What's on the workbench!

[McColm]

Saturday 24th May 2025

I have been doing a bit of sanding to the 1/72 Shorts Swallow MR.1 and the same on the 1/72 Shorts Sea Lion.
As for the 1/72 Douglas Turbo Sea Dakota GRA.1, I have removed the engines for now. I have read somewhere that the Dakotas were used as gliders during WW2 and a few were later fitted with the Rolls-Royce Dart. I think the Napier Eland will be a better option.
The 1/72 BAC Sledge FRA-1 has also had a bit of sanding done, could be another candidate for the LAMP LIGHT, having found the lower half of the Falcon Triple vacform Lockheed EP-3C conversion set radome. Well it fits under the fuselage, just needs some glue and a suitable paint scheme.

Whilst the Bristol Type 175MR is doable, any updates to the Mach2 model are worth considering, changes to the line drawing will be suttle. More likely ending up with a kitbash using the Revell Dassault Aviation-Breguet Atlantic model kit.

[McColm]

Sunday 25th May 2025

I've managed to concoct my own designed turbofan engines for the 1/72 Douglas Sea Dakota, sanding continues on the other projects apart from the 1/72 Emily flying boat which will need a course grade wet and dry papers. Lots of rivets to sand down plus the engines.
I've caught up with Clarkson's Farm series 5,just bought the pub.
  I'll iron my shirts this evening.
First night shift tomorrow at a place close to Liverpool Street Station. Two more weeks then payday.
Got another letter from the Jury Service people, sort of welcome pack.
Feeling a bit tired, nap time.

[McColm]

Monday 26th May 2025

It's a public holiday overhere in the UK, I took the number 47 bus from Deptford Bridge DLR Station to Liverpool Street Station. It took about 40 minutes due to roadworks in the Deptford area. Buses are great as you get to see parts of London that you probably miss when taking the tube, DLR or train.
I'm trying to remember my training for 17 Devonshire Square ,can't find the assignment instructions although the day officer did leave me his mobile phone number if I get stuck.
Before I started the shift at 6pm I popped into Tesco to buy a few items that's lunch sorted for the next two weeks!

[McColm]

Friday 30th May 2025

I tried to put a cheque that I received into a Thinkmoney account through one of their envelopes at my local Post Office .This has worked in the past but the person behind the counter even though I had shown them my bank card with my account details wouldn't accept it. Looks like I will have pay for a stamp and post it off myself next week.
Got to send off some paperwork for the jury service to my head office hopefully they will return it before the 7th of July.

A little bit of work has been done on the 1/72 BAC FRA-1 Sledge by gluing on the radome from the Lockheed EP-3E Aries, well the bottom half. I did this, this morning.

The 1/24 Jaguar SR Coupe has had the trunk/boot tail-spoiler.removed which looks more like a road car with a few modifications

I will be working days over the weekend, three days off and back on nights for the next two weeks which brings me upto payday. Brought forward due to the weekend when the Lunar vehicles/spacecraft GB starts.
I helped my stepfather once build a model of the USS Enterprise based on the TV series Star Trek when I was a teenager but haven't built anything space related a bit of research will be needed.
Space taxi, I'm sure if the British had landed on the moon they would have taken a London Black Cab with them.

[McColm]

Saturday 31st May 2025

I have been awake since 1 o'clock this morning, getting ready for the day shift literally opposite Liverpool Street Station. There's no staff due in over the weekend so apart from the patrols it's a case of chasing a secure Internet connection which fluctuates due to the high rise buildings nearby.
I have to be careful about what I search for on Google as its a shared network in reception. Gives me a chance to read some of your topics and get a few ideas.
I think that I have been a bit ambitious to focus on finishing most of my started builds.
Once I get my hobby room/mancave sorted. Hand tools are next on the I must get one of those lists amongst other things.

