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major_clangerI have a confession to make. I appear to have built a 1:72 scale Airfix model of an Avro Vulcan.
In pink and purple camouflage.
This is what happens when your new girlfriend takes you up on a silly idea, and you feel obliged to run with it.
During our prolonged online dating phase (Siân being rather a long way away most of the time) we decided that to help ourselves get to know each other we'd set some not entirely serious quizzes to see how we'd react to our respective foibles. Here's one of my scenarios, with Siân's replies in bold:
Dealing with Geeky Impulse Purchases. You are walking with your Simon past a model shop when he points at a new Airfix kit and exclaims "IT MUST BE MINE!". Do you:
(a) Poke him in the chest and observe that making model aircraft is a hobby most boys grow out of at 15. Accept after all I am dating a geek ...
(b) Cough discreetly and suggest that perhaps he should actual build the kits he buys rather than accumulating unopened boxes. Make a deal that if he buys this one then one of the unopened ones go straight to a charity shop.
(c) Propose a deal whereby he gets to make a 1:72 scale Vulcan Bomber but he has to paint it to a colour scheme of your devising, and post the pictures online. Yes and he also has to factor in that it will be piloted by a Wookie (which he will have to build) in the pictures with a pink bow round it's neck.
And there I left it until a couple of weeks later I got a message that a package had arrived for me at work. A rather large, boxy package. Which, when opened, proved to contain an Airfix 1:72 scale Avro Vulcan.
Yes, Siân had decided to see if I was true to my word. Well, faced with a challenge like that, how could I refuse?
There proved to be quite a lot of kit, and in fact it was years since I'd built an Airfix model (the TSR 2 I bought last year is still awaiting assembly.)
I began by separating out the main parts, cleaning them, and gluing them together. Here's the tail fin - as you can see, it later needed a lot of filing down to remove surplus plastic. Even so, I still had fit troubles.
A first fit test, held together with rubber bands and masking tape. Yes, it's a Vulcan. I also ended up needing quite a lot of filler to plug gaps where the parts don't quite fit.
And here's the pilot! I found a 3cm wargaming miniature Wookie, which was a little big for 1:72 but not ludicrously so.
The main fuselage being glued together. Rubber bands and small spring-loaded clamps are very helpful.
The (virtually) finished beast! Humbrol don't really do pink or purple, but Tayima have these colours in their acrylic paint range. They do give a very high-gloss finish which would look a bit odd on a more serious model but was fine here.
And here's the pilot! He had to lose his legs to fit (I shall call him Douglas) and I repositioned one arm for a better in-cockpit pose. I also have yet to try adding the pink bow tie, as that will require a very small brush and no drink for a week.
Although the paint scheme is rather deranged I did assemble the model for the most part as per instructions - you can see the undercarriage and engine compressors. And the Wookie. Oh, and the whole cockpit roof / canopy needed major bodging for him to fit.
This was silly fun, but it did actually re-ignite my interest in building kits - I do find I get a lot of satisfaction from actually working on a project with my hands. It was also good to practice on a project where getting the fine details right wasn't a crucial concern. I learned, or re-learned, a lot about model making, and would feel a lot more confident about doing a kit 'properly'. Mind you, I really need to practice my painting; if you look at those pictures full-size, you'll see that I need to get the hang of fine detail. And getting an airbrush is increasingly tempting - you can apparently get so much better results.
So, I am now the proud owner of what, in homage to South Park, it is tempting to call Big Gay Al's Big Gay Vulcan. I shall have to work out how best do display it...
In pink and purple camouflage.
This is what happens when your new girlfriend takes you up on a silly idea, and you feel obliged to run with it.
During our prolonged online dating phase (Siân being rather a long way away most of the time) we decided that to help ourselves get to know each other we'd set some not entirely serious quizzes to see how we'd react to our respective foibles. Here's one of my scenarios, with Siân's replies in bold:
Dealing with Geeky Impulse Purchases. You are walking with your Simon past a model shop when he points at a new Airfix kit and exclaims "IT MUST BE MINE!". Do you:
(a) Poke him in the chest and observe that making model aircraft is a hobby most boys grow out of at 15. Accept after all I am dating a geek ...
(b) Cough discreetly and suggest that perhaps he should actual build the kits he buys rather than accumulating unopened boxes. Make a deal that if he buys this one then one of the unopened ones go straight to a charity shop.
(c) Propose a deal whereby he gets to make a 1:72 scale Vulcan Bomber but he has to paint it to a colour scheme of your devising, and post the pictures online. Yes and he also has to factor in that it will be piloted by a Wookie (which he will have to build) in the pictures with a pink bow round it's neck.
And there I left it until a couple of weeks later I got a message that a package had arrived for me at work. A rather large, boxy package. Which, when opened, proved to contain an Airfix 1:72 scale Avro Vulcan.
Yes, Siân had decided to see if I was true to my word. Well, faced with a challenge like that, how could I refuse?
There proved to be quite a lot of kit, and in fact it was years since I'd built an Airfix model (the TSR 2 I bought last year is still awaiting assembly.)
I began by separating out the main parts, cleaning them, and gluing them together. Here's the tail fin - as you can see, it later needed a lot of filing down to remove surplus plastic. Even so, I still had fit troubles.
A first fit test, held together with rubber bands and masking tape. Yes, it's a Vulcan. I also ended up needing quite a lot of filler to plug gaps where the parts don't quite fit.
And here's the pilot! I found a 3cm wargaming miniature Wookie, which was a little big for 1:72 but not ludicrously so. The main fuselage being glued together. Rubber bands and small spring-loaded clamps are very helpful.
The (virtually) finished beast! Humbrol don't really do pink or purple, but Tayima have these colours in their acrylic paint range. They do give a very high-gloss finish which would look a bit odd on a more serious model but was fine here.
And here's the pilot! He had to lose his legs to fit (I shall call him Douglas) and I repositioned one arm for a better in-cockpit pose. I also have yet to try adding the pink bow tie, as that will require a very small brush and no drink for a week.
Although the paint scheme is rather deranged I did assemble the model for the most part as per instructions - you can see the undercarriage and engine compressors. And the Wookie. Oh, and the whole cockpit roof / canopy needed major bodging for him to fit.
This was silly fun, but it did actually re-ignite my interest in building kits - I do find I get a lot of satisfaction from actually working on a project with my hands. It was also good to practice on a project where getting the fine details right wasn't a crucial concern. I learned, or re-learned, a lot about model making, and would feel a lot more confident about doing a kit 'properly'. Mind you, I really need to practice my painting; if you look at those pictures full-size, you'll see that I need to get the hang of fine detail. And getting an airbrush is increasingly tempting - you can apparently get so much better results.
So, I am now the proud owner of what, in homage to South Park, it is tempting to call Big Gay Al's Big Gay Vulcan. I shall have to work out how best do display it...
