My father is in hospital this weekend. He was taken to Rockyview by ambulance on Friday, suffering from severe dehydration. He had been dealing with a change in medication, and a potential urinary tract infection, which was causing confusion and affecting his balance. After several sleepless nights, he had stopped eating and drinking. On Friday morning, the Manor nurses called an ambulance. Initial feedback from the doctor at the hospital was concerning, with potential risk to kidney function if the rehydration wasn't done properly. Happily, my Dad has responded well to treatment Friday night and thru Saturday. By Sunday morning, he was sitting up, eating, and the confusion was starting to reduce. Fingers crossed that the continues to improve and will be able to return home soon.
No blog update next week. Marie and I are headed to Calgary on Tuesday to move her Mom into a smaller room, and to help my parents rearrange one of their bedrooms.
The rest of the blog suddenly seems less important. But I know that the rest of the family enjoys reading the blog, some the modelling and others the family updates, so I will continue with the weekly update.
I discovered this week that I could pair my wireless keyboard and mouse with my iPad. I typically write the blog in little bits thru the week. Pictures tend to get added as they are taken. Sometimes words are added at the same time. Other times the words are added on the weekend when I have a chance to sit and look at the full blog. The iPad app is remarkably good, and the only thing that prevented me from using it, rather than the computer, was the pain of iPad typing. Pairing a keyboard and mouse would allow typing at the model desk, with could greatly simplify blog writing.
The week started out with the first rain in perhaps a month. Not a lot, but it was enough for my fall lawn fertilizer. Unfortunately, it also means I have to mow the lawn.
The trees have started to turn colour. It feels later and slower than past years. The pictures below were from a bike ride on Tuesday.
The kids are all doing well. Daniel was part of a U of A hosted world record attempt at the largest dodge ball game. Christine is unpacked and settling into her routine in Ottawa. Nicholas' landlord has capped the drain per the plumber's recommendation. Not sure why his landlord has an aversion to a backflow preventer but this should work.
I had been deliberately avoiding my next household task to paint the baseboards. Marie had bought the paint way back in the spring. I got the living room and kitchen painted, but the baseboard paint sat in a corner near the front door. The dogs, originally Copper and now Riley, go ballistic when someone comes to the front door. They run full tilt at the door, and then jump at the door, hitting with a thud. They would then jump and down at the door, until the person went away. With time, this has resulted in damage to the door and the surrounding wood frame. With the colder weather coming, I needed to get the door painted before it was too cold to keep it open. So on Friday, I painted the front door, the sidelights, the door trim, and the attached baseboards. With the door repainted, the two front hall closets are looking rather shabby, and will be next up to paint. I will get started on them when we get back from Calgary.
Halifax
The wings and engine nacelles have been sanded, rescribed and polished. The kit includes separate inserts for the wingtips. Not sure why, as the kit only provides one kind of wing tip insert. And naturally, the insert didn't fit well, requiring sanding and putty. Also unsurprising, the clear wingtip nav lights didn't fit well. They were glued into place and the gaps flooded with CA. The CA was given several hours to dry, to ensure it would dry clear, then the excess CA was sanded off. Once smooth, the plastic was polished to restore the clear insert's clarity.
With the wings finished, it was time to move on to the horizontal and vertical stabilizers. The Halifax went thru several iterations of vertical stabilizers in an effort to stop a tendency to go into an uncontrolled dive. The initial triangular shaped fins evolved thru two iterations into much larger, rectangular shaped fins. As far as I can tell, my plane used the smaller, triangular fins. The kit provides all three kinds of vertical fin, and it is important to pay attention to the kit parts, as the different vertical fins have corresponding horizontal stabilizers. I recently read an article where the builder labelled the parts as they were removed from the sprue, with a Sharpie marker was used to number the inside of parts. Where the marker couldn't be seen after the parts were assembled, he used bits of tape stuck on the outside of the part. Remarkably simple but not something I had done before. I was glad i tried it this time, as the various tail components proved rather surprisingly finicky, needing a fair bit of sanding and shaping, and the eight similarly shaped pieces were soon spread all over the modelling desk. I would never have been able to keep them straight without the taped-on numbers. Finally, using a lot of clothespins, the pieces were glued together. Dry fitting to the fuselage showed a good fit. In fact, the vertical stabilizers fit so well that they don't need glue.
Photo 1 - The cleaned up and polished wing tips and nav lights
Photo 2 - The horizontal and vertical stabilizers
GT40
Monday's challenge was to paint the front shocks. The instructions showed red shocks with black springs. My reference pictures showed red springs with black shocks. I decided to follow the instructions, and was soon cutting narrow tape strips to mask the red shock bodies.
