Made a start!

A little bit of free time has enabled me to "transplant " the smoke generator from HMS Nelson into the Calypso. Necessitated in making a removable shelf unit above the motors for the smoke generator to be located. Searched the scrap box 📦 to find suitable pipe etc for the outlet through the funnel, eventually using the plastic head cover from my wife's "sharp pen " for insulin: knew they'd come in handy one day 😀. Success 🙌. The whole deck area lifts out plus the helipad which is located separately via 4 steel pins 📌 allowing me in theory access without any problems 😀. Progress is resumed

Thanks for the compliments jumpugly 😀

Trying to catch up with everything at the moment, spent a couple of hours "trying "to identify the contents of the blister packs. Unfortunately nothing was labeled by Billing and the previous owner of this kit had already opened a lot of it to inspect. A long process of elimination starting with the most identifiable part's and slowly 🐌 narrowing it all down. Made use of a lot of takeaway dishes from the local Indian restaurant plus envelopes cut up to lable. A few outstanding bits but hopefully I can now restart the build 😊

Main structure for helipad now nearly complete. Billing plan is rather vague, so taking "inspiration " from photos 📸 that are available 😀.

Started to stain the decking , helicopter pad frame in progress and deckng on Superstructure

"Escaped into the garage for a bit more today. Bridge/wheelhouse starting to take shape, decking started to be laid on the top. Slow 🐌 progress

Now that part of the superstructure on the main deck is in place, I've been able to put in the supports which sit on either side for the top deck which in turn will have the bridge, funnel etc on. "Slowly slowly 🐌, catchy monkey 🐒 " as the saying goes; bridge and aft cabin have started to be assembled so that I can get an idea of how they will "sit" on the deck. I've started to lay the planking with this in mind, going to be a long job as I need to mark out where additional bits go on the deck. Obvious at the moment as it's all printed, but of course this will disappear once the planks are in place, doh!😛. Good thing is the sister in law is over with her husband from the Netherlands, so whilst they sleep, I can get on with some more, every cloud etc etc 😂

First deck now laid and stained. Now started on building some of the superstructure. Finally starting to get my head around the plans 🤔 as not exactly forthcoming with information, maybe this has changed over the past 20yrs from when they were originally printed. Discovered that the initial fitting of the superstructure wasn't great as it was making access to the rc rather tight as it didn't marry up with the precut holes in the deck plus the precut sides of the structure were smaller. A bit of out of the box thinking and this issue now resolved. Doors 🚪 cut out of the plastic sheet and applied in position. When dry, I can then drill out the window 🪟 and fit the portholes. Then spray and fit the glass before fixing in place. Additional lighting to hopefully fixed in place. And bless his little socks, Doogle still wakes me up at 4am ⏰️, so I get a little bit done before I go to work.

Started to lay the deck down this morning before going to work. Doogle, bless his little paws 🐾 is getting on a bit now (14 yrs) and generally my day "starts" around 4.30am with him needing to go out in the garden. Sometimes if I'm especially blessed it's even earlier. So I decided to try and get some more done whilst the good lady was still asleep 😴 💤. Finished laying the deck this evening, when dry, I can sand lightly and tidy up the edges. Maybe that's tomorrow's early session. Night night everyone, sweet dreams 😴