Plastic Model Mojo
Plastic Model Mojo, a podcast dedicated to scale modeling, as well as the news and events around the hobby
Plastic Model Mojo
Talking Shop with Mike and Kentucky Dave: Episode 123
What if your modeling productivity could skyrocket just by tapping into the excitement of football season? Join us on this lively episode of Plastic Model Mojo where Dave shares how the energy of football season is boosting his modeling game, and Mike opens up about juggling personal and family distractions. Despite car troubles and the back-to-school chaos, Mike finds joy in teaching his son the value of scrapyard car parts and spotting a real-life car painted like an anime cartoon, sparking some fun discussions.
We are thrilled to welcome listener mail from folks like Will Woods from Yorkton, Saskatchewan, to discuss the challenges of attending distant scale model meetings and the potential of starting his own club with the help of his local hobby shop, Sky's the Limit. Along the way, we laugh over some pronunciation mishaps and express our hopes of attending Bill Moore's show in Middle Tennessee. Plus, we give shout-outs to Scott Huber for his brass toothpick appreciation and Neil Henkel for inspiring his girlfriend to build dioramas after a model show visit.
Dive into practical tips on organizing modeling workshops, from storing scratch build materials to innovative paint storage solutions. We tackle clear coats and decal applications, sharing our experiences with different products and techniques. Don't miss our review of new model releases from T-Rex Studio, DukModel, Sova M, and Kora Models. Wrapping up, we express heartfelt gratitude to our supporters and share how a new tablet has revolutionized Dave's productivity. Keep your modeling mojo alive with these engaging conversations!
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Mike and Kentucky Dave thank each and everyone of you for participating on this journey with us. We are grateful for having you as listeners, and the community that has grown around Plastic Model Mojo makes it all worth while.
Welcome to Plastic Model Mojo, a podcast dedicated to scale modeling, as well as the news and events around the hobby. Let's join Mike and Kentucky Dave as they strive to be informative, entertaining and help you keep your modeling mojo alive.
Mike:All right listeners, it's episode 123. We're in the throes of September. Now, dave, how you doing?
Kentucky Dave:I'm doing good man, I'm doing good. I am happy to be here.
Mike:Well, since you're so happy man, why don't you let everybody know what's up in your model sphere?
Kentucky Dave:My model sphere could not be better. Football has officially started and I get a lot of modeling done while watching football, so I'm happy for that. I've been shopping, so buying some models and related stuff, and so when we do Breaking Wallet next episode or the episode after that, I'll have a lot to report. I'm making progress, I'm feeling the juices flowing. I'm excited for not only what's on my bench, but for future projects looking ahead to 2025. And then, finally, we got fall shows coming up. We got our club show at the end of the month, we've got MMSI coming up, and maybe squeeze another one in there, depending on what happens. So, literally, my model sphere could not be more jazzed. It is. The mojo is high. How about yours?
Mike:I think you're hogging it. All you need to. Man. Mine could not be more polar opposite. Oh man, I've been, like you know, mentally out of it for like two weeks now oh really I, I wouldn't know, I wouldn't have noticed oh, the the late, tardy drop of this episode is testament to some of that. I don't know folks, it's not my physical health. There's no existential crisis going on, just chronic distraction, I guess.
Kentucky Dave:Well, give yourself a break between your work. And, let's face it, things are. You know the space arena is heating back up. You know family stuff, we're all getting kids back to school and having to start juggle all the obligations related, so I can kind of relate to that.
Mike:Well, you hit some of it right there. Man School has gotten real now. We're like almost two and a half three weeks in at this point. So, yeah, the uh obligatory uh honeymoon period is over. Not either one of them really had one. Yeah, our problem is we've got a serious transportation issue, so trying to resolve that, but on top of that we've had some car crap. I've had to buy a car on the imminent licensing of our youngest, and then the oldest did some fairly serious damage to his trunk and rear bumper during move-in day at his apartment complex. So he got a lesson on scrapyard parts can be had for pennies on the dollar versus OEM replacement parts.
Kentucky Dave:Oh yeah.
Mike:Which come black ED coated and you got to get them painted. Yeah. And if you have a silver car, here's another advantage of silver car. No, they not only do they not show scratches very well, or to to the extent that some darker color cars do, like black and red and all that it doesn't fade very much. So if you go to a junkyard and you get parts that are in your car's color, that in your car is silver, guess what they're going to match pretty dang well. So he got a lesson in economy there for $200. I effectively got probably oh gosh $1,200 worth of OEM part equivalent.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah. And those parts were probably OEM parts. Oh, they were.
Mike:They're right off a car Right, absolutely were. And then you know my other stinking activities. I've got too many hobbies. The military dealings have tuned up to lukewarm now. We've got some dealings going on, but that said, that itch is just not getting scratched and I'm not going to elaborate here. But there's an old hobby for my youth that's slowly but surely reinserting itself into my life. So that's for a lunch conversation among friends, that's not for a model scale model podcast.
Mike:I do have, though, one loosely modeling related observation from the last two weeks, which is so this model out in the model sphere has been seen quite a bit. I think you mentioned this in an episode, probably over a year ago, uh-huh. Then we saw this model. Well, no, then this model was on the cover of fine scale modeler. Then this model, we saw it in person at the gnats, and it was that anime painted. It's a Nissan coupe that was painted to look like an anime cartoon. Oh, yes, yeah, you saw that online somewhere. Yeah, mentioned it in an episode.
Mike:And then that's the model that's on the FSM issue for July, august. And then we saw it at Nats as well. There's a car in Lexington painted that way. Really, it's kind of a pink and purple take on it, but that's it. Drove by. I'm like what the heck man? That looked just like that model we saw at Nats. It's on the cover of Fine Scale. So, man, if I see it again, I'm going to try to get a picture of it for the dojo. But yeah, there's a one-to-one drivable car tooling around town with that crazy optical illusion-looking paint scheme on it. Well, if you can catch, a picture of it I want to see it.
Mike:Wow, that's my model sphere. I hope it gets better. That's rather loathsome.
Kentucky Dave:No, it will Listen life, this is a hobby. We Listen life, this is a hobby. We got to prioritize. You'll be fine. You know what?
Mike:will make you. Fine, let me guess Go ahead.
Kentucky Dave:A modeling fluid. Do you have a modeling fluid?
Mike:I do. I'm kind of at the tail end of the generosity of our listening public and I caught a bottle of Russell's 10 on sale, oh nice. So I'm doing a three-peat or four-peat or five or six-peat at this point, but that's what I've got going on. It's good stuff.
Kentucky Dave:And we've had a number of listeners who've taken up your recommendation. Paul Gloucester was one.
Mike:No, there's been several, you're right, so yeah.
Kentucky Dave:And everybody has universally praised that, so we know you're going to have a good modeling fluid experience.
Mike:Well, folks, I'm no expert. I would barely make the loosest definition of connoisseur. But I'm not making this stuff up. If I like it, I'll tell you it's working out. It's working out for people. What do you got? It's working out. It's working out for people. What do?
Kentucky Dave:you got? I've got one that was given to us by a listener and I have no idea who it was. So please, if you gave us this beer, please identify yourself. It is pecan beer from a brewery called De La Vegas in Moriarty, new Mexico. 5.5% alcohol, and let me give it a sip here, Hang on. Oh yeah, you can taste the pecan. The pecan is not a subtle taste in this beer.
Mike:Well, we'll get that during the wrap up.
Kentucky Dave:Yep, yep. Well, we'll see how it goes during the episode.
Mike:Well, not only have they given us modeling fluid, they've also sent in a fair amount of listener mail. This time, I would say we have kind of the average amount this time, good, which is not a low number. Yeah, I got about six here. A lot more came in, but they're more topics for the Wheel of Accidental Wisdom, which we have coming up next episode. So we thank you for those. I'll reemphasize that at the end of all this, but for now let's get started on the listener mail. Dave, go ahead. First up is Mr Will Woods, and he is in Yorkton, saskatchewan. We've had a couple he's like the second one from way up there. He's retired and he has plenty of time for modeling, and he appreciates that. What he struggles with, though, is getting to his scale model meetings, because the closest is two hours away. Yeah, I did an hour away hour and change for a number of years, yes, and I'm really hoping here soon I can hopefully get back to doing that, because that's really not terrible.