Photo 1 - The instructions showing the desired result. Red shock body with black springs.
Photo 2 - Masking applied to all the areas to remain red.
Photo 3 - Masking removed and shock installed into position.
Photo 4 - Front suspension complete.
Tuesday's focus was the engine. The engine parts breakdown generally matched the painting guide, allowing parts to be painted on the sprue, and then assembled. The exception is the engine front, including the crank and cam shaft pulleys, the generator and the serpentine belt. The base is gold, but the piping, pulleys and generator are a mix of silver and black. More masking.
I was surprised that the instructions show the engine block and head cover in a light gold, but this was confirmed by photos of the real car. So gold it was.
Photos 1 thru 4 - Painted engine block and transmission with a a black wash used to accent details.
Photo 5 - The engine support bracket installed, given a black pin wash, and the engine block installed.
It was about here that I discovered another reason to dislike the Cobalt Blue. I had previously realized that any masking applied over the Cobalt Blue would affect the paint. Removing the tape resulted in pitting of the gloss surface, almost as if the tape adhesive was interacting with the paint. I hadn't experienced this before and was surprised. The effect was reduced by applying a clear coat, so any unprotected Cobalt Blue was sprayed with a protective clear coat. And then I discovered that any clear coat, applied over the Cobalt Blue, was also affected by masking. I don't understand this at all, and have never had Tamiya tape interact with any paint like this. Fortunately, I think I am done masking the Cobalt Blue so there shouldn't be any further problems.
Thursday's priority was to clean up my desk area. It had become cluttered and worse, was covered in sanding debris and general gunk. Static was allowing the gunk to adhere to the various car parts and surfaces, making it increasingly difficult to paint things.
With the clean up done, it was time to paint the rear shocks.
Photo 1 - The instructions show red shocks, black frame, and silver arms. More masking!
Photo 2 - First round of masking. Ready to spray the black.
Photo 3 - Black sprayed.
Photo 4 - Second round of masking complete. Ready to spray the silver.
Photo 5 - Finished product, ready to install
Photo 6 - The shocks installed.
Photo 7 - Additional bits installed around the engine and shocks, with a black wash applied to accentuate details.
Inserting the shock assembly was more difficult than I expected. The instructions required the shock assembly fit over the engine, then connect to a brace. The brace needed to fit over the rectangular ducts at the rear of the car and mount to the frame. This become one of those "extra hand needed" moments, as try as I might, I couldn't get the two pieces to align. They insisted on sitting at different elevations when each was installed separately. After much head scratching, and considerable dry fitting, I realized the two had pieces had to be installed together, then joined. Here's how the rear engine area looked at the end of Thursday. Step 9 completed!
Photo 1 - Rear shock assembly from the front
Photo 2 - The rear brace in position
Sunday was a return to the engine, with a focus on the top section.
The instructions show the exhaust pipes as a rust red. Reference photos show them more as a reddish metallic colour. I tried to replicate this using various shades of metallic and clear colours
Photo 1 - The engine top head masked
Photo 2 - The cylinder covers sprayed dark metallic and the top head unmasked
Photo 3 - A base coat of silver applied to the exhaust parts
Photo 4 - Next was a thin application of Pale Burnt Metal, a coppery gold colour
Photo 5 - Then a thin layer of transparent smoke to darken things
Photo 6 - Finally, a thin layer of Dark Sepia was applied.
Photo 7 - The engine top head parts installed, with a black wash to accentuate detail
Photo 8 - The top head joined to the engine block, and the exhaust components applied
Photo 9 - The car frame at the end of instruction step 10
Next up is attaching the rear wheels and the underframe will be complete. Almost time to move on to the car's interior.
That's it for this week. No update next week as Marie and I will be in Calgary moving parents.
I had been deliberately avoiding my next household task, which is to paint the baseboards. Marie had bought the paint way back in the spring. I got the living room and kitchen painted, but the baseboard paint sat in a corner near the front door. The dogs, originally Copper and now Riley, go ballistic when someone comes to the front door. They run full tilt at the door, and then jump at the door, hitting with a thud. They would then jump and down at the door, until the person went away. With time, this has resulted in damage to the door and the surrounding wood frame. With the colder weather coming, I needed to get the door painted before it was too cold to keep it open. So on Friday, I painted the front door, the sidelights, the door trim, and the attached baseboards. With the door repainted, the two front hall closets are looking rather shabby, and will be next up to paint. I will get started on them when we get back from Calgary.m Calgary. Calgary.Calgary.algary.lgary.gary.ary.ry.y.
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