Moments of Zen

[DogfighterZen]

Great photo.

Really glad everything's working out for the pair of you 

We've found the perfect house for us, my dog and all 4 of Milady's cats

Ready made family 

Thanks, mate! I have to thank you guys for the positive energy you give me with your words... and Milady also appreciates it a lot so we both thank you all for the support! She enjoys reading the threads on here with me and she can also tell you're all good folks and a good influence for me.
It will be a full house even before kids come along...
And it's rolling! We went to the bank this afternoon and got the loan proposal on the go. Now we just have to wait for the Portuguese central bank to give us an answer. I believe we'll get the loan, the folks at the bank said it was almost 100% certain but i prefer to wait before i start celebrating.

[kerick]

Good news! Is the house ready to go or will there be some remodeling to do? Be careful if you start down that road, it can get out of hand.

[zenrat]

Good news! Is the house ready to go or will there be some remodeling to do? Be careful if you start down that road, it can get out of hand.

Yeah, whiffing a house isn't cheap...

[NARSES2]

Good news! Is the house ready to go or will there be some remodeling to do? Be careful if you start down that road, it can get out of hand.

Yeah, whiffing a house isn't cheap...

And never seems to come to an end 

[DogfighterZen]

Good news! Is the house ready to go or will there be some remodeling to do? Be careful if you start down that road, it can get out of hand.

Yeah, whiffing a house isn't cheap...

And never seems to come to an end 

I hear you, brothas. 
The house is 12 years old but was never inhabited cause the owner immigrated to Switzerland and has a few other houses spread around the country so, he never needed this one.
Everything is new in there, there are only a couple of areas that will need some work, the garage and attic, which are bare. Both areas need floor coverings and the ceiling will need insulation in the attic area.
I also wanna build a backyard roof extension and a barbecue but that's something i'm only going to seriously think about after i have the loan confirmed and the keys in my hand... only then will my mind be free to seriously think about such things but i've already done some research into designs, materials and prices of the stuff i need for the mods needed in the house.
The kitchen only needs a fridge and a maybe a Microwave oven. It already has a gas cooker, dishwasher and water heater, all of good quality and completely new. I will need a stove/fireplace for the living room and all the other appliances needed like a TV and that kind of stuff.
We did visit a few houses before that needed a lot of work and investment before we could call them habitable but decided that it wasn't the right thing for us at the moment so we started looking at newer houses that were ready to go like the one we chose. This house has a total area of 166 square meters and habitable area of 106, 3 bedrooms, living room, 2 bathrooms, big kitchen, backyard with a small flowerbed, garage for one car and lots of of storage space, and finally the attic, which isn't very tall but covers the whole house minus the backyard and garage area.
We did manage to negotiate the price of the house and got it for 5000€ less so it will cost us 90000€, plus the bank's interest rates that will make it a total cost of around 117000€ to pay for in 30 years.
It's a big step for me, considering that my family has always been poor and that we lived in small rented houses for most of our lives. If all goes well with this deal, i'll finally have one of my biggest dreams come true...

Modelling related news... Besides having the PoAF F-4F whif stalled on the bench, i decided to start a couple of real world PoAF F-16s. I've already built one, a Block 15 OCU with the ADF tail which was one of the 20 new-built jets first bought by the PoAF in the 1990 Peace Atlantis I program.



Built that one as the 15106, which belongs to the 301st FS "Jaguares" with the 2011 Tigermeet art on the tail and these next 2 will belong to the 201st FS "Falcões".
This is a pet project of mine cause they're the fighters i'd be flying if i'd been able to become a fighter pilot like i dreamed of when i was a kid...
I wanna have one of each FS and one of the twin seaters so this time i'll build the normal F-16 Block 15 A and B, which were the second hand airframes bought through the PA II deal.
Revell kits for all 3, a good and cheap kit of the Viper for these variants.

