Aston On Clun. A forgotten Great Western outpost.

[lezz01]

1 hour ago, Captain Kernow said:

Very impressive. Presumably one of the pilots is called Ken?

 

FYI the pink one is a Photo Reconnaissance version not flown by Ken. The RAF painted the PR spits pink because they believed that was the best colour for low altitude reconnaissance aircraft against low cloud cover, sunrise and sunsets. During the Gulf war Jaguars were painted pink for much the same reason.

Regards Lez.  

[Annie]

6 hours ago, MrWolf said:

I think that the medal of honour needs to go to @Annie for having the nerve to bale out before an impending crash, that takes some doing.

(blush) Hey thanks, - I don't really remember that much about it.  I saw what was about to happen so I just let go of the handlebars and stepped back off the bike. It was only when I hit the road that the thought struck me that I might have done something a bit more intrepid than I might be comfortable with.

[57xx]

On 26/11/2023 at 02:02, lezz01 said:

So back in the day there were four of us renting a house in Hayes and we all worked for Churchill Express out of Acton Town. Three of us were running CX500s and one of us was running a Guzzie La Mans and every week one of us would have to tow the La Mans back from town. I don't know if you've ever tried towing another bike but it sure was interesting to say the least given the CX's handling characteristics. Eventually we persuaded him to buy a CX and work on that instead of the La Mans. Not as cool but much more reliable. In the end I switched to a CB750KZ and swallowed the cost of the chain and sprocket sets in exchange for a bike that handled like a proper bike. I ended up on a Kawasaki Z750 L2 that handled even better as it was a shorter wheelbase. 

Regards Lez.    

 

I had the misfortune of riding a couple of CX500s when I was dispatching. I had to rent after my RD250 got stolen (yes, I dispatched on an RD250!  It was great around town, just meant I missed out on any long distance drops.) The first CX ,I had to add 5 minutes per drop as it had no side stand and was a right barsteward to get onto the centre stand. I took that one back, got the next one who's brakes required you to predict 5 minutes ahead of stopping. I did manage to run into the back of a car in the rain on that one when I hauled on the wet front brake and not a lot happened, luckily low speed. Took that one back too and insisted on a CB250 (the only other type of bike they rented). That one got totalled by a tw@t-in-a-box jumping a red light and T-boning me. I got one broken ankle and enough free time to get myself back into my regular line of work. I wouldn't go near another CX with a bargepole.

 

Edit: just noticed t wat got filtered out.

Edited November 28, 2023 by 57xx

[chuffinghell]

3 hours ago, lezz01 said:

FYI the pink one is a Photo Reconnaissance version not flown by Ken. The RAF painted the PR spits pink because they believed that was the best colour for low altitude reconnaissance aircraft against low cloud cover, sunrise and sunsets. During the Gulf war Jaguars were painted pink for much the same reason.

Regards Lez.  

And flown by the pink panther!

 

I believe they also used white too….but I could be wrong

[Tortuga]

3 hours ago, lezz01 said:

FYI the pink one is a Photo Reconnaissance version not flown by Ken. The RAF painted the PR spits pink because they believed that was the best colour for low altitude reconnaissance aircraft against low cloud cover, sunrise and sunsets. During the Gulf war Jaguars were painted pink for much the same reason.

Regards Lez.  

Is that the same theory as behind the colouration of the SAS Pink Panther Landrovers - blancmange pink = perfect desert camouflage?

[chuffinghell]

3 hours ago, Annie said:

(blush) Hey thanks, - I don't really remember that much about it.  I saw what was about to happen so I just let go of the handlebars and stepped back off the bike. It was only when I hit the road that the thought struck me that I might have done something a bit more intrepid than I might be comfortable with.

 

Although a scary tale I think I speak for everyone when I say we’re all glad you’re here to tell it
 

I didn’t get my bike licence until my early thirties (a midlife crisis maybe)….

