The grumpy thread

[Metal Guru]

28 minutes ago, MikeR said:

caravan insurance , last year it was 400 notes , F&*^ me not paying that much again , so this year had a look around and google did the rest and filled my feed with

information , and as a result found a place that would do me for 180 notes ...........  less than 50% of last years price .

got the expected renewal last week which I expected to have gone up to some 400 plus ...

350 ?????

given this day of inflation , car insurance going up etc , how did that happen ?  , do they just have a dart board with prices on it ...

not being reamed out by that insurance company again ..

There seems to be no rhyme nor reason with insurance prices.

I had four different insurance policies with Direct Line.

The renewals we’re as follows. ( all except pet had no claims )

Pet +66%  Car +93% House  +43%,  needless to say I went elsewhere and got prices within 10% if last years premiums.

Fourth one just in, Landlord Insurance expecting a similar hike but it’s up just 8%.

Not complaining about that one but WTF?

 

[Markeh]

I have a sore throat from the weekend, which is making talking fairly difficult and hard to understand. So this interview I have on Teams at 4pm can only go well - I'm not sure they've ever heard someone explain their .NET experience sounding like Orville before.

[DavieW]

A perfectly good pavement on the other side but she's got to walk on the road with traffic approaching her from behind. 😳

 

[Bren]

Only a slight grump. This - 

Kit has 1992 on the box. Molds are probably ten years older. And it shows - the fit of the wings is appalling despite sanding and trimming - any looser and they would flap. It's going to take lots of filling - and sanding.

I had a peak on youtube at the latest airfix vulcan - new molds and the wings are one piece - the detail is superb.

I'll just have to crack on.

[beko1987]

4 hours ago, Markeh said:

I have a sore throat from the weekend, which is making talking fairly difficult and hard to understand. So this interview I have on Teams at 4pm can only go well - I'm not sure they've ever heard someone explain their .NET experience sounding like Orville before.

Good luck! Have a few glasses of water queued up

[Yoss]

2 hours ago, Bren said:

Only a slight grump. This - 

Kit has 1992 on the box. Molds are probably ten years older. And it shows - the fit of the wings is appalling despite sanding and trimming - any looser and they would flap. It's going to take lots of filling - and sanding.

I had a peak on youtube at the latest airfix vulcan - new molds and the wings are one piece - the detail is superb.

I'll just have to crack on.

Mine is of a similar age and has been wrapped up in the loft awaiting repair for longer than we have lived here which is over ten years. You just spurred me on to dig it out.

But I think the panel gaps were better than yours before it broke. This is me pinching it together.

Still visible but not as much yours. It's par for the course with Airfix of the time though isn't it. I have memories of having to clamp fuselages together whilst the glue dried as they were so bowed. 

I repainted this one as XH558 many years ago but I'd used all the transfers previously so everything on this is hand painted except the fleet number which is Letraset. Even the roundels and Union Jack are hand painted. I had more patience in those days.

 

If you want no panel gaps you could try an inflatable one.

This has 1984 stamped on the bottom.

[myglaren]

Best thing with Airfix kits is firing the glue from an air rifle.

[barefoot]

I remember painting the helmet of a 1/72  YF16 pilot red white and blue, like the paintwork of the exterior.

[sheffcortinacentre]

12 hours ago, MikeR said:

caravan insurance , last year it was 400 notes , F&*^ me not paying that much again , so this year had a look around and google did the rest and filled my feed with

information , and as a result found a place that would do me for 180 notes ...........  less than 50% of last years price .

got the expected renewal last week which I expected to have gone up to some 400 plus ...

350 ?????

given this day of inflation , car insurance going up etc , how did that happen ?  , do they just have a dart board with prices on it ...

not being reamed out by that insurance company again ..

Yes how did you guess their sophisticated modern equipment.

[High Jetter]

8 hours ago, Bren said:

Only a slight grump. This - 

Kit has 1992 on the box. Molds are probably ten years older. And it shows - the fit of the wings is appalling despite sanding and trimming - any looser and they would flap. It's going to take lots of filling - and sanding.

I had a peak on youtube at the latest airfix vulcan - new molds and the wings are one piece - the detail is superb.

I'll just have to crack on.

Vulcanise it?

[Metal Guru]

1 hour ago, High Jetter said:

Vulcanise it?

