My Dad isn't feeling well, so I will start out by wishing that he gets well soon.
It has been a quiet week. I think the most exciting thing that happend was that Marie and I took the Venza in for new rear shocks, and then went for breakfast.
The weather at the start of the week was fantastic. Warm and sunny, with highs in the low 20's. Very pleasant bike riding weather and I got several rides in. On Monday, I had to abruptly change my direction as, coming around a corner, I encountered a bear wandering down the middle of the path. I have 700 km on the bike now, most on the trails thru the surrounding forest, and this was the first bear I have encountered.
Mid week I rode my bike to Waterways to explore. The area would be unrecognizeable to anyone that would have visited it 10 years ago. There is nothing left of historical Waterways, given the wildfire and recent flooding. The wildfire left only 7 structures, with the Legion likely the oldest, so none of the historical buildings remain. The railway tracks were pulled up years ago, and kids playing with matches burned the station to the ground shortly after. The old railway right of way is being turned into a four lane expressway, called Saline Creek Parkway, that goes nowhere. It will eventually get to Saline Creek, up near the airport, but it isn't likely to happen anytime soon. After no activity for 5 years, house construction just restarted there. Saline Creek had only 2 houses completed for the longest time. Three more have been built this year, so there are currently just 5 houses, in an area designed to hold 20,000 people. So it doesn't seem likely that the road will be finished soon. The strangest thing about Waterways now is that you can't see the river anymore. As part of the downtown flood protection, they are in the process of constructing a new 30 ft high berm for flood protection.
On the way back home, I passed along the Syne, and was surprised to see a floatplane land. The City had converted the Syne into a recreation area and moved all the floatplanes to the Clearwater. Apparently at least one company is still loading and unloading passengers at the Syne's dock.
Three years ago, City dropped a prefab washroom structure off adjacent to the splashpark that is located in the park behind us. Then Covid hit, and nothing happened for two years. Late last year, they dug everything up to install water and sewer lines. then relandscaped the area. Nothing further happened until June this year, when they tore up all the new grass to dig a new hole and installed a foundation. After three months farting around, the foundation was finished and they brought in a 500 Ton crane to place the building. Renting a crane that big meant that had to be a million dollar lift! Maybe that was the most exciting thing that happened this week.
The kids are all doing well. Christine moved into her new basement suite this week. She is really enjoying the area she is in, and definitely likes the place she is staying at. Having a cute puppy living upstairs helps. Among the three kids, she clearly won the basement suite lottery. I jokingly noted that you could fit 4 of Daniel's room into her room. Here is a video that she sent us.
On Monday, the plumber came to check the drain at Nicholas' place. Other than the drain being plugged with concrete, he couldn't find anything obviously wrong. The plumber has asked the landlord to remove the concrete so he can scope the sewer pipe. Nicholas talked to the landlord later in the week, and was told that the plug would be removed, and that the "proper" cover would be installed. We don't know that means but the guy is a lawyer so he has to understand liability.
Halifax
The fuselage has been closed up, the seams cleaned up, and the panel lines restored. Next up was the wings. They required a great deal of sanding along the trailing edge to get a decent fit. Both the leading and trailing edges required filler to close up gaps.
The engine nacelles consist of two halves, split vertically, with the engine intake added to the front as a separate piece. It appears that the nacelles must have contracted inwards as they cooled, as the sides were concave while the intake sides are vertical. After gluing the nacelles together, I tried to add a piece of sprue inside the front of the nacelle to push the sides out, but the geometry didn't work. I resorted to physically bending the sides outward using smooth jaw pliers. Crude but it worked. Some filling and sanding was needed to clean up the resulting joints. Fit of the nacelles to the wing was quite good, but the seam at the top will require attention.
Photo 1 - Seams primed to check joints
Photo 2 - Wings together and engine nacelles fitted. Filler has been added to the top joint.
Photo 3 - Fuselage rescribed and wings test fit. It's starting to look like a Halifax
GT40
I dislike Cobalt Blue. Both the initial Model Master Acryl paint, as well as the current Tamiya paint, use a semi translucent blue that seems much thinner than "normal" paints. It makes it very difficult to get good coverage without risking paint runs. Adding to the experience, the dried paint is very fragile, and scratches easily. Even two layers of protective clear coats doesn't seem to add much protection.
The Gravity Paint order arrived this week. Great timing was I was ready to use the Hawaiaan Blue on the underframe. These are lacquer paints, and are airbrush ready out of the bottle. The Hawaiaan Blue sprayed beautifully, with a thin coat giving great coverage that dries to a nice semi-gloss finish. I enjoy working with this blue!
As noted last week, masking the various cockpit bits took some effort, as shown in Photo 2. I had intended to spray the colours but it would have required even more masking to prevent overspray. The colours were brush painted instead.
All this takes construction to the end of step 2. The required masking and painting appears to make this the most complex step in construction. The front suspension and the engine are up next. Engine assembly initially looked equally complex, given that it consists of multiple parts. Happily, the parts breakdown appears to support painting before assembly, and half the parts have already been painted.
Photo 1 - underbody complete
Photo 2 - Masking for the cockpit details
Photo 3 - Step 2 complete. A dark pinwash was applied to bring out the details
Photo 4 - Cockpit tub mated to the underbody
Photo 5 - Completed Underbody
That's it for this week. The forecast was for rain to begin Friday night, and we really need the moisture. We got a sprinkle Friday overnight but it otherwise has only been cool and cloudy. It hasn't started raining yet so time to walk the dogs.
Stay safe everyone.
Comments