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.'

Sunday 21 August 2016

Sunset Boulevard...

Like Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, my adoring public (well, Chris Platt) have been calling 'encore'! Who am I to deny them? Who am I to rest on my laurels? To digress for a moment, I recently bought a biography of James Kennaway, the author of that perfect first novel, Tunes of Glory (also a major motion picture starring....) , and read an amusing story of his early days in the army. When Kennaway joined The Black Watch for his national service, the adjutant told him that he could apply for a commission after his basic training, or he could have two easy years as a corporal 'in the Intelligence Corps, whose badge is a pansy resting on his laurels.' Not exactly politically correct (and would an officer of the Black Watch care?), but of its time, and with a link to laurels. To return to the point at hand....

It is some four months since I posted last, and little in the way of glue and paint has taken place. However, I have, not so long since, completed the Airfix Whitley, and what a lovely, lovely kit:





As you can see, it's factory-fresh. If you know your Whitleys, you will, by now, have spotted the missing bit. After finishing the paint job, the decals, the wash etc, I went to add the aerials and the rather prominent DF loop housing. No problem with the aerials, there they were, on the sprue. But the DF housing ?? Where? Why? WTF?? Not there.   That will teach me to spend months doing a kit.

On a different note. On the 24th July, it was exactly a century since the photograph below was taken:


It is entitled 'Sgt. Gregory's squad', and shows a newly trained squad of men from the King's (Liverpool) Regiment (the old 8th Foot). One of the men is my maternal grandfather. Of all the men in the photograph, only my grandfather and five other men survived the Western Front.  I wasn't sure what to do on the 24th July, a century later.  I had an idea of taking the photograph on a pub crawl around the town, but, then, I didn't want to end up dropping the photo.  In the end, I cut some leaves from an oak tree in my garden (in a pot!), and decorated Sgt. Gregory's squad with English oak. God rest their souls.

I haven't been doing nothing at all since I last posted. My allotment plot has gone from fit only for an agent orange attack to a nicely productive 1/16 of an acre. I've also written/had published a few bits and pieces, with some relevance to those who are interested in the Very British Civil War type world. For these latter, see the sidebar.

11 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thank you! It's amazing what a few coats of floor polish will do!

      Delete
  2. Replies
    1. Thanks! Yes, I was surprised in the end. But it is a lovely kit.

      Delete
  3. I was a Territorial Pansy resting on my Laurels (Google the capbadge) when the enemy was simple and Soviet. Much better nickname than the current Green Slime...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Green Slime?! Sounds like a paint name from Games Workshop! I was, very briefly, a TAVR Blanket Stacker before reverting to kiddies camping, with blanks, with the CCF in the RAFVR(t). About my level!

      Delete
  4. wow.. hope mine turns out as nicely as your's has! Having wrestled with a few Airfix Blenheims recently, I'm not really looking forward to starting another Airfix new-tool just at the moment though. BTW thanks for very perceptive comment on my blog regarding 'super-weatherers..'

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Have you seen the article by Ian Day in the current Scale Aircraft Modelling? He builds the Blenheim Mk1 and says 'no problem' - he reckons the solution is to alter the build sequence. Worth a gander. I've got a couple of new tool Defiants, Gladiators, and Vampires in the stash, and as soon as the BOAC Whitley comes out, I'll get that. The Whitley really did go together well, and only used a bit of filler in one wing root - and that was my own fault!

      Delete
  5. Lovely hear from you. The Whitley is very handsome. Apologies for any mithering ! A kit bash would be a cold utilitarian build if it were to lack an eye watering frustration such as the missing part. It would have been worse to have had the part, painted and fitted it and then broken it. Today has ended up a blog based red letter day, Mr Kinch sharing his marvellous news and your reappearance. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you hadn't asked where life on the blog was, I think I might have just let it die. So - thanks, Chris!

      Delete

  6. I have been tiny bit familiar of this your broadcast provided bright clear concept...


    สูตรบาคาร่า
    goldenslot

    ReplyDelete