This picture was painted on an iPad. I did this one back in 2012, I’d just received notification that my pension pot with Kodak had almost halved due to them declaring bankruptcy and moving production back to the USA. Sod everyone else who worked for them worldwide.
We lost out big time and that’s why I had a rant in this obscure painting I did at the time.
A simple river scene, first time attempt with charcoal.
This years birthday, I’d hinted that I wanted to build an RC model boat from scratch, and that’s what I got. A good friend of my wife and I came up trumps and brought me this nice little wooden boat starter kit. I’m fairly experienced at building balsa gliders and planes from plans and have done quite a few. I’ve never ventured into boats though so this is a first for me. It all stems from going on holiday to Norfolk, where we normally stay in a place called Gorleston where there is a nice boating pond that two of my brother in laws sail prebuilt trawlers that they have brought, i’ve always said that I’d join them on one of our trips, jokingly saying I’d get a submarine or battleship to blow them out of the water. However i wouldn’t do that, and this is the first stage of venturing into the world of model boats. I’ve now just got to build it.
The boat that i have chosen is made by the wooden model boat company distributed in the Uk by JPerkins models. It is a PT109 torpedo boat modelled on the one that John F Kennedy sailed in, in the Pacific theatre after a collision with the Japanese Destroyer Amagiri in which Kennedy’s actions to help save his surviving crew earned him a Navy and Marine Corps Medal. I’m going to put my own touch on the paint scheme though and not go with the traditional all green or grey. I’m going to mix it up a little by highlighting and brightening up the look of the boat a bit.
These kits have laser etched parts, its my first experience with them and my only gripe so far is that some of the parts are so small and delicate that this process cremates the object because of its small size. I have had to make some of my own parts for this kit as in some cases it’s just like trying to press out burnt wood from the etched parts. Not good in my honest opinion, and as this is a starter set it’s more than likely liable to put a beginner off of the hobby to be honest. Not everyone is able to easily replicate the missing/damaged parts.
Firstly you have to secure the deck frame to a flat surface using some double sided tape. This is so you can start building the hull frame and prevent warping. I use a small steel shelf for my base that can easily be moved around and stored between sessions.
There is a lot of time between sessions where you just have to leave parts to dry, you can quite easily try to do so much and potentially ruin all the good work you have done. Patience really does have to be a big part of what you do in build these models, the old adage of measure twice, cut once needs to be used so mistakes are kept to a minimum. You can make tiny adjustments when in the finishing process but for the time being you need to adhere to instructions as much as possible. Check and double check and always dry fit prior to gluing in place.
If you look at the picture below you will see how the laser etching burns really small parts. This doesn’t look good however they will look a lot better after they are sealed and painted, if I left all the parts like this the whole project would look as if it had been in a fire. I’ve had to build some of these parts from scratch as the kit itself had insufficient parts pre cut.
The hull framework is now complete, next stage is to get the outer skins on, the bow formers in place and then hand sand, fill and sand again until the whole hull is ready to be sealed. Again there are issues here with the kit as one of the hull skins is two times thicker than it should be, hence the amount of bending required to shape the hull is not achievable. I have brought this up with the supplier and within a few days I have had a new set of replacement hull skins sent free of charge. Their customer service has been superb and it is good to see that some companies do still try their utmost to keep their customers happy. I will now progress with completing the hull.
Below is a small video of the completed framework. It has probably taken about 8 hours in total to get to this stage (plus many more hours to allow glues to cure)
So tonight over a period of about 8 hrs I’ve managed to get the 4 balsa skins that form the hull into place. I’ve had to do a bit of re shaping and minor alterations, and the final bend of the skin would have bust it under the strain if I didn’t decide to wet it first. Wetting balsa allows the inside edge of the sheet to bend in, making these big bends in the hull shape possible. That as well as plenty of pins and clamps with epoxy resin ensures the skin stays where it is put. I left about an hour between each skin placement before moving on to the next one.
