2026 IPMS Nationals Recap With Friends And Fresh Ideas: Episode 168

Welcome Back After Nationals

Welcome to Plastic Model Mojo, a podcast dedicated to skill modeling as well as to news and events around the hobby. Join Mike and Kentucky Dave as they strive to be informative, entertaining, and help you keep your modeling mojo alive.

All right, Kentucky Dave, it's episode 168. We're finally getting around to getting an episode out after the 2026 IPMS National Convention. How you doing?

All right. Do you think we got anything to talk about?

Uh, we have a truncated episode because we got a lot of content from the show to put out there for people to hear. And yes, we still have a lot to talk about. Yeah, we do. So, what is up in your model sphere?

The Paint Rack Has To Go

Recovery, uh, unpack unpacking. Still a little bit of work in my model room trying to. I'm still working on solutions. Reluctantly, I have come to the conclusion. And folks, I hate to say this because it's on it's recorded, and he's gonna play it back continuously now and into the future. Mike was right regarding the retail paint rack, and it's gotta go. I thought I had a solution that really utilized it and worked, and it doesn't. And I have now admitted to myself, much to my chagrin, that my podcast partner was correct. And so I'll be getting rid of it. Go ahead, grab this piece of audio, and I'm sure you will use Mike Was Right again and again in the future.

There's been a time or two, some of our favorite retailers have uh offered me a surplus paint rack, and I've always declined because it's great for retail, but unless you got eight jars of the same color, it just hides the next one you put behind it. So you can there's just not much you can do with it, in my opinion. For personal personal paint collection.

I thought I had a solution, but solution does not utilize the rack to the level that would justify its presence.

Yeah, it's big too. That's the other problem.

Yeah.

It's a space hog.

Yep. And so it's gonna go. All right, well, that'll free up some space. Yes, it will. So in sum, a recovery, because I don't know about I guess maybe turning 65 may have done something, but or maybe this was just such a great national that it's taken me longer to recover, but I am recovering. I got a lot of stuff to put away and to organize and to categorize, and there's that, and then I'm still working on my model room. So, how about your model

Recovery Mode And Model Room Fixes

sphere?

Well, it's the Nats as well. And I've I I talked about it a little bit in our little short thank you thing we put out a week ago. I had a great time, man. I absolutely did. I just think that the entire timing for me was right. Yes. Um, I'd worked hard going up to that, and I'd had it on the calendar a while, and just things went well at home, so that was never an issue. I had a little issue at work that had a cover and I arrived later than planned, but I've said it before, I think, again in that short we did. But I can't say enough how great it was to just walk into that Airbnb at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, our arrival day, and see all of my best friends I've made in this hobby, save one. And then 40 minutes later, Evan McCallum, Panzermeister 36, who was the missing, the missing friend arrived. It was just a joy, man, because so glad to be there after I thought there was a some tracers flying by the windscreen that made me think I wasn't gonna make it make it, you know.

Well, and once again, our friend Mark Copeland selected a fantastic Airbnb that worked out beautifully. I've got to say it was big enough and with enough common space to host a lot of people that came by, that dropped by, etc. And it was still comfortable enough that everybody got no, we weren't on top of each other. And hats off to Copeland again, and I can't wait to see what he does for us in Huntsville.

Well, I tell you something that I thought about on the drive home, and I just think it is testament to the depth of those friendships and the maturity of those friendships that have become. Because this time it was you would think it might be a problem, but we didn't all think we had to be on the same schedule this time.

Yes.

And it just kind of worked out.

Yep. I mean, when when we went to the baseball game on Friday, uh Steve Hewstead had uh some friends in town that he had to have dinner with. Mark Copeland went out with the folks from Edward, and yet we all arrived ended up eventually arriving back at the Airbnb on our own schedules and still had a great time. Yeah, we did.

And just picked up before we left off when the last time we were all together, whatever night or day that was breakfast or whenever it was. Exactly. I I love seeing all our listeners and friends we've made in the last six and a half years. That was great on top of uh our core or core group that we we uh bunk with at the Airbnb. It was great to see D-Ran back in the trenches with the Model Geeks.

Yes, it was.