[McColm]

Monday 2nd June 2025

Today will be a lazy day with catching up on sleep, the very early starts to catch the night bus from Charlton to Deptford High Street and then the number 47 to Liverpool Street Station. Which takes about an hour and twenty minutes, I got to see the night people of London coming back from the various clubs and pubs. Some a bit worse from drinking whilst others curled up in a corner waiting for the Underground Station to open. I did get approached by a couple of guys who wanted to sell me drugs but I brushed them away by diplomacy.
The 47 bus takes me passed The Great Fire of London Monument which you can still climb the interior staircase to the viewing platform,  close by is a water feature by a square next to a parade of shops. This gave some relief to the general public on Saturday afternoon as it was very warm, the kids loved splashing around.
Leaden Hall Market was busy with the Harry Potter filming locations walking tours, it looks a bit lost amongst the high rise buildings surrounding it. Then we come to London Bridge Station which looks impressive along the bus route. I've not seen it from this angle, Tower Bridge is around the corner and  HMS Belfast looks spectacular as well.
Devonshire Square Monday to Friday is devoid of traffic but come the weekend seems to be the place to park your car or van. The square was packed, on Sunday I saw five traffic wardens looking pleased with themselves taking photos of the said vehicles without parking permits. It looks to me from the reception bay window that there's benches for the public to sit on and artwork to admire.
The building was built in 1898 and suffers from damp in the basement as I can definitely smell and see it when I do my patrols but it does have really good air conditioning and plenty of facilities to make a cuppa or two.
 Today the public will finally get the long awaited Defence Review. Accommodation has always been a problem and efforts have been made to reflect the situation on bases but if the M.O.D. keeps selling the properties off to estate agents who raise the rents the problems don't get resolved. Unless the land is used to build new accommodation blocks.
Kit, the high boot needs replacing. Most of the squaddies buy their own boots to prevent getting blisters, even going as far as pilots boots as these are more comfortable but pricey. As for the SA-80A rifle at least the problem of the plastic melting or cracking has been solved with gaffer tape. In my day the early examples had wooden butts instead of the plastic.
The Typhoon could do with the latest version replacing some of the older versions or the ones with the most flying hours, as to the F-35Bs we should have bought the retired Indian Sea Harriers and refurbished them. Boscombe Down has a few but not enough to form a Squadron.
Unmanned versions are coming online and have been used in other theatres missionwise but they still need a person in a shed/container to operate them.
Unless you're in the infantry or need to use a spanner.
 Of course I will be whiffing my alternatives to these proposals in the years to come.

Too much coffee from yesterday so I'm making a few improvements to the 1/72 Handley Page-Martin Magestic R.4 using the aerials from the EC-135N  Snoopy Nosed kit that's has a few leftover parts in the spares box. Other spare parts have also been glued on.
The Boeing ERB-56B Vigilance has had the rotodome and stand removed, new outer wing landing gear and rear landing gear doors changed.
The Vickers Valiant FASS AEW.4 has the SAC white metal landing gear fitted with the pair of fuel tanks plus nose weight and the cockpit canopy glued on. The nose pitot tube plus the bomb aimer canopy has been glued on underneath.

Time for lunch.

[McColm]

Tuesday 3rd June 2025

I took a walk down to Woolwich Arsenal today, usually takes me an hour but this time only forty minutes without any stops. Woolwich Arsenal is changing due to the new housing programme, W.H.Smiths has gone from Parade Street and so has the Post Office. The new leisure centre is coming along nicely next to the DLR station.
Two crossing outs on my bucket list, one putting cash on my bank card and the other selling my HP Stream laptop. Don't use Cashconverters if you have old I.T. equipment they are only interested in the newer versions. So I went to Cev and they were more than happy to evaluate and buy it from me. The laptop has had bad reviews, I only used it for a few weeks and couldn't get my head around it to do the things that I wanted.
After the sale I popped into Wimpy, their menu has shrunk. You can still get two and a half cups of tea from the pot but the list of food is minimal. Pleased with myself I started the walk home only to get caught in the rain, so I caught a number 177 bus from just opposite the church. Yes it stopped raining when I got off the bus.

