May 2025

Finally, some nice weather. Nice enough to sit on the deck, with a beer, to finish up this month's update.

Marie and I are once more empty nesters, at least for a few months. Nicholas has gone east to begin his new job with Stantec, and Christine has traveled to Zurich for her spring semester. It feels unusual, as we've had so many kids in the house since Christmas.

Nicholas headed east on the 3rd for his new job with Stantec. Packing proved an adventure as he tried to fit his life into his HR-V. He didn't manage to get everything in, despite considerable planning and test fits, so he plans to fly back to Calgary on the July long weekend to pick up another load. With Greyhound gone, it is more economical carry stuff back as excess luggage than to ship it by truck. His departure timing was perfect, allowing him to attend the Whiteout street party in Winnipeg, with his uncle and cousin, for the Jets thrilling game 7 come from behind overtime win. He arrived safely in Ontario on the 8th, giving him a week to get sorted out and to start looking for a place to stay before he started work on the 17th. He is staying with Jill, at her Mom's place, for the immediate future, taking some of the pressure off to find a longer term place to stay. Perhaps that's a good thing, as finding a suitable place has proven more difficult than hoped. Everything they like they can’t afford, while everything they can afford is missing something they want. The first two weeks of work has gone well, consisting mainly of training. He says he really likes the office culture and the people he has met. It sounds like it will be a good place to work.

Christine headed off on the 4th for her spring session in Zurich. She spent a couple weeks touring Europe before starting classes, stopping in London, Brussels and Antwerp in Belgium, and then Metz in France. The first week of classes has gone well, consisting mainly of tours around Zurich to understand the city's layout and history. On her first weekend off, she headed to Venice with a classmate. Unfortunately, the Italian railways were on strike the day she set out, resulting in a long delay in Milan. They eventually managed to get on a bus and finish the journey, arriving at the hostel at 2 am. It sounds like they had a fantastic weekend in Venice, including attending the bienali, a giant architectural expo being held near St Peter's Square.

Daniel, fresh back from a work trip to Italy and Germany, told us that he has a two week work trip to China coming up. He is planning a trip to Calgary at the end of June, with a week of remote work and then a few days at Stampede. He decided that wasn’t enough travelling so he headed to LA for the Memorial Day weekend. He has recently taken up triathalon training, going for early morning swims, runs and bike rides before heading to work. On top of all this, he has moved to a new place, and has been working with his sister to design and set up his new room. That kid just has too much energy.

We made the most of the week before the Christine and Nicholas left, going to Canmore for flatbread, having dinner at Centini's, and attending the International Beer Fest.

We have started working with a trainer to manage Ember's anger management issues. The first session started out a little too new age for my liking, but the hands on work that followed was much more logical, and produced some quick results. We did another session earlier this week, and the trainer noted that Ember is noticeably calmer, better able to manage several of her previous anger triggers. The second session has also given us some more tools to try as we work towards a calmer Ember. I tried an outdoor session the other day, and it went okay, but there are sooooo many distractions that she has to deal with.

Dave and I headed to Edmonton on the 17th to attend the Alberta Open Model contest. It was a great show and we had a blast. We even managed to squeeze in a couple visits to local hobby shops.

Our water heater died the night before I headed to Edmonton. It was raining, so I had gone downstairs after supper to shut off the irrigation timer. The puddle on the floor was the first thing I saw when I walked into the utility room. It was the May long weekend, but Marie was able to get hold of a plumber the next morning and they came over right away. The plumber quickly confirmed the tank was leaking from the bottom. He drained some water from the bottom of the tank, and disgusting is the only way to describe the black sludge that came out. Rust from the tank is likely the reason our hot water has had a yellow tinge. The new tank was installed last Tuesday, after the long weekend, to avoid the extra expense from opening the warehouse on the weekend. They also installed a new cartridge in the ensuite bathroom shower, but that hasn't gone so well. That shower is now leaking more than it did before changing the cartridge, so they are coming back to fix it. The basement in-floor heating also appears to have stopped working, so they will take a look at that.

It’s almost been a year in the new house, and we finally started hanging pictures. I think we are just about done on the main floor. It’s taking some getting used to seeing pictures on formerly blank walls. One floor down, two to go.

Magic Factory A-4N Skyhawk

As a reminder, this is the plane that Daniel picked out for me to build.

Construction started with the cockpit. It is a very monotone assembly, with everything other than the seat and instrument panel painted medium grey. A black wash was applied to highlight the moulded detail.

The box notes it is a 2 in 1 kit. That normally means, at least to me, that there are two kits in one box. In this case, it means that there are two different ways you can build the kit. Parts are provided for planes that were constructed early and late in the production run. Most of the differences seem relatively minor, though the late model tail is quite different. There are also a number of differences in the cockpit layout and details. I can't find anything that tells me what version the Top Aces planes are. I had initially assumed they were equivalent to a late model, as research indicated these A-4N planes were improved versions of the A-4M. I figured that mean it would include the various late model updates and proceeded building the cockpit accordingly. Later, while looking at pictures of the real plane, I realized that it had an early model tail. So the cockpit has been built as a late model but will use an early model tail.