They got over their technical issue and got some content out and did a fine job of that. Uh, you know, but life was lying in ambush, waiting for my scheduled return. So, you know, got busy at work real quick, rolled right back into picking up where we left off with moving one son back to the house and another out to an apartment. So this weekend's been jam-packed with those fun festivities, sarcasm included, for free. And I guess one more thing about the Nats for now, uh till we get into our content here in a little while. Well, a couple things.

Airbnb Friendships And Show Rhythm

One was the gifts. We got a what we've got a what broke our wallet segment coming up that folks are gonna want to stick around for. But I get there and there's a a wrapped package on my bed from Mark Copeland, turned down service at the Airbnb, I guess. And yeah. He gave me a copy of the book that we're gonna give away here in a few minutes.

Yes, he gave me one as well, and I don't know if you've looked through it. I have. He put a lovely inscription in in a personalized inscription in the book, and it's it's really cool. It has it has jazzed me to do some eight therefore stuff, which I'm sure was Mark's ulterior motive probably. But yes, it was very kind.

And then from uh one of our favorite Aussies, Paul Gloster, he gifted me with tonight's modeling fluid, we'll get to in a minute, and uh and a pair of these and its precision tweezers, which I must say are are pretty nice.

They are fantastic.

I might be ordering the rest of those series.

Yeah, well, the problem is that it's tough to get them shipped into the U.S.

Yeah, we'll figure out.

The guy may have changed now, but the reason Gloster brought them to us was you couldn't get them shipped into the U.S. Now that was at the height of all the terrorist stuff, and maybe things have calmed down.

Well, maybe, maybe not. Yeah. I hope so, but maybe maybe not.

You'll have to check.

And then the voice of Bob Bear, our Barker, yes, from Charlotte, North Carolina. He had mentioned in a listener mail about uh it came up in the note-taking and all that talk topic and our ongoing uh workshop kind of shop talk stuff. And uh he gifted us one of those little rocket book notepads.

Yes.

And I've got the app on my phone. I'm gonna give it a give it a try here at work here this coming week and uh see what that's all about. So I appreciated that. I'm gonna do the same thing. But then it's gonna reside solidly on my workbench after that.

Yep. Yep.

And then I won't get into the details of it, but the fine folks at Arma Hobby ended up being shockingly generous to us at the end of the show.

Wonderful people, modelers modelers through and through. It was fantastic.

And you know, I guess if there was any downer, Dave Goldfinch has got some new OTB stickers. Yep. And I've had one on my water bottle lid since the last time he was over, which I think was when was that? Omaha. Was it Omaha? Oh my god, yeah. So it's Madison. Was it Madison?

Yeah, he came back for Madison.

I think you're right. It's been at least two years then.

Yeah, it's because Madison is when he hung out the my house for the first time.

Well, two, four, or six years. That's right. He did. I we I was at your house too. Yes, I know. You are then we all rode together in the car. I just can't remember what show it was. It was Madison. Well, my OTB sticker has resided on the top of my water bottle ever since. And it's because it fit perfectly. It's worse for wear now, and I needed a new one. He gave me a new sticker. It won't fit my water bottle lid. Oh, well, you've got to get a new water bottle. It's only it's you got this white border, it's a larger diameter, won't fit. Damn you, David Goldfinch.

Either that or you can get your thinner line circle cutter out there.

Beat me too. I was gonna say the space industry might be without any OTB visibility, but the thinner line circle cutter is gonna take care of this and it's all gonna work out. So we're gonna let him off the hook. Thank you for the sticker, Dave.

Yes, thank you, Dave. Good to see you, mate. It was good to see everything. Well, that is my model sphere. Well, Mike, uh, you already mentioned it. Since we're recording an episode, you gotta Lord knows we have modeling flu.

We do, and that's a whole that's gonna be a rolling thank you for for I don't know, maybe till Christmas. I don't know. Oh, it at least that'll at least take us that long to sample everything. Yes. I I really hope I don't have it all finished by Christmas.

Well, I couldn't finish it all. I might need an appointment at Betty Ford if that happens. Yeah, exactly. So what's your you mention it, what's your modeling

Gifts From Listeners And Makers

fluid?

