Zenrat's Flying Circus

[zenrat]

Today is May 1st and the last day of my 2 week break.
It was a quite productive holiday and I finished these.

Easter Holiday Finishes 2022 - 1 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

The two planes are for the Pirate GB.  They're there in their own threads.
The car is for the special theme class at the Ballarat NNL model show.  The theme is Best of British.

Lotus Europa - 5 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

Lotus Europa - 2 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

Lotus Europa - 9 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

Have I ever mentioned how I hate masking?
I wanted a British car to paint the Union Jack on and chose the Lotus because of the irony of it having a Renault engine and being called Europa...
I am now toying with building another three cars painted blue with white stars so I can stand them all next to each other to make this.



Millhouse is very close to being finished.

Milhouse WIP 01-05-2022 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

I've renamed The Goatsucker "The Red Rattler" and have started painting the wooden bits.

Red Rattler (Goatsucker) WIP 01-05-2022 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

And i've been putting together a Hasegawa MiG 23 (no pics) and a Frog Me 410.  The Messerschmitt is the Hssegawa reboxing and has the most overdone raised detail which I am trying to preserve as much as possible.  Why?  because its a hoot to do so.

Me 410 WIP 01-05-2022 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

[Old Wombat]

Jolly good show, old chap! Well done and all that! What!


Millhouse is looking really funky!

[NARSES2]

That Lotus looks terrific mate 

[PR19_Kit]

You HAVE been busy Fred, and very productive as well. 

I hate to correct a fellow car nut, but as that's a Lotus 74  Europa , the one with the cut down rear buttresses, it has a Lotus-Ford Twin Cam engine rather than the Renault 16 engine. But it did keep the Renault gear box, which had its crown wheel swapped over to the other side as otherwise it would have had 4 reverse gears and one forward one. 

I know all this as a mate of mine at BR had three different Europas in his time, a Lotus 46 S1, a  54 S2 and a 74 Twin Cam.

[zenrat]

I did know that Kit.  Less ironic though.

It's the Tamiya kit and it just fell together beautifully.  Shake and bake. Fit and design is so good the interior side panels and the dashboard didn't even need to be glued.  The only complication was the paintjob.

[DogfighterZen]

You've been very productive, which is the total opposite of myself, and the results are looking very good, mate.  Millhouse is horribly gorgeous, don't know why but i love that big nose. 

EDIT: That paint job on the lotus...

[PR19_Kit]

I didn't know Tamiya did a Europa!

I thought Bandai did one too, but it seems EVERYONE else has, but not them. 

[Rick Lowe]

Millhouse - 

Lotus - 

Good going.

[zenrat]

Hmm, yes.  Milhouse.
I must take the pics.

Got a revised DNA ethnicity breakdown today.
82% England & Northwest Europe (Dunkirk, Bruges - that region), 7% Welsh, 6% Scottish, 3% Norwegian, and 2% Swedish & Danish.
Obviously the headline I take from this is 5% VIKING!
Interesting given my surname is Huguenot.

[NARSES2]

Interesting given my surname is Huguenot.

Probably from the Bruges part of your lineage ?

Got a revised DNA ethnicity breakdown today.

I'm interested to know how it can change ? Are you a shapeshifter or simply metamorphosing into something else ? 

[frank2056]

I'm interested to know how it can change ? Are you a shapeshifter or simply metamorphosing into something else ? 

Most of the ancestry companies (Ancestry, 23andme, etc.) calculate ethnicity by comparing your DNA with their huge databases of DNA reference samples from around the world. There are several issues that affect the accuracy - Many European countries make it difficult to have your DNA testing, so they often have to go with people who claim that their ancestors came from X country.
Also, European history has been pretty incestuous, with borders changing every few decades or centuries. For instance, it's very, very difficult to pick out French ancestry from the general West European background.
Finally, the calculate a person's ancestry using software models (principal component analysis, among others) and as the software and reference samples grow, the ethnicity estimates will change.

In general, the changes will be in the 1%-8% range. I recently have had a "large" increase in Basque (from 1% to 6%)

[zenrat]

Interesting given my surname is Huguenot.

Probably from the Bruges part of your lineage ?

Got a revised DNA ethnicity breakdown today.

I'm interested to know how it can change ? Are you a shapeshifter or simply metamorphosing into something else ? 

It'll be due to my x-genes activating due to my covid jabs...

Or maybe what Frank said.

I de-boxed the 'free to a good home' aircraft today.  There are a fair few bits missing and they all need a good clean.  Standard of building isn't top notch but someone made an effort to use filler on the seams and avoided spreading glue over everything.

Free to a Good Home by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr

[NARSES2]

I'm interested to know how it can change ? Are you a shapeshifter or simply metamorphosing into something else ? 

Most of the ancestry companies (Ancestry, 23andme, etc.) calculate ethnicity by comparing your DNA with their huge databases of DNA reference samples from around the world. There are several issues that affect the accuracy - Many European countries make it difficult to have your DNA testing, so they often have to go with people who claim that their ancestors came from X country.
Also, European history has been pretty incestuous, with borders changing every few decades or centuries. For instance, it's very, very difficult to pick out French ancestry from the general West European background.
Finally, the calculate a person's ancestry using software models (principal component analysis, among others) and as the software and reference samples grow, the ethnicity estimates will change.

In general, the changes will be in the 1%-8% range. I recently have had a "large" increase in Basque (from 1% to 6%)

Thanks Frank. You learn something everyday if you are bright enough to keep your mind open. 

[comrade harps]

l remember hearing the story of a woman who got a surprise with her ancestry DNA results. A while later, she got an update with different results. The database had been updated with DNA from an ethnic group (her own) that had previously been unrepresented.

[zenrat]

I find it all very interesting.
My Dad's cousin is investigating my paternal family tree.  A lot of South Londoners.  More specifically Borough and Southwark.  The workhouses kept good records and a lot of my ancestors ended up in them.  In at least one case Mother and Son died in the same workhouse 30 years apart.