The kit provides both flat and detailed instrument and side console panels panels. The flat panels are supposed to be used with the provided instrument decals, while the detailed pieces are supposed to be hand painted. I combined the two options, using the decals on the detailed pieces. Copious amounts of decal setting solution let the decals settle nicely into the panel details.

The cockpit sits on top of the front landing gear bay. The bay is well detailed but everything is white. A dark grey wash was used to bring out details and create some contrast.

it Photo 1 - Basic cockpit

Photo 2 - 3D effect by applying the decal to the instrument panel

Photo 3 - Front gear bay

The kit allows options to pose many exterior panels and details in open positions. I typically like to build "clean" planes, with everything buttoned up, so most of these will be closed. I debated using the really nice supplied engine, which can be viewed through open access panels, but stuck to plans for a clean plane.

The A-4N model Skyhawk has a number of differences from the A-4M model, with the most notable being the extended exhaust nozzle, intended to reduce the engine's heat signature. A resin nozzle, intended for the Hasegawa kit, had been previously purchased with the intent to fit it to this kit. Test fitting the resin nozzle determined it had was about a millimetre larger in diameter than the kit fuselage. Studying photos of the real plane showed it to have a larger transition section between the fuselage and nozzle than the kit seemed to have, which seemed like a way to adapt the fit. Milliputt putty was used to create the larger transition section, as well as to blend in the bottom half of the nozzle to fuselage joint. Lots of sanding produced the desired transition, which looked okay under a coat of primer. The kit provides what I assume are rear radar detectors or ECM blisters, but they are much larger than the ones on the real plane. Much cutting and sanding got them down to a more appropriate size. Rivets lost during the sanding and filling were restored using a sewing needle in a pin vise.

Photo 1 - New resin nozzle alongside kit nozzle

Photo 2 - New resin nozzle installed and blending in started.

Photo 3 - Not pretty but it should work

Constructing intakes on 50’s and 60’s jets can be difficult. These planes typically include a splitter plate - the portion of the intake adjacent to the fuselage - that is offset slightly away from the fuselage. This creates a small gap between the fuselage and intake that can be very difficult to build without gaps or steps, and can be even more difficult to paint. This kit has a very neat set up that virtually clicks together, and allows the intake and the adjacent fuselage to be painted before assembly.

Intakes painted and installed

Next up, construction of the wing assembly.

Airfix 1/24 Spitfire

This is the plane Nicholas picked for me to work on.

The model was cleaned with isopropyl alcohol in preparation for painting. The canopy was masked and then sprayed with interior green to represent the interior colour.

A thinned mix of dark grey paint was randomly sprayed through a splatter mask as a preshade. Darker, heavier patches were applied to areas that were likely to have been most worn and dirty. These would later be allowed to show through the final colour to represent wear and tear.

Commonwealth fighter aircraft had yellow paint applied to the wing leading edge. This was sprayed with Trainer Yellow, then carefully masked.

It is likely that the code letters on the side of the airplane were sky grey so the rear fuselage ID stripe and the code letter areas were sprayed with sky grey. Once dry, the code letters and ID stripe were masked using home made masks. Trying something new, a circle the same size as the fuselage roundel was first applied to aid placing the letter masks.

It was now time to start painting the final colours. First applied was medium sea grey over the entire underside. This was then masked off for protection to allow the upper side to be painted. The two tone green and grey topside camouflage was sketched onto the plane using a pencil. I wanted to try chipping the upper wing areas to represent the wear expected on a year old plane. Spitfires, especially ones in service for any length of time, showed noticeable wear and chipping of paint along the wing roots, around the gun panels, and around the cockpit. Silver paint was first sprayed over the areas to be chipped to represent bare metal. The chipping medium was then sprayed over the wings and along the sides of the cockpit. Ocean grey was applied first, on the assumption that the green paint would be able to cover any overspray. The camouflage separations were set using camouflage putty, a black plasticine similar to silly putty. The green was then carefully sprayed over the unmasked areas.

Chipping was initiated by applying water to the wing areas and then gently scrubbing with a stiff brush. The paint came up much quicker than expected but the effect looked pretty good. Things got a little carried away on the port wing, so some paint was restored with very thin paint.

Photo 1 - Ready for paint

Photo 2 - Primed. Yellow leading edge warnings applied. Silver applied in west areas. Dark grey applied through a random stencil for preshading.

Photo 3 - Medium Sea Grey applied to the undesired

Photo 4 - Painting complete

Photo 5 - First effort at chipping. Might have overdone the port wing

Photo 6 -A lot of masking for some thin black lines

With the main colours completed, masks were applied to paint the roundels and fin flashes. I have recently had some problems painted roundels but everything went really well this time.

I forgot that the black wing walkway stripes pass under the wing roundels. Of course, I remembered this after the roundels had been painted. I decided it would be easier to paint the stripes rather than try and cut and fit the decal stripes.

All the masking removed

A clear coat is still needed to protect the paint and prepare things for weathering.

Next up, the engine! This is a small kit in itself, with as many steps as the entire plane so far. Should be fun!

That's it for another month. Take care and stay safe.