Uh, you know, I've gone on and on and recommended and raved and sung the praises of Russell's tenure being the best. It's a good it's a good bourbon.

Yeah, it's a really good, it's for a 10-year, it's a bargain. Yes.

Absolutely a bargain. Paul Gloster raised the stakes and gifted me a bottle of Russell's single barrel, which is kind of the next tier up, and it's kind of on that price point where, yeah, it's Christmas and New Year's. I might treat myself to that, but it's not one I would normally buy.

Yeah.

So thank you, Paul Gloster, for the Russell single barrel. We'll talk talk about it at the end of the episode. I'm gonna enjoy it till the end. That's my modeling fluid. What do you got?

I am using my new World of Armor teaching beer opener, all right, bottle opener, to open a Trappist Rochefort Belgian ale from our friend, friend of the podcast, David Morris. He brought us two beers, and this is the the first one I'm going it's a Belgian ale. I know I'm gonna love it. You know, the Trappists may Trappists make great beer, and it was great to see Dr. Morris at the at the show, and you were able to gift him a little Scooby snack and thanks for everything that he's uh helped you out with. And uh so I have no doubt oh God, that's good. Yeah. This is gonna be a good episode.

Not that you're a hops guy.

Yeah.

Yeah. Oh, that's seven years ago. That probably wouldn't have been so good to you.

It probably not, man. Oh, God, that's good.

All right. Well, he'll be happy. Dr.

Morris, thank you very much. I can say that in advance. All right.

Modeling Fluids And Thank Yous

Well, Dave, we had a call to action a while back to get some topic suggestions or guest suggestions or whatever of our listeners. We had about 25 listeners who answered the call to action, which for a call to action like that's not bad at all, honestly. Nope. Pretty good. We got a lot of great topic suggestions and a

Listener Suggestions Prize Drawing

lot of great guest suggestions. So we're gonna parse through that as the months roll on, and some of it will act on. Uh if we if there's couple that I'm not gonna act on, I know those folks in the email explain why. Yeah, that's for that's for a later day. So thank you to all the fine folks for that. We had considered doing this at the National Convention, but honestly, folks, we were having too much fun to remember.

I'm not sure where we'd fit. Well, well, I know where we would have fitted in, maybe one less pass through the vendor area, but that but we'd had to do something live from the show like the geeks do, and that's they that's kind of their thing.

So we didn't we chose not to do it at the well, we chose, we just didn't do it, and probably because we were too busy having fun. But we were and we don't normally do we don't normally punt push out the content d during the show. Yeah, we've never done that, so to uh to not enjoy the show.

Yep, you got a wheel to spin?

I do, Dave, so we're gonna have to fire up the old mojo prisonator and get this done. Okay, dust the cobwebs off of it. Okay, it's been a minute. Give it a little oil. WD40.

Yeah.

Duct tape's holding good. All right, I think I got it now. I think I got it.

Spin away.

Double check here. All right, Dave. We have a winner. Who's our lucky winner? Our lucky winner is Mr. Andrew Armstrong. All right. All right. So, uh Andrew, we'll reach out to you through the email address that you submitted your suggestion through. And then once we have that, Kentucky Day will get right on it.

It is sitting sitting in my office ready to be mailed. I just need a mailing address.

All right. So thank you for the topic suggestion, Andrew. And thanks to Mark Copeland again for offering the prize.

Yep.

And Andrew, we hope you get some inspiration from the Mighty Eighth Air Force book.

Yep.

Convention Interview Lineup Preview

Well, Dave, we had a blast at the National Convention, and we talked to a lot of cool people at the table, away from the table, but we did get five segments in, man. We did pretty good.

We did, and the funny thing is, you and I, folks behind the scenes, Mike and I, talk constantly about what's working, what it doesn't work, what we would like to try, et cetera, et cetera. And before the convention, we had actually come to the conclusion that we were probably going to focus a little less on doing interviews at the show and doing a little more scouting and other stuff. But it turned out that even though we had not planned it, we got some really good interviews at the show.

