Zenrat's Flying Circus

[NARSES2]

If ever there was a need for an airport style travolater between two stations, that's one!

St P to Euston would be a long one Kit, it's about a mile ?

The problem is that when they redeveloped St P as the Eurostar terminal they also played around with the Underground station access. Now whilst the entrances may be nearer the developed rail stations then they would have otherwise been, the platforms are still in the same place, thus it's a fairly long walk especially from Kings Cross.

[PR19_Kit]

If ever there was a need for an airport style travolater between two stations, that's one!

St P to Euston would be a long one Kit, it's about a mile ?

The problem is that when they redeveloped St P as the Eurostar terminal they also played around with the Underground station access. Now whilst the entrances may be nearer the developed rail stations then they would have otherwise been, the platforms are still in the same place, thus it's a fairly long walk especially from Kings Cross.

Tell me about it, I've walked it zillions of times. 

But there are long travelators around, the one to the South terminal at Schiphol is IMMENSE, and they can use them in series too.

[zenrat]

We walked it.
We both used to work for Railtrack in the Black Towers and The Podium at Euston and so know the area well.
The walk involved us pointing out to each other the many pubs along the way.
Most look the same but the one I spent most time in - The Head of Steam at Euston - appears to have been tarted up and given a name change (to the The Doric Arch - stupid name).

Only noobs would use the underground between St Pancreas and Euston.

I do like what they have done to the Great Eastern Hotel - for long one of my favourite London buildings.  I was always surprised it was left to rot for so long.

The Eurostar ride seemed to fly by (despite a 20 minute delay in Northern France).  The security fencing around Calais looks like it could be straight from a 1960's Iron Curtain border.  I expected to see guard towers and troops with Kalashnikovs.
Speaking of which, Belgian troops armed with assault rifles were patrolling Brussels Midi.

The ride on the 390 didn't seem to go as fast.  I worked on the West Coast Route Modernisation programme but this was the first time i have ridden on a Pendolino as they were not running when I left.  Ride was good (and travelling that fast on a train in the UK was a novelty) but the tilting seems to be a bit jerky on occasion.  But maybe that was the track.  There were problems due to track buckling on some routes which will be due to lack of sufficient pre-stressing.

Now in Knutsford having a laundry and chores day.

[PR19_Kit]

Ride was good (and travelling that fast on a train in the UK was a novelty) but the tilting seems to be a bit jerky on occasion.  But maybe that was the track.  There were problems due to track buckling on some routes which will be due to lack of sufficient pre-stressing.

That's what you get with a fully predictive tilt system rather than a reactive one.

If the track changes, and it might well have done in the hot weather, the software aboard the train won't know about it and will generate incorrect tilt angles.

[NARSES2]

Now in Knutsford having a laundry and chores day.

As one does in Knutsford, at least when one's not singing about it 

Glad you had a good journey over, and yes they have done a good job with the Great Eastern Hotel 

The Head of Steam was renamed after the Doric Arch (it wasn't actually an arch) that was outside Euston Station until 1961 when the old station was redeveloped - read torn down  Euston has no character what so ever.

[zenrat]

I see the open space outside Euston has been sacrificed to the great gods of commerciality.
Obviously an open space where people could sit and have lunch or wait for trains in the sunshine is far less important than opportunity to take more money from travellers and workers.
They've also reduced space inside the station.
This just shows the managements contempt for the travelling public who pay their wages.
Which was also demonstrated by not listing our trains platform number on the indicator board until the last minute followed by blowing the whistle and shouting at passengers to hurry on board before we had even got half way down the platform to our carriage.
Mind you, that's nothing new.  Passengers have always been considered to be an inconvenience which upsets the smooth, on time running of the services.

[NARSES2]

I've never been a fan of Euston, mind you I always tended to travel via Kings Cross back in the day only started using West Coast when I started travelling for work. It's far to crowded and cluttered. Kings Cross is now seems to "lack something" and I normally pop over to St P for coffee or whatever when travelling.

Which was also demonstrated by not listing our trains platform number on the indicator board until the last minute followed by blowing the whistle and shouting at passengers to hurry on board before we had even got half way down the platform to our carriage.

Had that happen a few times with Virgin West Coast over the last year or so, the platform staff all seem to have passed the "how to be sullen and annoy the paying customer course" with flying colours  One of the reasons I'm glad the East Coast line has gone back into public ownership for the time being. Last time "we" had it we did a good job, unlike Virgin East Coast for the few months they tried to run it.

[zenrat]

I have no idea why we bothered buying tickets since no one looked at them.

