Grant Hutchison's Blog, page 23

Sharkit 1/72 Edgley EA-7 Optica: Part 1

This is a resin-and-vacuform kit of the extraordinary Edgley Optica, an aircraft I’ve wanted to model for a while. The Sharkit kit is the only one currently available, though there has been a cycle of rumour and hint from other manufacturers for a while. It’s pretty basic, to the point of being sparse. Below, you … Continue reading Sharkit 1/72 Edgley EA-7 Optica: Part 1 →

CCCP 2020: Mona Gowan & Morven

Scraulac (NJ 314056, 741m) Cairnagour Hill (NJ 325056, 743m) Mona Gowan (NJ 335058, 749m) Mullachdubh (NJ 354057, 681m) Morven (NJ 376039, 872m) 17.9 kilometres 800 metres of ascent The Crow Craigies Climbing Party’s meeting for 2020 was cancelled during the Current Unpleasantness. But the three founding members, now into our fifth decade of chuckling and … Continue reading CCCP 2020: Mona Gowan & Morven →

Anthropause

ˈænθrɒpɔːz Anthropause: The period of reduced human mobility brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic Over the past few months, many countries around the world went into lockdown to control the spread of COVID-19. Brought about by the most tragic circumstances, this period of unusually reduced human mobility — which we suggest be coined ‘anthropause’ — … Continue reading Anthropause →

Arthur Conan Doyle In The Arctic

It is bloody work dashing out the poor little beggars’ brains while they look up with their big dark eyes into your face. Arthur Conan Doyle, Arctic diary entry, 3 April 1880 In February 1880, a third-year medical student from Edinburgh abandoned his studies, temporarily, to sign on as the ship’s doctor of the S.S. … Continue reading Arthur Conan Doyle In The Arctic →

Secondary Rainbows

In my previous post about rainbows, I described how the light of the rainbow was reflected back to our eyes by falling water droplets. For a raindrop at the top of the rainbow arc, light follows a path that enters near the top of the raindrop, bounces off the back, and then exits from the … Continue reading Secondary Rainbows →

Fantastic Plastic Space Station V: Part Three

By the end of my previous post in this build log, I had my Space Station V model almost completely assembled and coated with primer. I decided to keep the station in two halves for ease of painting—the rings would mutually block access to each other once assembled. The first decision was to settle on colours … Continue reading Fantastic Plastic Space Station V: Part Three →

Glen Isla: Mayar From The Southwest

Finalty Hill (NO 212750, 905m) Mayar (NO 240737, 928m) 22 kilometres 820 metres of ascent After more than a hundred days in Covid-19 lockdown, the Oikofuge was finally permitted to live up to his nom-de-blog again, and head for the hills. I’d noted the accessibility of Mayar from Glen Isla last year, during a previously … Continue reading Glen Isla: Mayar From The Southwest →

Lock-down Walks: Three Ships, Two Bridges, And A Bad Poet

2.6 kilometres 25 metres of ascent This one’s just a short, level stroll along one of the more interesting sections of Dundee’s waterfront on the Tay estuary. It also goes off-book a bit by being a one-way stroll—linking the two ends of the journey is left as an … ahem … exercise for the interested reader.  Even … Continue reading Lock-down Walks: Three Ships, Two Bridges, And A Bad Poet →

Knee

niː knee: The joint between the thigh and lower leg; an object or structure which resembles this joint I’ve got to say, on this “taking a knee” thing—I don’t know, maybe it’s got a broader history but it seems to be taken from The Game of Thrones—feels to me like a symbol of subjugation and … Continue reading Knee →

Angus MacVicar & W.E. Johns: Scottish Spaceflight In The 1950s

Apprehension flickered in his eyes. “The oxygen is escaping faster than it is coming in. I am sorry to put it so bluntly, but unless we can repair the damage there will soon be no oxygen left in the ship.” “How soon?” I said. “Three minutes.” Janet’s face paled, and I didn’t feel too good … Continue reading Angus MacVicar & W.E. Johns: Scottish Spaceflight In The 1950s →