Happy 87th birthday to the cool plane! On this date in 1938 the prototype Curtiss XP-40 made its first flight in Buffalo, NY.

Photo taken by Dad at Warbirds Over Wanaka 2004. #avgeek #warbirds

Saw a post in the wild (outside Bluesky) saying with all sincerity that Batman would be pro-ICE and just... people really do say *whatever,* don't they? Charlie Brown had hoes, Batman would be pro-ICE, Charlie Brown would have pro-ICE Batman hoes... Every day, we stray farther from God's light...

totally different guy

ha ha ha ha ha ha mister johnson ha ha ha ha ha ha

I’ve been warned I should consider strengthening the nose gear…another thing to research! Thanks for the heads-up!

Waiting for filler to set on the Corsair and struggling to find nose weight for the Canberra. Both 1/72. #histscalemodels

LGBTQ

For me it was. As a mojo restorer there was too much work required, and the cockpit just wasn’t up to scratch in my opinion even as Just Something To Build.

It takes a lot for me to throw away a model kit, but this one met whatever requirements I had at the time. Life’s too short! I now have the Hasegawa F4U-1D and Airfix Canberra B(I)8 (both 1/72) on the bench and am having a wonderful time!
#histscalemodels

At the very least, it’ll reduce your discomfort and pain into old age, but it’s also so good for your brain, your energy, and your mental health.

Find a way to move your body. A sedentary lifestyle wrecks your shit so bad, and it’ll start catching up to you about now if it hasn’t already. Exercise, lift weights, play a sport, literally anything.

If anybody (in the UK) would like a signed and personalised first edition Everything Will Swallow hardback for cover price plus p&p, please drop me an email at [email protected].

My mum, Jo, has very kindly designed, printed and cut some beautiful bookmarks to go with each purchase (for free).

That is an exceptionally relevant point for me right now. My girlfriend hasn’t complained yet but I’d like to find less smelly options, so thank you!

The premise of King Kong is funny because you can scare me with a regular sized ape.

That’s what I was wondering. I’ve never used them so it’s all an exciting learning curve for me!

At an airshow I scored two relatively scarce kits for quite cheap, one of them being the Airfix 1/72 bomber Canberra from 2009ish. Bigger than my recents but relatively simple.

Any suggestions on making the panel lines shallower without putty? A primer or surfacer maybe? #histscalemodels

The first coat was some misbehaving aged Humbrol that went on a little lumpy and fumed-up the room for a couple of days, before the tinlet dried up less than 72hr later. This time it’s a Tamiya mix and it went on smooth and with little smell.

I’m really enjoying this.
#histscalemodels 2/2

I’m learning how to airbrush, close to 20 years after someone first said to me “Hey you’re good, start using airbrush”. As well as the previously posted Idea F-4F here’s a Frog DH Hornet, again in 1/72, so I can learn before potentially ruining important kits.
#histscalemodels 1/2

it's so funny that Greenblatt bent over backwards to these people and annihilated his organization's credibility with anyone left of center to get absolutely nothing from the right

It’s always a delight to see Rob Mackley’s Lockheed 10A Electra ZK-AFD, even if only on static display. Such a vision of beauty and I feel so very fortunate to have her based 10min from home. These were taken at Sunday’s Omaka Wings & Wheels.

#avgeek #warbirds #aviation

September 30 marks the 50th anniversary of the first prototype Hughes YAH-64 Apache’s first flight. To commemorate this milestone I’d like to share photos of all the Apaches I’ve seen in person:

Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk NZ3043 “Bess”, under restoration to fly, was on display at Omaka Wings & Wheels today. It’s been some time since I was last in the hangar so it’s great to see progress and so many interested folks checking it out. #warbirds #history #avgeek

What I realised this year, especially after the Unbound disaster, is that organisations - including, and sometimes especially, those who make big claims about providing an alternative and fighting the good fight - are not things to put your trust in.

Substack is not your friend.

This move is costing me a fortune in Stripe fees from U.S. Substack subscribers who are angry I've moved from Substack and are initiating Stripe disputes & taking their sub fees back. I feel like I'm going mad. They wanted to support Substack, not my writing?

I still think I did the right thing.