 

…anyway I still didn’t dare tell my mum I was going to get a motorbike because I thought she’d worry. When I turned up unannounced on a CBF600s outside their house my mum came to me and said

 

”nice! I used to ride pillion on the back of your uncles bike when I was a teenager” I nearly fell off it

 

Edited November 28, 2023 by chuffinghell

[lezz01]

5 hours ago, Tortuga said:

Is that the same theory as behind the colouration of the SAS Pink Panther Landrovers - blancmange pink = perfect desert camouflage?

Yes kind of but for slightly different reasons. The pink merges into the mirage caused by the heat. You know what I mean it's the thing that makes the sand look like a lake in the distance. I've done some desert stuff and it really does look like a sheet of water. It's quite disturbing actually. You have to be right on the ball with a compass to make sure you are really going in a straight line as you will walk in a great big circle because of a right or left side dominance. Everyone has a side dominance, I have a left side dominance so my left leg is a little stronger than my right so I would walk in a large right hand circle if there were no landmarks and I didn't have a compass. It's usually the opposite to the way you are handed but not always. If you think about it it's not hard to understand, right handed people use their right hand for fine precision work and they hold things steady with their left so the left hand becomes stronger than the right and it's the opposite way around for left handed people. If you don't have any land marks or a compass eventually you will come across a set of footprints the problem with that is they are your footprints as you've been walking in a big circle, it's why people die in deserts. The horizon is only 22 miles away and if the nearest hill is 35 miles away you won't see it unless it's a very big hill.

Regards Lez.       

[lezz01]

5 hours ago, chuffinghell said:

And flown by the pink panther!

 

I believe they also used white too….but I could be wrong

No mate they did use both pink and white.

Regards Lez.

[MrWolf]

7 hours ago, lezz01 said:

Yes kind of but for slightly different reasons. The pink merges into the mirage caused by the heat. You know what I mean it's the thing that makes the sand look like a lake in the distance. I've done some desert stuff and it really does look like a sheet of water. It's quite disturbing actually. You have to be right on the ball with a compass to make sure you are really going in a straight line as you will walk in a great big circle because of a right or left side dominance. Everyone has a side dominance, I have a left side dominance so my left leg is a little stronger than my right so I would walk in a large right hand circle if there were no landmarks and I didn't have a compass. It's usually the opposite to the way you are handed but not always. If you think about it it's not hard to understand, right handed people use their right hand for fine precision work and they hold things steady with their left so the left hand becomes stronger than the right and it's the opposite way around for left handed people. If you don't have any land marks or a compass eventually you will come across a set of footprints the problem with that is they are your footprints as you've been walking in a big circle, it's why people die in deserts. The horizon is only 22 miles away and if the nearest hill is 35 miles away you won't see it unless it's a very big hill.

Regards Lez.       

 

Not fun at all, add to that landmarks being virtually invisible or appearing to float depending on the position of the sun, making judging distance a PITA.

[MrWolf]

I did manage a bit last night though. 

 

Much tedious separating individual blocks of "stone" and glueing them around the damaged areas before sloshing on a thin coat of tank grey.

 

 

 

 

The stonework will next receive a  drybrushing with lighter greys and then plenty of weathering before installing on the layout.

 

 

 

Edited November 29, 2023 by MrWolf
General illiteracy

[chuffinghell]

WOW! that looks absolutely brilliant 👍

[1466]

11 hours ago, lezz01 said:

Yes kind of but for slightly different reasons. The pink merges into the mirage caused by the heat. You know what I mean it's the thing that makes the sand look like a lake in the distance. I've done some desert stuff and it really does look like a sheet of water. It's quite disturbing actually. You have to be right on the ball with a compass to make sure you are really going in a straight line as you will walk in a great big circle because of a right or left side dominance. Everyone has a side dominance, I have a left side dominance so my left leg is a little stronger than my right so I would walk in a large right hand circle if there were no landmarks and I didn't have a compass. It's usually the opposite to the way you are handed but not always. If you think about it it's not hard to understand, right handed people use their right hand for fine precision work and they hold things steady with their left so the left hand becomes stronger than the right and it's the opposite way around for left handed people. If you don't have any land marks or a compass eventually you will come across a set of footprints the problem with that is they are your footprints as you've been walking in a big circle, it's why people die in deserts. The horizon is only 22 miles away and if the nearest hill is 35 miles away you won't see it unless it's a very big hill.

