Zenrat's Flying Circus

[PR19_Kit]

Cooer, will it have tank type 'tiller steering'?

[zenrat]

No, just a boring old steering wheel.

[zenrat]

Dog ownership is taking up what was modelling time.  But that's OK because she is lovely.   
I spent Sunday morning dog proofing the front yard and Sunday afternoon and evening entertaining one of Mrs Z's brothers.

Breguet is crawling towards the finish.  I had hoped to get a solid couple of hours in today but got called in to work early instead (that's enough overtime to pay for another model so can't be turned down  ).  Instead I just managed to squirt some silver car paint onto the props and undercarriage parts and some white primer on the the engine cowlings.

I should get a couple of hours a day in this week and have planned to spend all weekend at my bench (although, best laid plans etc).

Talking of silver car paint I dropped into my local branch of Repco (motor parts chain) today for something else and ask is my wont I grabbed a couple of rattle cans of silver (can't have too many and they are all slightly, or markedly in some cases, different).  It looks like they are running down the touch up rattle cans with a view to phasing them out.  I guess people don't touch up minor dings and scratches like they used to.  Also modern paint finishes are more complex than they used to be.
While this is a bad thing for my long term collecting of silver spray paint it could be a good thing if they decide to sell their remaining stock off cheap as having a random assortment of colours makes deciding on model car paint schemes easier.  I must keep an eye out.

[PR19_Kit]

Repco! There's a name to conjure with.

Repco built the engines that Jack Brabham used in his BT19 to win the 1966 F1 World Championship, and the BT24 that he used to win the following year as well. 

[NARSES2]

I spent Sunday morning dog proofing the front yard .

I'm intrigued. Apart from concreting it over I'm not sure how you'd go about that ?

[Nick]

I spent Sunday morning dog proofing the front yard .

I'm intrigued. Apart from concreting it over I'm not sure how you'd go about that ?

I'd like to cat-proof my front garden. Gave it the final mow of 2020 today and the mower now stinks of cat crap. Bloody animals think it's their public litter box.

[Rheged]

Lion dung (yes, you CAN buy it at some garden centres)  is supposed to work, as is both barrels of a 12-bore.   Cats are capable of being educated.........the one next door to us has learned that if it comes into our garden it gets blasted with a powerful water pistol.  Madame Rheged has turned out to be a dead shot with it but then she's the keen gardener in our family.   As to dogs, my mum had problems with a terrier that kept relieving itself on her driveway, so she kept a bucket of water by the back door and flung it at the beast every time it ventured up the drive.  This didn't really work until one cold February day, she hurled the contents of the bucket at the terrier and out came a 4 litre block of ice that hit the drive and shattered like a shrapnel shell engulfing the animal in shards of ice. For some reason or other, it never came up the driveway again and ran and hid if it ever saw her with a bucket in her hands.

[Pellson]

I'd like to cat-proof my front garden.

Over here, as long as you're living in the sticks, you're actually allowed to educate cats with that 12 bore as they're seen as vermin, again from a legal perspective.

In a somewhat related notice, the cat that already inhabitated the premises when we moved here some ten years ago is a small but sly bugger. Having realised that he's not able to fend off intruders by himself, he has taken to the habit to flee to higher ground, then calling in fire support. The latter would then be me and that 12 bore. He is ever so pleased when we've demonstrated the term excessive firepower to said intruders, the little fleabag..

[Nick]

Madame Rheged.. hurled the contents of the bucket at the terrier and out came a 4 litre block of ice that hit the drive and shattered like a shrapnel shell engulfing the animal in shards of ice. For some reason or other, it never came up the driveway again and ran and hid if it ever saw her with a bucket in her hands.

That would make me keep well clear of the driveway! 

[zenrat]

Repco! There's a name to conjure with.

Repco built the engines that Jack Brabham used in his BT19 to win the 1966 F1 World Championship, and the BT24 that he used to win the following year as well. 

