HubertB

Sorry, I was referring to your mention of people having diametrically opposed information. There is so much crap going around on the subject that going back to basics, i.e. listening to experts and scientific explanations rather than trusting gut-feeling is necessary IMHO. And I certainly did not want to inundate anyone with pop-ups through the link. Really sorry about that. I would recommend a search « Los Angeles Times the science behind coronavirus « to anyone interested. Just be aware that whilst the man is a genuine doctor with expertise in the field, he is also the owner of The L.A. Times. Hubert

I actually liked the video this link refers to. Interesting, moderate and informative IMHO. But rather than link directly to the video, I prefer to post a link to a site disclosing the whereabouts of the doctor in the video, so that everyone can make its mind knowingly about it. https://www.niemanlab.org/2020/03/the-l-a-times-uses-its-physician-owner-to-help-explain-the-science-behind-the-coronavirus/ Hubert

I remember, even though it's quite some time now, having also been a mindless youth thinking the world belonged to me ... Still the idea that, even if I would personnally not be more than mildly inconvenienced for a few days by the virus, I could get it partying and then pass it on to my elderly neighbours or grandparents and drive them prematurely to their grave would make me sleepless ... Hubert

Two kinds of impacts, personal and business. Personal: As I live in Portugal, and since the Portuguse governement decreed the State of Urgency last week, I am basically confined at home, but for necessary sorties, like going to the supermarket, the doctor, the vet for the pets, etc. The Government has decreed what must be closed (basically anything receiving some public for a "leisure" activity, including restaurants, bars, sports arenas, etc.), and what must remain opened (like supermarkets, pharmacies, banks, petrol stations, industries producing fist necessity goods, et). Then there is a grey area for the businesses that do not fall automatically in one of these two categories. A lot of businesses have closed down, or operate on a reduced basis, in spite of demands by the governement that people should work. For instance, I have a house being built, and it seems the building is almost stalled, with minimum staff doing small tasks. Not that I can really be sure, as I am not allowed to go and visit the construction site. The Portuguese people are generally very disciplined and with a a strong civvic sense (the same cannot be said of some expats living here, nor for instance of some Spanish people who have fled their country and managed to enter the country even with closed borders). So they respect the rules fairly easily. Supermarkets are open but impose a maximum number of people allowed inside. There are calm queues outside, with social distance duly respected, and no agressive outcrys. The basic necessity goods are scarcer on the shelves, bu there has been no hoarding. All in all, the situation is pretty quiet (and it is also true in real terms with an eerie silence as traffic is down to a minimum). I am stuck in the country, with intra-european flights closed down as of today, and land-frontiers (there are only some with neighbouring Spain) closed as well. I think everyone knows implicitly that the Portuguese Health System would not be able to cope with a major crisis. It was badly hit by the economy measures taken following the financial crisis of 2008 (for instance salaries of the staff in the hospitals were reduced by 20 to 40 % ), and has not really recovered to its prime since. I'd personally rather avoid having to go to the local hospital, so prefer not to take any risk at all. Business: I still own, for another few years before retirement, a small business in France, with industrial customers in all types of activities. I have been commuting there twice a month for the last 30 or so months, and, thanks to a great (and autonomous) staff, everything was going fine until last week. Following the confinement descisions, the business has dropped dramatically. We usually work with a 3-to-4 days orders' portfolio ( not more). A lot of industrial sites closed down last Tuesday, and informed us so. I therefore decided to suspend operations last Tuesday night, but, as some of our customers were still working - some of them because they are supplying first-necessity goods - we changed our operations and resumed a limited production last Friday, with about 40 % of the staff. Still, orders are down 80 % for any foreseeable future. And as people are stuck at home, consumption is down everywhere, and this impact will cascade and ripple through all the sectors of the economy for many months. So the basic goal is to get the business to survive what is going to be a major (read REALLY MAJOR) economic disaster. The French government has put in place part-time working rules and financial help for this. My employees will loose some income (about 25 %) but will still have one, even when stuck at home. I want to avoid redundancies : our business is skill-based, and takes about two years to have fully-proficient employees. So better keep them for when the turnaround will come, at least as long as possible. By the way, the help applies to employees, but not to business owners and independants. I will have to reduce my income, and will not be compensated for it Other measures include helping companies survive what is soon going to be a major cash-crunch crisis, all the more so as, in the end, if you have no orders, you have no invoicing and no income ultimately. I have spent the morning asking my banks to reschedule the down-payments of business morgages, and put in place state-guaranteed fundings. I just hope we will be able to repay all the delayed payments when the economy picks up again .... I have no real way of predicting any future beyond the end of this week, in real terms. Some good news in the midlle of it: I have a stash worth 150 years of confinment, and find myself in a situation where the other things I always prioritise to modelling, like running my business or following the building of the house, will perforce be put on the back-burner, or at least consume less time. So I should be able to get some modelling done, provided I can still get some income to buy the necessary food to support me through it Take care all, don't try to outsmart common sense rules, and follow the basic hygiene prescriptions : remember that so far, the greatest killer of the virus is soap. Hubert