Kentucky Dave:No, it really isn't.
Mike:But two. You have four hours on the road for a meeting that probably doesn't last four hours.
Kentucky Dave:No that meeting probably lasts an hour and a half or two hours.
Mike:Yeah, that's not an exercise of inefficiency.
Kentucky Dave:Well, and not only that, depending on when it is. If it's Saturday afternoon, that's one thing, but if the model meeting is on a Thursday night, like our local club, a two-hour haul after a full model meeting gets you home really, really late, and I would not want to do that all in a Canadian winter, I'm telling you.
Mike:And apparently he doesn't want to do it either, because in the past two years he's been able to attend an entirety of two meetings.
Kentucky Dave:You know what he needs to do Well, he's doing it, Dave.
Mike:He's starting his own club in Yorkshire and Saskatchewan.
Kentucky Dave:Okay, Well, that was the second suggestion I had. What was the first? The first was see if somebody who's attending the meeting will set up their laptop and he can zoom into the proceedings, which isn't as good as being there. But next best thing.
Mike:But if he did that anyway, on top of this he could have two meetings a month. There you go. That'd be even better. That's even better. Well, the local hobby shop in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, called Sky's the Limit.
Kentucky Dave:Fireworks and Toys. Fireworks and models go together, as we all know from our youth.
Mike:That's right. They've graciously offered him the space for free because they know if they get a bunch of people in there talking models on a weeknight, they're going to make more money.
Kentucky Dave:Exactly.
Mike:Yeah, if there's a hobby shop out there charging, rent space for IPMS or model club meetings.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, yeah. That's that's not right.
Mike:You probably might want to reconsider that. Yeah, so if you're in the Yorkton Saskatchewan area the first Wednesday of every month, starting October 2nd, so the first meeting is just around the corner. A couple three weeks away here, from seven to 9 PM there'll be a regular meeting and he's going to keep us up on the progress.
Kentucky Dave:Well that, hey, that's fantastic Again. The two things that I'm always a promoter of are clubs and contests, because that brings modelers together. Please post your announcement on the dojo. Keep us up to date. When you have your first meeting, post photos in the dojo. We'd love to follow along as a new modeling club grows.
Mike:Up next Dave is Eric Kintzer from Menlo Park, california. And oh dear Plastic Model Mojo, you're taking on Dave Goldfinch pronunciation skills. Oh Lord. So we had an email from Mike Slay in the UK. Yeah, from Worcester in the UK. Yeah, from Worcester in the UK. I know what I did and I'm going to play the Mandela effect card here and swear on my next breath that there was an H in there and I said Worcester. So my apologies to Mike Slay and Eric Signed Faithful Listener. We appreciate that and I appreciate you calling me out, because I really do strive and that was a gaffe on my part and I'm woefully shameful.
Kentucky Dave:Well, some of those British place names can be awfully tough, of course. Heck. Some of them in Canada and some of them in the US can be tough.
Mike:Well, I should have known this one, because there's a borough of well, it's a what to call it. There's a township outside Boston by the same name. Yes, and I should have known. Yeah, I'm surprised Whitey didn't call me out.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, true enough.
Mike:Oh, bill Moore from Middle Tennessee, murfreesboro, yeah.
Kentucky Dave:He is twisting the Mojo arms to get us to come down to their show man. We got to see if, hopefully, the stars will align, because I would love nothing better to go back to Murfreesboro.
Mike:Well, we need to go because Bruce McRae is going to be there. Yep, he's going to be cruising all through the Southeast on his little aisle show tour. Well, that's not the only reason he's doing it, but he's taking on some shows on the way. He's just saying they'd love to have us and we'd love to come. Unfortunately, he's not going to make it to our show. Oh, I mean, couldn't you got your daughter to pick a different day? Oh, did she get married? I mean, come on Bill, come on man, supposed to raise that girl, right.
Kentucky Dave:Oh, now, now.
Mike:I'm teasing, that's a completely valid excuse, absolutely. I wouldn't even bring it up personally. Scott Huber from State College, pa, penn State yeah, I always enjoy the podcast. I think no product and scale modeling is more disrespect than those brass toothpicks. But mine have been on the bench so long I'd no longer remember how long I've had them. Every so often I scrape off the super glue buildup and that's what he primarily uses them for or PVA glue. They don't wear out, they just do the job. I know it's a silly gimmick, but somehow they just keep hanging in there on my bench, model after model, year after year, because that's because you paid seven dollars a piece for them.
Kentucky Dave:I'd use them too, hey I this, this email was very timely because I was going to make this, make this confession to you privately, because I wasn't going to necessarily say it out loud. But our friend, evan McCallum, gave me one of these brass toothpicks. Yeah, as a joke, as a joke, admit that I. Well, evan gave it to me and I told him as a joke that every photograph I post on the dojo, I'm going to make sure the brass toothpick is in the photo somewhere. Have you failed at that? Well, I've failed at that. I haven't done every one, but I've done a lot of them where the brass toothpick's in there. But that means it's always out on my bench. And I have to admit our listener is right this I find myself using it all the time Super glue, pva glue, scratching a scratch, clearing some dust out of a panel. I hate to admit this and, yes, these things are ridiculously priced, but I use it all the time.
Mike:If you somehow found yourself in the possession of a sterling silver wine cork with a Waterford crystal knob on the top of it, you'd start drinking wine dude. Yep, same thing, yep.
Kentucky Dave:Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely. I use it, because it's there.
Mike:Get you some brass teeth to go with that brass toothpick. There you go From North Somerset, uk, and I hope that's right. There's a Somerset, kentucky. There is Michael Pye and he's come to the US. Oh, is he? This is interesting. He's wanting to know if we can help him out a little bit. Okay, he's trying to put together a trip for himself and his wife before they settle into starting a family. That's a good plan. I like that plan.
Kentucky Dave:That is. That is a great plan.
Mike:They are both massively into country and rock music. They're big whiskey fans. They did their honeymoon touring distilleries in Scotland and they want to expand with the whiskey with the E in it, which is bourbons and Tennessee whiskeys and all those others, and they've long talked about a trip to Kentucky and Tennessee Would most likely fly into Nashville and rent a car for a couple three weeks around June of next year Perfect time and wants to know what we think and if we could give them a list of suggestions to make that decision a little easier. Ultimately, oh Lord, yes, yes, dave, we need to think about this one and maybe throw in a model show or two.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, exactly, we'll take a look at the schedule and hopefully find one close. See if we can't help Mike out. Yeah, this is one where we need to reply to this one in depth.
Mike:Distilleries, bars, towns, museums, preferably aircraft museums and model shows. Wow, so yeah.
Kentucky Dave:Oh Lord, there's a lot. Flying into Nashville is a good location.
Mike:Finally, from the email side of things, dave, it's not Michael Karnalka, uh-oh, I think we hosed up this missed drop date or whatever man, I don't know. Sorry, michael. Yeah, send us one. I'll probably have one in the bag somewhere where we sent two for one, but I failed to find it. Ken Acosta from Huntsville, alabama. Okay, I got this interesting message from Scott Samo from the Model Geeks the other day and I said could I have an email address? There's, quote, unquote someone would like to contact you, the typical line when you don't want to violate someone's privacy, which I did appreciate. But you know that's. He didn't tell me who it was. Is that the short of it? And that's fine, that's cool, that's the way I'd do it too. Anyway, it was. It was ken from the huntsville show and he just bought that. Oh crap, I can't remember. The 3d printer out of china is doing all the catapults and andults and the seagull and the turrets and all that stuff?
Kentucky Dave:Oh, what is the name of that?
Mike:Anyway, he got the SOC upgrade kit, which is like two cowlings, two engines and some other stuff, yeah, and he's sending me half the set.
Kentucky Dave:Oh, isn't that nice. So, that's great that could be very timely.
Mike:Yeah, it could push me over the edge.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah.
Mike:Ken, thank you for that. I appreciate it. Look forward to that showing up. He sent me the tracking information today, in fact, and Scott Samo, thank you as well for connecting us. I appreciate that, so it all worked out good. So what's happening on the messenger side, dave Well?
