Total Pageviews

Greetings!

'A gaping silken dragon,/Puffed by the wind, suffices us for God./We, not the City, are the Empire's soul:/A rotten tree lives only in its rind.'

Monday 31 March 2014

Aaaaaaargh....

.....and aieeeee!

Not only has work and life been stupidly obstructionist this past month, but when I found, at last, a moment to post on my feeble kit bashing efforts, I discovered that my work managed laptop, having been totally reconfigured, no longer liked to copy images from my portable device. What a lot of new words - laptop, portable device...blah, blah...all the jolly new words that have entered the English language in my recent-ish lifetime, just like Taliban, jihad, fatwa that sort of thing. It must have been a tad better in the past, when we picked up buckshee, char, chit-chat, bint, fella, kibosh, all useful, benign words. Anyway, enough of all that, time to see if I have cracked the newly reconfigured bloody hell machine:


It works! It works! As you can see, I've been having fun with the rather marvellous Cold War warrior, the 'Badger'. I was rather taken by an enthusiastic build by Karl Robinson in the February issue of Scale Aircraft Modelling (SAM), and got myself a 1:144 one by Trumpeter. After the awful time I had with the new Airfix Vampire (see passim) , which I hasten to add was all my own fault, I can report that the Badger was most enjoyable, and I think that I may have found a new enthusiasm - large-ish Cold War warriors in 1:144.

First up (below) was the cockpit, not much of which can be seen in the end. But, as you can see, I had a bit of trouble trying to get an approximation of the unique colour that the Soviets painted the cockpits of their aircraft.


Then, the weakest part of the whole thing:


Trumpeter produce different variants of the Badger, which probably dictated the fuselage construction, which in turn needed a fair amount of filler fore and aft. Mr. Robinson in his SAM build did a very good job at filling and sanding away the joins. Not so Mr Front:






Nonetheless, a rather pleasant kit bash. So much so that I've ordered another, and stocked up on Humbrol metalcote, which is good to work with, especially for an old brushist like myself.


While I was slowly bashing this kit over the past month, the whole Ukraine/EU/Russia/Crimea/Putin business was playing itself out. I was, I must admit, a bit surprised at the rapidity which the UK's journalists and mainstream politicians went for old Cold War style rhetoric at the drop of the hat, not least because it was the same politicos who have effectively dismantled the UK's armed forces. Not quite sure why one would want to go around trying to pick fights while championing cuts to the military, especially given the failure of Basra. In fact, mentioning Iraq brings John Kerry's laughable comment to mind - the one about not being able to go round invading countries on jumped up excuses. Uh? Pot, kettle ? Who said the US doesn't do irony (even if unintentionally).

17 comments:

  1. Nice work there Al.

    I've managed to drop my laptop, so I'll be operating off a phone for a little while. With that in mind - I was wondering if you'd consider dropping the verification required to make comments. You can still have them moderated, it's just typing the little numbers in on a small screen is awkward as hell (sending this from my wifes laptop) and it means I don't get to comment as often as I would like.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Greetings, from my work station!
      Er, I didn't even know I had 'verification' on - I will attend to the matter pronto!

      Delete
  2. Let's find out...

    ...what I actually wanted to say was, the Badger (and the rest of the big Soviet bombers - Backfires, Bears etc) are lovely machines. Not, perhaps, as beautiful as the sleek and perfect 1950s British aeroplanes - Hunters, Victors, and the like - but they certainly make for nice models.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Success! Verification no longer required!

      Delete
  3. I saw a Phantom chasing a Hunter once during a TACEVAL. Most exciting.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You lucky fellow! I know the RAF buggered your back, but, at least you got to stroke nice aircraft. Aaaah.

      Delete
  4. Badger-iffic Stephen! It looks huge even for 1/144.

    Nice build.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers, Paul. Yes, Trumpeter also do it in 1/72, but I don't live in a small mansion.

      Delete
  5. very neat indeed ... I fancy one now .....but that's all I need , another new 'enthusiasm' ! cheers

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, yes you do!! Go on, go on, go on....!

      Delete
  6. Happy Birthday old chap,hope you had a good one!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Belated thanks! It puzzled me for a mo how you knew, then I checked 'The Worker's' blog.

      Delete
  7. Top modelling of a classic bit of Soviet 'gear'!

    Enjoyed the commentary too. The wonderful thing about nations and individuals having 'clear positions' is how quickly they/we all contradict ourselves!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, James. Indeed, but in our case it usually concerns the correct paint colour for 28mm Janissaries' headgear or something. Mind you, in the right conditions that can lead to harsh words and blows too!

      Delete
  8. pretty nice blog, following :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My thanks! I'll try to update more frequently.

      Delete