Recent posts

#21

Metaphysical / Re: Aerial Kraken Defense Thre...

Last post by von Corax - March 05, 2025, 11:23:46 PM

Makes sense — an air gun for air kraken, and a naval gun for marine kraken.

#22

Architecture / Re: That 'big project' I've be...

Last post by James Harrison - March 05, 2025, 07:57:39 PM

I've found a new activity to hate.  I thought painting walls was bad enough, but that has nothing on this. 



How it started on Monday night.  It was a bit of a struggle and the paper kept trying to make bids for freedom, but a lot of effort and swearing and a litre of wallpaper paste later and I thought I was getting somewhere. 



After a night that featured an unappreciated 2AM wakeup call, this is what greeted me when I stumbled out of bed the following morning. 



Last night I managed to actually salvage the paper, and this is what I was left with after saturating it with water and pasting it up again. 

Tonight I deployed the nuclear option. 



If the paper has to be wet, let's make it absolutely sopping. 



And that led to this, the situation right now.

From this point, I'm intending to work my way around to the fireplace.  Then I'm going to work back to the doorway and do the top metre or so.  When I have done that, I'm going to put another layer of paper down on top - laid horizontally this time - and then I'm probably going to have to work over it with filler and sandpaper to get a completely satisfactory surface.

I hate wallpapering.  It's slow, it's cumbersome, it aggravates my temper and I hope I don't have to do it in any other rooms. 

#23

Metaphysical / Re: Aerial Kraken Defense Thre...

Last post by HAC - March 05, 2025, 06:49:55 PM

How about a smaller version of..... The Brandt 60mm pneumatic mortar!

#24

Off Topic / Re: GAAAAAHHHHHH Mk.VI: The Re...

Last post by rovingjack - March 05, 2025, 08:23:00 AM

I hope some of our more endangered members are okay.

#25

Metaphysical / Re: Aerial Kraken Defense Thre...

Last post by von Corax - March 03, 2025, 03:48:42 PM

These ideas have all revolved around defending against the Giant Air Kraken, but how does one protect oneself against the Pacific Tree Octopus?

#26

Architecture / Re: That 'big project' I've be...

Last post by James Harrison - March 02, 2025, 11:53:12 AM

The woodwork got a second coat of stain, and then this morning I mixed up a small batch of wallpaper paste and started sizing the walls.

The instructions, as I said a few days ago, only give a batch size for mixing a whole 200g sachet and that ends up giving you 9 litres of the paste.  Which is far, far too much.  I used about 2.3 litres of water and a quarter of the packet and that was enough for me to do the entire back wall, the fireplace reveal and across the front of the chimneybreast.  In fact it was slightly too much and I ended up throwing away about 300 or 400ml when I finished.  But it gives me a useful datapoint to estimate with when I finish stripping the next section and have to size that. 

Last night I bought a few rolls of lining paper which I think should be enough to do the back wall and that inglenook. 



Now the debate is how close I want to go to this corner when papering.  There is a radiator to take down and when that is out of the way I have woodwork to clean up and wallpaper to strip.  So there is a real risk that if I go right into the corner, I'll end up damaging my work when preparing for a subsequent phase. 



My current line of thinking is that I will start at the doorway and work along the back wall to the far corner, and around the inglenook, and aim to finish this first bit somewhere on the fireplace. 

The goal remains that I'm aiming for something reminiscent of the Vienna Secession, this was the inspiration;



Especially the overall colourscheme and the wainscotting.  I've actually just bought a 500-some-odd page coffee table book of the work of that particular architect (Joseph Maria Olbrich), unfortunately it's in German so all I can do is look at the pretty pictures (I don't much want to be putting it through a translator one paragraph at a time...)

#27

Aural-Ocular / Re: Soviet films

Last post by morozow - March 02, 2025, 10:50:04 AM

Stalker and Solaris are to me two quintessential Soviet films.

I'm not sure if he can be considered a typical Soviet cinematographer.  After all, Tarkovsky is Tarkovsky, he is such a powerful director that he has generated a lot of free and involuntary imitators of his film language.

Yes, I'm boring.

#28

Off Topic / Re: The Brassgoggles Model Mak...

Last post by The Bullet - March 02, 2025, 09:32:36 AM

... instead came home instead with a Hornby Stannier 8F.

"instead" does not count. "additinally" is the point.

#29

Off Topic / Re: YET *EVEN* MORE things tha...

Last post by LukeHogbin - March 02, 2025, 06:01:01 AM

The "new" laptop I ordered the other day is waiting for me at the post office. So I'll go pick it up tomorrow.

#30

Off Topic / Re: The Brassgoggles Model Mak...

Last post by Madasasteamfish - March 01, 2025, 04:50:45 PM

I suspect this is going to be of interest to others who model the East Midlands and South Yorkshire. 

https://rapidotrains.co.uk/gcr-15t-brake-van/

Luckily, it being payday, I was able to scratch the itch for myself. 

I must confess to being sorely tempted when I saw it, but as I have one in kit form waiting to be built, I'm not rushing for my chequebook just yet.

If nothing else, I'd probably end up ordering several (the NCB liveried example does offer some intriguing possibilities).

And in today's episode of Reasons why I shouldn't be left unsupervised in a model shop:

I continued that great male tradition of going out for one thing and coming home with another by visiting a local model shop with a view to purchasing a Bachmann 9F that caught my eye a few weeks ago (but was agonising over the price until payday proved advantageous) and instead came home instead with a Hornby Stannier 8F.