Flakmonkey goes clubbing **SORTED FOR E'S AND WHIZZ**

[flakmonkey]

Sadly, the club in question is the Airfix club, who gave me a Spitfire XVI some time ago to play with. Believe me, I would rather be on my way to Fac51 right now. On the plus side, at least I get to spend the night with a model. This hasn't happened since that party in Blackheath. The one we don't talk about. Shhhhhhh. I was considered quite a catch in those days, I can tell you.

As my erstwhile assistant Dave seriously underperformed last time, we shall once more be calling upon the sterling services of Woody. We're back to that party again aren't we. Sadly, my insane collection of vegetarians will be mostly asleep and so we shall have to create our own entertainment. Unless one, or more, of them does something bizarre in their sleep. Regular visitors to these events will not be surprised to learn that this does indeed happen. The Tall Vegetarian Wife, for example, has a habit of taking a glass of water to bed. She also has a habit of falling asleep with it in her hand. The water itself has a habit of landing mostly on me. Having some time ago realised the time saving benefits of this 2am nightly shower I stopped complaining about it and simply accept it as a normal part of life. Much of what passes for normal around here would no doubt raise eyebrows, and indeed blood pressure, in the majority of households.

Here's a model I will be building.





I shall be using the kit decals. Yes, I know. Start time will be some time soon.

[Ian]

Morning, Flak. As I am at work tonight I will be able to keep you company.
Lucky old you!
So - black or silver? My preference would be a black one but as it's your build I guess the decision will be to build a Hurricane instead.....

[flakmonkey]

Lucky old me indeed. I'm not appreciating the old in there but I shall let it go. We're having a silver one, but as Ian is at work and can't see any pictures here's the plan: we just tell him it's black. Divvint say owt.

Sprues containing the parts to be sprayed in interior green collected together. Wiggo mug fully charged.



I don't have any H78. Tamiya XF-71 standing in. Sue me.

As we are clubbing, I have covered my ceiling in camouflage netting and suspended some large foamex smilies from it. Ginger Vegetarian will no doubt be highly impressed with my retro style. She doesn't realise that we invented it. Retro floor fillers time.

[Ian]

Sadly there are a few peoples pictures who don't come up at work, Merlin and Ratch to name two. Your's, however, are appearing nicely. And I can see that your painting guide is showing the silver option, which is the wrong option. At which point I say;
"Oh, that's bad"
And you reply
"No. That's good"
And then the music kicks in again......

[Jagewa]

Disco ball good..

Oh hang on is this the three letter story thread?

[flakmonkey]

Update slightly earlier than conventionally accepted but this is, remember, my house and conventional went out of our window within 24 hours of meeting my wife. Not within 24 hours of marriage, within 24 hours of meeting her. Big, and important, difference.

Japanese paint applied to green bits. Other bits in black, silver and Tamiya hull red as appropriate.



Blurry picture to show the drybrushed instrument panel. There is no decal supplied and frankly you can see about as much light in a Spitfire cockpit as I can see at the end of my tunnel.



It's refreshingly quiet here, and free of the insanity that I have come to associate with everyday life. make that life. In general. You would not enjoy being me. I am seriously considering adopting a nocturnal lifestyle.

Continuing our retro trip down memory lane (and if you have memories of this stuff, you were not, as they say, there) I have found M.A.R.R.S for you, brothers and sisters. True fact - I used to do the sound hire for people playing loud music loudly in fields. Lucrative, but ultimately the logistics of leaving expensive and delicate equipment to people accompanied by dogs on bits of string who were a only matter of mere hours away from being arrested started to look like a less than promising career path.

Oh hang on is this the three letter story thread?

No it's not.


See what I did there?

[Jagewa]

clever clever 0.5

[Ian]

Yes we did.
Good start, Flak.
I can recommend -

[flakmonkey]

I really hope that Ian isn't at work with glow sticks. At the same time, why would it not surprise me? We've all done it haven't we. In my own case, three minutes before being asked to go home. Forever. My job didn't involve glow sticks, in case you were wondering. I tried, oh how I tried, to summarise the last hour's progress in three words to keep in with Jim's admirable attempt to create haiku-bau, but the effort defeated me.

Essentially I have glued bits together.



Most of the bits glued together really well.

Some of them didn't.



Those separate wingtips are going to take some work. Some filler needed in the usual Airfix Spitfire places underneath.



Look what I found.

[Ian]

I know this doesn't fit in with tonights clubbing theme, but it is relavent.

[Jagewa]

DJ Flak is in the house, spinning the you vids.

Shame about the wing tip fit, turn on the black light and it'll look fine..

[JohnRatzenberger]

entertainment and modeling.
Very sorry but
I must leave
for a while
but hope to
be back before
you have finished.

[flakmonkey]

Waiting for filler. A term that could equally be applied to anybody working on a Rolling Stones album since 1980. Keith Richards famously fell out of a coconut tree and ended up in hospital. True story. What was he doing up there? He also wrote to Ronnie Wood when Mr. Wood was in rehab (which appears to be a hobby shared between the two guitarists) and told him that rehab was for quitters. Which I found amusing.

Radiators cleaned up and carburettor intake assembled. Which means more filler to wait for.



I have taken a little time out to paint the big fanny thing at the front.



I have also started on the propellor as you can no doubt tell in spite of my best efforts to obscure the photograph with a monumental lack of ability to actually take a picture.

By the time the filler is ready to sand it will be breakfast time I'll warrant. Better get a step on.

entertainment and modeling.
Very sorry but
I must leave
for a while
but hope to
be back before
you have finished.

Haiku-bau is clearly alive and well. My cup runneth over.

[Ian]

You've painted the spinner the wrong colour. The black Spit has a gold spinner.

[flakmonkey]

I can't remember ... is this an indigenous Airfix kit or is it a repop of the Occidental?

It shares most of its parts with the Airfix Mk. IX. I can't remember if that was an original tool or nor. I suspect it was. Obviously you get new fuselage halves and the bulged engine cover and some other new bits in the Mk.XVI kit. As well as a million other parts such as a high capacity oil tank, Vokes filter, Mk. VIII wingtips, narrow chord rudder, and even a Seafire III arrestor hook and fairing. Quite a handy box full of bits and pieces.

Wingtips pretty much faired in as well as time will allow. Some more filler applied here and there.



Next job is to fit the flaps in the up position. The instructions show them down with no option to fit them up. I have no idea if they will fit or not. First they have to be released from the sprues.



What could possibly go wrong?

Speaking of which, when your band takes the world by storm with its first album, what can possibly go wrong? Other than having the master tapes for the second album stolen twice, the singer suddenly and inexplicably losing the ability to sing (although some suspected coca cola was involved. Or something. Well, when I say "some" of course I mean "everybody in the whole world") and then having a well publicised fall out with the guitarist who had until then been a lifelong friend and then actually releasing the second album only to have it panned by all and sundry. So as we can see, very little can ever possibly go wrong. Obviously we are referring to the Stone Roses. Actually quite a lot can go wrong because not long after releasing the second album, which was rather bombastically titled "Second Coming" they imploded and all went their separate ways. Guitarist John Squire went off to form The Seahorses. Which is an anagram of He Hates Roses. Which he did, for quite some time, until he ran out of money and they re-formed. And were just as shambolic the second time around. What can possibly go wrong indeed.