June 2012 - Ping

[lastvautour]

We passed the 1,000,000 mark on gallery views last month. Pat yourselfs on the back for the fine work done and posted to the gallery.

6,419 files in 303 albums and 16 categories with 715 comments viewed 1,078,833 times

The forum is also doing well for visitors.



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Cliff Strachan     487
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Model Of the Year                191
What The. . . ?                    158
Questions About use.           147

[lastvautour]

I hope we get more input this month. Let everyone know what is on your bench, and if your bench is empty, let us know that also.

AirToons - All F-18s should be completed by mid June. 
F-18 Spanish awaiting decals and weapons load
F-18 RCAF Awaiting decals and weapons load
F-18 Swiss Awaiting decals and weapons load
F-18 RAAF Awaiting decals (Loaded with 2 Sparrows, 4 Sidewinders and 2 SRAAM)
T-33 X 2 Fuselage blocked only
F-4J USMC all major components rough carved

1/32 Scale
Piper Cubs neglected but still on the bench.

1/72 Scale
Need to select a topic. Noticed I don't have a 1/72 WWII ID + Hellcat?

Lou

[buccfan]

On the Toon front, I've not started anything yet but I have 3 sets of templates ready to go. The F18 graciously provided by Lou, a Tucano, and something I came across while looking for Tucano plans which is a NDN Turbo Firecracker, which was a contender in the RAF Trainer competition which the Tucano won. There will be a few challenges for me on this one, not only the wing shape and contour, but the engine vents. Should be fun!.Regards Paul J.

[Balsabasher]

Currently putting the Fairey Twin Battle together,its looking impressive so photographs soon.

Caproni Camprini needs rubbing down and repainting after the paint bubbled up in the sun,the rain past few days has delayed things and yesterday I had a few gallons of water to mop up from the old fire station workshop,it rained continually for two days.

Stencils cut for a Scottish Aviation Pioneer,this will be the second solid model that I have built of this unique subject.

Stencils cut out a while back for Chrislea Super Ace may be tackled this month and converted into blanks pending other jobs ?

A Stearman's parts have been cut out as blanks.

Still planning a large Avro Anson and Dragon Rapide,the plans for the Anson have been drawn up.

Thats all for the moment the workbench is fairly quiet.

Barry.

[Boomerang]

 
 

G'Day all,

Flycatcher -  proceeding slowly.
  Cierva

C-30 - Steadily proceeding. Still pondering the rotor hub.Fuselage joined after making up some seats from aluminium   food  tray - not to bad for first attempt.
  DH  5.. - Wings and tail plane made . Used whiteboard margin tape 1.5mm to simulate rib tapes . Turned out pretty good. Pictures posted when I get around to it.
  Caproni CH 1 - No real advancement since pictures were posted

Cheers

Gordon

[Balsabasher]

That tape is good Gordon,makes excellent ribbing effects.
Barry.

[cliff strachan]

Hi To All,
I believe Lou suggested that even if our boards were vacant we should advise the Group of our intentions.
I've got at least 15 aircraft that I would like to model - as to Why I'm not as sure as I would like to be. But at the present time, and likely for the remainder of the year, there will probably be very little activity emanating from here. Due mostly to a number of conflicting activities - chief of which will be a possible move and generally just "catching up."
Perhaps, if the Group is willing to put up with listening to a couple of my ideas, I may substitute actual model building with a number of discourses or approaches that SMM might consider for future involvement. On the other hand if I do get a chance I may submit something anyway.
Cliff.

[Balsabasher]

Dear Cliff I think that anyting inspirational would  be a good talking point,ideas as well can also be discussed by all as dialogue.
Barry.

[Oceaneer99]

Like Cliff, my models are still on the back burner.  But I have started a major clean-out of my basement and garage, which are the two areas where I build my models.  I have taken several loads of stuff to local charities, and am building up a big pile of scrap lumber to take to the dump.  Growing up, we moved every 4-5 years, so there was never much time to accumulate.  But now I've been in the same house for 10 years, so there are a lot of projects that never quite got off the ground, and it's time to either finish them or give away the parts I'd accumulated for them.

I have also been working on a bicycle storage closet.  The closet got put on hold after a shoulder injury.  That's healing up slowly, but I was able to work on the closet last weekend and paint many of the wooden parts with primer.

One of my models did disappear -- it was my 1/288 scale Heinkel He-113.  Somehow, it got blown off the display shelf.  It took a lot of crawling around with a flashlight on the ground before I finally found that it had flown over to a nearby filing cabinet.  I put it in a storage box for safe keeping for now.  As part of my garage cleanup, I found some scrap from an earlier cabinet project, so it may be time to make a proper display cabinet.  I have some aluminum channel that is designed for sliding cabinet doors, so I could even install acrylic doors on the front to keep the dust out.

Garet

[Balsabasher]

Garet scrap timber ! if only I was within retrieving distance then it would soon be collected,I bet that there is rare woods to me at least in that stash.
Yes it is so easy to accumulate things and the solid models magpie instinct comes out in us all,take care with that shoulder and enjoy the clean up operation !
Barry.

[Oceaneer99]

I have to admit that I've thus far just gotten rid of the timbers and lumber that is easy to part with, but that is much of the big stuff. It's easier for me to justify keeping the exotic bits and pieces around because they take up less space! 

I do have some unidentified short boards that are 80 or so years old, probably alder or something similar, thought they are stained with age.  I've used a few for model parts in the past (such as the toy Welch dragon I made years ago), but most of the grain is uncooperative, so I put the rest in the scrap pile.

Tonight, I was cleaning out my old darkroom equipment, including some homemade pinhole cameras I made long ago -- the film for these is no longer even sold!

I need to decide what to do with about 10 stair treads dating from about 1900.  They are beautiful, vertical-grain clear Douglas fir, but are painted with thick layers of lead paint.  I have a few that are merely varnished, and I plan to make some sort of furniture out of those.

I also had some varnished fir molding from a local elementary school when they did a remodel a few years ago.  I'm recycling that wood as the door and window molding for my bicycle closet.

Garet

[Balsabasher]

Al good stuff Garet,I love recycing things into useful objects of desire,it brings the creative juices out of us as model builders and craftsmen doing jobs around the house,I have never even heard of Alder ? the timbers that you get over there never reach these shores,it used to say that Satin Walut was the ideal wood for solids but despite a lifetimes search even a small piece has never come my way.
The Kenji mystery gets deeper because he sent me some Jap exotic woods by seafreaight but they never ever arrived ? I was really looking forward to making a few models from those pieces,I wonder if they were intercepted as potential beetle threats or something like that ? it happens with plants going through customs,just a thought ?
The lead paint is a problem,do you think a planer would be harmful to health on that wood Garet ?
Barry.

[cliff strachan]

Garet, Your remarks concerning having to toss out your "old" darkroom equipment I can definitely empathise with. It seems that I no sooner was knowledgeable in developing and printing colour prints than it became redundant to new technology. I suppose being a bit of a Luddite to start with didn't help. Hence Solid Scale. However, it's not the first time in history. But if it's not close to the last - well then mankind is pretty much toast. In the meantime we can think of all those who had made jobs out of ancient procedures. I've got several boxes of coloured paper stored in the fridge that I've been recently told that the best that I can do is throw them in the garbage. However, for your info apparently you can still get coloured film processed.
Cliff.