I am using a dental vacforming machine (plenty on sale on ebay and the like, sourced from China) The problem with these, and I suppose with the Mattel one, is the lack of fine temperature control. When using PETG (one commercial brand is Vivak, but there are others) you need to control the temperature to avoid bubbles forming in the plastic (bubbles come from the moisture trapped IN the plastic and vapourising). On my machine, this is done by scrutinising the plastic sheet and adjusting the height, i.e. distance from the heating resistance. Not always successfully in fairness. Solutions for this : pre-dehydrate the PETG sheets by letting them one or two hours in the oven at 50° C, or heat the plastic at 150° C by plunging it in hot cooking oil in the machine for French fries, assuming you have one with fine temperature control (but a cooking thermometer can help here). Any vacuum source, like the Mattel machine, will work then. A plywood box with holes plugged to the domestic vacuum cleaner will also work HTH Hubert

Double congrats, mate ! First for breaking the jinx and finishing off the kit, and above all for the masterful way you did it ! I love the finish and subtle weathering. VERY well done ! Now to the Ki-84 Hubert

« Mort Subite » (« Sudden Death » in English) is a well-known conventual Belgian beer, with a cherry taste. It’s also very strong in alcohol. Both reasons to explain its name. I personally don’t like it. But our Belgian friends have also a very strong sense of humor . One of the many reasons you have to like them, besides their famous beers. Hubert

And some Belgian humor ... if you like beer ... Hubert

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Hubert

Looking good John ! And a proof that HPH kits CAN bebuilt, and turned into excellent replicas Hubert

Plenty of civilian schemes’ options, although we are offered, as usual, just swastika-adorned finishes (yaaaaawn ) But an interesting opportunity still to have another « civvie » on the shelves ... Hubert PS: already some alternatives, although still military ones : https://www.lfmodels.com/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&zenid=dporp5f734qh8gtgbk6bn9hak0&keyword=BF+108B+TAIFUN+&x=27&y=10

An now you get why all these people were hoarding toilet paper rolls. Being stuck at home with kids and your regular - or legal - best half must be pretty sh#%!ty stuff for a lot of people Hubert

Actually, I just saw on the news some footage of what is going on in Italy. One funeral company alone received 64 deceased today. No mass grave, but an impressive line of coffins ... A relative was saying that the funerals were scheduled some three weeks later, because even the churches were overcrowded and missing priests ... It really does not look like an exercise ... Hubert

Marketing genius ! Hubert

You mean, no ? Now that’s tough Hubert

Well, I’m sick with the decision I had to make today ... Since the French government enforced strict quarantine and confinement yesterday, a lot of my customers have shut down their factories. I decided to shut mine down, but it is frankly not clear whether this was necessary. The French politicians keep the verbatim vague enough so that you can interpret it both ways. I guess it’s a way not to be accountable in the future ... In the meantime, 8 employees and a shareholder in major economic uncertainty Hubert

Not sure about AM, but one (usual) word of warning. The Aires cockpit is most likely too wide. For the Italeri kit, it was some 3mm+ too wide to fit ... Hubert

+1 ! H7bert

I think I found one ! In 1934, PZL attended the Paris Airshow with the prototype P11/IV, with the Mercury engine, in a show livery of white and red trim. Hereafter are two pics, shown applying Fair Use principles. On the first pic, the P11 is in the back, whilst the P24 prototype is in the forefront. Plus a link to the digital imaging forum Military-meshes.com, where a Polish member did 3D renderings. http://www.military-meshes.com/forum/showthread.php?7392-PZL-P-11c/page4 And, also, for nostalgia’s sake for our friends who lived behind the Iron Curtain, an excerpt of a color profile published in Plany Modelarskie #91, in 1979. The colors are wrong, as the aircraft was white (logical to have a display Polish aircraft in Polish colors), but I am sure someone (Martinn ?) will have fond memories of these publications. The smell and touch of the paper alone are unique. One last comment. The #IV prototype was later re-engined with a Gnome-Rhone Mistral engine, being a prototype for Romanian exports, but in Paris it had the Mercury. So, now, I am itching to get started. Only a lumbago prevents me from sitting long in front of the bench Hubert

Very fine monofilament (like 3lb fishing line) will work better than stretched sprue. It is easy to glue at both ends. And to make it taught, just pass underneath an incandescent matchstick (or toothpick). It will straighten like magic ! And will be inherently stronger more resilient to the occasional knock or wandering finger than stretched sprue ... Hubert

Hey guys, It finally dawned on me that we have the solution at hand : we are men, and we are real modellers. There are two things real men AND modellers don’t need: maps and building instructions. If I start using the instruction sheets of the kits in my stash, I am good for a few years of whatever plague we have to face.Eureka ! Hubert

Anyone know or have pics of a PZL P11c in more colourful markings than the plain boring khaki/light blue-gray ? I was considering HN-NBN, a civilianised PZL P11 flown in Hungary between 1940 and 1944, but this is an «a » version, which would require butchering the IBG fuselage to be accurate (engine higher by 4 mm, cockpit moved forward by 9.5 mm, new fin and rudder, and overall length decreased by 6.3 mm, including by moving the engine slightly back. All doable, but a lot of work and possibilities to ruin the nice surface detail of the IBG kit, so a non-starter in the end ... But this khaki is oh so boring Hubert

This is becoming a multimillion views meme

Ernie, I thought you were a friend ... I’ll have to reconsider my feelings now Hubert