Hello! It's the May long weekend! I have such fond memories of the May long weekend. It was the first three day weekend of the summer, and for the longest time, meant heading to Thunder Lake to help open the cabin.
This is my first summer long weekend as a retiree, and it brings an interesting perspective. I used to look forward to long weekends when I worked. It was am extra day off from work, a chance to sleep in, and do something different that a normal weekend didn't allow. Now, weekends are really no different than any other day, except you don't get a newspaper.
It has been a couple weeks since the last blog update. It seems like there had been a lot going on so not much progress on the models.
Copper had a relapse a week ago due to an error on his medications. We realized late in the week that he was running out of some of the new pills, and tried to get refills before the weekend. We weren't able to get a refill, but fortunately our vet was the on call facility and they were able to get us enough to get thru the weekend. That ran out on Tuesday, but the vet wasn't able to process the refills until Thursday. Going two days without medication meant that his plumbing backed up and I was back at the vet Thursday and Friday to have his bladder drained. The worst part is that the medication really hits him hard when he starts it, knocking him flat for a couple days. It is scary to see your dog unwilling to move, not knowing if its just the medication or if they are in pain. He has since come around and is mostly back to his old self, other than having become very inconsistent about eating. He used to be a hearty eater but is now very slow and picky. It is longer clear if he will eat, what he will eat, or how much he will eat. Often he will only eat if the bowl is held under his nose, or if he is spoon fed. Hopefully he gets his normal appetite back soon.
It was also Christine's 24th birthday on the 19th. She celebrated by driving to Calgary for game 1 of the battle of Alberta, driving back the next day, and going to work the day after that.
The weather has been nice enough to get several long bike rides in. I have figured out how to get downtown using the bike paths, and rode to the Maritime Museum along the Clearwater.
The better weather bring lots of yard work. We had some unexpected help cleaning up the front yard one evening. I was getting bedtime cookies for the dogs when I noticed a large black object in the front flower bed. I initially thought it was a black garbage bag until the bag moved! It turned out to be a black bear, and a large one at that, cleaning up the crab apples under the apple tree. The next door neighbour scared him away but he was back at 5 the next morning.
Last blog I noted that my resin printer and wash station had arrived. That meant I needed to find a place to set them up, leading to a three day effort to clean up my workshop. Three large garbage bags later, I had enough space to set them up on a small bench. Setup steps are compkete, and the printer is levelled and ready to use. I got a mystery notice from Canada Post earlier this week, listing Pearson airport as the shipper. This is similar to the notice I received when the wash station was shipped, so here's hoping the resin is on its way.
While watching hockey, I did some updates to my actual web page. The Kitty Hawk Voodoo has been added under the Kitted heading. Here is a direct link.
https://paddleriver.wixsite.com/anorthernmodeller/kitty-hawk-1-48-cf-101-voodoo
DC-6
Good progress has been made on the decals, with all decals complete on the port side, and partially complete on the starboard side. I had a late surprise when it became apparent that the decal window openings didn't quite match the actual fuselage openings. Each decal cheatline was cut into three pieces to minimize the differences. I had one cheatline section roll over on itself, and scrunch up into a tangled mess. Patience and determination were able to mostly unfold it and get it back on the fuselage.
Another surprise was the appearance of an extra window. I had found pictures of both sides of the actual plane, and had carefully counted windows and matched against the model. A difference was noted, requiring one window to be filled. However, when the decals were applied to the port side, an extra window miraculously had appeared!. A very short internal debate was had regarding removal of the decal, filling the extra window, and repainting. Being lazy, it was decided to leave the decal in place and use one of the decal windows instead. As shown in Photos 5 & 6, it looks okay from 3 feet.
Getting decals to wrap around the nose cone is always a challenge, and it was no different here. The nose decal was partially slit to try for a cleaner overlap. Unfortunately the decal split completely while being prodded into place. I will have to figure out a way to close the resulting gap once work resumes.
Bell X-1
The X-1 has progressed thru primer to final paint.
Thankfully the kit came with canopy masks, as masking the canopy would have been a bear otherwise.
Orange is notorious for poor coverage. I had read that pink was a good undercoat, and had successfully used it previously on the Pioneer grain elevation. The plane looked a little strange in pink. but it worked. The orange covered well without any issues.
I didn't have any paint that came close to matching the distinct orange paint on the X-1. I have an app that helps with paint mixing, and had worked out a rather complex mix using Tamiya paints. I wondered if there were other options, and used the app to try and find a ready mixed colour. There are a couple places in town that sell paint so immediate options are limited before having to resort to mail order. The comic store thankfully sells Tamiya, and has been my go to place to buy most of my paint. There is also a gaming store that sells Citadel paints. These are intended for painting gaming miniatures, and come in a number of vibrant colours with equally colourful names. Troll Slayer Orange looked like a good match and a little plastic pot was purchased. The paint is very thick, similar to a craft paint, but thins well with water, and sprays smoothly. Two coats and the model is ready for a clear coat and decals.
That's it for now. Go Flames Go!
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