Regards Lez.       

I experienced left hand dominance in the Great Smog of 1952 . I stepped off a kerb next to a lamppost and ended up back at the same lamppost ! You literally couldn’t see more than a foot in front of you .

[Nick Gough]

8 hours ago, MrWolf said:

 

Not fun at all, add to that landmarks being virtually invisible or appearing to float depending on the position of the sun, making judging distance a PITA.

 

I saw an odd sight, last month, on a bright sunny day, sailing amongst islands off the Dalmation coast.

From a distance I thought it was an aircraft carrier or submarine, but using my zoom lens it turned out to be this:

[froobyone]

17 minutes ago, Nick Gough said:

 

I saw an odd sight, last month, on a bright sunny day, sailing amongst islands off the Dalmation coast.

From a distance I thought it was an aircraft carrier or submarine, but using my zoom lens it turned out to be this:

 

An Imperial Star Destroyer?

[John Besley]

A lighter than airship from 1920 Iron Harvest - and no I haven't got the game just love the artwork and models

[Nick Gough]

34 minutes ago, froobyone said:

 

An Imperial Star Destroyer?

The Force is strong in this one!

[MrWolf]

Some pre bedtime bodging has coloured the stone along with a dark green wash along the bottom edge and drybrushing with a moss green which there should be plenty of for a wall beneath trees.

I want to show that the wall predates the railway and the copse is cut through by it.

 

 

 

 

It's going to need a lot of bedding in!

[Winslow Boy]

Rob I take it that vertical 'line' is the joint of the two sections? My eye keeps being drawn to it that's all.

[MrWolf]

Yes it is. I would have cut it in around the mortar joints on a tidy wall, but a lot of it will be hidden by undergrowth so I took the easy option of a butt joint which does show now that it's painted.

[Fishplate]

The wall is looking great Rob @MrWolf.

 

Interesting reading the various motorcycle horror stories. That mode of transport has never appealed to me, mainly for my ability to figure out what could go wrong. I am definitely not in the 'Tally ho chaps, it won't happen to me' brigade! 

 

We took our daughters to a local theme park when they were about 10 and 9. Eldest daughter spent most of one ride laughing her head off. When asked what was so funny, she said "You". She then explained that I was holding on for dear life and looked really worried.

 

She wasn't interested in my concerns about the ride quality and when/ if that contraption that was throwing us about was ever maintained . . . . .

[John Besley]

8 hours ago, Fishplate said:

The wall is looking great Rob @MrWolf.

 

We took our daughters to a local theme park when they were about 10 and 9. Eldest daughter spent most of one ride laughing her head off. When asked what was so funny, she said "You". She then explained that I was holding on for dear life and looked really worried.

 

She wasn't interested in my concerns about the ride quality and when/ if that contraption that was throwing us about was ever maintained . . . . .

 

Been there as well, hung on for grim death...

[Donw]

On 26/11/2023 at 00:33, Winslow Boy said:

So the next instruction then isn't - now strike a match?

 

Like the chap who went looking for the gas leak with his lighter.

 

Not a lighter but in he past before we had fancy testers searching for a leak with a lit taper was a recognised method. You had to be experienced enough to know that gas and air mix is only explosive in a certain range too little or too much gas and it will not explode. Therefore you can judge the space and ventilation.  Add to that the strength of the smell and you have a fair chance of being ok.  When close to a leak the flame will be affected. Of course mistakes were made and could be fatal so I do not advise trying this out for yourself.

 

Don

[Donw]

On 26/11/2023 at 13:52, Annie said:

May I tell  motorcycling story? 

The worst motorcycling accident I ever had was when a learner driver pulled out of a stop sign right in front of me on a country road and wrecked the Suzuki GT380 I owned at the time.  With nowhere to go I had two choices, taking flight over the roof of the car when the bike  T boned the side of it, or stepping off the back of the bike and trusting to the leather jacket and layers of clothing I was wearing to protect me.