We did, you know, we took uh Thursday off to kind of scout things around. We didn't do any recording on Thursday. We had a lot of chit chat at the table and and on the show floor and convention halls. And uh we ended up doing most of it Friday. Yep. The second day, and we picked up one more on two more on Saturday. So we did three on Friday, two on Saturday. And an important one on Saturday. Two important ones on Saturday, actually. But we got some good stuff. So enjoyed talking to all these people. Yeah. Well, Dave, the first segment we got, and we had to interview the guy after we saw the name of his business. Yep. It's gonna be Jay Chadwell from Mojo Model Works. Yep. No affiliation.

No affiliation, but a camaraderie, nonetheless.

Yes, other than a new friend. Um let's see what Mr. Chadwell had to say from uh Mojo Model Works.

Mojo Model Works And 3D Prints

So, Dave, we're always looking for something interesting that's kind of off the beaten path, what we normally see with all the plastic kits and paints and stuff. And coincidentally, we're Plastic Model Mojo, and we have Mojo Model Works here, Mr. Jay Chadwell. Jay, how you doing? I'm doing well. How about you guys? Uh, we're real good. We cruised by you, and some things caught my eye because I recognized all your subjects almost immediately. I want you to tell us a little about what kind of things you're working on.

We've got the some of the Indiana Jones kit, the heavy metal movie kit, so stuff that I grew up watching. Okay. Stuff that I grew up, all the signs of my misspent childhood. Um the black hole robot. Bob uh from the black hole. Pretty much anything that I wanted to build, if I saw a gap in production, nobody else was making those things, I would spend the time to design it.

How long have you been doing this in bit as a business?

So six years.

Okay.

This started out of necessity in the middle of the COVID shutdown.

Okay, we fit we're we're right there with you.

Yeah, so I I I was a graphic designer, I have a background in graphic design, and I did a lot of restaurant work. And of course, they took a big hit. Um, I shifted gears and and I I was already a model builder. Okay. So I got into 3D design and haven't looked back.

Okay.

Yeah.

So you've been doing uh you've been doing it as a business for six years, but have were you a modeler before then?

Yeah, yeah. I mean, well, I was a model builder as a kid, and then like a lot of us. Yeah, we all did break. Yeah. And uh cars and women, yeah, I know. Yeah, yeah, we get a little sidetracked, don't we?

Yep.

So yeah, I found my way back and apparently at the right time. The the the things that are available to do with like the 3D printing technology, and I mean the sky's the limit. Yeah. And if you can think it, you can make it.

Now, do you do masters and resin casts? Do you do 3D print? Do you do a mix?

Yeah, so everything I do is 3D printed. Okay. Um, and uh it, you know, I start with it it's whatever whatever I think of, I start with the research, and whether it's sci-fi or I'm close enough to the Air Force Museum, I've done some of that stuff up there, and I'll I'll uh gather materials.

Uh I love the Gao 8 cannon that you made from the A-10. Yeah, that was a favorite.

So the A-10 is a favorite of mine. Uh the plane and I are around the same age, and they keep trying to retire the plane, and uh it drives me crazy. I think it's hilarious that it keeps coming back. But yeah, the Gao 8 kit was something that I made multiple trips to the Air Force Museum, and I got to actually talk with some guys in model groups that maintained those weapons systems, and so they helped me kind of they checked my work as I was designing that. So that was a six-month process and work in Blender. Okay. If people are familiar with the software, it's a free software. I encourage anybody, if they're thinking about 3D printing, they're thinking about well, I can't model, I don't know how to use the software. There's a software called TinkerCAD, and I encourage people to start there. Because the one thing this hobby has taught me that it there's always new stuff to learn.

Yeah.

And I want people to feel like they can tackle that.

Well, I've I've not messed with Blender, I'm more of a fusion 360 guy because I'm I'm doing more blender's really good for organic shapes and traditional CADs typically not. Can be done, it's just a lot of yeah. Yeah, so I don't know. That's that's interesting because you've got a lot of well, like the bob, you know, it's round and the dome top, and yeah, probably lend itself really well to that.

I'm definitely a stronger hard surface modeler. Okay. And with for instance, with the bob kit, very geometric, but then he's beat up. Yeah.

