Pellsons Perceivings

[Old Wombat]

You have nothing in Gods' Own 1/48th Scale?

Sacrilege!

    

[PR19_Kit]

Nor have I. 

Well, I have the wreckage of a Blanik sailplane, and what's left of an Airfix Lightning......

I can't 'see' anything larger than 1/71th scale. 

[Pellson]

Nor have I. 

I rest my case.. 

[NARSES2]

You have nothing in Gods' Own 1/48th Scale?

Sacrilege!

    

I have some plus a 1/32 scale kit 

[Pellson]

I managed to steal a few minutes to add the small periscopes and the slightly larger keel to the Sk37 and also to thoroughly wash the three detached Lansens canopies. Now they're ready for some Klear. Maybe tomorrow?

Also, we built and attached wings to going mr P's Mustang.

Cold as.. and as I had to go visit my mums, I had to get the Defnder going. Neither of us were very happy at that, but we made it work. Reluctantly. Can't wait for spring to arrive..

I'm again finding that I'm really enjoying old model renovations. It's probably a bit stupid, as any model I'll build from start today is likely to turn out so much better, but I still really like to fiddle with the old stuff. Whatever makes your boat float, I presume, but still.. It does feel a bit weird.

[DogfighterZen]

I'd go with "whatever floats your boat". Your hobby, your time. If it's fun and that's what you feel like doing, i think that's all you need to justify it.  

[Rick Lowe]

I'd go with "whatever floats your boat". Your hobby, your time. If it's fun and that's what you feel like doing, i think that's all you need to justify it.  

Couldn't agree more. 

[Pellson]

I'd go with "whatever floats your boat". Your hobby, your time. If it's fun and that's what you feel like doing, i think that's all you need to justify it.  

Couldn't agree more. 

Well - then why do I reap such joy from adding to my Stash^TM? From a logical point of view, I shouldn't buy any kits at all, rather carrying on renovating the about 400 or so already built? Then again, having actually worked my way through quite a few of those already, obviously I will need some intermittent resupply, but most definitely not at my usual pace.
I suppose hobbies, especially male such, shouldn't be very logical, or they wouldn't be as dear to us..

No time for modelling yesterday, but it's looking somewhat brighter today. That said - this might be jinxing it! It's not even lunch yet, and one never knows the chores awaiting in the curtains..

Speaking of Stash^TM - I fear I'll have to do another stock taking. I might be on the verge of losing control due to lack of follow-up when digging things out and adding others. Annoying..

[NARSES2]

Speaking of Stash^TM - I fear I'll have to do another stock taking. I might be on the verge of losing control due to lack of follow-up when digging things out and adding others. Annoying..

Make sure you leave a "thread trail" in order to find your way out again 

[Rick Lowe]

Well - then why do I reap such joy from adding to my Stash^TM? From a logical point of view, I shouldn't buy any kits at all, rather carrying on renovating the about 400 or so already built? Then again, having actually worked my way through quite a few of those already, obviously I will need some intermittent resupply, but most definitely not at my usual pace.

But there are always new and exciting things to be obtained... and one can only tear something apart so many times before it becomes less of a kit and more a collection of plastic fragments (don't ask me how I know this...)

[Rheged]

Speaking of Stash^TM - I fear I'll have to do another stock taking. I might be on the verge of losing control due to lack of follow-up when digging things out and adding others. Annoying..

Make sure you leave a "thread trail" in order to find your way out again 

Was it Terry Pratchett's "librarian"  who reckoned that the Dewey decimal system was all very well  for exploring large areas, but the ultimate answer was a ball of string?

[Pellson]

I've spent most of today's modelling time testing noses and tails on the SAAB STOVL project. It's not easy not to just build another Harrier. Well - we'll see where this ends up.

[Pellson]

Not likely to do much modelling today (but for a quick adjustment/cut-down) of the SAAB VTOL tail) but instead, I took young master P and his best mate to the next to neighbouring air force wing museum. Not the nearest one, being the fighter F13 wing, but the second nearest, the reconnaissance F11 wing. Both are disbanded since half a lifetime, but both still have active wing associations, where ex-employees meet and also, in both cases manage small museums.

The F11 museum is significantly larger than the F13 one, which we visited last year, having three complete combat jets, one each of the SAAB 29, 32 and 35 (all recon versions), plus two noses, a 35 (in which you may sit) and half a SF37. In addition to that, there's loads of other stuff, such as engines, a Spitfire XIX propeller and a complete photo development bus, used to very quickly develop photos ASAP after landing.

You cannot view this attachment.

Finally, they have and operate a couple of simulators of various complexity. While none is kinetic, i.e moving, the Sk60 and SF37 simulators are both built with real airframe sections and quarter-globe screens, giving a really nice experience. For inexperienced pilots, the dual-command Sk60 is the obvious choice, and you fly it with an instructor in the right hand seat. It's about £20 (corresponding) a trip, and both lads had a go each, and they were thrilled beyond description! We left the museum at noon, and it's about supper now, and they're still comparing landing performances. 

You cannot view this attachment.

And while they were making the airspace unsafe, I got some time to myself and detail studies of the aircraft.
In particular the S32C Lansen is well worth a thorough look as it's the only complete specimen left.

As so often in this type of small, association-driven museums, there are senior guides with own experience from active service, and by pure chance, I got one of my dads old war stories confirmed. It goes like this:

Back in 1968, before I was born, dad was living in our archipelago cottage for a few months during one of the big defence exercises held across the services. At that time, he was serving in the Navy Reserve, working in a wartime naval base area.

One particular morning, just when leaving for "work", he witnessed a very fast, and very low indeed flyby over the small combe where our house is situated, the culprit being a S35E reconnaissance Draken from the F11 wing flying so close to Mach 1 that it actually blew out every single window in the house. By sheer chance (and because of the pilot flying just about 10 m over the water) he got a good view of both the wing no on the nose and the tactical no on the tail, enabling him to, as soon as he got to the base command, phone the air force wing and demand new windows to be installed and the debris cleaned up.

At first, the officer in charge denied the flyby, but once he understood that the individual aircraft was identified and clocked, he gave in, however asking nicely if it would be OK if personnel from the nearby F13 wing could take over the repairs as they had half the way to drive. Duly accepted, within two hours, a VW bus with a somewhat grumpy warrant officer and a band of conscripts showed up together with a windows specialist, promptly sorting the issue.

As my dad always was a good storyteller, we've held a somewhat hesitant view on the grade of reliability in this story, but as I ran it by one of the old pilots who were guiding at the museum today, he burst out laughing, telling me that he know the pilot responsible. He had gotten a good feather-roughing by his CO once back on base after the mission.   

You cannot view this attachment.

And finally, i got to expand my reference library a little bit. More of that in appropriate thread.
A truly good day in every respect!

[kerick]

That's a wonderful day! Especially for the boys. They'll be telling all about it when they get back to school.

[Nick]

You all had a great day out there! I like the flight sim thing too.

The museum looks good with lots of aircraft I've not seen up close. I shall add it to my list of 'Places to visit if I ever get near there'