts/wing joints properly and on top of that my hand/eye co-ordination and judgement of distance at short range  are scuppered. My judgement of distance problem means it takes me 3 or 4 efforts at feeling for surface at that range and when you are dealing with small surfaces and super glue that's a no-no. Now the Moorefield's specialist reckons that my brain will eventually learn to deal with part of the problem and surgery will be able to fix the other part, although that's a couple of years off yet. So they have not been binned, but put away in a clearly marked box just in case it can be sorted. Mind you by the time they can my brain will probably have gone and I'll have forgotten where I put the box 

So the big leap forward ? I think I finally accepted my new limitations and that I can't build as well as I used to be able to. Now I've known this for 18 months but I don't think I've truly accepted it no matter how much I've kidded myself. Anyway hopefully I won't get myself worked up when I can't do things in future and accept that I am building to the best of my current abilities. Hopefully this will improve both my completion, and more importantly, enjoyment rates.

The proof of the pudding as they say.........

[The Wooksta!]

If you haven't dumped the remains of the Roc's airframe, can I scrounge it?  The wings and tail surfaces may well make good a Frog one, which has noted skinny wings and tail.

[NARSES2]

If you haven't dumped the remains of the Roc's airframe, can I scrounge it?  The wings and tail surfaces may well make good a Frog one, which has noted skinny wings and tail.

Retrieved from the bin 

I'll bring them up next time I visit the tribe, should be sometime in Aug for a couple of days.

[The Wooksta!]

Cheers.  We need to have a pint or three.  Anything you're looking for by way of return?

BTW, Uncle Frank is only open Monday, Friday and Saturday.  Me, Willie and the gang are usually down on saturday morning.