Right.

And so then you go in from the hard surface modeling into digital sculpting to kind of provide the the dents and the dings and all that. That's cool. Yeah, yeah.

Now, you've been doing this for six years as a business. I take it the business since I see you at shows like the national, and you've been here a number of years. I take it the business has grown well.

The the business is growing steadily. Okay.

Yeah.

It's not not overwhelming and just kind of where I'd like it to stay. Um, yeah. Got it. Let's get um so and actually this is I'm I'm super excited. This is my first time at Nationals. Okay. And I've been at some other big shows. Wonderfest is one of my favorite.

That's where I see you all the time as one.

Absolutely. And do a lot of local shows.

Yeah. Okay.

Well, where where are you out of?

Uh Columbus, Ohio.

Okay.

So I've got an online presence and I I send things all over the world, but just one guy in Columbus, Ohio.

Now, do you have your own website or do you vend off Facebook or something like that?

I have a website, it's Mojo Modelworks.com. Okay. And then That goes to there's an Etsy storefront that I utilize for sales. Okay. Well, we're in region four out of Louisville. Yeah.

So we are so we're neighbors. Yes, we are. We've not been to the Columbus in a couple years, at least I haven't. Do you set up at that show?

Yeah, the BlizzCon is every February. Right. And the last couple years I've been there.

Yeah, I didn't make it last year, but I saw you there the year before.

Yep. A great show. Great venue. Yeah.

And I've got to think you do great at Wonderfest.

I mean, you're your stuff. I'll be honest, those are those are kind of my people. It's uh it's kind of an offbeat quirky vibe for sure.

It is it's like Comic-Con meets skill modeling, is kind of what it's like. It is. It's a lot of fun.

But they are all great people and and man, they are fans. So when you do something that they're really into, they're just they just they'll talk your ear off.

Well, and it's you can see them from across the room. Yeah, like they light up. They see it, they didn't know it existed, and they gotta have it. Yep. Yeah. And I'll tell you, you gotta get it right too, because that level of fandom knows when you've done something incorrectly. Yeah, absolutely. That's part of what I love about it. Yep, and they'll let you know it. Yep, I'm okay with that. Yeah, I'm okay with that.

Is there anything up and coming you could disclose comfortably at this point?

Or I've got so I keep a list. I've got a list of ideas. Okay. And if something keeps piquing my interest, it gets moved into the officially a project list.

Okay.

And so I've got I've got a lot of things coming up, some real space stuff, uh some space shuttle, NASA crawler, launch platform type things. Okay. And sci-fi, I've got in a list as long as my arm. Oh my gosh, yeah. So yeah.

Yeah. Well, and and it's just the perfect time with Star Trek B anniversary this year, Star Wars next year. Yeah.

And sci-fi is just the space program as good as it's been and since the 60s. Oh, it's exciting to watch. Yes, I love it. Yeah. Absolutely. All right. Well, Jay, thanks for talking to us. Hey, I appreciate you guys. Glad to help promote you. You had some cool stuff, and I'm sure we'll see you around if you're in Region 4 of the FMS.

We'll see you at Wonderfest next year for sure.

For sure. And Huntsville. Yep. All right. Thank you. Thanks, guys. Well, that was fun seeing all the stuff he had, and you could just recognize all of it.

Yes.

Um I I like the indie tank because they're I've got an issue of I can't remember what it was in. It's either AFV or maybe MMIR. I can't remember. Somebody had built that thing from the Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, the big world war-looking tank that was actually a complete fantasy job built up for the movie. Yep. So he's got a lot of interesting things. He does. And he's got a lot of stuff planned. He does, and he's in our region, so uh we might run into Jay again. Yep.

Well, he he shows up at Wonderfest every year as well.

All right. Maybe we'll see him there.

Yep.

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Well,

USS Texas Turret Scratchbuilding Deep Dive

Dave, you know all the fun I had building my catapult float plane, my E16.

Yes.

You know I've got my eyes on some other projects.

Yes.

