MZ travails and a rather tasty (aircraft) model

Hi all,
        Looking at the postings in this blog have shewn me one thing.  There are many photos of motorcycles but none of their internals!
To partly remedy this state of affairs please look at the photo below.

 I finally decided it was time to do a little routine maintenance on the MZ (renew the gearbox oil and an "o" ring in the clutch cover).  Those of you who have seen the innards of an MZ will immediately recognise the clutch, unusually for a 2-stroke single, mounted on the crankshaft, with a massive helically cut drive wheel to the gearbox.  Unfortunately, the new gasket for the cover was found to be torn when lifted into position so I will now have to wait for a new one to arrive from England.  Spares for an MZ in Holland are almost unobtainable.  At least the Guzzi as been successfully aroused from hibernation.
Also,
after a wait of almost 45 years, AirFix brought out a model of the TSR-2, cancelled by the incoming 1964 Labour government.  If they had shown a bit of backbone the plane would have sold well.  The USA would have built them under license, just as they did with the Canberra light bomber.  The Australians were very interested, as were the Canadians and the Germans.  Xtradecal, part of the Hannants model concern, did a series of  "might have been" markings for the kit.  I made one which would have taken part in Operation Granby in January 1991, its swansong.  It is painted in the RAF Desert Pink colours with rather lurid nose art.  The undercarriage, though, collapsed!
 The one above is my second attempt, this time with a metal undercart.  It is painted as an aircraft from JBG 33, Federal German Luftwaffe, Buchel, 1981.
I think it came out quite well.
In the background is a photo of Alexander, now 22 and living away from home, with a job despite a touch of autism.  The outcome is due to the excellent care he received from the authorities here, so unlike the UK, or so I have heard.

2 comments:

swinn said...

Jet models? Have a look at this from my Utube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCFPwHRxzvA

Terry said...

Nice film. I couldn't work out how the thing was launched since I thought pulse jets needed to be travelling at some speed before the pulse jet kicked in, hence "ski sites" for the V1.
I never really got into that side of modelling, apart from dabbling around with control line for a while.
Hence my collection of plastic models, currently about 240 aircraft, 19 ships, 7 M/Cs and 10 AFVs.