Chipmunk

I haven't mentioned my latest model project much. There is no reason for that as Project 041 a DHC Chipmunk has gone fairly smoothly (though today i was about to start putting on the decals when i realised the white bands on the wings were supposed to be painted on not decals!)

I think this will be the last model project of the year though i could revisit some early projects to do some upgrades. Next year i will do some warship kits, two of which i bought today ready for the 2013 season.

Day School 3

Yesterday was the third and final day school for my current course A825. It was held at Leeds Met University, the first time i had been there and indeed been to Leeds! The day school was useful though the next few months of my course will be tough with a final research essay and a dissertation proposal due by early January (which in essence means before Christmas). As adverts keep telling us Christmas is getting closer...

I took a few photos around Leeds with my iPhone. You can see the photos here including the post box painted gold in honour of Nicola Adams who of course was the first woman to win a boxing gold!

Along the Rhine

Yesterday I found a pile of photographs i took during a couple of visits to the Rhineland in the late 1980s (i think 1987 and 88). I was surprised that i took so many photographs to be honest as i haven't seem them for a long time (and forgot all about them!) I got a Praktica SLR for my 16th birthday so i suspect this was one of my early opportunities to test the camera out. Some of the photos are actually rather good, and you can see the scans here (i think it includes a few in 110 format too).

Another Spitfire

Project 040 is now pretty much complete (i just need to give it another coat of varnish) and is the latest Spitfire to join my fleet. I did get another Spitfire kit (a F22) at the weekend but i think that will be kept for 2013. I might be able to fit in 1 or 2 more kits before the season ends in November (and it becomes too cold in the unheated kitchen extension where i build these babies.)

Pype Hayes

Time for another walk, this time much closer to home. I only live a mile or so from Pype Hayes Park so i walked up there (which seems a lot closer in the car to be honest), had a walk along part of the Plants Brook and then back through the park. Its a very scenic and green part of what still is fairly urban Birmingham. My Great Aunt lived in Pype Hayes back in the 1930s (and beyond presumably) so its a bit of an ancestral land. The photos i took can be seen here.

Project 040

I wonder if Project 040, a Spitfire Mark 1, might be the last kit i will build this year as the nights are drawing in and thus the workshop (which is unheated) is getting colder. This will be a nice kit to end the 2012 building season however, being the Spitfire in its original configuration and the 5th one i have built since i restarted making kits a few years ago. In previous years i have continued building up to November though so there may be space for 1 or 2 more...