My father passed away Feb 3. I am thankful I had the opportunity to share his final days, sitting by his bedside and holding his hand. I will miss him terribly.
I created this blog for a number of reasons, but mainly as a means to record my modelling progress to share with my Dad. His passing brings an opportunity to review the blog's future. Coincidentally, I hit the storage limit of the free blog, meaning I will either have to delete previous entries to free up space, or pay to increase my storage. Over the last nearly 2 years, the blog has evolved, especially as the kids started to read it. It has evolved, become as much a family newsletter as a modelling blog. Somewhat to my surprise, I enjoy writing it. Given that, I have purchased two years of increased storage, and will continue to write the blog
We have had a mixed bag of weather the last week. It was well above freezing last weekend, with several hours of rain Sunday. With everything wet and sloppy, the weather turned cold and it all froze into a thick layer of ice. Walking the dogs needed traction aides, when it was warm enough. Thursday gave a one day respite from the cold, briefly turning warm enough to get out for the first bike ride in three weeks. Thursday night saw a extreme cold warning issued and it has been cold ever since. Next week's forecast doesn't appear to bring much relief so there may not be many bike rides or dog walks.
Ember's house training remains a work in progress, though we finally seem to be taking two steps forward for every step backwards. We barricaded her into the back half of the house after we realized that she was prone to sneaking off to pee. Since then, she will frequently, but not consistently, whines at the door or bumps the bells to let us know she wants out. Probably about 75% of the time now. The other 25% she is as apt to pee right in front of you as she is to sneak off.
Nicholas and Christine flew into Calgary for my dad's funeral, providing an unexpected but welcome chance to visit. We stopped in Edmonton on our the way home, picking up the dogs and having a wonderful lunch with Daniel.
Daniel has accepted an 8 month co-op position with ATCO in Edmonton. The role will allow him to work thru a project design, giving him both design and Project Management experience. As we were having lunch with him, he learned that he had finished second for the Tesla position. I know he is disappointed but finishing second is a significant accomplishment. After a gruelling week of midterms, he has started his reading week break. He plans to stay in Edmonton to catch up on school work and begin construction on the F1 team project car.
Nicholas didn't have any midterms this term, a welcome break. Like Daniel, he is also starting reading week, and will use it to catch up on sleep and school work. While in Calgary with us, he learned that he was successful getting an Environmental Engineering summer student position with Syncrude at the Mildred Lake site. This should provide exceptional work experience in his chosen field of study. Syncrude also has a track record of hiring summer students they like so it could potentially turn into a permanent job when he finishes later this year.
Christine's masters application had been submitted. She will learn if she is accepted by late March or early April. She had to chase three of her profs for references, with one submitting it the day before the deadline, while two more submitted the day of the deadline. Her design scholarship application, where she was nominated by the school, followed a similar path. She finished the project a week early, and submitted it to her mentor for review and approval. That prof waited until the day before to review a 100 page design application, and then asked for changes. Christine pulled an all nighter to get it done but her design was approved and submitted on time.
Christine also received notice that she made the deans list for last term. Marie and I are so very impressed and button-busting proud of her. Her reading week is the last week of February, and she will be coming home to get her fill of puppies.
Lancaster
I have a collection of airplane and train photos stored in a box, on a shelf, over my workbench. The shelf is fairly full, also containing an assortment of unbuilt kits and decals. Last week, while searching for pictures of my Dad, everything on the shelf came down. After an assortment of choice words, itaf was picked up and put back on the shelf. Prompting it all to fall again. After repeating the choice words, everything was once again back on the shelf. A week later, when I came back to the bench to work, I couldn't find my favourite tweezers. Repeating the choice words, the desk was cleaned and the area searched. Twice. The tweezers refused to appear. The carpet mobster wins another round.
I wasn't going to mask and paint the markings this time, but wanted to try an new way to align and place masks. Previously were simply eyeballed into place. This approach has it's limitations, and was really hit or miss. The mask and transfer tape are semi transparent, and it can be hard to see details underneath. The mask is also both floppy and sticky, fixing in place as soon as it touches the model. Repositioning required the mask to be peeled off and the process repeated. In the past, this had meant a lot of trial and error before each mask was in place. Easy repositioning effort increased the risk of distortion or damage to the mask. The new approach involves placing thin pieces of masking tape on the model to act as guides that will be visible thru the mask. In the example below, the tape is set along the center line and the top edge of a wing roundle . Corresponding marks are made on the mask using a black marker. The mask is then placed using the tape to align and guide it into place. Once the mask is on the model, the tape can be removed and the mask burnished down. The process worked really well and all the masks to be placed into position on the first try!