No it will look stupid with pointy ears!

[Wack]

What an arsehole

 

https://news.sky.com/video/motorcyclist-catapulted-off-bridge-in-milton-keynes-after-road-rage-incident-13097576

 

Assault with a deadly weapon as a minimum I'd think, that biker was really lucky 

Once the dickheads insurance sees this that'll be his policy cancelled 

When he comes out of prison he might find the bill for damages is enough to make him homeless

 

 

[angle]

On 18/03/2024 at 20:20, sheffcortinacentre said:

So if a vehicle meets the legal  requirements to be on a public thoroughfare, on what legal grounds do the council have to steal someone's property?

The Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978 - it doesn't just give them the power to remove abandoned vehicles, it requires them to. By that law, they don't have to give any notice if the car is on the public highway and they can sell or scrap it after seven days, so that council is doing more than they have to.

[iainrcz]

Just sat down to watch a movie on Prime. There are adverts.

Apparently to "go ad free" is £2.99, on top of however much it is monthly.

Cheeky pricks.

Good job I'm only on a 30 day prime free trial.

[Yoss]

On 19/03/2024 at 14:57, Bren said:

Only a slight grump. This - 

Kit has 1992 on the box. Molds are probably ten years older. And it shows - the fit of the wings is appalling despite sanding and trimming - any looser and they would flap. It's going to take lots of filling - and sanding.

I had a peak on youtube at the latest airfix vulcan - new molds and the wings are one piece - the detail is superb.

I'll just have to crack on.

 

21 hours ago, Yoss said:

Mine is of a similar age and has been wrapped up in the loft awaiting repair for longer than we have lived here which is over ten years. You just spurred me on to dig it out.

But I think the panel gaps were better than yours before it broke. This is me pinching it together.

Still visible but not as much yours. It's par for the course with Airfix of the time though isn't it. I have memories of having to clamp fuselages together whilst the glue dried as they were so bowed. 

I repainted this one as XH558 many years ago but I'd used all the transfers previously so everything on this is hand painted except the fleet number which is Letraset. Even the roundels and Union Jack are hand painted. I had more patience in those days.

 

If you want no panel gaps you could try an inflatable one.

This has 1984 stamped on the bottom.

So I reassembled and refitted the engines and glued the two halves back together and it looks ok and feels nice and solid now.

Obviously it's lost its refuelling probe and some of the lines are a bit obvious and has a few scuffs and scrapes.

But the only way to deal with those  would be another repaint and I'm not up for that so this will do for now. I did look at the YouTube videos of the new model and whilst it has a few issues of its own it does look much better than this one. Far more detail.

And I put a bit of air in the inflatable one.

 

But back up in the loft, in this pile of boxes...

I have this. Bought from a small model shop about 15 years ago. By a company called MPC apparently.

From America it seems.

But when you open it up it appears to be the old Airfix kit rebranded.

[Yoss]

36 minutes ago, Yoss said:

 

So I reassembled and refitted the engines and glued the two halves back together and it looks ok and feels nice and solid now.

Obviously it's lost its refuelling probe and some of the lines are a bit obvious and has a few scuffs and scrapes.

But the only way to deal with those  would be another repaint and I'm not up for that so this will do for now. I did look at the YouTube videos of the new model and whilst it has a few issues of its own it does look much better than this one. Far more detail.

And I put a bit of air in the inflatable one.

 

But back up in the loft, in this pile of boxes...

I have this. Bought from a small model shop about 15 years ago. By a company called MPC apparently.

From America it seems.

But when you open it up it appears to be the old Airfix kit rebranded.

Just found this on eBay. 

I'd take that. Mine cost £22.

[wuvvum]

However shit the world might be at the moment, it has been made slightly better by the fact that there exists such a thing as an inflatable Vulcan bomber.

[Zelandeth]

Yes, I just *love* waiting all day for a tradesman to fail to turn up.  It's my favourite way to waste a whole day.

[Sunny Jim]

Ah, tantric trades: you stay in all day and nobody comes.

[sheffcortinacentre]

3 hours ago, wuvvum said:

However shit the world might be at the moment, it has been made slightly better by the fact that there exists such a thing as an inflatable Vulcan bomber.

Remember these & I think spitfire.