Here is the hull, assembled ready for sanding filling and all the other fun stuff required to make it look good and waterproof.
Tonight I have given the first heavy sanding with a course paper. This has really brought the hull up lovely. The former’s that were put in place have now been sanded to form a good bow profile. See photos below.
I now have to do a small bit of filling with balsa filler and then I will sand with a finer paper.
Once the final sanding has been done I can then look at sealing the exposed wood and then begin the waterproofing and painting. The installation of the radio gear will go in place towards the end of the build. In the meantime I just have to build the superstructure on to the top deck. This will require some small bits to be painted before being put into place.
I’ve built the superstructure and that has been set aside to cure. There will be a lot of sanding and painting needed. I have attached the deck now and all those items will attach to it, and i must say it’s looking quite good.
I’ve now detached the deck and gone around with some balsa filler and hopefully tomorrow once it’s dry I can give it a sand with some fine paper and then I can look at putting on a coat or three of sanding sealer.
I’ve tonight managed to get coats one and two of the sanding sealer applied with sanding after each coat with a fine sandpaper. The torpedo tubes have been assembled along with other items and we are now very close to getting the painting started. However first I will give a final sand to the structure to see if it is ready for the primer. If not it will mean applying some balsa filler and applying coat 3. There really is no rush. I need to now get the prop tube in place and permanently positioned prior to any painting. I am considering a number of different paint combinations at this stage, but they are changing on a daily basis. I wonder what colours I will go with?
I’ve done the all the sanding and I’m now happy to commence the undercoat of the hull. I’ve fitted and removed the rudder and engine to test they fit ok, the boat is now bare and ready to paint. I’m going to individually paint the guns and superstructure before fixing to the deck. I might paint the deck with a dark varnish, I haven’t quite decided yet.
Part 2 of this post will cover the painting of the boat. Coming sometime in Feb 2025.
I love walking but over the last 18 months or so I’ve not done so much. I don’t mean everyday walking, I do loads of that especially at work, I mean the type of walking where you set a route, go out, get some good thinking time, clear the cobwebs from your head and get back to nature.
I used to walk miles when we had our dog Alf, but as he aged and became increasingly unwell my own health started to decrease as the purpose and need started to dwindle.
We regularly did the walk 1000 mile challenge over the course of a year and we both loved it.
As we now move on up to Christmas, my wife has gone out for breakfast with her friends, I have work later today but I’ve told her I’m going to retrace some of our old walks and maybe pop in to have breakfast somewhere and I’m really looking forward to that now. I don’t know, it’s just that sometimes you just need a good old kick in the pants to get motivated and moving, today may well be that day.
I did what I said I’d do and clocked up a nice 3.6mile walk at a slow pace, just as I would have done if I had my mate with me as he would be stopping every few yards for a sniff. I took his lead with me today the first time I’d carried it since he passed on the 16th August. I must admit I was a wreck and had tears in my eyes all the way round, so many beautiful memories came flooding back, I miss him so much.
There is an old saying:
Perhaps our eyes need to be washed by our
tears once in a while, so
that we can see life with
a clearer view again.”Anon
And I believe this is true. There is no shame in being emotional, and what with it today, being the 20th anniversary of my mother’s passing, it is going to be a highly emotional day for me. To love and be loved is an amazing gift to possess, and to be given, but it hurts like hell when it is taken away. A lot of tears however have been shed recently and the view has not yet cleared. Here’s hoping and praying for better days.
I walked the routes we always walked, refusing to take shortcuts or to go down roads where we never used to venture, that would have been cheating him, holding his lead was strange but also comforting.
We stopped at a new Cafe strangely called “Cafe 55” I had a lovely coffee and a breakfast roll. It had a lovely atmosphere and was a nice clean environment. When I got the bill I realised where it obtained its name from as it seems to be 55% more expensive than anywhere else in the area. That aside, it was a pleasant stop over.