Kentucky Dave:we've gotten quite a few DMs and I've selected a few to talk about. First is one that I just want to mention. Michael Luzzi sent me a DM and it was very, very nice. In fact, I shared it with you. It's not something I'm going to talk about publicly, but I just want to thank him. It was a very nice DM and it really did a lot to make me feel good about what we're doing here, so that was very nice.
Mike:It was. You shared that with me. But even prior, this has kind of been a back and forth for probably close to a month. At this point he provided us some information based on my request back to him in relation to some of the things he said, and really appreciate those types of interactions. So, yeah, I'm right there with you, man.
Kentucky Dave:That was good. That was very much heartfelt Thanks. That was good. That was very much heartfelt Thanks. Scott Skippy King, my occasional partner down here in the in the model room I posted on the dojo. I've been posting some links to YouTube videos modeling and modeling related and I posted one to a one of my favorite YouTube channels, a guy called Drachinofel out of England and he does naval history and they are just really top quality YouTube videos. He'll do shorts on particular classes of ships or submarines. He'll do longer episodes about particular battles or interactions, or then technology-related videos, developments of the big guns on battleships, etc. Really one of the top YouTube channels out there in my opinion, and I had posted a link in the dojo to one of his recent ones and Skippy reached out to me because he was utterly unaware of that channel and I highly recommended it to him. So it was nice for Skippy to reach out.
Kentucky Dave:Mr Chris Meddings, I mentioned on the last episode that Christian Gurney had gotten the 72nd scale ME163 kit from Gas Patch and it came from Greece, and Chris Meddings sent me a quick DM just simply to confirm. Yes, gas patch is actually located in Greece. So I was completely unaware and it's nice to know that that is indeed the case. Craig Everson, also on Facebook as Aussie Scale Models, he got one of your kilometer markers yeah, I saw that. Yeah, I saw that and is using it in a base and he sent photos to let you know that he had it, that he was using it on the base on his latest model. So it was nice to see that because that's a neat little thing and I know you've given them out to a lot of people and I hope to see those things appear on basis from time to time at model shows.
Mike:I want to see one published Me too, me too.
Kentucky Dave:That would be another great one.
Mike:Prolific types. If you don't already have one, let's see what we can do.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, I mentioned an episode or two ago that I loved getting DMs from listeners outside of the United States, particularly outside of the English-speaking world. Tried my best there, patrick Gunstrom from Malmo, sweden, to reach out to let us know that indeed he's listening, he's enjoying it and he's going to hit us up down the road because in the spring there's a model show that he wants to promote. And I told him that we are more than happy to do that and I really, really mean it for the listeners in non-English speaking countries. We really love hearing from you all. It's nice to know that the word spreads that far and wide. Next is Neil Henkel, who reached out to tell us that he took our advice and went to. Neil may have scored a really big win. This might put him in the Modeler Hall of Fame, can't?
Mike:wait to hear this.
Kentucky Dave:He reached out to tell us, he took our advice and he went to a model show in Greenville, tennessee, right.
Mike:Yeah, that's the one I missed. I've been to two years in a row.
Kentucky Dave:He took his girlfriend.
Mike:Oh, I saw this one.
Kentucky Dave:He enjoyed it. She enjoyed it, she got inspired and wants to try to start building dioramas. And he picked up a Timmy is zero kit that may be hall of fame material. Neil, you have my congratulations. Way to go. Now was he the one that sent a couple of pictures he sent like five or six pictures from the show and then the picture of the zero that he bought.
Mike:I'm real curious if, if, if he has more photos or if anyone else has photos from that show. From his photos it looked like the vendor area had expanded from last time. I was there last year and unfortunately I was in that part of Tennessee the week prior over Labor Day weekend and the show was the weekend after, so I didn't get to go. But anyway, we've promoted that show on here all the years. They've run it and I think that show has a real opportunity to grow into a really nice kind of regional show, not regional in IPMS sense but for Upper East Tennessee area and Southwest Virginia and Western North Carolina.
Mike:It can draw from a lot of population and the facility they have is is they're getting it for gratis, so they don't have a lot of overhead on that show and I just I really, really want that one to succeed, because they're kind of my home home team you always want to see those east tennessee guys do.
Kentucky Dave:Well, that's right, got any more day. One last one you know, we know a fair number of the Polish Coast Watchers model club and their president, dave McWilliams, reached out because, as you know, we know several folks in that club Like Michael Uzi, like Michael Uzi, like Tom Choi, several of the folks in that club, and they recommended to Mr McWilliams that he listen to the podcast, which he followed the recommendation, he enjoyed it, he enjoyed it and he reached out to DM me to tell me that he had gotten recommendations and he listened. What he was working on currently the Andy's Hobby 16th scale M10 kit and just was a pleasant little interaction, pleasant little conversation. And I've said this numerous times on the podcast, to the point where it becomes a cliche. It becomes a cliche.
Kentucky Dave:One of the best things about doing this podcast is that randomly throughout my day, almost every day, I will get a DM or an email or have an exchange on Facebook with a fellow modeler, slash listener, many times people I've never interacted with before and sometimes have never even met or known before, and it never fails to make my day. I'm going into the office, sitting down at the desk and looking at a full day of law practice ahead of me, and when that happens at the beginning of the day, at the middle of the day, the end of the day, it just never fails to make my day a little better. And they never anticipated that that was going to be a benefit that I'd get out of us doing this, and I really enjoy it, and so I want to thank Mr McWilliams for reaching out and simply having a short, pleasant conversation that I enjoyed and that it made my day better.
Mike:All right, dave, is that it? That's it. It made my day better. All right, dave, is that it? That's it? Well, folks, we appreciate the emails. We appreciate the Facebook messengers. If you'd like to write into the show, please do so at plasticmodelmojo at gmailcom, or send a Facebook direct message. Dave usually handles those. I usually handle the email, unless it's topic specific, and then maybe we'll switch up a little bit In addition to just communicating with us at the show. We are still got about a week and a week and a half left here of topic submissions for the Wheel of Accidental Wisdom. So if you've got any ideas for the wheel, send them in. I'm starting to work on that, get those aggregated and populating the wheel.
Kentucky Dave:So, looking forward to that episode, I came home or I was driving my daughter home from work tonight and came up with a topic for the wheel, so I'll send you an email.
Mike:Yes, send it via email, dave.
Kentucky Dave:I will. I will. This is the point in the episode where I ask you, when you finish listening, if you would please go to whatever podcast app you listen on. Rate the podcast. Please give us five stars. It helps to drive visibility of the podcast. In addition, please, if you know a fellow modeler who is not listening to Plastic Model Mojo, we'd appreciate if you would recommend us to them, if you would help them if they need help in figuring out how to download a podcast listening app and how to subscribe to Plastic Model Mojo. The best way for us to gain new listeners is to have current listeners recommend us. So please, please, do that. It's a great help to Mike and I.
Mike:In addition to that, please check out the other podcasts out there in the model sphere. You can do that by going to wwwmodelpodcastcom. That's model podcast plural. It's a consortium website set up with the help of Stuart Clark up in Canada at the Scale Model Podcast who, by the way, just relaunched their podcast after about a month off. So you want to check that out. At modelpodcastcom you can find the banner links to all the podcasts who are participating in this spirit of cross promotion. So check that out. In addition to that, we've got a lot of blogging YouTube friends out there. We've got Steven Lee's got a great blog. Yes, jeff Groves great 72nd scale blog inch high guys. Steven's a sprue pie with frets. In case I failed to mention that, that's all right. Jim Bates, scale Canadian TV we got to get on him.
Kentucky Dave:I talked to Jim nearly every day and I was getting on him today about needing to do another one.
Mike:We're going to have to drop the plug if he doesn't put out some content.
Kentucky Dave:That's what I told him.
Mike:It's just the way it is. Chris Wallace, model Air Playmaker, great blog, great YouTube channel and hopefully the guest for the Wheel of Accidental Wisdom, and he tells us that, yes, he will be on that episode, even though we sprung it on him. Thank you, kato, for having my back. That's deep, yes. And finally, evan McCallum Panzermeister36. Who just dropped a new one. I was about to say he was getting close to needing to crack on the wrist himself there.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, but it's quality worth waiting for, man?
Mike:I'm sure it is. So, folks, check out all those podcasts, all those blogs, all those YouTube channels and it'll help you enjoy your modeling even more all those YouTube channels and it'll help you enjoy your modeling even more.
