A VERY PLEASANT SURPRISE

After nearly tearing my head out on Mayhem for the past few days with a chap who simply can't accept any form of help in the way of constructive critisism, and a moderating system that just doesn't listen, I decided this morning to take time out from the forum before putting my foot in it once again in my usual tactless way and go off line for a while while I cool off..their loss.

Well, I was feeling preverbially pee'd off with myself as I have just split the bath side whilst trying to put it into a new bathroom and having to mend it with plastiweld, when there was a rattle on th side driveway gates...............a parcel from the postie.......hadn't ordered anything lately so was puzzled .

usually it's my kids ordering books and makeup/slap off ebay and amazon.......so I decided to have a look as to what they's spent my money on this time....

To my immense pleasure it was a book for me.....yes me....and what a book.

the 2012 edition of Model Shipwright, beautifully bound ( no more the quarterly paperback magazine) and a cost of 30 quid.........free gratis.........

I started wondering who it was from..an early chrissie pressie.......no!.

I had forgotten that I had written an article for them about 4-5 years ago, and once sent in had never heard anything more from them or the article. I did say at the time that any dosh from the article could be sent to the RNLI.

So here I am with a beautiful book with loads of articles in it, to read whilst I'm feeling just a little like screaming at someone...life's not so bad after all, lol

Life is not so bad. After all, we haven't lived this day before.

Smashing book if the trawler is anything to go by. Lucky you.



ken

thanks Ken,

wasn't refering to you, by the way in my opening paragraph, lol

Well lucky you. Sometimes kids do surprise you. My daughter has had a small windfall and actually went and bought me a kit from Deans. Makes me feel guilty at the amount of swearing I have done recently about her wedding plans!!!

only HER wedding plans, lol:lol!:

Paid for by yours truly!!!

Congratulations Neil and very well deserved. I once wrote an article for Model Boats magazine and then forgot all about it until one year when things were a bit tight in the financial area, a cheque dropped through the door as they had used the article. Very nice too...

Thanks Barry........



great acolade is this...feel like royalty (said tongue in cheek)......in the same book as the great Malcom Darch.......now he is well, I can only say, THE god of model ship building.



he was charging £15000 quid for a commision build back in 1983.......where have I gone wrong, lol.......no, don't get the wrong idea......I'm happy where I am in life.......no stress or worry whether I've got a bit wrong or a measurement too short, lol.

neil.

After reading the post on the other site, I posted a new thread in support in a way , a few months ago another thread on mayhem had a chap have two inches of unsupported shafts with propellers on the ends, these where brass and going to be a high speed boat, I got told to mind my own business when I suggested he may need a extra P bracket. funny enough the thread ran right up to his first sail , then Nothing ..

anyway the reason behind the post was that new members spot these things and think it is an acceptable practice and i thought that instead of locking down discussion mods should encourage it as long as it is constructive, I know I have read articles in magazines in the past when I was getting in to a new hobby only to find it was a load of cr*p some time later when I could have wasted a lot of money.



anyway my post was pulled and the excuse was that the person concerned may recognize it was him. the mod doesn't like me anyway and tends to pull most of my posts anyway, but it shows how the site is heading for the bin with the type off attitude it has with SOME of the mods.

I too think ken is a breath of fresh air on that site

thanks for your support Peter.............I have never known someone be so beligerent as Gregk9 in a long time, and his pm to me was disgusting............ending in "THINK ON!".what did that mean..............if any mod from mayhem is watching this as a guest.........i think they need to be warned of K9.he told me he was a public relations officer for 40 years...perhaps he cshould practice what he used to preach.

neil./

Thanks guys. I'm only there for the spelling mistakes.

Anyway, back to your book Neil, how do find it, as a help to modellers? Are there detailed write ups or is it generally what super models others have built. ?

I was struck by the quality of that Tug build and try to aim for a decent result on mine, but somehow it goes downhill. You make a small error and it's compounded by the surrounding parts built to match and suddenly it's not so good any more. (I've found anyway). On each new model I try to improve and not fall into these traps.

cheers

ken

Hi Neil, Just popping back to your opening comment on constructive criticism

............ when I get round to starting a build I really want people like you to comment on all aspects of it. The trouble with using the word criticism is it has a negative connatation (except in the literary or artistic sense). This is true even when prefixed with 'construtive' so I would avoid the word and use constructive comments.

But you are so right - sadly in life there are people who cannot accept anything less than absolute fawning praise - they eventually come unstuck and then blame someone else usually. Don't let these guys spoil a second of your day mate or change your helpful nature one jot.

Another thing I learned only recently about the basics of this hobby - there is more than one way to do each basic step, so a little friendly disagreement is inevitable and a healthy thing because choice is always good to have

Regards Dave.

You are so right in everything you say Dave, and I for one never stop learning...honestly I make more mistakes than I care to admit.....only this afternoon.spent ages wet and drying down my model flying christine ready for spraying and then washed it down with clear water...sadly then had a brain freeze and dried it with a towel.......not a clean one, but one that must have been used for something else, and contained probably polish....



you get it,

sprayed it up and it's left little pock marks all over..back to square one......but had someone had raised that somewhere I'd probably have remembered and said Oh yeh..DON'T DO IT.............not, "don't try telling me I'll learn by my mistakes".. sort of comment, lol.............i'd rather listen to someone than waste a couple of hours re doing something I needn't have done.

I think anyone on here will help you once you get started on the construction process, but bending and beating ali in not one of my strong points I have to admit.....but looking forward to learning along side yourself, matey.



cheers, neil.