Gallimaufry (2) or back from Christmas.

Tuesday 11th January 2022

I'm still here!

My last post was on 18th December. Walking has been on hold. I have had to act as chauffeur for my son while his car has been off the road, taking him to the gym every morning. Other domestic happenings and bad weather have also curtailed my activities. Hopefully the car will be back in action by the end of this week and I hope to finish off the six remaining trig point visits on OS sheet 103 Blackburn and Burnley as soon as I can. It is roughly an hour's drive getting into that area and I like to set off early in the morning especially at this time of year.

Meanwhile sanity has been just about retained with my modelling interests. I finished the Army Land Rover Defender. Modellers have a euphemism for messing up models to make them look realistically used or aged - they call it "weathering" and I had a go at this with the Land Rover but I think I have a lot to learn.

My son was a race engineer for a Super Bike racing team for ten years and he gave me a  Ducati 916 model kit for Christmas, a bike which has his meaningful respect.  I want to make this look as much in showroom condition as possible. I am making progress with the airbrush. An airbrush is emphatically essential in this game to achieve decent results. With a nozzle aperture between 0.2mm and 0.4mm they easily clog with paint which means that paint has to be thinned to exactly the correct fluidity and after use complete dismantling and cleaning to surgical standards is required. Painting with the  airbrush is a skill that most only gradually acquire, and after about fifteen models I feel I am now getting somewhere with this.

The quality of this photo doesn't help but I don't think a professional photographer could do much to help my attempt at weathering. I won't say if the apparent accident damage at the front end was intentional or otherwise. The books in the background are part of a massive fifteen volume collection of The Oxford History of England which I bought in a blurr moment at Carnforth secondhand bookshop years ago, and yes I did read them all.

I had an informal competition for the best Christmas card and this was my winner. I liked the mixture of realism and fantasy and I have a soft spot for lifeboats and the superhuman achievements of their voluntary crews. Below is my favourite model with led lights and all setting off on a potentially hazardous nighttime shout. This the same Severn Class boat as shown in the Christmas card.

A well appreciated Christmas present from son W.

The real life version without fairing showing much of the intricate detail most of which is shown in the very high quality plastic mouldings in the kit ( Tamiya are the best quality kits available)

Early days. The chassis framework just with grey primer

Rear damper fully painted but awaiting varnish finish. This part is only 3cm. long

A selection of parts which will make up the rear end module as well as the front wheel. The frame and wheel colour had to be specially mixed and are the only parts in that colour so all was done at the same time

I just noticed Burns Night is nearly upon us, celebration of which I have never partaken, however I decided to  investigate the relevant poem and came across this enchanting snippet which would have been more appropriate around Christmas time:

"The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill..."

The meaning is of no consequence except that it seems hurdies are buttocks.

I m expecting a comment from north of the border  (Afoot in the Hills)