Nick's Notes

[Nick]

I put another coat of yellow on and it looks better. Will need a couple more IMHO.

I've sorted out several kits for sale at Telford this year, will be offering them on here first. Quite a lot of biggies - Airbus 380, XB-70, 1/48 Hawk & Gnat Red Arrows set. Even found a Snoopy Telescope! https://mustsharenews.com/snoopy-nasa-happy-meal/

There will be some books too, mostly of military history.
Longest Winter - Alex Kershaw
Fly Navy - Alvin Townley
Flight By Elephant - Andrew Martin
On the Deck or In The Drink - Brian Allen
Most Secret War - RV Jones
Compleat Discworld Atlas - Sir Terry Pratchett

Not in a great mood today. Last month I applied for a new job at work. Today I worked out that I'm not getting it by the fact that a guy I work with is getting an interview and I haven't heard a thing of my application. 

[NARSES2]

Today I worked out that I'm not getting it by the fact that a guy I work with is getting an interview and I haven't heard a thing of my application. 

Not the best way to keep your staff happy, but unfortunately sums up a lot of companies attitude towards their staff nowadays.  I'm glad I grew up and worked most of my career when companies were still on the paternalistic side. Commiserations mate.

[TheChronicOne]

Sad to hear this.

I was in a situation like that once, along with others in the company...    Rather than promoting from within for someone to be the crew leader, the boss hired in a new guy, green at that, had no experience.... and then we were told that we had to train this guy. I said......  "Hold up, you want us to train this dude how to tell us what to do? "   What a joke. It was insulting.

[Nick]

Full stops are important. Period.    I have an interview on Friday!     

It turns out that the email had bounced because somewhere along the line the  .  between my names got missed out. Good job I called HR today and asked them for news. I might have had an interesting phone call on Friday while driving down to the Isle of Wight e.g. "Where are you?" / "What interview?"

This does mean I may not get to the Fort Nelson artillery museum on Friday but it'll be there another day (we need a shrug smiley face).

Tanks!
The yellow coat is at the 4th coat. There's a hint of grey showing thru but that works for my late 1946 emergency paint. Next time I'll use a spray can.
Realised that both tanks have the turret and gun pointing at the same angle so I had to dismantle the turret on one to make it look different. In doing this I learn that painting all the parts separately and then building the tank might actually have been easier. Next time.

[TheChronicOne]

Oh nice!!    This almost sounds like a sitcom set-up.......  in the sitcom you would have went in and trashed the boss' office and quit only to turn around and see the email mistake. Luckily this isn't television. 

[Nick]

Oh nice!!    This almost sounds like a sitcom set-up.......  in the sitcom you would have went in and trashed the boss' office and quit only to turn around and see the email mistake. Luckily this isn't television. 

I was very close to saying something rude today but then I decided to make a 2 minute phone call. Saved a lot of embarrassment but now I have the worry about the interview. It's bound to involve some sort of roleplay and team exercises 

[Nick]

It would have been better to paint and then build.   
Painted the tracks and wheels Dark Iron and tomorrow I can dry brush some gun metal or rust over that. The gun barrel will be gun metal. Will add the plant green and chocolate brown blotches to the hull.

Getting the shades of grey for the aircraft is the tricky bit. I've decided to do my real world 1980s Tomcat with Medium Sea Grey (RAF) Tamiya spray as I can't find any Gull Gray - I think it's close enough and all the greys change in the real world anyway. The Tornado (it's 1/144) will be a sod to mask in order to have a dark grey top and light grey lower.

[Old Wombat]

I always build & paint sub-assemblies separately. Then fit them together for the camo scheme, if I'm doing one. Then pull them apart for clean-up & touch-ups.

[NARSES2]

Well done Nick, best of luck Friday 

Don't worry about it, but don't relax to much. Be yourself and you'll be fine 

[Nick]

Not doing well of late. Didn't get the job. Need to follow up with solicitors on the car crash this summer. Got to monitor myself for high blood pressure. Have a nasty head cold that is threatening to become a sinus infection.

Models are giving me grief.

The tanks are sitting in a bag of paint stripper (Fairy Power Spray!) tonight. The green and brown camouflage I tried to do with a brush looked awful, even at arms length. It's something to do with these paints being very thin and watery - more for airbrushing.
Might use a Tamiya spray of USAF Tan for the base instead of this AK crap - it might create a less glossy surface and let the green/brown adhere better. Not sure anyone will know the difference.
I'm going to use this method instead http://www.warlordgames.com/hobby-painting-late-war-german-camouflage-without-an-airbrush/ 

Tomorrow I will concentrate on the F-14 which is ready for decals and undercarriage painting.
The F-4 Phantom pair on my shelf may get a look at too.

[NARSES2]

Things can only get better Nick 

Keep an eye on the blood pressure mate

[Nick]

The F-14 is nicely decalled. 
Turns out to be a rare lo-vis VF-111 Sundowners markings if my Google image search means anything - It's a bird that crashed in 1981 on the delivery flight.
I can only assume it was an early release of the LS kit.
Just need to paint a bit more and then varnish it next week.

The tanks have been stripped. That Fairy is no weakling! I lost one wheel during the scrubbing process so had to cut off a hidden inner wheel, turn it around and glue it in the right place. Don't look too close!
This time I am painting it in parts, the tracks will be dark steel with a dry brush of gun metal.
The uppers and turret had a spray of USAAF Tan, I plan to mottle green and brown over that with a cotton bud. Need to dig through the decal stash and find a couple of Iron Cross to go on the top and maybe a few unit markings.

Found an old Monogram Spaceplane in my box of doom, the gloss white has finally hardened. I will use the kit decals for a quick finish. Needs a little repair on the base around the landing skids.

[TheChronicOne]

Love me a Tomcat!

[Nick]

Here's what happened with the tanks.

First attempt with AK paints led to the base colour being too thick and glossy, the green and brown looks awful.


Stripped it all down with Fairy, sprayed it with Tamiya Tan and used a tiny Micro Brush (the green and white things) to paint the camo on. Didn't brush it, I dabbed it on like I was a scale size tank crewman using a mop and bucket 


Tested the camo style on the underside first.

Looks a lot better now. I used the thin Iron Cross on the back of the turrets just to give some identity. The thick ones on the right were rubbish when applied.


And this is the Tomcat. Now it's upside down while the wheels dry. Tomorrow I might head over to Hannants for some more paint.


I'm going to paint the inside of the canopy. Should I use black, white, silver or a shade of grey?

[TheChronicOne]

Looks good!! Don't get me to lyin' but I think the interior canopy framing in the Tomcat is black. I was looking at pictures about a year ago but like I said, I could be wrong and faulty memory is at play here.