I stepped off, came down bit of a bump well tucked in and all seemed good with me sliding well clear.  My bike hit with a bang and bounced away into ditch where it screamed its poor heart out until someone thought to shut it off sometime later but the engine was wrecked by then.  That wasn't my biggest problem as the learner driver had frozen up screaming their head off worse than my bike, didn't brake, kept jabbing the accelerator and frog hopped the car across the road and cracked me straight in both my knees with the car's bumper.  I still have an impressive scar across my left knee 40 years later, - though it has faded a bit.

 

After all the medical drama, - my Mum demanded that I come back home, - no doubt so she could keep a close eye on her wayward daughter.  For a full day at least I got the 'told you so' treatment and even the old hoary story of the chap down the end of the road who crashed his bike into a lampost and ended up with having a steel plate put in his head was trotted out.

The thing was I was going to need transport once I was on my feet again and I couldn't afford a car. 

Any breath of getting another bike and Mum would have gone into full lecture mode all over again.  Then I saw a Jawa sidecar outfit advertised in the local paper at a price i could afford.  I pointed it out to Mum. 

'Oh that will be nice and safe for you', she says brightly while I'm doing my best to keep a straight face and not give the game away.

 

After the Jawa eventually expired after I could find no more spares for it.  I got a Honda CB350 twin next and put a chair on that.  It also got the GT380's rear wheel with its bigger brake and stronger cush drive as well.  Fitted into the Honda's rear forks like it had been made for it.  That outfit could just about go anywhere and I loved it.  Then (sigh) too much life happened and I had to sell it and bikes faded out of my life.  I really miss riding a well set up outfit (sigh).

 

Couldn't rate your post Like would be inappropriate for the first part but apt for getting a combo. At 16 my father (who was providing the funds) insisted I should have a combo. We settled on a Norton model 50 with a sidecar.  I wasn't really strong enough to hold it but soon built up the strength.  It was great fun and as a learner I could still take friends (or young ladies).

 

Don

Edited November 30, 2023 by Donw
typo

[figworthy]

19 hours ago, MrWolf said:

Some pre bedtime bodging has coloured the stone along with a dark green wash along the bottom edge and drybrushing with a moss green which there should be plenty of for a wall beneath trees.

I want to show that the wall predates the railway and the copse is cut through by it.

 

 

 

 

It's going to need a lot of bedding in!

 

The wall looks rather good, as for the gate, that is a masterpiece.

 

Adrian

[MrWolf]

9 hours ago, Fishplate said:

The wall is looking great Rob @MrWolf.

 

Thanks I might even finish it this week! 

 

9 hours ago, Fishplate said:

 

Interesting reading the various motorcycle horror stories. That mode of transport has never appealed to me, mainly for my ability to figure out what could go wrong. I am definitely not in the 'Tally ho chaps, it won't happen to me' brigade! 

 

The motorcyclists I know who are still riding and still breathing all know that it might happen to them. Riding a bike tends to make you much more aware of what is going on around you.

I tend to cringe when I see idiots riding sports bikes in summer in shorts, T shirt and trainers, or some chav in a plastic track suit on a scooter.

When I first started taking the Memsahib out, I bought her a leather jacket. Not one of those silk thin modern ones, but one made in Germany in the "60"s from horse hide. She likes old things anyway (Yes, me included, just as well) and I told her that I wasn't buying her a present, I was buying my conscience.

 

9 hours ago, Fishplate said:

 

We took our daughters to a local theme park when they were about 10 and 9. Eldest daughter spent most of one ride laughing her head off. When asked what was so funny, she said "You". She then explained that I was holding on for dear life and looked really worried.

 

She wasn't interested in my concerns about the ride quality and when/ if that contraption that was throwing us about was ever maintained . . . . .

 

I'm alright with things like rollercoasters, but even though I'm happy to jump out of a perfectly good aeroplane, you won't get me on something that whirls you around until you want to blow lunch.

 

I've spotted some interesting welding on fairground rides too.