The last mile home allowed me to get myself together, a nice cuddle from the wife when I arrived home is always appreciated. We talked, again, we both shed tears, then realised just how fortunate we are for what we have, and for what we have been blessed with in the past.
Life is a puzzle, but once you have the borders sorted, it all starts to fall into place one small piece at a time.
It was a lovely walk. It needs to happen more. And it will.
Peace & Love.
Interesting to read this. I passed my RAE exam back in December 2003. We didn’t have to master Morse code but I did take it on and even today I’m ok at deciphering it, if a tad slowly. I could transmit it at about 8 words a minute, and if I’d stuck at it I’m sure I’d have become better.
But like most things i just didn’t have the time available to further it. I do still like to put the radio on occasionally and listen to slow Morse on the amateur bands.
If you were in Tunisia in October, you might have caught some of the Morse Code championships this year. If you didn’t make it, you could catch the …
The World Morse Code Championship
I so much wish to write some posts of substance on this blog but in the last few weeks I just can’t be bothered. I’ve reposted a few posts that I’ve liked or found a familiarity with but that’s about it.
Looking at my draft posts I have 14 – yes 14 that are in the process of being completed dating back to May of this year. These are all a number of projects I have on going including Camera repair, musical keyboards, video games, a complete radio control boat build as well as radios and some old cassette players that I have taken on board. I’m stuck for a number of reasons.
I do most of my repairs in our conservatory out of the main house away from the wife. My equipment that I use can be moved in three large boxes that take about an hour or so to assemble and disassemble, hence I like to be able to leave it assembled for a while to get any satisfaction and achievement out of what I’m trying to repair. If I had to put it all together and take it straight down again I think I’d lose total interest in the task at hand.
However it’s getting near Christmas and the wife has invited her entire family around for Christmas Day dinner, hence I have had to make myself and my gear scarce, as she plans to be feeding them all in our conservatory, my workshop.
It’s like I have had to shut up shop for the season, with so much still to do. I’m also awaiting a good number of parts to finish these projects, so that doesn’t help either.
So as it stands, unless I can adapt my kit to be a bit more stealth like then I’m probably not going to be attending to any of these much before the new year.
That said, has anyone tried these usb portable soldering irons at all? I may be in the market for one.
In the meantime I suppose I’ll just have to mingle and be nice. It’s going to be a tough Christmas 😂
Here’s what the listing stated:
The clock features a swinging pendulum and is a great addition to any music memorabilia collection. However, please note that the clock mechanism is currently faulty and may require repair or replacement.
It’s been a while since I’ve been tempted to fix something totally outside my comfort zone, so here it is a novelty “Elvis Presley” Rock & Roll clock. I quite fancy learning how to repair clocks, perhaps this is the best place to start with nothing too complex.
From what I can gather the clock is a fairly std mechanism with a separate mech that operates the pendulum “legs”. I know the wife won’t entertain this in the house, however my elder sister is a massive Elvis fan so I may even shove it in her general direction… if I can fix it.
No assumptions as to what is going to arrive at the moment as you never know what you will end up with from auction sites, so let’s just await the mail man’s knock on the door.
The clock has arrived and apart from having to just straighten the hands, a battery has been put in and the clock is ticking well and keeping good time. However Elvis isn’t shaking his hips as he should be even with a separate battery in place so there is an obvious issue there.
Well the issue is a bit of a pain in the ass one. The pendulum effect comes from a small electromagnet that opposes a magnet on the pendulum, hence when working the pendulum continuously swings. However this one has two of the wires from the coil broken. These wires are just about the width of a hair and had to be coaxed back into place using my microscope. I’ve tacked the wires back into place and the clock is currently working.
However, apparently these wires are known to break even if a butterfly farts in the vicinity of them, they don’t hold up to repair that well, so I’m going to order a new electromagnet replacement. Cheap as chips.
So I’m happy a fix has been possible, I’ll just wait for the replacement magnet until I move it on to my sister. In the meantime the wife has to put up with it shaking its stuff in the conservatory.