Photo 1 - Masking tape placed on the center line and top edge
Photo 2 - Guidelines are placed on the mask using black marker, then aligned appropriately with the masking tape.
Photo 3 - The mask is gently raised and the guide tape removed.
Photo 4 - The finished roundle, in the right place!
Painted markings and decals are now complete. All the roundles and squadron codes were painted. Decals were used for the walkways, the serial numbers and the nose art. I tried cutting masks for the serial numbers but they were too small and wouldn't cut cleanly enough to use.
A second clear coat has now been applied to protect the decals. Once dry, the weathering process can start.
The horizontal stabilizers are a tight fit, and took some pressure to insert. Unfortunately, the effort required cracked the upper and lower fuselage seams. It should be simple enough to reglue the joints from the inside. As long as I am careful, there shouldn't be any glue squeeze out and minimal paint repairs. I will wait until I am almost finished to make the repair so I don't accidentally recrack it. More frustrating, a ghost seam along the top of the fuselage became apparent as I was studying the cracked area. There isn't much that can be done short of applying filler, sanding and repainting. That really doesn't appeal at this stage. I have my fingers crossed the seam will be less apparent once the final matt clear coat has been applied.
Weathering began with an acrylic wash, made from kids tempera paint, to highlight the underside. A grey was mixed out of white and black paint, with the intent to highlight the details and break up the otherwise monotone black surface. The wash was liberally brushed over the black areas and allowed to dry. A slightly damp piece of paper towel was then used to scrub off most of the wash, leaving colour in the panel lines and a slight colouration to the surface. A similar approach was used on the upper side, but an oil wash, mixed from a paint called "starship filth", was used this time. The oil wash takes longer to dry, but leaves more colour behind unless it is really scrubbed. This is perfect to represent general dirt and grime that is more likely to accumulate on the upper surfaces. The oil wash is allowed to almost dry, about 15 - 20 minutes, before it is wiped off in the direction of the airflow.
Photo 1 - Grey acrylic wash slopped over the bottom surfaces
Photo 2 - Acrylic wash wiped off using damp pieces of paper towel, leaving colour in the panel lines and breaking up the monotone black surface
Photo 3 - A dark oil wash applied liberally over the upper surfaces.
Photo 4 - The oil wash mostly removed using paper towels, leaving colour in the panel lines and giving a general "grimyness" to the surfaces.
photo 5 - Close up of a wing after the oil wash was wiped off
Anson
The fuselage, consisting of two halves, a roof and a bottom, has been glued together. Initially it seemed like the various joints were good enough they wouldn't need any additional work. It didn't really work out that way several joints needed remedial attention. The two fuselage halves went together well, but needed some attention on the bottom near the tail. The underside fit like a glove, with no work beyond a little scraping at the wing roots. The aft roof joint was more problematic and needed much more attention. Dry fitting and sanding managed to reduce some of the issues, but couldn't eliminate a rough joint. Cleanup was complicated by the fact the fuselage isn't round and smooth. The real Anson's fuselage is stretched fabric applied over a wood lath frame, creating facets where the fabric was stretched between the wooden ribs. The kit captures this faithfully, but it makes the joint a pain to repair. Thin, fine grade sanding sticks were used, following the facets, to first smooth the joint. Mr Surfacer was then applied into the joint, allowed to dry, and then carefully sanded off. This was repeated three times before the gap was filled and the joint smoothed.
Photo 1 - The fuselage sides are glued together
Photo 2 - The underside of the fuselage, showing the cockpit and wing braces
Photo 3 - The roof to fuselage joint. The fuselage ribbing idetail s clearly visible in the light reflections.
Photo 4 - The joint has been filled and very carefully sanded.
Photo 5 - The underside has been installed and bottom joints have been cleaned up. The three green dots are coloured ID lights, masked to protect them using a rubber compound.
And that's it for another week. Stay warm and safe everyone.
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