Kentucky Dave:Finally, if you're not a member of IPMS USA, ipms Canada, ipms Mexico or any of the national IPMS organizations, please join. These organizations are run by volunteers and are dedicated to making your modeling experience better, many times in ways that aren't visible to the public. In addition, if you're an armor modeler or a post-1900 figure modeler, consider joining the Armor Modeling and Preservation Society. It's a fine organization run by the guys and gals who are dedicated to armor modeling and the advancement of the armor modeling art, and they do a really, really good job, so please consider joining.
Mike:Well, dave let's have a word from our sponsor.
The Voice of Bob:Plastic Model Mojo is brought to you by Model Paint Solutions. Plastic model mojo is brought to you by model paint solutions, your source for harder and steam back airbrushes, david union power tools and laboratory grade mixing, measuring and storage tools for use with all your model paints, be the acrylic enamels or lacquers. Check them out at wwwmodelpaintsolutionscom.
Mike:Well folks, it's time for our special segment tonight. And in the past, dave, we've called these whatever we called them. We called these Dave and Mike Spectaculars. We've called these Dave and Mike Spectaculars and we're going to rebrand this Shop. Talk with Mike and Kentucky, dave. Yep, the last episode we did this was surprisingly popular. We got a lot of great feedback and gambling that we didn't just get a lucky strike. We're going to try it again and maybe one more time, see if this sticks and I don't know. We get a lot of information in these and we check it out. So that's kind of where we're going with this. These and we check it out. So that's kind of where we're going with this. Well, dave, you brought up the first topic and it was storage. That's a generalization, but won't you tee this one up and send it sailing and we'll see where it goes?
Kentucky Dave:And what I mean by storage. It falls into several categories and we'll talk about them a little bit separately. The first storage is decals. How do you store your decals? I will tell you what I do and it comes from experience. What I do is I have binders and they have those clear sleeves and I put a decal sheet in each one and then I got an Excel spreadsheet that keeps that I that I keep track so that I can find which decal sheet of the 500 plus that I have is is located where when I need it, or at least in theory. But I'm not talking about categorizing them here, I'm talking about storing them. What I do with those binders is I've got two or three Tupperware-type containers that I put binders in and then I put you the little packets of silica gel that you get anytime you buy a piece of electronics or something. I save all those and I put the packets in the Tupperware down on the bottom of the Tupperware, and then I seal the top or pop the top on to get a good seal on the container. The reason I store them this way is one it keeps them in the dark, and exposure to light with decals does not do the decal sheet any good.
Kentucky Dave:Number two my hobby room in my old house and my hobby room in my present house.
Kentucky Dave:Both are directly under the kitchen, and in my old house we had a pipe problem in the kitchen that resulted in water hitting my model room.
Kentucky Dave:And were it not for the fact that I have all of these decals in these Tupperware containers, in these binders sealed up tight, nice and good-fitting seal on the lids, I'd have lost every decal sheet that I had, which would have made me a very sad puppy. And the other thing I can tell you from storing them this way, I've got decal sheets that are 25 or more years old that I have stored this way and I can pull them out and the film has not yellowed and the decals are usable 25 years later. They don't just shatter, they don't refuse to come off the backing paper. I have many times pulled out a decal sheet that is 20 plus years old and used it on a model. So I'd love to hear what other people do to store their decal sheets. But this is my system and it works really well for preserving all of the decal sheets I have, and I have a lot of them.
Mike:Well, I don't have a lot of them.
Kentucky Dave:So what do you do with the ones you?
Mike:do have. Mine are stacked inside a photo storage box. Oh, okay, I've got a box of railroad decals and a box of other scale modeling decals.
Kentucky Dave:Okay, well, I keep some in the dark.
Mike:They're in the dark and they're in an acid-free box, but that's about it. Okay, but I have a whole basement dehumidifier running in my basement all the time and it's about 40% RH down here all the time.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, about 40% RH down here all the time. Yeah, so I, I. That's. The other thing I do have in my basement is a dehumidifier, and I, I run it to keep it at about 40% or less for the humidity. That's what I do.
Mike:Okay, I don't, I don't keep a lot around, okay Well, I've got some really old ones though I've got. I've got some really old ones though I've got some decal sheets from kits I built as a kid, yeah, still.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, I would love to hear what listeners do and I'm talking third-party decal sheets. I will admit to you that in all of my model kits I leave the decal sheet that comes with the kit in the kit and that may or may not be a great idea, but I don't do something like pull all of those out. But I would love to hear what listeners do. If there are people who have any other hints and tips or a different system or something that they've come across that works for them, please reach out and tell us, because we're going to follow up on this and let people know. That's one of the things I enjoy about this is the exchange of information, because inevitably somebody's going to write in and say I do X and I'm going to be like oh, I'd have never thought of that.
Mike:What other stories do you want to talk about?
Kentucky Dave:Well, the next one is and this one we've mentioned it a couple of times on the dojo and we've had some interesting exchanges with the listeners and you, because of the way you modeled this is much more you than me. Styrene, strip, styrene rod, brass and aluminum tubing and all that. How do you know they come in those long packs? Or, if it's sheet styrene, in those half-sheet envelope things? How do you store and organize those? Because I'm going to tell you mine are a complete mess.
Mike:We've got a big stack of the rubber band around it.
Kentucky Dave:I wish that that were the case. Wish that that were the case. I've got the. I've got them all in a glass just standing upright. You know, tall glass, you must not have very many. I well, I got a fair number. And then I've got a little tupperware container. When I use, like, a strip of styrene and there's some left, I just throw it in this Tupperware container. So I've got a Tupperware container that's got styrene rod of different size, styrene strip of different size, brass tubing of different size, I mean, and it's all in one small Tupperware container.
Mike:Well, at the old house, when I fitted out my workshop which I've not managed to do yet in this house and I've been here longer than I was in the old house that's what kids will do. Yes, that is what kids will do. If you're building a workshop and you're using cabinets. One thing I would recommend just in general, not just for this scratch build material kind of reason, but any reason In a workshop I always like shallow drawers, like three, four maybe five inches, not much deeper than that, right.
Mike:And you kind of got to go out and seek them out, because that's not a typical kitchen cabinet kind of drawer depth. Usually they're deeper than that and that's just wasted space in my opinion. I'd rather more shallow drawers than fewer, deeper drawers, right. So I had these shallow drawers and in those shallow, shallow drawers I had these modular silverware trays, gotcha, that were like 14, 15 inches long some of them, and they would they would take a, a pack of like evergreen strip which is about 13, 14 inches long and it's only about two inches wide, right the packaging, and I would put all the rod in one, all the structural shapes in one, all the strip stock in one.
Mike:And then I had a similar thing going on a divided drawer for the various thicknesses of plain white styrene. Then I had another one that had the clear stuff in it. Another one had the textured and like the V-groove and the batten board and the clabbered style sheets that they make. At that time I was doing a lot of railroad stuff and I had so much of that stuff I still have it. It's not very well organized at the moment, but I had so much of it that I was really thinking about just buying the vendor setup package. I'm dead serious for the evergreen line.
Kentucky Dave:That way I'm dead serious. Oh, I hear you.
Mike:For the Evergreen line. That way I'd have everything. I currently have a spreadsheet that's got which strip and rod I've got, and I need to go fill all the holes in and get it all because it's just so convenient to have it all.
Kentucky Dave:But that's kind of a different topic have you ever looked on eBay to see if you can find one secondhand?
Mike:Oh, I don't just mean the merchandiser, I mean everything that came with it. Oh, you mean, you bought Every SKU that Evergreen made. I was thinking about buying that entire dealer setup.
Kentucky Dave:Oh, wow.
Mike:And just having it all Well and you use it a lot. I do use it a lot Because of the way you build.
Kentucky Dave:You use that a whole lot.
Mike:But for a workshop setup. That's what I was using. I was using these long silverware organizers that are sold in different kitchen supply places.
Kentucky Dave:Right.
Mike:Even Lowe's maybe has them, I don't know.
Kentucky Dave:I think I got the ones I had, but you just need the long ones.
Mike:You need the really long ones. Yeah Right, exactly, yeah right, exactly. That's what I do. What else are we going to store, dave?