[McColm]

Thursday 5th June 2025

British summer has arrived and it's raining in Charlton Southeast London. Back to work this evening for the next four nights, three rest days and another four night shifts,  payday is next week but no whiffery due to the jury service which starts in July.
Got to save up for the days that I'm not working.
Thankfully most of my started builds have reached the paint stage and I will be heading towards Freightdogmodels.co.uk for decals and missiles. The Boscombe Down Avro Shackleton paint scheme and test aircraft is one for the future projects.
Once I get the power tools, lots of DIY stuff to do and a visit to IKEA!


A change of plan, I have been pulled from working nights this evening and I will working on days from Friday at Mansell Street, London  E1 8AN.

[McColm]

Saturday 7th June 2025

I find myself working another weekend on days in another office block reception, watching the traffic pass by.
Thoughts have turned to what to build next. The STREET LIGHT Project, the 1/72 Vickers Valiant FASS AEW.4 is coming along nicely. I have a well worn pair of resin radomes that could be fitted to the Airfix or Revell/Matchbox H.P. Victor whereas the Avro Vulcan due to the fuselage they don't fit as they are too big. I will have to scratch build them, plastic card and lots of filler.

Something a bit smaller the BAe 125 or BAe 146. There's an article about using the HS/BAe 146 fitted with turboprop engines for use as the replacement for the BAe Nimrod MR.2P. If I can get my hands on the 1/72 Combat Model or 1/144 Revell kit.
The BAe 125 AEW version needs a lot of work to the rear. The tail fins could come from the
 A-10A or V-22 Osprey with the Freightdog C.O.D. conversion.
Failing that the Jetstream was another contender.

I haven't given up on the Dapol/Kitmaster bodyshell conversion to a running model in 00/ho gauge or improvements to playworn coaches/carriages. Got to get the model train layout up and running on a permanent base. Just like any layout this will change from time to time.
The plan is to use one of the shelves for the terminal and goods yard, then I can watch the trains running.


United Insurance Brokers deal with aircraft amongst other things, just found what floor they operate from. The company is in the process of moving out of Mansell Street as the office bluilding will be turned into flats later this year.

[McColm]

Sunday 8th June 2025

To fight off the boredom I've been scrolling through eBay and came across a broken 1/72 Revell Airbus A400M Atlas. No propellers and no wheels, so I have placed a cheeky low bid.
My plan should I win will be to replace the engines with turbofans either from a Boeing E-3A or B-52. I'll probably buy both kits later in the year. As the wings from the B-52 will be used to kitbash a flying wing and the E-3 turned into an MPA. I have tried this before but failed, second time should be better as I can use the bomb bay and spare engines from the B-52.
The Atlas will look very similar to the Be-A50 Mainstay AWACS .

The Revell Grizzly does come with two sets of propellers in the 1/72 model kit, the broken model does have a few parts missing no wonder the starting price is so low.

[McColm]

Tuesday 10th June 2025

I woke up too early this morning and I have been adding parts from the Mach2 Breguet Br.1150 Atlantic onto the Hasegawa Lockheed P-3C Orion which just happens to have the weapons bay from the Revell Dassault Aviation-Breguet Atlantic 1 "Italian Eagle (Magpie).
As I don't have any putty/filler to hand I think that a few more of these model kits will be needed to finish off the Lockheed Cormorant MR.1 with the alternative using the Br.1150 Atlantic with the T64 turboprop engines.
 After a cup of tea thoughts turned to the 1/144 Roden Convair XC-99 model kit with the possibility of returning back to a bomber, maritime surveillance and if I can replace the wings with those from a B-52G or vise-versa .

Changes to my work schedule have been confirmed for the rest of the week. Looking like four shifts from Thursday-Sunday which is okay for the next two weeks. July is on hold until my jury service has finished.

Changed again working between Mansell Street and Devonshire Square, six straight shifts.  Three days off and cover the following weekend on days.