Pellsons Perceivings

[Pellson]

Ah. Weekend again.  Any modelling done this week? A little, actually.  Having found that the aluminium metalcote paint doesn't stay on very well when you handle the model, I have repainted  and varnished a bit. We'll see if it's enough. 
I also took the opportunity to gloss up a few IRST balls, and that actually did make more difference than I had expected. Good stuff!

I have now decided to go for yellow numbers all over for the Drakens. It brings some colour to the model together with hi-vis roundels, so that'll be good - once I get to actually put them on the darn things. The working weeks have been a bit frustrating and the next two weeks aren't any better.  I really need to retire...

Today, while off work, I decided to pause modelling a bit and go with the lovely Mrs P to a museum in reasonably nearby Linköping. They have a temporary exhibition on the Swedish version of the Salem witch hunt, an unfathomably cruel and disturbing period. But interesting. Not so few priests and lawmen actually tried to bring reason into the calamity, but in too many cases, ill will, general hatred for women and stupidity got the best of them, and many, many were tortured and executed on very loose grounds. Important not to forget, though.

Fiddling around with my models, I came across the all but finished old Airfix Lightning. It's still a very nice build, methinks, and I think I would like to build another one, maybe for the RDAF. I would probably need to sort another replacement radome, though. The kit part is much tool long and blunt, and while I might give it a try to sand into shape, it might not be enough plastic in the part to make that work. And even if I could sort that with some putty or similar, it will likely not be easy to get the shape exact. But we'll see.
I'm also keen on giving the J32F supersonic Lansen interceptor another go.  I have made two, previously, but none that I have been pleased with, so it's still on my to-do list. I have a fairly good idea of how I want to do it, having tried a few times now. Increasing the wing sweep, replacing the blunt radome with a pointy one, and sorting the engine exhaust to match the higher powered Avon 60 that was planned for it back in the day. And adding a small extension mid fuselage to make the broader wing chord due to the increased sweep match. And maybe widen the chord further outboard, creating a dogtooth in the leading edge as per the Hunter F.6. That would decrease the thickness/chord ratio further, allowing for higher critical Mach number. Previously, I have used the venerable (but good!) Heller kit, but this time, I managed to find one of the newer Tarangus J32B/D/E kits, meaning that the correct ADEN gun pack is there, as are the slightly enlarged intakes. On the other hand, the plastic isn't as soft, so it'll be a somewhat more tricky job to cut nicely. But I'm a bit excited to get to it.

But first some decals, maybe?

[Rick Lowe]

The Girls always look better properly dressed... 

[Captain Canada]

I'll have to read into the Swedish witch hunt. For sure, those were some crazy times. Sometimes, tuth is starnger than fiction ! Looking forward to seeing some pics of the Lightning, and for sure, build another one !

Cheers, and have a great rest-of-weekend !

[Pellson]

Well, not much decalling done. Instead, I got stuck with touching up paint. You know how it is. You see something you're not happy with. You do something about it. You paint a little too much. So you touch up with whatever paint you have to, and you overpaint a little, and the circle starts all over again.

In this case, it all started with me deciding that after all, I didn't want the intakes to be overpainted as on the later J35J Drakens, but rather glassfibre green-brown, as the real, short-intake A, B and C Drakens.

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So pop goes the paint tin, and there we are. Adjusting the demarcation line between unpainted glassfibre and painted aircraft aluminium. On three aircraft. Six individual intakes. One grey topside, another down under. Annoying. But now done.

Maybe I'll find time for some decals later the coming week.

[Rick Lowe]

I sometimes think all the finessing and fettling and rework takes the majority of any build... at least in my experience.

[Pellson]

What's most annoying is that once you've got an idea stuck in your head, you just have to realise it, no matter how futile it is.. 

[Rick Lowe]

What's most annoying is that once you've got an idea stuck in your head, you just have to realise it, no matter how futile it is.. 