Other ideas i'm considering are, building the F-16A as it was originally designed with twin tails. That one will be a mix of the model ADF 401/4 and the LCF 401. The main differences between the two are the LERX and ventral strakes so i'll be researching a bit of aerodynamics to see what would be more feasible and effective. With that, i'll have the origin of my F-16W design so i'll also have to build a proper model of the W, considering that the one i've built before was a bit too whiffed to be the logical evolution of the twin tail F-16.
But before all this happens, a lot is has to be taken care of so, it will take some time till i'm able to concentrate on the matter... 

[NARSES2]

House sounds spot on, hope it all goes through o.k. 

In the UK the system can be a little convoluted to say the least and is recognised as one of the most stressful things you can go through.

[DogfighterZen]

House sounds spot on, hope it all goes through o.k. 

In the UK the system can be a little convoluted to say the least and is recognised as one of the most stressful things you can go through.

I know what what you mean, it's also a pain in the rear to deal with banks, same here. If all goes well concerning the loan, the worst part is the house ownership transfer paperwork and the time you spend to take care of these matters. Also, the energy, gas and water supply contracts also have to be taken care of so, lots to be done before i can really move in but i bet most here know what it's like.
The only thing that's worrying me regarding the loan is the fact that the house has be evaluated for over 112000€ for the loan to be approved, as that would justify the sum we need, which can only be 90% of the value of the house.
All i can do now is wait...

[DogfighterZen]

So i haven't done much whiffing but did get to prime the F-4 so it's ready for the SEA camo.



Besides the Phantom, i've done some work on the RW PoAF F-16 pair, just some minor sanding and rescribing of panel lines on the top fuselage seam.
Regarding the house, still waiting for the loan to come through... I knew it would take time but i can't help feeling a bit anxious about it...

[TheChronicOne]

Right now you have a Murder-Phantom!!     

[DogfighterZen]

Right now you have a Murder-Phantom!!     

 

Well, it still looks like that... i had plans to start painting it tonight but as always, something unexpected came along and that plan went down the drain... Maybe tomorrow...

[TheChronicOne]

I've been getting that A LOT lately....   Sometimes it almost seems futile to make a plan for the day. Tomorrow sounds good, though......   I'm itching to see it done!

[DogfighterZen]

I've been getting that A LOT lately....   Sometimes it almost seems futile to make a plan for the day. Tomorrow sounds good, though......   I'm itching to see it done!

You and me both, brotha! 
It's my first SEA camo and i'm really looking forward to see if i can do a reasonable job of it. You know i'm not much of a camo painter but i'll give it my best... And i also want to weather it a bit so it will be challenging for me. So many colors on one jet is something i've only done once on the F/A-16W with the Israeli scheme.
Tomorrow after dinner, i'm going to silence the phone and keep my web activities limited to photo research only.

[TheChronicOne]

That's the ticket, mate!!       I had to do the same today and got a lot done for a change! 

[DogfighterZen]

That's the ticket, mate!!       I had to do the same today and got a lot done for a change! 

I'll have to do it cause on my free nights, there's always someone who calls either to go out for a drink or to go watch their band's rehearsal... Not a bad thing but it often takes up most of my time for modelling...
Speaking of bands, after 12 years, my band, The Quest, is over.
I decided it was time to burry it after one of the guitar players left the band. He had a missunderstanding with the bass player, things got ugly and that really killed the mojo for the rest of us... There were only two of the five original members of the band left, me and one guitar player, which meant that the sound of the band would never be the same and to be totally honest, it wasn't worth it to go on with the same band name and songs. It was a good run but the feeling was gone so, it was time to kill it once and for all. Me and my brother, who was the band's drummer, already spoke to another guitar player and we're going to start a new project with him cause we still want to make music and this guy is a beast playing them strings! Not that i didn't like what the other guys played but i also want to make something different and this guy's riffs are very different from what we were used to with the guys from The Quest. I'm excited cause i also needed to refresh my head and this change was just what i needed to get my mojo running again.
I was sad that so many years went down the drain but i have no regrets and it's time to move on to something new... 

[PR19_Kit]

Jeepers, now he's even Whiffed a band!