Rover stuff

To complete the picture - some Rover cufflinks - a thoughtful gift for the father of the groom / chauffeur

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For my 40th Birthday my wife ordered me a birthday cake in the shape of a P6.....this is what the cake maker delivered. Fair to say my wife nearly cried....My guests, at my party did cry.....with laughter....you make up your mind!?STEVE'S BIRTHDAY 039.jpg
 
My wife made this for my dad's 80th (he also got a taxi-ride in the real one).
The less said about your first cake, Speedfreak, the better which is apt as l'm speechless anyway.

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TRM That Lancaster is brilliant !

Was Father crew ?

No, he was in the RAF in the fifties, based at Kai Tak in Hong Kong & North Weald where among other things he used to paint The Black Arrows, the forerunners to the red ones. We had his do at Petworth, where The Dambusters were billeted.
Cakes are one of my wife's talents, she used to do a lot of them as a sideline but when they're highly decorative like the Lanc', they're a lot of work for a relatively small return. She mostly just does them for family now.
As a matter of interest, her dad was in the Navy & was at Christmas Island for the nuclear test.
 
Continuing the aviation/family theme, my brother who also became an auto painter got the offer to paint the De Havilland Vampire at North Weald a few years ago. Others had tried & failed but after a bit of trial & error he found a mixture of two-pack paint with cellulose thinners (llRC) kept the paint wet enough to cover the huge surfaces before drying out & causing lines but not wet enough to cause runs, something like that anyway. He got other offers after that but much like the cakes, it was plenty of kudos but a lot of work for modest returns compared to the cars.

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One of my other brother's sons is currently undergoing commercial pilot training at Stapleford (a sub fighter station to North Weald) after recently passing his single engine licence. And his brother now lives in a house on North Weald airfield built practically on top of the site where my dad's billet block was.
 
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he found a mixture of two-pack paint with cellulose thinners (llRC) kept the paint wet enough to cover the huge surfaces before drying out & causing lines but not wet enough to cause runs,

Just painted a 1952 Ford F1 van using the same mix. The nay-sayers said the paint would never go off without the hardener, but we reasoned that if you drip the paint down the side of the can it goes off without the hardener then, so why not when sprayed on. We were right, although it remained soft for a long while before finally curing, much as your brother found.

I bet every time your brother sees the vampire he says "I painted that......."
 
The nay-sayers said the paint would never go off without the hardener, but we reasoned that if you drip the paint down the side of the can it goes off without the hardener then, so why not when sprayed on. We were right, although it remained soft for a long while before finally curing, much as your brother found.
We used to use the basecoat mixed with clearcoat and no hardener for touch-ups on our helicopters, like you say, it dries sloooowly, but it dries. As long as it wasn't flying any time today, it was good to touch up.
 
I Iet every time your brother sees the vampire he says "I painted that......."

l don't know if he's seen it since. We've not seen it at Duxford shows which is a shame.
Trudie & me had a stall at the Shuttleworth flying day recently which you may have noticed but obviously the Vampire's a bit modern for that. :)
 
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