Dave Hunt

As HH has stated, several TNMers met at Stafford today. Sadly, NHY581's layout had developed an intermittent switch fault - mainly because whilst talking to us he forgot to operate it - but for once HH was in his best behaviour mode. What he didn't realise was that my walking stick actually contained an air rifle loaded with sedative darts in case he got over-excited and Olddudders' job was to distract him while I took aim. My promise not to bad mouth panniers for a week if Wales win tonight went down well and I believe that as a result he has messaged Warren Gatland to urge him and his boys to make an extra effort. Dave

Off shortly to the Stafford show where I am due to meet up with HH. I hope that it is up to his expectations as I would hate to see an angry tail twirl in such a crowded venue. Then tonight I shall watch Wales take on Australia and will be shouting for the men in red so we will have something in common. If Wales win I promise not to denigrate panniers for at least a week . Dave

I once bought something called a Cornish Pasty in Spain. The only resemblance was the name. I do agree with jjb1970’s post above about the difference between ethnic foods on their country of origin and in other countries, which I have found applies even to those from other European countries in the UK. Proper Italian cuisine, which I first really became aware of when on detachments to Italy, is much, much better than that available in most of the Italian restaurants I have been to in the UK or even in the more touristy parts of Italy. Funnily enough, though, I find that TexMex food as sold in the USA and UK is better to my taste than the genuine article in Mexico, which in my experience is generally more bland. Dave

Just in case you haven’t seen enough of my activities, as well as work on the layout I have been working on the breakdown train that I started many moons ago and is now complete. I started with the crane, which began as a D@S kit that Jill bought for me many years ago but due to various issues with the kit, in the event ended up as half scratch-built. The builders’ plates are from Diane Carney - expensive but superb. Next I made the match wagon, which was scratchbuilt using Slaters wheels, axle boxes, couplings and buffers. The really interesting bit was making the cradle for the jib - cutting the plastic strips to fit with the different angles involved was accomplished with quite a few naughty words. Following on from that came the mainly plastikard scratchbuilt mess and riding van. This was made from photographs and details provided many years ago by the late Ralph Lacey and is based on a modified Kirtley tariff van, the main dimensions being taken from Bob Essery’s MR Wagons Vol. 2. Hence it is somewhat conjectural but as far as I am aware there is no drawing to go on and to me it looks right. Last of all were the two tool vans, once again scratch built mainly in Plastikard using photographs and details from Ralph Lacey as for the mess van. The under frames are standard 9 footers as for 10 ton brake vans. The whole assembly looks like this: Or from the other end like this: As can be seen, after much research I couldn’t decide for certain what colour the vehicles should be apart from the crane, which I was sure was crimson lake. From photographs I also determined that the match wagons were crimson lake but as for the vans? Eventually I decided that since they were Locomotive Department assets they could well have been crimson lake, so that is what I used (and yes, I am aware of what George Dow wrote in Midland Style but the evidence is mixed). Anyway, it’s my train set so that’s what I’ve done. I’ve tried to weather the train to simulate something that has seen service and although it has been looked after, several years use (my layout is circa 1906) has taken its toll but the vehicles have not been allowed to become really filthy as would probably have been the case in a later era. So that’s what I’ve been doing over the last few years. Dave

Further to my last post, the layout, the visible section of which is 26ft x 3ft 6in, now looks like this: A view from the over bridge at the fiddle yard end towards the shed in the distance. A view from the shed end And one from part way down towards the shed. As can be seen, there is still much to do. Although the basic grassing has been done, the rest of the foliage - bushes, brambles, trees etc. remain to be done. Other details such as shear legs over one of the sidings as well as wheelbarrows and other shed items have to be added, not to mention people. There is also the fiddle yard to make. The aim is to get it all done by next summer. Dave

It’s a long time since I posted anything about my layout so here goes with an update. All the buildings I have made myself are complete and installed and as those of you who read MRJ will know, so is the loco shed that was made for me by Richard (Tricky) of Monks Gate Models. I was intending to make the shed myself but since I reckoned it would probably take me at least twelve months and I was already way behind schedule I decided to spend some of the money my Dad left me and ask Richard to do it. That was an excellent decision as he has done a superb job and the shed really looks good.. The other buildings, which I have made from scratch except for the round topped windows, roof tiles and tank panels which Tricky also made for me, are: The water tower The offices and stores The coaling stage And the old goods shed that in my little world has been repurposed as a PW depot More later. Dave