Kentucky Dave:Well, the next big one is paint, and I have way more paint and way more different brands of paint than anybody should excuse for having more than you know. One brand of lacquers, one brand of acrylics, brand of paints that you brush, and maybe metallics and clears, but I've got, I will bet you, paint from 15 to 20 manufacturers. Well, I probably do too. And, and here's, and it's disorganized now I do have ikea makes a rolling cart with, or a rolling cabinet with, wheels on the bottom. It stands about four, probably four, four and a half feet high, and it has one, two, three, four, six, seven, eight, ten drawers, and most of them are the shallow type drawers that you're talking about.
Kentucky Dave:And what I do is I've got a drawer for my Wightenstein model paints, a drawer for my Model Master paints, a drawer for my Tamiyas and Alclads, and so I've got them in those drawers, which is great, so I know where the paint is. If I want a particular Tamiya paint, I know what drawer to open. And now Tamiya is not bad because they have colored caps, so you know what the paint is by looking down on it, whereas most other brands don't have that. And so if I open up the Model Master drawer. I'm looking at a whole bunch of black tops. We should paint the tops. I have done that to some extent. When I use a paint I'll put a dab of paint on the top and that helps. But Mr Paul Budsick has, I think it's on. He did a video on it where he took drawers like this and put in at an angle I don't know what you'd call them.
Mike:Roof flashing angles, what he used.
Kentucky Dave:Okay, roof flashing angles, and he put them in the drawer so that, instead of having a flat surface in the drawer, that you put the paints on flat surface in the drawer, that you put the paints on, that you would have a series of angles that you would lay the bottles on and so you could lay them out when you open the drawer. Instead of looking at the tops of all of these bottles, you're looking at the labels, and the drawer is, you know, you pull it out and there's 10 or 12 of these roofing angles with paints laid out in each one, so that you can just pull open the drawer, look down and read every label and see immediately what paint you're looking for.
Mike:There's a scale modeling workshop video for that from him.
Kentucky Dave:Yes, and I saw that video and I immediately went that's brilliant and I haven't had time to implement it. My paints are scattered all over my model room. That's another thing. I don't put them back when I'm in the middle of a project, and when I'm in the middle of three or four, that means there's a lot of paint scattered around. I did do one thing.
Kentucky Dave:A person was getting rid of a Model Master store display you know the store paint rack and oh, it was actually. It was Randy Fuller, and Randy was kind enough to give it to me and so I've started organizing the paints on that rack and of course it's got little inserts where you can label each row and so you can really, if you'll take the time to organize, you could really use that rack and it doesn't take up a lot of room and it's really good for organizing the paints. I just need to get around. My problem with paint is that I've never taken the time and it would be a project and I need to at some point devote some time to doing that. How do you organize your paints?
Mike:Largely I don't. It's kind of a problem. Yeah, like right now all my Tamiya is in a Sterilite Tupperware type container with a latch lid on it. Sterilite Tupperware type container with a latch lid on it. I've got one of those old testers. Carousels full of old square bottle Pactra International colors. Oh my God, that I'll never use.
Kentucky Dave:I was going to say those paints have to be ancient, they are ancient.
Mike:I've got a board that my grandfather drilled board holes in to accept Humbrel paint tans. Yeah, it's about five by I don't know, probably 12 or 15. I've got a lot of humbrol I've been, but I don't use much of that anymore. Most stuff I'm using is the tamiya and the gunzi yeah, for for airbrushing, and that stuff's all in the in those boxes from ed tackett, who was sponsoring the show for a while. I've got his dropper bottle racks up on the shelf above my workbench. I've got all my dropper bottles. I really like those. So for those, those worked out. That was a good rack and there's several other options for those dropper bottles. But generally my pain is kind of disorganized right now and it's kind of making me mad, so I need to do something about it.
Kentucky Dave:I do too. I'll tell you what part of it is. I need to go through and throw a bunch of stuff away, stuff that I'm never going to use again. Like I've got a bunch of Life Color paint I will never use that. That it's not very good paint. There's stuff that is better for and life colors of pure acrylic a water based.
Mike:Hating on the life color. I like their rust colors, man well they, okay, I will.
Kentucky Dave:I will grant you their. Their rust colors are really good for doing some weathering, but as a paint, as a general paint to paint models with no, and the ones I've got I ought to just throw away because I'm never going to use them. If I need that color, I'm going to Mr Color or Tamiya or AK or something like that. So that's the first thing I need to do is thin out what I have, and then I need to organize what's left.
Mike:I see you fill up that curbside with the Model Master bottles.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, yeah, any more storage. One last thing, and I want your opinion on this, because there seems to be two schools of thought Aftermarket we're talking photo etch and resin, mainly Okay. If I get an aftermarket engine for an SBD, do I put it in an SBD kit that I've already got? Do I put it in a box or do I store it someplace separately?
Kentucky Dave:And those seem to be the two schools of thought. And I will tell you, I am a store separately guy. I am too. I have all of my aftermarket. I've got the four deepest drawers in that Ikea rolling tin drawer contraption the four deepest drawers. I have them labeled British, canadian, german, american, japanese, and what I do is all of my aftermarket, for any kit goes in one of those drawers, depending on if it's for an American plane or a German plane or Japanese. That solves the problem of it being a piece of aftermarket that's generic, like Japanese seatbelts in one of my 120 Japanese aircraft kits.
Kentucky Dave:I'd never be able to find them or I'd have to go through all the kits that is specific to a model. They will actually store it in the model box with the kit that it's intended for, which is always great, because when you go to model shows and there's secondhand models being sold, I can't tell you the number of times I've bought a secondhand kit and opened it up and found not only the kit but a ton of aftermarket for it, sometimes decal sheets as well. But there are some people that seem to be a believer in storing the aftermarket with the kit that it was intended for and some who believe in organizing it and storing it separately. I'm a store-separately guy. You're apparently a store-separately guy. How do you store your aftermarket? How do you organize your aftermarket?
Mike:Well, it's not organized other than armor and not armor.
Kentucky Dave:Well, that's a start.
Mike:So the aircraft stuff's kind of new-ish at this point. I tell you, though, to your point, the times I've deviated from that mindset and actually put aftermarket in the kit box two times have resulted in me buying something I already had.
Kentucky Dave:Yep, that's a problem.
Mike:One of them was a decal set, for I can't remember which one it was. I think it was for the Arado 196.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah.
Mike:And the other was a. Well, they're both decal sets. The other was for some markings for a Normandy 5C Firefly Sherman that I bought and put in the kit, the right field kit, and then-.
Kentucky Dave:Bought it again.
Mike:Because it wasn't stored in my aftermarket. I didn't think I had it, I forgot I had bought it, didn't log it anywhere and I ended up buying another one. The hair just gone.
Kentucky Dave:Well, take it from a decal holic. I have bought the same decal sheet multiple times, on multiple occasions that's kind of bad. Yeah, any more storage no, that's all the ones I can think of.
Mike:We could talk about kits, but that's a whole subject unto itself well, dave I, I logged this next one and it's clear coats and I want to just kind of talk about recent experiences not get into the whole philosophy and and chemistry of clear coats, right, just some recent experiences. You know, I'm working on the e16, done with the primary painting and I'm ready to apply the decals. It needs a clear coat and I've been playing around with that VMS satin varnish. It's supposed to be so awesome, right? Mm-hmm, I'm using a 0.4 millimeter airbrush in my setup and 0.4 needle and tip 0.4 needle and tip, which is what's recommended on the VMS varnish bottle.
Mike:Right Kind of is the minimum, though, so I'll admit I'm at the minimum end of their recommended spray nozzle and needle combination. The stuff that comes out and ends up on the model is great, but that crap clogs my airbrush every single time and it is really hard to clean up after it does that and I'm about over vms varnish. I'm real curious what other people have done. I know steve houstad's been using it and he's been thinning it. The current wisdom out there on the on the youtubes one modeler in particular has pretty much been shooting that crap straight out of the bottle with allegedly no issue. Yeah, yeah, I have an issue every time. I shoot it unthinned. Now I've not tried to thin it yet, so I don't know what happens after that. But have you used any of it yet?
Kentucky Dave:I have not, but I've got some to want to try to use. Now, for the longest time I was for Gloss Coat a future guy and then for Satins and Flats I use the Alclad I have within the last year, 18 months, two years I have become a convert to the Mr Color GX100 as a gloss coat because man does that stuff. It goes down beautifully, it dries, rock hard it dries.