Catapult related. Catapult-related. Some of them have ship turrets involved. They all involve catapults and float planes. There is an entry at the convention that was a USS Texas turret. Yeah. And that model had been built by Mr. Randy Chisholm from Texas. And we had him by the table to have a chat about what it was like to do that kind of project and just generally about projects like that. And I really enjoyed it. I don't know if you got anything out of it or not. I hope so.

No, I had it was great.

All right. Well, let's get into that one, man. Dave, we've had a listener suggestion that we go out and find some things that we we like that we were interested in, and maybe talk about that more than you know some of our more typical vendor interviews and cottage industry interviews. And out on the show floor, you know the kind of stuff I've been gearing up to build and I've built recently. Well, there's a turret and catapult and float plane out there, a USS Texas, I believe. Yes. With a kingfisher on it, circa 1943. 42. 42, probably right before they took the thing off the turret. August 42. We have the builder here with us, thanks to the uh cell phone numbers on all the entry forms, and he's a gracious clicker by the table.

Why don't you introduce yourself? Randy Chisholm. I live in Bryan, Texas.

Okay, another Texan. We just had a Texan here, brought us some uh bourbon from uh Austin.

Oh yeah. Well now are you in a club down there? Yes, yes.

What's the that's uh uh we're we're transit but Aggie Land uh model clubs.

Okay.

Aggie land, you know Don Gilman? Yes, okay. Okay, it is like two blocks away. Oh, really?

Well, Don's bringing me some beer, so I'm like he he does some fantastic homebrew beer. Oh yeah.

Oh yeah, yeah, he does. Well it's always a good thing to fall back on.

Yeah. I've recently come, I've been I've I've I've got a substasher, more of a 30 fifth scale armor guy. Yeah, but I built a lot of uh naval aviation when I was a kid and I've kind of got back into it. My first aircraft in 30 years was a IEC E16 Paul that put on a little tower catapult. The kit came with a catapult, but uh built a tower for it and came out really nice. Probably should have made my first airplane in 30 years a float plane. That was probably not wise. But all that to say that catapult launch float planes, flying boats, even some deck launch planes, that part of the naval warfare aviation has always been of interest to me. So I've got plans to do like the Scharnhorst after it with the Elado one, yeah. And then just about anything on some of the Navy catapults too, U.S. Navy. I've got a what's the Loire one thirty Loire 130? I finally found this obscure French company that they're out of business now. In fact, the Joker took my money when I tried to order it. Right. But somebody was at a shop in the Netherlands and found a they have a secondhand section and found this kit for me, and it's a a big turret, not turret, but a catapult. It's on a barbette, just a circular barbette that will turn on. Yeah, pedestal, and it's a French French catapult. Oh photo etched catapult, resin pedestal, all that. But anyway. Multimedia, yeah. Multimedia, and I've got other float planes in my collection. And more of these cruiser and ship or battleship type turret launches uh when they were doing that really interest me. So immediately your Texas turret, I walk by like, okay, we gotta find this guy and talk to him, yeah, because that's what I want to do. So how did how did you get down that avenue of interest?

Well, I like the Texas. I've been going back and forth. If I was gonna build a a scratch build of a Texas, something larger than the 350s offered by trumpeters. Yeah. It has its has its issues, but it's just the scope of work. I've been gathering a lot of stuff on the Texas. I mean, this is just a side shoot of it. I said, you know, I'd like to do a I think it'd be cool just to do a Texas, you know, Texas tour. And I had some drawings when I was doing all the research of uh from the museum. Back then it was at the in in the San Jacino Battleground, you know, LaPorte. That's where the Texas was sitting, that's where they kept all the records. Now I can't tell you where I think Texas Parks and Wildlife has got the records, I believe.

It's not and the ships in Dry Dock, right?