Anyway, today we went to Cosford.
I had been there previously but it must have been before the cold war hanger opened as I have no memory of seeing it - and I can't believe I would have forgotten the 3 V bombers in such close proximity.
Hanger 1 was closed (much to Mrs z's disgust - she was so looking forward to viewing the engines...) but we had a good look round the rest.
I took some reference photos of the MiG 15 & the 21.  it is noticeable that you can see no evidence of panel lines on the wings and fuselages.
I also took a load of pics of the MH-53.  This is an exceptionally lumpy aircraft, covered in rivets and there is some interesting paint textures on the tanks which I suspect if I replicated in scale would be seen as evidence of bad painting technique rather than accurate modelling.

[NARSES2]

I have no idea why we bothered buying tickets since no one looked at them.

That's very unusual. You normally need your ticket just to get on the platform at Euston. Must be "staff holidays" 

I took some reference photos of the MiG 15 & the 21.  it is noticeable that you can see no evidence of panel lines on the wings and fuselages.
I also took a load of pics of the MH-53.  This is an exceptionally lumpy aircraft, covered in rivets and there is some interesting paint textures on the tanks which I suspect if I replicated in scale would be seen as evidence of bad painting technique rather than accurate modelling.

Things like that happen so often when you look at "real" examples of what we are trying, in some cases, to replicate. But then some modeller's would simply answer that "it's a museum example and therefore not a real one", which if I'm honest is true in some cases, but still very useful as the starting point of the "great wind up", the other is "ah, but colour is seen differently by different people" 

[TheChronicOne]

I've seen pictures of USN equipment..... you know how dirty they can let their stuff get.......  flying through the sky looking cleaner than any show car and sans even a single panel line. Probably not exactly the norm but it damn sure didn't look anything like so many examples I see modelled. To each their own, though, I guess!!   To me, way overdone panel lines and things like that make stuff look cartoonish. That can be quite neato in its own right so long as it's not being passed off as super-accurate or something.

[PR19_Kit]

To me, way overdone panel lines and things like that make stuff look cartoonish. That can be quite neato in its own right so long as it's not being passed off as super-accurate or something.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! 

[NARSES2]

To me, way overdone panel lines and things like that make stuff look cartoonish. That can be quite neato in its own right so long as it's not being passed off as super-accurate or something.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! 

Totally agree. There's been a few in the recent modeling press which have looked just like that. Totally overdone

[jcf]

Much of it stems from the wholesale application of armour/ground vehicle
weathering techniques to aircraft models, it generally looks pretty good
on the former, not so much on the latter. Yes, "dirty panel lines" are visible
on many aircraft, dependent on operating environment and general
condition, however they aren't a single width and shade of grey-black/dark
umber, both can vary a great deal even on the most beatup aircraft.


As stated, the result can look very cartoonish or have the appearance of a
coloured in technical drawing. On one of the Facebook groups I sort of
follow there is a build a modeller has just begun of a Fujimi CH-53E, and
the first thing he has done is to scribe over the recessed panel lines of the
kit because they weren't "deep enough"!


That said, I have seen a handful of models in the "flesh" so to speak that
have been featured in magazine articles etc., which actually look very
good in person, but look cartoonish in the magazines. That I think is a
combination of lighting/photography technique and over processing by
whoever did the digital image prep for the publication. Levels, colour
curves  saturation, and particularly sharpening combining to exaggerate
the model's "real world" appearance.

I have to wonder if some of the oohing and aahing folk are dissapointed
if they happen to actually see some if these models in reality.
 

[PR19_Kit]

It's become very fashionable in the various modelling magazines, with the result that reviewers feel they HAVE to 'pre-shade' because everyone else does it.

A recent review kit of the Airfix Swift FR5 in one mag was pre-shaded to the extent that it looked as if all the panels had been thrown together, not riveted. The review was followed immediately by an article on the real world Swift FR5 and almost NO panel lines were visible on the articles pics! Madness.

[NARSES2]

That said, I have seen a handful of models in the "flesh" so to speak that
have been featured in magazine articles etc., which actually look very
good in person, but look cartoonish in the magazines. That I think is a
combination of lighting/photography technique and over processing by
whoever did the digital image prep for the publication. Levels, colour
curves  saturation, and particularly sharpening combining to exaggerate
the model's "real world" appearance.

That's very true Jon, I've seen a few models on tables at show's that have looked quite different in the flesh then when they were in a magazine.

I've seen a couple of so called "super models" where the same could be said as well