This past week has seen overcast and grey skies but quite mild during the day and cold at night, typical start to autumn I guess. It leaves me with more time for modelling and reading  as the nights draw in. On the bench currently are the three builds below and the Heinkel He 111 put to one side as I fix the fragile decals.

Both the Spitfires are coming along, the Airfix Mk.1 starter set and the JAYs model Mk.IXc have both been brush painted as I try to sort out the thinners for my airbrush. I discovered a downside to the home made thinner as it caused problems spraying with the silver paint. I had initially assumed it was the Tamiya thinner but I realised it was the bottle with the home made stuff which works well with ordinary paints but not the metallic paints. 

I have ordered some cheap books for the darker evenings and this Spitfire book will also serve as a reference guide as well as a history of the aircraft. I have built a few Spitfire models now of different marks and I have a couple more in the stash. For less than the price of a pint including free postage this was a bargain. It beggars belief that books can be so cheap but I have deposited books I no longer want on the shelf at Sainsbury’s for people to pick up. The money goes to charity, usually a few pence but I guess real knowledge and reading is fading away for younger people as society transitions to the digital age.

The AZ Breguet 14 kit was delivered today as it has decals for three aircraft and the Merlin kit from the stash has old and definitely fragile decals. A French aircraft from WW1 and also used for many years post war with the Polish airforce using it against the Soviet Union in 1920. The other books include a selection of paranormal episodes, a history of the Afrika Korps and the reminiscences of a London Jewish comedian growing up as a fan of The Jam and Arsenal in late seventies London. As a fellow fan of the Jam but supporting the better team Spurs it will make for interesting reading. I continue to follow the 3i/Atlas comet but there is so much nonsense about it being aliens and a UAP that sorting the wheat from the chaff takes time. An unusual statement for a self confessed paranormal person but I still prefer to maintain one foot in the scientific evidence world and avoid the hysterical, the loonies and the grifters. Far too many of the latter about, all three types very much in government and politics generally but I’ll keep this blog light today. 

As for reading, I am more then a third of the way through the ‘Mapp and Lucia’ stories by E F Benson on my kindle and I am addicted to the stories, very funny and wonderful characters. I saw the TV series with  Geraldine McEwan and Prunella Scales some years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it but, the books are even better. A gentle but at times scathing comedy of social manners in 1920’s England. I like Benson’s ghost stories as well and an interesting chap and a very interesting family.

TTFN.