Mike:Does it clog your airbrush?
Kentucky Dave:It does not clog your airbrush. There is no setting solution in the world that seems to have any effect on it. But I will tell you that. Again, talking to Steve Fustad, he sprays future, but I've always sprayed future and sprayed it straight, Never had a problem. I know there are many people that hate future, have a love-hate relationship with it. I've always sprayed it straight and never had a problem with it.
Kentucky Dave:Talking with Steve, he was saying that he thins it with 25% MLT Unicorn Tears, Mr Keller, Leveling Thinner, and I'm going to try that. I've never done it before. I've got a model where I'm pretty soon going to need to gloss, coat it to put decals down on it. I will tell you, given what he said, I'm going to try it and see what. Now I'll experiment first because, again, experiment, experiment, experiment. But I'm going to give that a try. As far as satins and flats, at least for the moment I've still got my Alclads, but I've also got the Mr Color satin and flat. But I've also got the Mr Color satin and flat and I may give those a try, given how much I've enjoyed the GX100.
Mike:Well, I went and bought a bottle and I like it too. I was pretty impressed by the way it sprayed, the way it went down.
Kentucky Dave:Oh, the first time I sprayed it I was like, oh my gosh, this is Pretty stinking hard. Oh, it's rock hard. Like I said, I have yet to find anything that messes with it. I'm sure pure lacquer thinner would destroy it. But no decal setting solution setting solution. No weathering oil paint or anything like that that's had any real effect on that finish.
Mike:So I'd be curious what other folks, what you're using now and why you like it. Yeah, if you're using the GX100, I think it's probably a good thing, but I'd be curious, you know, I'd be curious how this compares to the Tamiya Clear. Yeah, I've got some. I've mixed it with other colors. I've never used it as clear codes, which is kind of primary intent of it. But uh, right, yeah, it's just. Vms was frustrating me. I mean I could put a bigger needle and tip yet in the airbrush. That'd be all I'd use it for would be vms varnish. Right, the stuff goes down once you, once you get it going is fabulous. So maybe I will try to thin it and and keep going. But you know I've got a bottle of their gloss that I'm not really excited about ever using at this point.
Mike:Sure, and I got and I got the big bottle yeah, and I and I want to hear from folks.
Kentucky Dave:This is one of the side benefits that turned out from Mike and I doing this podcast is getting to talk to so many more modelers. We get a much wider range of experience as opposed to just going to your local club and say, hey guys, I've used this. What are your all's experiences? And you may or may not have had people who've tried different things, but with a worldwide listening audience, I'm sure there's people who have 20 different answers to how to gloss and flat your model or satin coat your model. We want to stimulate an exchange so we get that information.
Mike:Well, the other one I got lined up, dave, is decals and not in the sense of tips and tricks for applying them. I don't know. Kind of a higher level decals, what you like and don't like and what we need and don't have, would be a good discussion. Recently, you know, right at the threshold of decaling the E16. And it's a Fujimi kit and I've applied some of their decals to my paint mule and man. These things are thick, yep, and I've got national insignia. Inch high guy gave me some of those to use, tech mod ones which are super thin.
Kentucky Dave:Yep.
Mike:And I'm going to be using those. And I've also got some micro scale trim film to do the pontoon striping, the safety striping on the pontoons, and she also gave me well, I got to give this one back some IJN tail codes Right From Aviology. Yep, terrible name. Yep, that's a mouthful. So I'm going to cut the numbers I need from this. This set's currently not available.
Kentucky Dave:It isn't, but I happen to have that set as well.
Mike:I need to get one of these, and somebody needs to see if they're going to reprint this. If not, what they'd take for the artwork.
Kentucky Dave:Yep.
Mike:And redo this one, Because these decals are they're spot clear filmed, so each character has a little bit of clear film that the yellow is printed on. So when you cut it out you're not going to get the square lines from cutting it out.
Kentucky Dave:Right.
Mike:Once you soak it off the paper. Yeah, I'm going to use these, but another one. What I'm getting at there's the kit decals are really thick and my test mule shows that I really don't want to use any of them. Right, there's a couple that I don't think there's any way around. But I've got the hinamaru, I've got the tail codes, the the two others was looking for. A solution around was well three the pont floats, which we already mentioned. I cut those out of clear film. Those will be micro-scale. They'll have no carrier film past my cut line. Those will be fine. The other is the deflection stripes on the horizontal stabilizer for the tail gunner.
Kentucky Dave:Right.
Mike:Those are big decals on the Fujimi sheet, right? Don't want to use those, right? Those are big decals on the Fujimi sheet, right?
Kentucky Dave:Don't want to use those Right, because they've got all the. What they are is one decal that has all of the deflection stripes for one of the two elevators, yep, and so you've got a carrier film that is basically the size of the entire elevator. And the only solution to that that I know of is to get thin white stripe Yours are white, not yellow, right, yep, yep and to cut and lay them out individually, which means that you have to fiddle with the angles and get them lined up, and it's going to be a lot of work. Instead of laying down two decals, you're laying down 10 or 12 stripes you're laying down 10, 12 stripes, 10 or 12 stripes.
Mike:Well, and the other. The third one is the dive inclination stripes on either side of the cockpit, right Just ahead of the pilot's position. Yep, again, that's going to be a real nasty looking decal, yep. So what I've done is there's a seller out of Germany, on his models, wwwanyzde, sells a multiple sets of of stripes. They're printed by cartograph and they range from one and a half millimeters down to 0.07 millimeters. Wow. And if you order one, each of all the the colors, you get a little bit of a discount. So from honest models, I've ordered the red set, the blue set, the green set, the black set, and then for the e16 I've got a white set and a yellow set and my plan is to use these by hand.
Mike:Lay these out yeah and get a better look now for the white horizontal, horizontal stabilizer stripes. Definitely that's not going to be too bad. I'll make a template and I'll be able to do that one without too much trouble. The inclination, the dive inclination stripes, that's gonna be a little harder. That's. There's not much there to work with. It's not a very big decal. I may. I may end up punting on that one and just using the kit decal. I'd rather not, but it seems kind of hard to put that on one at a time.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, that certainly would be.
Mike:So these Ani's decals are primarily made for aircraft hose and conduit color coding.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah.
Mike:You know, like on a modern aircraft, but really well packaged, really well printed. They're from Cartograph, so you know they're going to be good. I'm looking forward to trying these.
Kentucky Dave:I'm looking forward to hearing about them.
Mike:You got any decal things going on in your world?
Kentucky Dave:Well, I will tell you that the Japanese kits from the 90s were notorious for having decals that were thicker than their American or European counterparts. Now times have changed and you know like fine molds, kits come with cartograph decals these days, so it's not a problem you encounter as much today. The one advantage with the Japanese stuff is especially if you have tail codes available is a lot of Japanese markings were generic, so there weren't aircraft codes or bureau numbers or things that are much in the way of unique artwork, so they're a little bit easier to assemble from generic sheets. If that's what you have to do. What I want to know on your decals the Fujimi, original Fujimi decals how aggressive did you get in using decal solutions? Did you go Solvacet? Did you go AK? Did you go Mr Mark Strong? Yes, I've used them all. Okay, any effect, any different effect between them?
Mike:Surprisingly, they mocked the AK stuff.
Kentucky Dave:Which is funny because I've heard the AK stuff is supposed to be really aggressive.
Mike:The Mr Mark Softener and Mr Mark Softener and the Mr Mark Setter, probably something to that effect. I'll have to look at the bottle to know. You know it did its thing. It got into the paint, but not really any better than Microsol Microset did on one of the others. I tell you, the problem is the clear film on these decals is spot printed. You, the problem is the clear film on these decals is spot printed, so like if you have a henamaru, there's just about a millimeter. There's a clear circle out right outboard of the white.
Mike:Yep, none of these made that go away and it's going to show like crazy when I flat coat this, this paint mule. So a couple of things I they probably went over a satin finish. There's no silvering, so I don't think that was a problem. But they've got the GX100 over them now and it's still there. Yeah, I don't think there's. It's just not going to go away. Right, they're just too thick, they're too thick.
