Richard Insole
Western Thunderer
Until now, I have almost exclusively only posted about railway-related bits and bobs I have been occupying myself with, in my downtime. Until now... So, What do I currently have on my workbench? I have dabbled in some aircraft in my time, some good, some not so good. As a wee lad growing up, in our bedroom we had a multitude of aircraft hanging from our ceiling, all of which were from airshows that we had been to. I am saddened to admit that as a nipper, I did not appreciate them. The hours that went into making them, the high level of detail and care from dad. The hours and money spent on each of the delicate wonderful kits. But, hey... That's childhood. We can never truly appreciate the small things until we have a bit more humility and life experience to appreciate truly how much effort goes into making our children's lives fulfilling, inspiring and ultimately happy ones.
Skip forward a couple of decades and I find myself fondly pondering on the memories of all the aircraft on a small excursion to our local hobby shop with dad. After putting the world to rights and catching up with the state of affairs, the conversation regarding this topic is brought up. My hope was to tell dad that, although I may have never taken the opportunity to thank him all those years ago as a lad for putting together these aircraft, and I am sure that he never put in all that effort for thanks, that I truly did appreciate it.
Often the case, I am inspired by looking at others' creations and kitbashing sessions on the internet and thinking to myself "that looks really good, I wonder if that kit is still about." It's only too easy nowadays to have a quick search on the interwebs and find a gem. A snazzy 1:32 scale red arrow had claimed its place on my heart and within a couple of clicks, it was on its way. Soon thereafter, the fear of ruining a perfectly good, getting scarce and somewhat expensive kit, I realised, I should probably get a nice cheap and cheerful 1:72, and have some practice first. After all, I probably should try to hone my skills on something less important. But, why follow some images or references from the internet when I remembered that we had some red arrows. I was sure that they would be safe somewhere and asked dad if they were available for my grubby mitts to have as a reference. A rummage through the loft into the depths of one corner (sorry again for that dad), revealed to us some fabulous memories all nicely packaged in one of mum's old washing baskets. Fear not, mum took the moment to remind us of the fact that they were her washing baskets.
Ever grateful, and not trying to take the mickey, I came away with 3 red arrows and possibly one of my most loved childhood memories came home with me and I wasted no time displaying them. Somehow a Sea King with some light damage and included man at the end of his winch managed to find its way into the box too. How could I say no?
Sadly I didn't get much in the way of evidence of the progress, as to my surprise, it all went fairly well. So, without further ado, here is my 1:72 scale red arrow... there were some firsts in this build. I had previously got myself an 'entry level' airbrush. Something that I must admit, I am not very good at. However, I had upgraded my kit to a slightly better compressor that I could control the airflow/pressure of and wanted to try my hand at airbrushing Humbrol enamel paints. Mainly avoided through fear of getting it all wrong, I need not have worried quite so much.
So chuffed that I had actually not done too badly, and that due to the design difference from the older more 'classic' stylings of dads 3, What should I do with this one? Perhaps it could do with some accompanying aircraft?
Yeeeaah... Why not!? Before you could say... "Ah bugger, I've caught this blasted virus" I found myself stuck at home with nowhere to go and the itch to do some more. 3 more to be precise.
The production line was open for business and I got cracking. This time, remembering to take photos...
Cheers,
Rich
Skip forward a couple of decades and I find myself fondly pondering on the memories of all the aircraft on a small excursion to our local hobby shop with dad. After putting the world to rights and catching up with the state of affairs, the conversation regarding this topic is brought up. My hope was to tell dad that, although I may have never taken the opportunity to thank him all those years ago as a lad for putting together these aircraft, and I am sure that he never put in all that effort for thanks, that I truly did appreciate it.
Often the case, I am inspired by looking at others' creations and kitbashing sessions on the internet and thinking to myself "that looks really good, I wonder if that kit is still about." It's only too easy nowadays to have a quick search on the interwebs and find a gem. A snazzy 1:32 scale red arrow had claimed its place on my heart and within a couple of clicks, it was on its way. Soon thereafter, the fear of ruining a perfectly good, getting scarce and somewhat expensive kit, I realised, I should probably get a nice cheap and cheerful 1:72, and have some practice first. After all, I probably should try to hone my skills on something less important. But, why follow some images or references from the internet when I remembered that we had some red arrows. I was sure that they would be safe somewhere and asked dad if they were available for my grubby mitts to have as a reference. A rummage through the loft into the depths of one corner (sorry again for that dad), revealed to us some fabulous memories all nicely packaged in one of mum's old washing baskets. Fear not, mum took the moment to remind us of the fact that they were her washing baskets.
Ever grateful, and not trying to take the mickey, I came away with 3 red arrows and possibly one of my most loved childhood memories came home with me and I wasted no time displaying them. Somehow a Sea King with some light damage and included man at the end of his winch managed to find its way into the box too. How could I say no?
Sadly I didn't get much in the way of evidence of the progress, as to my surprise, it all went fairly well. So, without further ado, here is my 1:72 scale red arrow... there were some firsts in this build. I had previously got myself an 'entry level' airbrush. Something that I must admit, I am not very good at. However, I had upgraded my kit to a slightly better compressor that I could control the airflow/pressure of and wanted to try my hand at airbrushing Humbrol enamel paints. Mainly avoided through fear of getting it all wrong, I need not have worried quite so much.
So chuffed that I had actually not done too badly, and that due to the design difference from the older more 'classic' stylings of dads 3, What should I do with this one? Perhaps it could do with some accompanying aircraft?
Yeeeaah... Why not!? Before you could say... "Ah bugger, I've caught this blasted virus" I found myself stuck at home with nowhere to go and the itch to do some more. 3 more to be precise.
The production line was open for business and I got cracking. This time, remembering to take photos...
Cheers,
Rich