Despite the simplicity of the markings, I’m pleased to finally have a Portuguese machine in my collection, something that has been absent throughout my modelling career.
16th February 2025
Sunday afternoon, preparing for another period of work and my final diary update for this week.
As I mentioned yesterday the last few days have been all about friends and family and kicking back from the day to day, mundane tasks and with alarming frequency, fearful news, that seems to endlessly overwhelm us all. Such periods of calm are never taken for granted, so I grab them whenever I can.
Football was of course part of the picture, made memorable not only because AFC Telford hauled themselves to another win at home, but for the Baltic weather that we endured during the game.
Talking about the weather is something of a national sport in the UK. I was amused to read a discussion on Threads in which the poster posited the idea that UK winters were worse than anywhere else, almost on the planet. Sure, other countries are far colder but ours were intolerable because they were not only intensely chilly at times, but that that cold, was exacerbated thanks to perpetually grey skies and damp mizzly air that permeates through all clothing and into bones, oblivious to your place outside or indeed, in. It’s an inescapable biting chill that even visitors from far colder countries seem unable to fully deal with. I for one never get warm and I doubt I’m alone.
Yesterday’s game seemed to prove that in some style. The carefully layered clothing and thermal socks that I had assumed would be more than enough to combat the worst that the outside had to offer, put up pathetically little resistance against the sub-zero temperatures and that ferocious damp air that hung over Telford’s stadium. I was shivering within the first few minutes of the game, which I continued to do with increasing intensity throughout the following 90. The cold was so bad that my legs cramped up forcing an endless dance to try and create some kind of relief. Even the purchase of a large Bovril, grabbed as much to warm my hands as my insides, did little to stave off what I genuinely felt would result in mild hypothermia. It was a miserable experience. So much so I cannot remember the last time either of us were that cold, leaving both to wonder just why we thought it a good idea to replace the warmth of my house, with damp terrace steps, to watch a football team three levels below the Football League. At least they won.
Thankfully, today has been a little warmer and my location a little more housebound. There was of course more football (of course there was!) before I had the chance to decal the Anson ready for weathering tomorrow. A far from a difficult or longwinded task, the handful of markings (most of which needed to be applied over plain surfaces) took little more than 30 minutes to apply, which certainly made a change!
Despite the simplicity of the decalling and that silver paintwork – which one might assume counters ‘silvering’ but I assure you, doesn’t – I took time to gloss the areas under where the markings would sit. Though the finish was smooth to the touch and looked glossy enough as it was, experience has taught me that waterslide transfers don’t adhere as well to untreated metallic finishes as they do, glossed surfaces, so I sprayed a thin layer of Tamiya LP Clear over the relevant areas to provide a key for their application. As the Clear dries quickly when applied sparingly, the whole process took little more than an hour complete (the cleaning of the airbrush to remove any unwanted contaminants, seemingly the longest part of the entire process) and that included a period of drying ready for the decals.
As it stands, the decals are on, so I can leave the whole shooting match to dry out ready for the morning. There’ll be some touching up around the rudder, but nothing that’s too arduous. I’ve not yet decided which direction I will take the model in when it comes to weathering a light touch and some sparing applications of colour, likely destinations on my hasty journey to completion.
Before signing off, apologies to anyone that read my post from yesterday.
A MODELMAKER’S LIFE: SATURDAY MORNINGS, A TRIP INTO TOWN AND A REBIRTH OF MODEL SHOPS?
Reading through it today I discovered a shocking number of typos that I had missed, the result no doubt of my desire to quickly write it up before our friends arrived. I think I’ve discovered most of the bloopers, so it should read a little better and not appear as if I had written it for some last minute homework on the back seat of the morning’s Charabanc, panic stricken, school fast approaching. If you discover any that I have missed, please keep them to yourself; I’m embarrassed enough as it is!
So that’s it for this weekend. Have a lovely evening everyone and I’ll see you tomorrow.
Spenser Lucky to escape with 1-1 with the saints. Still very good reading your daily comments and the last book…
Wow! I built a dozen back around 1980. Entered them as a collection at the IPMS USA Nationals. Didn’t win…
Yes, stop procrastinating……build a Lightning🤣
Who knows, you might even consider publishing another bookazine on building the BAC Lightning as well?
I am glad that the man was talked down. It’s definitely hard to see without knowing the outcome, until later.…
SPENCER POLLARD'S KIT BOX 
All I know about soccer Ive learnt from Ted Lasso! But Im fascinated by the fact a club can be owned by an individual. Here in Australia, none of the footy clubs are owned by individuals, they all operate as corporate business’ with the associated Boards of Directors etc.
So you couldn’t buy an AFL or NRL team. Soccer Clubs here though I think are owned. (Im sure someone will correct me if Im wrong on that.) And Yes, it is ironic we refer to the one football game where you can use only feet as Soccer whilst the other games where you can use hands are called football here.
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