I was reading about the Repco Brabham (and Phil Irving's part in it) only the other day.   Repco now is a mere shadow of its former self.  It's just a chain of motor parts stores now, similar to Halfords if you like.  The real Repco was wound up in the 80's.  Mrs z happened to have been working there as a temp at the time.

I spent Sunday morning dog proofing the front yard .

I'm intrigued. Apart from concreting it over I'm not sure how you'd go about that ?

Dog Escape Proofing would be more accurate.  Our whole property is surrounded by a 5' paling fence except for a section alongside the driveway & car port where about three years ago, on the head gardeners orders I cut the palings down to 2'6" to allow more light into the garden.  This section was low enough for Charlie to jump over should she have put her mind to it so at the weekend I attached a 2' high run of "cage mesh" along there.

Re. Pet cats.  All are supposed to be chipped and on the Mornington Peninsula it is illegal for owners to allow them out of their homes except if they have a secure compound for them.  I am in complete agreement with this.  Cat's caught outside are taken to the pound and the owners fined.  Cat's found without a collar results in the owners being fined more.  Obviously, it would be irresponsible of me to suggest that anyone trapping a cat on their property should remove its collar before handing it in to the council.
There were a couple of cats that used to wander through our yard but we haven't seen them since Charlie has been here.  Funny that.
Mrs z is also a dead shot with a water pistol and can hit a cat in the ring with one at twenty paces.

But enough of that.
Today I continued painting the fiddley bits for the Breguet and put the frame together for the Kawasaki KH500.
Kawasaki KH500 WIP 17y-11-2020 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

[Pellson]

Obviously, it would be irresponsible of me to suggest that anyone trapping a cat on their property should remove its collar before handing it in to the council.

Quite... 

[NARSES2]

I spent Sunday morning dog proofing the front yard .

I'm intrigued. Apart from concreting it over I'm not sure how you'd go about that ?

Dog Escape Proofing would be more accurate.  Our whole property is surrounded by a 5' paling fence except for a section alongside the driveway & car port where about three years ago, on the head gardeners orders I cut the palings down to 2'6" to allow more light into the garden.  This section was low enough for Charlie to jump over should she have put her mind to it so at the weekend I attached a 2' high run of "cage mesh" along there.

Ah right I understand. Long ago our Doberman when faced with the high fence around our back garden took to tunnelling. Luckily she was obstructed by the drive to our garage which was the other side of the fence, didn't stop her trying though. These exploits stopped when we had her spayed.

[jcf]

Obviously, it would be irresponsible of me to suggest that anyone trapping a cat on their property should remove its collar before handing it in to the council.

Quite... 

Speaking of which, we'll be putting the traps out in the next couple of days. Some effing tom
has sprayed our front door again, might be a feral, more likely the damned male Himalayan
from across the street. It's been a couple of years since the stupid thing spent a night behind
bars, seems it's time for another turn in the cage.


Cats are supposed to be licensed and collared in the city and county nor are they to be allowed
to roam freely, just like dogs, but the majority of cat owners follow none of the regulations and
from what I've seen they are rarely, if ever, held to account.

[zenrat]

I'll just leave this here.

http://tasmanian-gothic.blogspot.com/2013/01/king-island-cats.html

Anyhoo, progress on the Breguet today.
Paint on the spinners and wheel hubs, paint on the rear cockpit gun, exhausts onto the engine cowlings and cowlings on the the nacelles...
Breguet 693 WIP 18-11-2020 02 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
...and this piece of PE on the nose.  I feel I may have attached it too early as I have a horrible feeling it won't survive the final stages of the build.  But it looks good.
Breguet 693 WIP 18-11-2020 01 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

[NARSES2]

Oh, that is looking the business sir 

...and this piece of PE on the nose.  I feel I may have attached it too early as I have a horrible feeling it won't survive the final stages of the build.  But it looks good.

I do find the "belt and braces" approach the French took slightly odd I must admit. Whilst most of their aircraft were fitted with modern internal reflector sights (or similar, I'm no expert) they still retained this form of exterior sight until quite late. Not quite ring and bead, but must have been awkward to use ?