Today I was pressganged into invited to go to the Trentham Gatdens shopping village. Needless to say I did do with a cheerful countenance as I know which side my bread is buttered and tomorrow I have been given a day off to go to the Stafford show in the august company of HH. When we got there I realised that as well as being a shopping hell it is also an extremely dangerous place to be……. Fortunately we escaped unharmed. Dave

Apart from the idea of eating a guinea pig being very unappealing, I have never seen the point of eating ridiculously hot (as in spicy hot) food and only being able to taste heat rather than real flavours. When I was stationed in Singapore there was an establishment called the Victory curry house that advertised that if any westerner could eat a whole one of its 'special' curries they could have one free on their next visit. I have seen guys with their faces streaming with sweat, gasping and gulping water as they tried to swallow the next forkful of what resembled molten lava and wondered why the hell they were doing it simply in the hope of being able to do it again for free. Needless to say, I never tried, despite being called a wuss or similar. Dave

Yes, he does. See you there. Dave

Well, I did get a but warm doing some silver soldering earlier but I wouldn't say I got toasted. Dave

The normally calm and peaceful aura of Hunt Towers has been replaced in the last couple of days by the banging, crashing and shouting of what seems like a large crowd but is actually three or sometimes four blokes replacing most of the roof. However, they have now had to go for more materials and won't be back until Monday (i.e., they're knocking off early 'cos it's Friday) and once more peace settles. The word is bliss. Dave

I think that in this case he is using guinea pigs in the sense of those undergoing a trial, the trial in this case being made to watch a hippo drinking a cup of coffee. The mind boggles. Dave

When I was going through the very long winded and convoluted process of getting clearance to post some wedding anniversary cake to my No. 2 son and DiL in Australia, one of the things the officials were adamant about was that under No circumstances could moon cake be included in the parcel. No reason was given, just a warning not to try to send any. Dave

'Fraid not. With current tales of muddling activity at Bear Towers (as yet unconfirmed) it appears likely that Puppers will be replacing Bear in the naughty corner with torture equipment supplied by CC Industrie GmbH. Dave

Last week we had a stay in a very nice inn in Yorkshire for £129 B&B for two per night. Dave

As nice to fly as to look at. Dave

When I was doing my initial training in the RAF we were dragged off taken to the Brecon Beacons for a torture session fun filled luxury camping two week holiday in February. I don't think I have ever been so cold, tired and miserable in my life, and that includes doing the winter survival course in Bavaria. Dave

I've been caught on Kinder by a sudden downpour and it ain't nice but nowhere near as bad as Blea Moor - that is truly awful in driving rain. Dave

It (terminate) is not used for an emergency - it is used to terminate such things as air-to-air combat training or trials. The emergency word is stop stop stop. Dave

I did have a go at him over that particular item but he complained that I was merely picking on him because of my size advantage. Dave

Abort is still used for abandoning a takeoff though. Dave

RAF Brawdy had a runway with a pronounced hump in the middle and it could be quite unsettling to land there and seemingly be running out of runway before cresting the top. Mind you, the slope did help with slowing down. Dave

Just as an aside to the tales of airliners, among the TLAs ( Three Letter Acronyms) much used in the aviation business, should you hear someone speaking of SLFs that means you - SLF = Self Loading Freight. Dave

Weight On Wheels or WOW switches (at one time they were called Wheels On Ground switches but then that was deemed unacceptable) have been the cause of problems a few times. One of the things they do is prevent the undercarriage being retracted whilst the aircraft is on the ground and a show-off trick among Lightning pilots at one time was to line up on the runway, light the afterburners, select undercarriage up and then let the brakes off. As soon as flying speed was attained the aircraft was rotated into a near vertical climb and as the weight came off the wheels the gear would retract. This was fairly spectacular to watch but was of course against the law although it was performed not a few times. The crunch (quite literally) came one day when a pilot who shall remain nameless (and no, it wasn’t me) tried the trick but rotated a tad early and instead of climbing, the jet sank back onto the runway. Normally that wouldn’t have been a problem but in this case the wheels were retracting so the big belly tank contacted the tarmac, split open and promptly caught fire. Result? One ejection and pilot OK but one Lightning in full reheat and on fire sliding along the runway and into a field at the end most definitely not OK. End of show-off takeoffs for good. Dave

When landing on a short runway it is a good idea to do a firm landing and not what is known in the trade as a 'greaser'. It is called 'killing some elephants' as you can get rid of a lot of kinetic energy and instantaneously lose a good 10 or 15 knots as the wheels hit, which can make a big difference to stopping distance. Dave