The Little World

Well, I added one today. The next foolish error. The one that separates the men from the boys. And I know which side I’m on…

I had masked the new Hawker Hurricane Mk II very well and I was ready to shoot the upper works. As it was a cold day. I selected lacquer thinner for the Tamiya paint and mixed up a sufficient batch. Into the colour cup of the airbrush it went.

And onto the model. The tail surface first, then the fuselage, and finally a start on the wings. But what is this? The paint is starting to stop! It is clagging up! It is not flowing! What new horror is this!

I removed the needle shield and carefully cleaned the needle tip, Still no flow. I dumped the mix into a holding cup and tried a solvent flush. Still nothing. Complete blockage. Had I screwed something up royally? Was my airbrush dead? Did I have a half-painted Hurricane?

Then I looked to the air compressor. The new air compressor. The silent one. The very silent one. The oh-so-silent one. Was it broken?

No.

It was not turned on. I had commenced the job with half a tank of air. All I needed to finish the aircraft was to press the starter switch…The compressor is so quiet I did not realise I had turned it off.

They say you need to make all the mistakes once. I am advancing – I’ve chalked up another one. My nerves are shot.