Soyuz FG 1/96 #5

Part of me is quite normal. There is, however a small part of me pretending to be some kind of an autistic weird person who, from time to time, takes over and then totally gets lost in details, useless rages or just shuts off the auditive and communication lines to the outside world. Luckily this usually doesn't last long.

Last night I was trying hard to keep being myself after my Mac went a little weird on me and it almost seemed for a moment I lost all my photos.

I have them stashed in iPhoto and the damn program wouldn't recognise all its files any more. Just the newest ones from the new camera I used. I let the computer running all night to reload all my pictures back into iPhoto but it made me think of alternatives. Just as I don't like iTunes for its way of filing my stuff, I also dislike iPhoto. Apple makes fine hardware and OS systems but its software is rapidly starting to suck big time. For my job I use Final Cut Pro and the new version FCP X is terrible. For playing music I use Cog and I only use iTunes for organising my iPod. Now iPhoto. I am thinking of replacing it with Lyn. Perhaps it gives me some more freedom to do with the stuff what I want.

Less rant, more on-topic stuff after the break. Here's a close up of a very small piece involved in the build:

Okayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy... Enough ranting here. What about that Soyuz build, mister Paper Kosmonaut? Well, it has continued. Slowly but surely.

My mother provided me with her old camera because mine lost its zoom-function. This one, a Lumix DMC-TZ7 can get closer than I could even imagine. All the smallest flaws are visible now. hahaha! Thanks mom!

I finished the strap-ons yesterday. I still have got to do the engine bells (20 of 'em) but they will come soon. The shroud will be next. Nw there is a little problem in Leo Cherkashyn's kit. It is very well designed and a dream to build, really, but what I find a little weird is that all the long seams that run parallel to the rocket's hull can be covered up by external instrument tunnels or fuel lines along the rocket's body, but almost never are! Now I want to split the shroud on this one and there's one seam (logically). But instead of putting it underneath one of the 'ribs' that cover the seam in real life (and also are in the kit) Leo puts the seam clearly visible in the middle of one of the shroud halves. That's a pity.

I will have to work my way around that, I guess. We'll see.

here are some more pictures of the build:

part of the Vernier engine steering mechanism.

And it is quite small.

The fairings over some vent openings down on the engine section of the strap-on boosters

Smallest flaws: I didn't notice the silver part actually was too small before this photo..

Strap-on booster number four also has been done. Looks the same as the three other ones, actually.

The connecting struts for the strap-ons. Four of them intertwine at the underside of the stack.

*Update:
With some almost too obvious means (screenshots of the .PDF bigger than 100%) I was able to tweak the shroud in Photoshop. I now have the seam at the sides of where it actually splits when jettisoned. (If you ever read this, I hope you don't mind, Leo! (-; )