Folks,

C51:
Yes, I found it difficult to relax sitting up there in our apple tree. Note to me: Buy heavier lawn furniture next time or grow larger trees.

Dux:

That is a delightfully pastoral scene similar in fact to those we see in BoB. It is even complete with little wholly dots spread out all over those rolling hills of green. I can almost see a Spitfire.... or perhaps a smallish Fokker sailing by.

[Sorry, Pix Removed 2.6.06]

All,

Bahahaha!!!JR2 strikes again. Always Fokking around. :p

Your growth in the graphics department has grown notably over the course of these years. Well done. By the by, 66 degrees F here Saturday. Delightful. I wanted to tear the swrink wrap from USS SNAFU and take her to sea. A family effort moved a pile of old rotton wood from behind the house and carted it off to the recycling installation nearby. It made great fun for the girls as they got to see a real dump up close with Thousands of gulls flying about looking for something for lunch. We SNAFU's sure now how to spend an extrordinarily warm January day.

Panthers battle for the right to go to the Super Bowl. Best of luck to them. We here must now root for the Steelers from the birthplace of Mrs SNAFU. Maybe the 2 teams will reach the dance and then we can trash talk or something.

MG, a great short on your mission. As the other boys said, your tale provides a brief (Like most of the actual fights) account of an airbattle in the BoB. And captured the essence of our beloved game. Great going sir!

C51 you are the best. In each case in which you take a stab at humor you continue to succeed greatly!

Old Dux, I love that pic. When I think of England your pic is what I think of first. A lovely place indeed. Only three days though? That will just not do!

Not that you were a relative or anything but sorry to hear about the passing of that world famous Thames whale. Too bad the lil girl or boy didnt make it. Everyone was pulling for it to make it back to the ocean. At least the effort was made to try and help.

Gents,

JRT,

That's a super E.III there old chap...complete with shadow too. Graphics work of the highest order.

My Eindekker is a different colour though. Most models seem to have the colour as on your model but I couldn't settle on the right shade so chose a different one altogether as you will see in a few days.

SNAFU,
Surprised to learn that the plight of that poor whale has had global coverage. I suppose the stress of attempting to help it back to the sea was too much for it but what else could be done? Full marks to those who tried their best to help.

Folks,

SNAFU:

LOL. Fokkering around? Me?

It has been an exceptionally warm January a few hundred miles south of you as well. We've had plenty of strong winds as the temps go from 20 degrees above average for several days to several degrees below average, then up again. It reminds me more of March than January.

So the SNAFUs have been down in the dumps again? If this trend in weather continues you will surely be tempted to break the USS SNAFU out of dry dock and set her free. I must say you really know how to show the family a good time on very little money. Next you'll be taking them down to the barber shop to watch a few haircuts.

Thank you for the good words about my PhotoShop work and the friendly wishes regarding the Super Bowl. The Seahawks/Panthers game starts in about 30 minutes. We'll see how Smith does. I didn't watch the Steelers game and it is about over. I'll catch a little of it.

Dux:

Thanks for your kind comments. I resisted the urge to have the Fokker dangling from a branch with a broken wing lest it somehow jinx your kit's maiden flight. As for the color, I started to make it bright red or a deep shade of green. I look forward to seeing the finished work.

There are those who think the beaching of whales is caused by disease, others think it is due to the sonar blasts from subs disorienting them. Still others believe they are fleeing some predator. Perhaps it is all these things?

It is a shame that such a magnificent creature died in such a way yet that sacrifice certainly brought out the best in many people who were no less magnificent in their attempts to save the doomed whale.

An Eindecker imposed upon Dux's sweet home!??
It brought me a smile and chuckle.
JRT, you are a devious sort!

Dux, I save all of the pictures you take of your landscape.
I save all of JRT's art, too, however outrageous they may be!

Folks,

Stickman,

Nothing devious this time. You may not be aware that Dux is just finishing work on a flying scale model of the Eindecker?

We have been waiting patiently since the fall for a flying photo of that kit. Wait, photos don't fly. I meant to type a photo of the kit in flight, that's it.

Finally, I could wait no longer, and as I was conveniently presented with the perfect opportunity, I simply could not resist. This should surprise no one of course since it is well known that I can resist anything BUT temptation.

It is always so nice to have the esteemed Hawaiian branch of HWH drop by. I enjoy your interesting e-mails as well.

Did anyone but me notice that we have now well surpassed 4000 posts on this the second and continuing clone of SNAFU's HWH thread? An amazing thread that is now slowly filling space on the new BoB 2 forum?

Congratulations SNAFU and to all who post here.

stickman,

I have a few more memories of a distant summer. I'll put them up in a while.

JRT,

I've been busy jiggin' with the friggin' riggin' but it is almost finished now. To finish off I need some convincing tyres and have been thinking of cutting two short 5mm lengths off 'J's' garden hosepipe seeing as how it ain't being used lately. On second thoughts I may end up having a few lengths cut off my hosepipe. Scrub that idea...

Dux:

I don't know what you used for rigging. I used a strong black thread coated in bee's wax for my Sopwith. The same as I used for the standing and running rigging of my large scale USS Constitution.

If you are no more fortunate than I am you do not need a shorter hosepipe.

My Sopwith wheels are wooden and partly painted black. I took my Dremmel tool and sliced tiny treads into the wooden wheel to make it look like a rubber tire. I had to build a jig to accomplish that as I recall. Most hobby stores now have tires galore these days. No need to make your own.

JRT,

I was thinking of wooden ones...made out of curtain rings but the wheel hubs are slightly recessed inside the rim so the tyres will have to be stretched over.

The rigging is made from shearing elastic as recommended.

Folks,

Dux:

My wheels had a kind of hubcap provided in the kit. They were made of plastic. The real Camels apparently had pneumatic tires with a small fill valve visible on photos so I altered my kit to have that valve replete with a tiny red cap on each valve. I used a bit of stiff wire cut to length and glued in place in a tiny hole I drilled in the wheel and hubcap. Originally there was a dimple in the hubcap where the valve was supposed to be but nothing else. The little details make all the difference.

Of course with a scale model some things are just too small to be shown.

The elastic is a good idea. Humidity can play havoc with cotton thread making it stretch over time, thus the wax which also helps with the threading.