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Hi, gents;
Dan; thank you for the words of encouragement. I started a second fuselage. The second one is closer. But I used knife to cut the covert that goes under the wing. The edges, which will be visible, are pretty sloppy. On the first fuselage, I pre-cut the covert. But I am uncertain as to how I should go about joining the two halves. Then, too, I am not happy with the shape of that fuselage. Am I being too anal?
Maybe I should stick to military aircraft. If I do anything wrong, I can just say that it is simulated FOD. You can't do that with a Concorde. Nobody ever FODed out a Concorde. The people who worked on them were far too devoted and far too professional.
Okay, you're right; there was that one time...
Rick; "Ilk"? Well, yes, guilty as charged. Although I suspect we think of ourselves as more of a "breed".
As for the Stumps, oh, yes, I have had that, um, pleasure. I was a mechanic, which is to say "remover and re-installer of large parts" on the AH-1j Cobra. I was on a det at Stumps once for two weeks. I was corrosion control on that det.
That meant that I would go out once a day and spray various components with CP. Then, at the end of the day, I would go douche out those areas with MEK ("Respirator"? What's a "respirator"?) in the hope of removing the now sand-encrusted CP. And we'd laugh! Oy! More fun than man should enjoy.
Donald; always an honor and a pleasure to make the acquaintance of fellow former military folk. As for being Army, it's nothing of which to be ashamed, not everyone packs the gear to be a Marine.
One of the acquaintances of which I am proudest is a brother Marine who was at the Chosin Resevoir. Sadly, he is no longer with us. Those men were the absolute, hands-down gold standard of what it means to be a Marine. And, for that matter, a man. And he could not have been a sweeter, gentler, kinder, quieter or more generous, humble man.
I am the complete opposite of (Just plane)Bill, in every way that matters. I walk the Earth loud, proud and obnoxious, because I get to stand of the shoulders of men like Bill. And it is something that I call "the special gift of the Marine Corps" that they are content to let me. It always amazed me that Bill considered me his equal, even though my time in the Corps was all peace time. I know this because once he told me he had been at the Yalu, I lamented (okay, I whined) at never knowing if I am the man he was. Essentially, I was channeling Mike Meyers at meeting Alice Cooper: "I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy...". Bill wasn't having any. The toughest man I ever met looked at me and said in a voice only I was meant to hear "you'd have done nothing less". That may have been the most humbling moment of my life.
God bless the United States Marine Corps.
If Marines pull duty in Heaven, Bill had better be on God's own guard detail, or someone will answer to me.
Am I ranting? Man, I have got to go get my meds adjusted.
I will put up photos of my "progress" as soon as I figure out how.
All the best,
Aaron
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