Yup... or how many times you have to rework it, to achieve your vision...

[Pellson]

I went to a renewables fair in Sundsvall (check it on Google maps) for work Monday - Wednesday this week. While good as such, and a lovely opportunity to meet old mates from the business again, it was COLD!! -31 C on Tuesday morning. That did actually physically hurt! It was sunny, though, and the venue was up on the hill just south of town, giving a magnificient view over the town, the harbour and not least the two big paper mills which provided an almost magic veil of steam over the bay as the icy air kept the smoke low. Beautiful, but deadly cold, as said..
I drove up, picking up some colleagues/friends en route, and north of Uppsala, the road had a thin but steel hard layer of ice on top, meaning that we basically powerslided our way northwards. A rather interesting experience. The LR Discovery might not be exactly the car you imagine powersliding in, but she behaved very well indeed.
On the way up, I took an overnighter in Uppsala, spending the evening with friends I see too seldom. A very good idea indeed, and something I think I needed rather badly, actually. I have been a bit down lately, and this particular friend is one to share things with. And that heals me. I feel considerably stronger now.
Going back south, I took the entire stretch in one go, spending ca seven hours in the car more or less nonstop. Somewhat tiring, admittedly, but I generally find it rather easy to relax if driving a good car, so I think most of the fatigue experienced on Thursday forthwith came from me catching some cold or fever or whatever, probably at the fair, effectively shutting me down from Thursday evening. Rather annoying, as I really hate not being myself, and also meaning I have loads of work to complete. And that will probably curtail whatever plans I had for modelling this weekend too. Permission to say c%#k, Sir! 
Well, there will be more days, more weekends and more time for modelling.

Sulking away at home, with a substantial pot of tea, I'm currently trying to stare down a risk assessment for a grid connection of a solar power farm. What could go wrong, ey? Too many things, by far.. So I'd better get on with it rather than enjoying myself too much here.

[Rick Lowe]

On the way up, I took an overnighter in Uppsala, spending the evening with friends I see too seldom. A very good idea indeed, and something I think I needed rather badly, actually. I have been a bit down lately, and this particular friend is one to share things with. And that heals me. I feel considerably stronger now.

Time with Good Friends is, as you said, repairing to the soul. Glad you are in a better place now. 

Permission to say c%#k, Sir! 

Granted - we don't stand on Ceremony here, we stamp it into the ground. 

[NARSES2]

it was COLD!! -31 C on Tuesday morning. That did actually physically hurt! It was sunny, though,

That's -24F    There is no way I'd have the clothing to go out in temperatures that low.

[Pellson]

..giving a magnificient view over the town, the harbour and not least the two big paper mills which provided an almost magic veil of steam over the bay as the icy air kept the smoke low. Beautiful, but deadly cold, as said..

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Microscopically better today. Or maybe not. But good enough to share that view, at least. 

[Steel Penguin]

the view is wonderful     I just hope that the light blurs are the reflections of the house lights of the house your in, otherwise it seems to be either the aliens are arriving, or someones spraying a huge amount of tracer around.      

[Pellson]

the view is wonderful     I just hope that the light blurs are the reflections of the house lights of the house your in, otherwise it seems to be either the aliens are arriving, or someones spraying a huge amount of tracer around.      

Ever heard of Russian drone warfare..😉

[Rheged]

the view is wonderful     I just hope that the light blurs are the reflections of the house lights of the house your in, otherwise it seems to be either the aliens are arriving, or someones spraying a huge amount of tracer around.      

Ever heard of Russian drone warfare..😉

Years ago, a great many of us had to experience a  serious and sustained  bombardment  of academic droning ............"A lecturer may be defined as an individual who talks in someone else's sleep"

[Rick Lowe]

Years ago, a great many of us had to experience a  serious and sustained  bombardment  of academic droning ............"A lecturer may be defined as an individual who talks in someone else's sleep"

Nice.