Spey_Phantom's corner of solitude

[TheChronicOne]

Congrats on 6k!   I'm an old school message board vet and back in the day post milestones were celebrated in some communities. 


Glad the Hog is nearly done.... 

[Spey_Phantom]

Blog Entry #290

it hasnt been a really good week on the bench.

in 1/144, a SAAB Gripen and the Area 88 A-10A Thunderbolt got finished.

in 1/72, work was continued on the trimotor DC-3. earlier this week, assembly was for done for most part and the whole thing got masked and primed. then came the blue paint, and then came the cursing 
after cleaning my airbrush, in preparation of spraying on the white parts, it suddenly started to spray at a strange angle, the nozzle is propably broken. i tried to find replacement parts online, but the prices for spare parts for the revell basic airbrush were ridiculous and, for most part, out of stock. the earliers delivery is end of august/september at best. not good when you are on a group build deadline.

so, i decided to order 2 low-cost airbrush guns (Fengda FE-130 and -130K) wich turned out to be almost cheaper the buying replacement part for the revell gun. im gonna use these as interim brushes until spares for the revell can be obtained (unless the Fengda proved to be better). i will still use the revell compressor, but i might switch to amore advanced model when the budget allows it.

in the mean time, im gonna focus on non-airbrush work on the bench, mostly handbrushing the insides of the 1/72 H145M i started earlier. thee are still more long-term projects on the bench that need to be finished, i might revisit them first.


more soon....

[Spey_Phantom]

Blog Entry #291

lets see, what going on...

oh yes, yesterday, i finished the 1/72 trimotor DC-3 for the Brian DaBasher memorial GB on BTS ( and thank you for the Whiffies nomination Narses  ), now the bench is cleared up for the next project to be completed, the Junkers Schnellbomber-TL.
meanwhile, raw and detail materials have arrived over the past few days for the long-term 1/144 Area 88 base diorama project.

also, over the past week, ive made the biggest investment in modelbuildign equipment in years, as i have replaced my revell Airbrush (nozzle broke down on me and was getting worn out) by a whole new setup with compressor, a pair of sprayguns, holdster and cleaning pot from Fengda (total costs were little over €150). i wasnt planning this upgrade for at least a year or 2, but the situation caused an acceleration of those plans.

before starting any more new projects, im gonna finish those ones on the go first. aside from the Schnellbomber-TL, im also getting a few smaller builds off the "shelf of shame", including a realword 1/144 F-86F Sabre, USMC F/A-18E and 1/72 Belgian Army Humvee, ammong others...

the COVID19 situaltion in Belgium has been getting worse again in the past week (was in a downward trend for the past 2 months), restrictions are being put in place again, and in some places we are entering a second lockdown. ive been stuck at home since march and i was hoping to get back to work after mid-august (when the 4-week closure of my workspace ends) but at this rate, i doubt i will be back at work next month.

more soon...

[Spey_Phantom]

Blog Entry #292

another week has passed, and little by little, most projects are leaving the shelf of shame to be finished. this week, i finished a 1/144 F-86F Sabre (realworld) thats been sitting there since early januari, its now finished and sitting on the display shelf in the mancave.

and i could not help myself, but i started on 4 new 1/144 projects in the past few days, 1 F-16XL (possibly WHIF) and 3 Sepecat Jaguars (realworld RAF GR.3A, French Jaguar-A and Indian AF Jaguar-IS). the latter 3 are going to be quite easy and simple, but will have a basic cockpit installed as the Academy kits dont have any. im using a couple of old-mould Revell 1/144 Tornado GR1's and a newer Tornado ECR as a parts source.

more soon.....

[Spey_Phantom]

Blog Entry #293

progress on the bench has been slow, mostly due to the heatwave we had last week, it was too hot to get some work done.
meanwhile, im still slowly making progress in 3 realworld 1/144 Sepecat Jaguars, i also started another 1/144 side project, a Russian version of the F-20 Tigershark, the MiG-28M.

ive mostly been on a realworld sabbatical, to find inspiration for new WHIF builds. and one of the future projects i came up with earlier this week, is a Belgian Airbus H215. i picked up a secondhand Heller 1/72 AS532 Super Puma kit (wich is in fact a short-body AS332) that didnt come with decals, im planning on painting that in a Belgian Army Aviation livery, using leftover decals from an A109BA decal sheet, wich im using on my H145M project. could be an ideal NH90-TTH replacement. a few years back i planned the same thing with an H665 Tiger-ARH, so could make a great trio 

i also have a few other Belgian Army projects gathering dust, including a 1/72 Hummer i started years ago, but the project stalled. i was planning to build that alongside an S-300 mobile missile system, so i could revive that plan in the near future now that airbrushing seems to working better and better.


more soon.....

[Spey_Phantom]

Blog Entry #294

its been a real rollercoaster this week, with little progress done on 3 1/144 Sepecat Jaguars. to ease up on stress, i put one of them (the French version) on hold and placed on the shelf of shame. just for a change of pace, i decided to handpaint these instead of airbrushing them. i havent been in much of a building/painting mood lately.

stress levels are going up again, as more COVID19 bad news has hit us. earlier this week, the interim-office called me and said my contract with my employer (where i have been working for over 2 years now) is likely to end, if they cant prove im home as part of covid measures. if so, then im mos tpropably out of a job, and with a 7 month old baby, its the worst thing that can happen.
i havent gotten much sleep on this issue, i can get unemployment wellfare, but its not even enough to pay half the rent (wich is already quite low). in these uncertain times, and with the COVID19 resurgence, ts unlikely i will be back at work this year. guess right now all i can do is wait and prepare for the worst.

more soon....