[Zelandeth]

Update on the no show landscaper from yesterday.  Got an email and hour or so back saying "Looking forward to seeing you at..."

Yeah...you got both the day and time wrong.  Good start.

Replied, advising there seemed to have been some confusion and advising I wasn't available today.  However could manage any time tomorrow, just let me know.

Reply ten minutes later.  "Sorry, are you available tomorrow?"

Yes, this gives the impression of a very organised lot with an eye for detail that I'm *entirely* confident to entrust a job that's almost definitely going to have a five figure price tag to.  

[Metal Guru]

23 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Yes, I just *love* waiting all day for a tradesman to fail to turn up.  It's my favourite way to waste a whole day.

I once had British Gas booked for a pm service call, so popped  out in the morning intending to be in by 12 noon. 
11.15am, get a call on my mobile saying “British gas bodger here ( think he might have said engineer), I’m ringing your door bell but no one’s answering.”. I say , it’s a pm call , I’ll be there by 12. “I’m not coming back”.

So I say , “look I’ve taken a day off work for this “. “We’ll you could have stayed in then”.

At this point I tell him to f@ck off. I then phone BG to complain and get told he’s told them he’s too scared to attend because. I swore at him. Resisting the temptation to swear again, the woman on the phone concedes I was justified and arranged someone else that day.

[Rust Collector]

Text from my neighbour this morning:

‘Are you aware you have a hole in your roof?’

I was not aware, and I was blissful in my ignorance.

Now that I’m encumbered with the knowledge of a hole in my roof I am grumpy.

I guess my Friday evening is going to involve a ladder then.

[Dyslexic Viking]

At least it was nice of the neighbor to tell you about the hole in the roof.  Hope it hasn't been there long and is quick and easy to fix.

[Rust Collector]

1 minute ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

At least it was nice of the neighbor to tell you about the hole in the roof.  Hope it hasn't been there long and is quick and easy to fix.

Yeah the neighbours here are great so can’t fault them for telling me, I just could’ve done without another thing to fix 😅

It looks like I should be able to re-use some or all of the tiles. There’s also someone locally giving a load of them away free and they appear to match my roof so I should be sorted for some already weathered replacements.

God knows what made the hole though.

[Mally]

11 minutes ago, Rust Collector said:

Yeah the neighbours here are great so can’t fault them for telling me, I just could’ve done without another thing to fix 😅

It looks like I should be able to re-use some or all of the tiles. There’s also someone locally giving a load of them away free and they appear to match my roof so I should be sorted for some already weathered replacements.

God knows what made the hole though.

I'd say the timber batterns that the tiles hook onto are broken. Possibly the rest are suspect.

Be careful, you need a roof ladder.   Although you may be able to reach those without climbing on.

[richardmorris]

17 minutes ago, Rust Collector said:

Yeah the neighbours here are great so can’t fault them for telling me, I just could’ve done without another thing to fix 😅

It looks like I should be able to re-use some or all of the tiles. There’s also someone locally giving a load of them away free and they appear to match my roof so I should be sorted for some already weathered replacements.

God knows what made the hole though.

Kamikaze Pigeon?

[Rust Collector]

6 minutes ago, Mally said:

I'd say the timber batterns that the tiles hook onto are broken. Possibly the rest are suspect.

Be careful, you need a roof ladder.   Although you may be able to reach those without climbing on.

I’m in a bungalow so I’ll be able to get to those easily on a ladder without going on the roof itself.

If the battens have let go then I wonder if there’s another issue at play. On the other side of the roof it’s solid, as I’ve walked on that a few times to get to the chimney and clean the conservatory roofs.

[Mally]

47 minutes ago, Rust Collector said:

I’m in a bungalow so I’ll be able to get to those easily on a ladder without going on the roof itself.

If the battens have let go then I wonder if there’s another issue at play. On the other side of the roof it’s solid, as I’ve walked on that a few times to get to the chimney and clean the conservatory roofs.

It's all solid until you fall through. I used to know a roofer. 

Can you get in the loft to check underneath first?

[Rust Collector]

4 minutes ago, Mally said:

It's all solid until you fall through. I used to know a roofer. 

Can you get in the loft to check underneath first?

I can but it's not all boarded out and the pitch is so low that I can't get to the far edges. I should be able to see everything I need to from the ladder without going onto the roof itself.