Lego Boba Fett
20th May 2018 15:48Aberdalgie War Memorial
28th April 2018 16:36
Saints Etienne
21st April 2018 14:48
Cat Tactics
14th April 2018 10:23Good work by my cat this morning – only his third day of being allowed outside and he is already showing an admirable grasp of tactics in an encounter with the neighbours’ cat.
- My cat doing reconnaissance in his garden spots…
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The neighbours’ cat, sat in its garden.
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My cat advances and occupies the high ground on the border of his territory.
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After a prolonged staring match, the neighbours’ cat retreats to a hidden position.
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My cat uses the dead ground in the next door flats’ car park to flank the neighbours’ garden.
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My cat occupies the high ground in a position to observe the retreat route of the neighbours’ cat.
At that point I can only assume that the neighbours’ cat was nowhere to be seen as my cat went off to explore the interesting smells on the lids of the flats’ bins.
Gornsdorf War Memorial
4th April 2018 13:47These are located in the church yard.
Wir wollen sein ein einzig Volk von Brüdern
Wir wollen frei sein wie die Väter waren
Wir wollen trauen auf den höchsten Gott
Featured on this memorial is Stürmer, Albert who was killed at Bixchoote during the battle of Pilkem ridge on the same day that Reginald Clements was fatally wounded around 10km to the South East on the Ypres Salient.
WWII
Zum Gedenken an unsere 256 gefallen und vermissten 1939-1945
Trumpeter 1/72 T-62 hatches
26th March 2018 19:05As I want my T-62 to have the hatches open as if the crew had bailed out the Trumpeter model needed some modification since the commander and drivers hatches are moulded shut as part of the turrent and hull.
As the hatches on the T-55 are the same I used the Revell kit’s hull turrent and hatches as a guide and opened up the T-62.
Trumpeter T-62 and Revel T-55 in 1/72 scale
23rd March 2018 21:07To provide a period correct opposing force for my ealrly 70s Chieftain I settled on a T-62. (Early T-72s would have been entering service but they wouldn’t have been present in numbers but, more to the point, the only T-72 model I could find was an M1 variant that entered service in 1979.)
For this I picked up the Trumpeter T-62. This is fundamentally a reasonable kit but the image on the box features a lot more detail than is present on the sprues in the box. As any modeler will know this is a good reason to buy a new kit – in this case the Revell T-55 A/AM which is significantly better detailed than the Trumpeter T-62. As the T-62 is very similar to the T-55 there a a lot of parts that will translate directly across – from headlights to hatches. I think that between the two I can make a detailed T-62 appropriate for the early 70s.
Quick pickle cucumber salad
17th March 2018 21:10
Although not really a pickle, by cutting the cucumber slices very thin they quickly absorb the vinegar so this doesn’t need to be made much in advance.
- 10 cm of cucumber sliced as thin as you can
- pinch of celery salt
- pinch of sea salt
- pinch of coriander powder
- glug of white wine vinegar
Combine the ingredients in the serving bowl, mix thoroughly and leave to stand.
Airfix Chieftain turret
4th March 2018 21:49The turret is one of the distinctive visual features on the Chieftain and on the kit I’ve got the front top surface wasn’t particularly good, especially along the join. Quite a few layers of filler followed by smoothing were needed to get a smooth profile.
There were a few other bits of filling required, the tops of the smoke grenade dischargers and the seam round the top plate being the most obvious.
By modern standards this was quite a bit of work for a plastic kit but it’s 40 years old and the tooling is nearly 50 years old so I’m not going to complain, in fact it adds to the satisfaction of making an old kit and having to deal with the problems of a modeller at the time when this was a state-of-the art kit.