[NARSES2]

I can only hope things get better for you Nils

[TheChronicOne]

That is wack. I bet by "proof" they want some huge list of nigh impossible to gather things.

[Spey_Phantom]

Blog Entry #295

to clear the workspace, ive started a thorough cleaning and clearing of the mancave and the stash. i took out about 30 kits that i dont have the space for or i know im never getting around to building. so yesterday, i put them on a secondhand sale site and facebook marketplace up for sale, half of them are now reserved or sold. im planning another cleaning and clearing session next week, so i might add more on the for sale list.

anyway, im thinking as soon as i finish the 1/144 jaguars and a 1/72 F-16 (thats been gathering dust for the past year and a half), im thinking of getting back on the 1/72 Junkers Schnellbomber-TL project. but before all that happens, i need to reorganise the mancave, as i can barely move around in it. i also started looking for new A4 drawer units, as the current plastic ones i had for about 5 years now, just keep getting stuck and are warping, so im replacing them with wooden ones.

more soon....

[Spey_Phantom]

Blog Entry #296

after a long time, im back on the bench, and as usual, old habbits die hard.
so many projects on the go and im starting on yet another "in between" test build.
this time, a mini hobby models F-4E Phantom II, to test if i can add some improvements to this bold and basic kit.

meanwhile, i decided to other projec ton hold as i have run into a dry streak, where i cant seem to find the motivation to finish anything. there's so much going on right now that my motivation is zero. the only time i went to the man cave was to clean and reorganise, something that still isnt working.

things are going from bad to worse lately. last night i had another breakdown, even some dark thoughts came to mind.
last week i was called, with the bad news that after 2 years of hard work, my workspace is firing me due to cost cutting as a result of Covid19. with an unemplyed wife and a 7 month old son, thats not the news you want to hear. i have already contacted my wokers union, see if i cant fight this decision.

more soon...

[zenrat]

sh*t mate, that sucks.
Don't do anything stupid.  Admitting you have dark thoughts is the first step.  You need to talk it through with someone and not keep it all bottled up.  Your wife may not be the best person (although you must tell her if you haven't already - she'll understand).  Your union will have professional psychiatric help available for its members.  This is where unions come into their own.  Take advantage of them.

[NARSES2]

Zen's absolutely right Nils.

Take any professional help that's offered as it helps. Certainly helped me some 40 odd years ago. Hope your luck changes soon.

[Spey_Phantom]

Blog Entry #297

i havent been on the bench that much since last time, i had some issues i had to deal with first.
feeling a little better, ive decided to get back at it, one project at a time. i restarted the 1/72 Airbus H145M project, that will be painted in Belgian colors. it also inspired me to build something a little bigger to join it, aside from an Airbus H665 Tiger-MRH, im looking into supplementing it with a H215 Super Puma (Short fuselage, based on the AS.332) that could be a potential replacement for the NH90-TTH in Belgian service.

another project dusted off is a 1/72 Belgian Army Humvee thats been gathering dust for a few years. it wil be prayed in the same olive drab as the H145M so should be an easy and straight forward build. in the long term, im also planning on another Belgian Army ground based vehicle, namely a S-300 Surface to Air missile system, both missile and radar trucks 

as for the rest, everything else has been but on hold as to ease the stress. the jobhunting has been put into high gear this week, but ive been encountering the same problems i had 3 years ago, namely the fact that they call me without even reading my resume and information, calling for jobs that are irrelevant to my knowledge and skill (you dont ask for a dentist when you need a butcher) or are too far out of range or pay less then my previous job. aside from that, im also dealing with a long-term personal issue, but i wont go into that just yet until im fully sure.


more soon...

[TomZ]

Blog Entry #297
(you dont ask for a dentist when you need a butcher)

You've obviously not met my dentist.......

TomZ

[Spey_Phantom]

Blog Entry #298

slow progress on the bench the past 2 weeks. main assembly on the 1/72 Airbus H145M is done, now ive started adding all the details (cablecutters, flare dispensers,...). once that's done, i can start on the paintwork and airbrushing. ive also decided to revive my old 1/144 WW2 Whifs project, ive got a few new project lined up to start, icluding Belgian Martlet Mk.1, Belgian P-39 Airacobra, Soviet P-51D, Polish Hurricane Mk.1....

after the H145M, the next project in line to be finished, is a RW 1/72 F-16AM Tigermeet 2009, followed by a 1/144 Belgian Airbus A400M.

in terms of covid measures, things in Belgium are not looking good and we are heading for a second lockdown (as a modeller, im prepared for this). in a more positive note, last week i got a call from my former workspace, saying they want be back  a more permanent basis (starting in a new function for a 6 month contract, followed by a permanent contract if succesfull), im expecting a call from them about this any day now. im still struggling with a personal issue, but im nearing the end of the confusing part, but more on that when the time is right.

more soon...