Edit: New magnet 🧲 has arrived, Elvis really going for it now and shaking his booty like a mad man 😂
Now he’s off to my sister. can’t stand that much activity around me.
Another item saved from landfill. Result.
Happy days 👍
What things give you energy?
At my age probably a pair of jump leads to the..
David stop yourself 😡
No seriously, keeping occupied keeps me energetic, as my good lady would tell you, she even said that this week when we were on an activity based holiday that I was a different person.
Hobbies are my go to, and I’ve let them slip recently as I’ve sunk into a pit of self pity. Last night though I sat at my work bench and fixed two old electronic items and fault found another and I really enjoyed it. It was a kick in the pants that I needed, thanks to my wife who had threatened to clear my work area unless I got back in there, I love her for that.
That’s the thing with me. When I have a day off I always feel it is wasted if I haven’t done something productive, I’m slowly getting to learn that some days you just have to simply rest and turn off. However I do struggle with that and can be a right pain in the ass sometimes, I guess in a way I’m afraid of giving up and just jumping on to some slippery slide that I can’t climb back up again. It’s stupid I know as in all reality I’m not really that old, I’ve been in the company of some individuals during the last week achieving amazing feats and some of them are well into their 90s, all wonderful people.
I’ve got to stop imagining the worst, and calm down a bit, rest sometimes is just as important as food and drink, the body craves it and your body must be listened to at all times.
Hope you are all well on this fine day (Grey and damp in the East Midlands) and that you too have a superb day. Enjoy every minute. Stay safe.
This last week I have been away at a lovely location in Norfolk enjoying a few days away with the family.
There was an activity taking place that was an introduction to pottery, and here they were going to teach a technique that has been around for millenniums – Pinch pottery. I did pottery at school and was ok with it but I never made anything to write home about.
To be totally honest I had no idea as to what I was going to do, but everything I’m doing lately seems to be in memory of our little dog who passed away in August of this year. Still very raw, I think of him a lot, and I’ve made this little pot for him. Yep it’s crap but it’s my crap, it’s a reminder of good times for me, a cartoon representation of him and on the rear of it I’ve signed it and stated where I made it.
It’s my first attempt in about 45 yrs and everyone has to start somewhere. I doubt I will take it up as a hobby at home but I enjoyed it, and for a small period of time I was productive, something I have been lacking in of late. It was most therapeutic.
It’s now home, and in the next few weeks I will paint and seal it and hopefully have a nicely presented little keepsake. You can see the finished item here: Pinch Pottery Pt:2
I love trying new things, I loved doing this and who knows I may book a class and look at doing more in the future, just not at home. The missus would kill me 😂
In many ways and forms, no doubt about it, the Covid lockdown had people looking for other things to do for numerous reasons, for me it was to preserve my sanity.
I always enjoyed painting, however I was unsure of just what I wanted to use for subject matter, that’s when I looked for local painting groups in my area and stumbled across a lovely chap called Ray who offers tuition in the Bob Ross way of painting.
Ray states on his site that you can turn up at one of his classes and go home with a masterpiece and to be fair he’s not wrong, I have seen many attempts from his classes and all are of a very good standard.
I enrolled on Tays “Golden glow” course in Jan 22 and the result is below, I’m happy with this to be fair. Not fantastic but hey it was my first attempt.
The pictures are in stages from start to completion. When I took this home the wife didn’t believe I’d painted it and even contacted Ray via Facebook to check with him… what a cheek 😂
I booked a second course “ Crimson tide” with Ray and the results are below, I wasn’t so pleased with this one but I know where I made the mistakes. That’s the point of learning you learn from your mistakes.
A session with Ray is about 6hrs and the peace and tranquility is fantastic, it’s quiet the tuition is second to none and doing your own thing is actively encouraged when adding your own touches to your painting. For me I have found the distraction I wanted and now book in a session with Ray when the world is starting to get on my nerves. I’m overdue a session and must get another one in soon….
Foxes Den 
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