It's apparently 24C in Ottawa today. It's 2.4C (note the decimal) in Fort McMurray. We got a dusting of snow last night, vs the dump Calgary got yesterday. It finally feels like fall. The forecast for the coming week looks a lot more seasonal than the past couple of weeks.
The week started sunny and much warmer than normal. Great weather to get a couple of long bike rides in. I headed over Parson's Creek way, likely the last time until next spring. Halloween decorations seem much more common this year, particularly the blow up ones. It seems to be an increasing trend, but one house in particular deserved a picture for the sheer size of the skeletons in their front yard.
On the way home I stumbled across a forest fire. I had seen the warnings on Twitter the previous day, but for some reasons thought it was in a different part of town. The first indication was a very strong smoke smell, the worst since the wildfire. As I got closer, I could see a helicopter bucketing water. Finally, as I came around a corner and over a small hill, I literally came face to face with a water cannon set up to protect the adjacent houses. The fire was about 50m west of the houses, just the other side of the greenbelt. The area was heavily burnt during the wildfire, but there was obviously enough fuel still remaining to support the burn. The fire has now been deemed under control, and the smoke seems to have finally moved out, but it was pretty heavy all day Friday and Saturday morning.
Photo 1 - Big skeletons
Photo 2 - Wildfire in TImberlea, just north and west of Cartier Park
Photo 3 - A line of water cannons set up to protect the houses.
A helicopter flying overhead to line up and drop water on the fire.
I did some more baseboard painting this week, finishing the garage side wall, from the front closet to the entrance to the garage. Next up will be to paint the garage door and the entrance vestibule. After that will be the main floor bathroom. I don't bend the way I used to, so I dread painting the bathroom. It is so cramped that it will be difficult to get into all the corners.
With the changing weather, I have also been working thru my winterization list. It felt funny putting snow tires on when it was 18C last Tuesday, but made a lot more sense by Thursday when the temperature dropped. I will wait until snow is on the ground before putting the winter tires on my bike.
I have been teaching Luna to catch the frisbee. She is the first dog since Kelsie that has shown any inclination for the frisbee. Unlike Kelsie, who would run down any frisbee at full speed, Luna tends to be take a more relaxed approach. She will chase a frisbee heading in her direction, but won't go all out to get it. And she will only bring it back if she catches it. A dropped frisbee is allowed to stay where it lands.
The kids are wrapping up midterms and their first session projects. Christine pulled another all nighter last night to finish a 90 page paper. Nicholas has been under the weather the last week, and went to see a doctor last Monday, who confirmed he had mono. Nicholas is feeling better now but I can't imagine writing exams when that sick. And Daniel apparently doesn't like quantum physics enough that he actually texted us for a change. Nicholas and Christine are now on their reading week. Christine moves at the end of the week. Daniel's reading week starts in a week.
Halifax
Painting is complete, including the roundels, squadron codes and serial numbers, and the fin flashes. The yellow gave me a lot of problems, both on the leading edges and on the roundels. The vertical stabilizers in particular needed multiple corrections, with paint bleeding under the masking regardless of what I tried. In frustration, I finally resorted to brush painting t finish it. The painted wing roundels and all the lettering turned out well, but the fuselage roundels were a learning experience, and only 3 of the 4 fin flashes turned out well. I debated overlaying the decals on the fuselage roundels and the fin flashes, but will wait to see what they look like after a clear coat and some weathering.
I am getting better at painting the multi colour roundels but they remain a challenge. I took some time last night to go review some online tutorials and picked up a few things I was either doing wrong, or not doing well. This should help the next attempts.
Photo 1 - A painted wing roundel
Photo 2 - The fuselage roundel, squadron codes, and serial number. The multi-colour roundel is close but doesn't seem quite "right"
Photo 3 - The painted stabilizer leading edge and fin flashes. The one on the left turned out okay, but the one on the right had to be corrected several times.
Photo 4 - Everything put together. Everything shown is painted.
GT40
With the chassis finished, it was time to get started on the body. The initial primer coat dried much rougher than expected, requiring a lot of sanding to smooth it out. After several hours sanding, it was time for colour.
The kit provides decals for the red areas around the headlights, but I wanted to try painting it instead. The decals were scanned and used to create masks out of yellow tape. The red was applied first, then masked off, ready for the Hawaiian Blue.
The Gravity Paint I am using is new to me. It is a very smelling lacquer that is air brush ready out of the bottle. It sprays really nicely, for both light and heavy wet coats, creating a smooth, semi-gloss finish. The only compliant is a tendency for the paint to build on the airbrush tip and then "spit" little drops on to the model. Starting airflow off the model before starting paint flow greatly reduced this.
The initial blue layer turned up a number of areas that looked okay under primer but needed further work under the blue. The second layer turned out really well except for a couple of "spit" spots on the hood. Gentle sanding and then a heavy, wet third coat produced a beautiful, smooth, semi gloss finish. The model will be set aside for a few days to allow the paint to fully dry.
Some tricky masking is coming up. All the trim around the windows represents black rubber gaskets on the real car, and will need to be carefully masked before painting. I also just realized that the front body openings, including the headlight and fog lights, are black inside. Some thought is needed to figure out how to mask these areas, as they don't have natural demarcations to mask along. One of the red masks slipped slightly, along the edge of the nose, and will require some clean up and masking to restore the red.
Photo 1 - Primer applied and painstakingly polished
Photo 2 - Gravity Paint Ford Poppy Red applied
Photo 3 - First of three coats of Ford Hawaiian Blue applied
Photo 4 - Second coat of blue applied. Pretty good except for a bit of paint spit from the airbrush, visible just above the hood hinge
Photo 5 - Hood repaired and repainted
Just for the heck of it, I pulled out a Lancaster kit this afternoon. It will likely be the next project after the Halifax. I have decided to paint it in camouflage, deferring a RCAF white and silver plane to the future.
That's it for this week. I don't think there will be a post next week, as Marie and I have a quick trip to Calgary planned to visit our parents. We are taking the dogs this trip, so Reilly might be for sale depending on how he behaves in hotel rooms. Stay safe everyone.
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