Mike:So I'm going to use mod hinamaru on on my e16, that that's not gonna be a problem at all. No, I'm gonna use these aviology tail codes, even though I kind of put them on one character at a time. That's okay, that's not that hard? No, it's not. I've decaled enough ribbed sided hopper cars for clint's field. That's got a single decal for every letter. Yeah, not a problem, the stripes, horizontal stabs not going to be too tough. The inclination, dive, inclination marks are going to be a pain. I may end up putting there. I don't, I don't know. So I guess if, if I were going to use those decals what I would do I've already put them over a satin I would probably do that again. You know, I see these folks over cutting with a gloss coat, then going back and and sanding and buffing the, the film edge. Yeah, I don't, I don't think I got the stones to try.
Kentucky Dave:No, neither do I I have never in my life sanded a decal.
Mike:I'm not going to do that man. I'm going to replace as many as I can and see where it goes. I mean, the E16, the whole thing was a learning project anyway. Right, I've got to really be careful because it's turned into this, because it's gone pretty well. Yeah, that's the problem. I want it to be one that wasn't a learning piece. You know what I mean.
Kentucky Dave:I know exactly what you mean when the model starts going so well.
Mike:I'm struggling to not accept the warts that it's going to have.
Kentucky Dave:Right, yeah, no, I know exactly what you're talking about. Oh, I'm just going to slap this together and you know what? I really don't care. I'm just going to put it together because I'm going to try these things and if they work, they work. If they don't, they don't. And then the model starts to come together and things really start to work and everything starts to look good and suddenly you are much more invested in that model than you were when you opened that box. Yep, that's where I'm at. Yep, been there, done that. Have the half-built model to prove it.
Mike:I'm going to finish this one. Yes, and I just got to keep myself in check, man. Yep, I'm there for you. Any other decal stuff? That's it, this one. Yes, and I just got to keep myself in check, man. Yep, I'm there for you. Any other decal?
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Mike:I feel like it was 1968 when I started this E16. Well, it was close. I started this E16. Well, it was close, Dave, you've been burning it up. I've been slacking what's up on your bench man?
Kentucky Dave:Well, I haven't exactly been burning it up, but I've been making progress and, okay, you have to view progress as progress, even if it's small. Working on the SAM, I got it to the point where I just needed to put the gun sight on, then the armored glass piece, then I needed to paint and detail. There's a wooden antenna that comes up through the canopy, just like on a zero. So it has to be all done ahead of time and then mask the canopy and then put the antenna on and put the canopy over it and make sure that nothing gets knocked out of whack and that I get a good fit. Thank gosh, the canopy fit was really great. But I was down here one night modeling late and I had the gun sight is molded and clear and then you paint the body part of it and you leave clear the two panes that make up the gun sight. So I had done that and then I'd cut it off the sprue and I had sanded the attachment point. And keep in mind, this piece is tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny. So I'm down here late at night, I've got white glue on the place on the cowling where the gun sight goes, and I'm sitting there trying to attach that gun sight.
Kentucky Dave:I spent an hour trying to attach that gun sight. I dropped it three times. Each time, as soon as I dropped it, I'm like that's gone, there is no way I'm going to find it, I'm just I'll put the canopy on without it because there's no way I'm going to find it Each time. I actually found it and I finally, on the third try, got the gun sight attached and I'm like that's it. I need to walk away for the night. So I had an hour of bench time wherein I attached one part and spent an hour doing it, while I dropped it three times and then got down on the floor searching for it and luckily, found it each time. So sometimes you got to just take your progress where you can. So, yeah, I put in an hour modeling time.
Kentucky Dave:The model looked almost no different than when I started, other than that one tiny little gun sight being attached. But I got it done. It needed to get done before the thing can move forward. I've now got it to the point where the gun sights attached, the armored glasses attached, the antenna is painted attached the canopy. I use the Dead Design Models canopy masks, which really seem to be. They're the Kabuki, the yellow tape type masks. They went on really well. I attached the canopy with, to be honest with you, less trouble than I thought I was going to have. And then, because the interior framing is bare aluminum, so I had to then take the airbrush and take some Alclad dull aluminum and airbrush the entire canopy so that I would get all the frame portion to be silver. And that's where I stand right now.
Kentucky Dave:Start applying some, just like you did with your E16, where you paneled and you added all those different colors. Now, I'm not going to do that, but I'm going to do what is essentially a somewhat similar thing, where I'm going to take an off-white paint and then I am going to some people will call it marbling, but that's more when they do it randomly I'm going to try and be a little more controlled to fill in the panels, particularly toward the centers of the panels, with this off-white color, so that when I come back with the camouflage color you get, especially since I primed in black when I spray the actual camo color, I will spray in such a way as to leave the black a little more visible on the panel lines and then the off-white that I've sprayed will emphasize the center of the panels and give myself that 3D, that effect of the weathered and varied panels, that 3D, that effect of the weathered and varied panels. But it's just about to the point where, like I said, after we record tonight I'm going to start laying down that quote-unquote for want of a better term pre-shading before I put on the camo colors. Also, just the BT-7 is moving forward again very slowly. Also, just the BT-7 is moving forward again very slowly.
Kentucky Dave:I had kind of stopped working on it to concentrate on the SAM, but I'm finding myself with points where the SAM needs to sit. So now I'm going back to the BT-7, and I'm hoping I'll be ready to prime it relatively shortly. So my benchtop is looking good, it's moving along, I'm happy. I'll be ready to prime it relatively shortly. So my benchtop is looking good, it's moving along, I'm happy with it. It's not moving as fast as I'd want to, but it's moving and I see the light at the end of the tunnel that, hopefully, is not a train barreling down the tracks. So how's your benchtop?
Mike:It's dusty man, I need to get on it. I got to back up and ask you. Okay, you were painting the National Insignia on that plane at one point.
Kentucky Dave:Yes, and that experiment did not exactly work out, which told me that I need to in the words of a very wise modeler experiment more. So I punted on the idea of using stencils for the markings on the SAM. I'm going to use the kit decals for the SAM and then what I'm going to do is cut a bunch of stencils and practice on a bunch of paint mules, and I'm going to get much better at stenciling before I try it on a model again well, you've done way more modeling than me.
Mike:I I don't have much. I've done a lot of planning. I'm ready to clear coat the thing. I know, know what I'm going to use. But other than that, because of all my distractions, I've had a really unproductive couple of weeks at the bench.
Kentucky Dave:Okay, well, give yourself a little credit. You did model, but it was on a paint mule rather than on your actual model.
Mike:I did.
Kentucky Dave:You experimented, you learned stuff, stuff that actually saved your model in one respect, because you're not going to do, you learned what you're not going to do on your model. So you did actually model, but it just didn't show up on your model. It showed up on your paint view.
Mike:So folks wish me luck. I'm going to dive back into this thing and hopefully make some progress over the next month or so.
Kentucky Dave:I wish you luck, Mike. There's been a lot of stuff announced recently. We seem to be coming into the fall season, which not only means model shows starting back up, but model companies announcing new releases. So do you have any faves or yawns from what's been announced recently?
Mike:Yeah, I do. My first one is a fave it's. You know, I don't know if it's for me personally, but Ryfield Models has kicked out an M4A4 Sherman, oh yeah, A couple of boxings. I think I've got their Firefly kit, so I'm watching to see with curiosity what they do with their Sherman line.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah.
Mike:Because right now the Asuka Tasca kind of line is kind of the go-to Sherman kits, right. I'm curious if these are going to offset those. Push them aside. I don't know if they will or not. I don't know how good these kits are, but if they're going to rip through the Shermans it's going to be really interesting how they compare to what's already out there, because those Asuka kits are pretty good.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, what do you got for your first one? Well, the first one is just, as a matter of fact, showed up on ScaleMates today the fine molds. You know. They have done an F4 series. The big holes in the F4 series was the early Navy F4N they just announced for 2025, we are going to get a 72nd scale, f4b and F4N, and, given the quality of the other kits in the line, I have no doubt that these things are going to become the go-to phantoms. And I've got a really great furball arrow design decal sheet for mid killer f4bs and that kit is definitely a fave of mine my next one is from ibg.
Mike:Okay, I don't know italian nomenclature, so I don't understand any of this. I don't know what it means, but they've got one of those gun trucks, self-propelled guns, the 3RO, with the 90-53 gun on it. Yeah, it's one of those Italian flatbed trucks with the gun on the back and it's got those outriggers, the ridiculous springs on them. Yeah, just a goofy looking thing, honestly, and I don't know man, that one's kind of got me interested. Those things are so screwball that it's just really interesting.
Kentucky Dave:Well and you know I was commenting to somebody on the dojo who was building one of the Italian self-propelled guns there's just something about the Italian and the Japanese stuff in their armor and their soft skins. They're just so unusual looking that they're just interesting. You can't help but like stuff like that. What do you got next? My next one is from one of your and my favorite manufacturers Just announced very recently, the company SBS out of Hungary have announced resin engines for the Dauntless the SBD-1, 2, 3, and 4, and then the SBD-5. So they're going to release both engines because the 5 had a different looking engine than the 1, 2, 3, and 4. I like everything SBS does. I've got several of their kits. I've got a ton of their aftermarket resin, replacement, conversion, etc. I'll be snapping these up for sure, because I've got a couple of those Flyhawk Dauntless kits.
Mike:Well, my next one is from T-Rex Studio and it's 3D printed muzzle brakes and tool clamps all German, and we'll have to see if these are Panzermeister approved, yeah, but the tool clamps look really inviting. I'm going to give this a little harder. Look the muzzle brakes. You know, if you're building Tigers and Panthers, they're probably a good thing. That's just so much of an easier way to do those than those multi-piece micro-machine things out of aluminum.
Kentucky Dave:Right.
Mike:So we'll see where they go with those. I think those are probably a good thing At some point. The multi-piece ones? I would say yes, and what I'm getting at is are they over-detailed? Once you get it together, does a lot of that stuff matter? I don't know, but for a 3D printed item it's going to be a lot cheaper to make than a machine metal one. So I'll be curious where those go. So T-Rex Studios.
Kentucky Dave:My name is David and I'm a decalholic, a company I've never heard of before, duke Model D-U-K-M-O-D-E-L-L, which I assume is probably German or Central European, just because of that spelling. They've announced a sheet of decals, 70-second scale for the SU-25 and the SU-27,. All foreign operators, non-russian operators, and the Russians sold the SU-25 to everybody. Every Central African Republic got a bunch, a number of SU-25. Every South Asian Air Force. They're even in South America with some air forces. I love aircraft of small air forces and the variety of markings that you get, and these two decal sheets they just scratch the itch that I can't resist. So I'm here to tell you that I will be picking up both of these decal sheets. There are just so many neat, interesting schemes on them, and if anybody knows anything about this particular manufacturer I've never heard of them before please reach out and let me know what you know.
Mike:Well, my next one's in your scale, dave. Oh, that's good news From Sova M. Okay, us Navy BB-19 Boomin' Beaver Security Tug.
Kentucky Dave:Yes, saw that security tug. Yes, I saw that.
Mike:As a curiosity, this thing can't sit on something the size of a silver dollar.
Kentucky Dave:Yep, this thing is real, by the way, and it's tiny. Yes.
Mike:Yeah, I wouldn't want to be in it in rough seas man.
Kentucky Dave:No, it's a little harbor tug.
Mike:Yeah, you're going to drown.
Kentucky Dave:It's like a one or two man harbor tug.
Mike:I think it's a one man harbor tug. Yeah, you're going to drown. It's like a one or two-man harbor tug. I think it's a one-man harbor tug. Yep, 70-second scale tiny, tiny, tiny thing. I'm just really curious. I can't wait to see the first buildup of that thing on a ship table.
Kentucky Dave:There is a great Photoshopped image of this actual ship which, like I said, it's a little one-man or two-man harbor tug, and they photoshopped a Phalanx gun system on the back of it and it is hilarious. So, yeah, no, I saw that one and yeah, I can't wait to see the first of those out on a table somewhere. What's got left? Have some interest in this? Cora Models has announced a release of a Koolhaven FK-56. Koolhaven was a Dutch manufacturer made aircraft pre-World War II and this is a pre-World War II and right at the beginning of World War II trainer that not only did the Dutch armed forces use them, but apparently they sold them to a lot of different small air forces. So Cora is releasing this kit and they're releasing several versions of it one with the Dutch markings and then with different markings for all of the different small countries that they sold it to.
Mike:Yeah, I saw those. I thought you might be interested in those yourself.
Kentucky Dave:No, that's not for me, but several of the Septimbers really have expressed some interest, so hopefully one of them will get it and build it. Is it the?
Mike:subject that keeps you away or the quality of the kids.
Kentucky Dave:Chorus aren't the best, and that certainly would be a consideration for me, but also the subject just isn't. I'm not a big trainers guy.
Mike:Okay, so they're all trainers.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, they're all, all trainers. They're light trainers, light reconnaissance, light, light liaison aircraft.
Mike:So it's a yawn for you.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah it's. It's a yawn for me, but I'm happy for for modelers who are interested in it.
Mike:Well, mine's pretty contemporary and it's a. It's a yawn, all right. Tiger models, okay, has released a early tiger one kit and would appear they've been asleep during all this state of the art tiger kit releases and it's got like molded on tools and molded together inner road wheel sections and it's not getting a good look. Let's say that it?
Kentucky Dave:does it have the virtue of being cheap? Is it like an entry?
Mike:I have no I have no idea okay things are are bad enough that I wouldn't. I would not even consider this one Gotcha. So it's getting panned pretty severely on the internet right now and the Facebooks yeah, and I got my eye on it. This was a spectator sport. Let's say that Gotcha, anything else. That's it for me.
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Kentucky Dave:Well, Mike, we're almost the end of the episode. Have you gotten to the end of your modeling fluid?
Mike:I have, but my rock's still sitting there lonely with nothing in the glass.
Kentucky Dave:Oh, that's sad.
Mike:So it went pretty quick. Russell's Reserve 10-year. It's got to be the best 10-year aged bourbon on the market for the price it absolutely has to be.
Kentucky Dave:Well, that's good to know that it doesn't disappoint and it doesn't vary bottle to bottle.
Mike:If somebody knows a better one, let me know, because I want to try it.
Kentucky Dave:Well, I've got to the end of my De La Vega pecan beer, 5.39% alcohol by volume, out of Sierra Blanca Brewing Company, moriarty, new Mexico, and it's not bad. The pecan taste is very forward. So that as you drink it, as you have each swallow, the last thing you get and this may have something to do where the different taste buds are located on the tongue literally the last thing you get with every swallow is the taste of the pecan, and it's pretty intense. Now, it's not bad, but it's just strong. It's not subtle. I think this probably would do a little bit better if it was a little bit more of a subtle taste, because the taste of pecans, of course, is actually. I find it good and enjoyable, but I'm not sure if this definitely wouldn't be something I'd drink on the regular, just simply because the intensity of the pecan taste, not the fact that it's pecan itself, but just how strongly pecan it is.
Mike:Probably make a good bouldermaker. How?
Kentucky Dave:strongly pecan. It is Probably make a good Boilermaker. You know, that's a good thought. That is an excellent thought. If I ever come across another one of these, I might try that. Mike, we now are officially at the end of the episode and before we go, do you have any shout outs?
Mike:Well, I want to give my customary shout outs to all the folks who have supported Plastic Model Mojo through their generosity. We have quite a few avenues you can do that with. You can become a Patreon subscriber, you can contribute through PayPal, or we've got Buy Me Coffee and we've got the Plastic Model Mojo Merchandise Store. All those avenues help us bring the show to you, and you can find links to all these avenues in the show notes for this episode, dave.
Kentucky Dave:Yep, I'd like to include my thanks as well because, seriously, you all who are contributing financially really are a great help to Mike and I, and we've got some things in the future planned that we really need that assistance on, so thank you. I've got a shout out to a friend of the show, rock. Rozak Rock finally convinced me to bite the bullet and pull the trigger and buy a tablet, and it certainly is one of the better decisions that I've made, and I'm getting a lot more done having that tablet. I'm reading a lot more, I'm accessing a lot more modeling materials, and so for that and for many other reasons, I'd like to thank Rock, because he's pointed me in the right direction.
Mike:Sounds good man Yep, you got any more, I don't, dave. So, as we always say, so many kits, so little time. Dave, take it easy, you too.