Uh not anymore. No, it came out. Yeah, yeah. It's it's uh it's I don't know what can I can't remember what pier is near Pier 51, but it's it's in Gallaston. Okay. Yeah, so you'll see it there. So you can go down and I I don't know if it's open yet. Okay officially. I have yeah, there's a Texas uh Facebook Texas. Yeah, yeah. That's that's yeah, recent recent restoration, right? Yeah, to make it. Yeah, they did mostly under, they needed it because of the torpedo bulge. They're they're not made for long term, they're just made to to explode a torpedo, so they were like really thin metal to begin with. Okay. And the way they're shaped. I did the dry I did the uh dry dock tour, it's kind of cool. And so they basically it tapers at the bottom on a torpedo bulge, if you notice. And so it's really hard from a museum standpoint to to maintain all that. And so they had to make, you know, it's you don't see it in the water, so they just pick pretty much chopped it off for like uh let's just say three feet horizontally. And so now some people can get down there and they can actually maintain and keep the rust keep the rust abated and stuff. Before it was like down, it came down to a point per se, and you can't really get down in those spaces and and maintain it.

So other than the aircraft, everything else is scratch, Bill.

Uh yes, uh, in this day and time, yeah. I um had a there's a I don't know if you plug plug companies or not. Yeah, we don't remember. Um yeah, there's a guy named Model Monkey, Steve Lars.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I think, yeah. I'm trying to remember what state he's got.

I was trying to get him to blow up one of his other other turrets to a bigger, bigger scale.

Yeah, well, see, but that's before uh Shapeways uh closed up. And so I I gave him the plans and there says I I don't have the skill and I'm not my part of my life, not yet. I can give you the data in the farm and rather me. I I mean I'm more than willing to get the plaster up and start doing it myself. But I says, I like uniformity, like turret the the barrels and stuff. Um I mean I've turned barrels before. Right. And so I says, you know, can you can you do it? And he says, sure. So in that sense, it's yes, it's scratch belt in the sense that got sure. Because since then he doesn't have he doesn't have a a printer bed size big enough for to do that anymore. So he quit doing the 172nd scale stuff. It's that's a big turret. Yeah. A big piece of a resin. So but I think there's another guy, D. Stefan.

He was mostly through Shapeways.

Yeah, but he's uh has his own website now and better printers.

And he That's the big thing because the Shapeway stuff I never really liked. It was yeah.

Like fuzzy and it was ish. Brutal. It was like in the FSC of and like if it's comical if you got a I was trying to get figures that one of the artists uh designers offered, and you know, that they're because they're this the printing service, and the stuff was so brutal. I was I was trying to do it, I had an Arizona that I built. I put it was in Madison, Wisconsin, if you were and it I was trying to put people on that thing, and and every time you try to take it off the little tree or whatever you want to call it, there I had all these amputees, sailors. I said, this thing cannot work, and so I was there's kind of a hold-up. You know, you're try you're doing parallel work when you're doing on ship model, you try to do as much as you can up to a certain point, you know, working parallel.

How long did the project take you from the beginning to end?

Yeah, the oh yeah, back to the turret. Yeah, it's it's that's how long it took versus how long how much bench time I had. Right. Yeah, yeah.

So I I I feel you, brother.

It's a scratch build. So it's what you see is not the first the the first and only version. I'll just say that. Okay. So you it's trial and error. My plans I came, I had a struct a general structural of just the girder work. And through research and under and and and and looking into it, that is a P4. P means powder, and then you have been Americans had hydraulic. Okay. Or compressed air I'm sorry, compressed air, not hydraulic. And and so you had P4, P6s, you'll see those, those like fan tail on, but even your P6s from a P6 from a fan tail of a like the Iowa to a P6 on a cruiser, they're different. The mechanics, and it's not really the girder work, which are different, but it's also the mechanic it's really the mechanics of it. Firing mechanism and all that. So it's what's unique is that the Texas and the New York, the namesake of the class, they're the catapults are the same. Okay. You can't say that for the Pennsylvania and the Arizona. They're two different, structurally two different, mechanically the same, but structurally outwardly, there's new little nuances that you can you look at. So it's all good to know for me. Yeah.

So is it hard to get the reference for for all?

Yes, there's no reference. Okay. Yeah, that's what I've run into. The plans on the plan sets on those was a original plan set of like three sheets, but they were not they're they're like recovered off of a sunken ship or something. They're really crappy. Yeah, they were they were scanned, they're PDS. You know, thankfully somebody scanned them in. And and then somebody had drawn redrawn a cat. I can't credit who drew it, but they were good they're good, they're spot on. I check his measurements or her or whoever who driver drew it to the actual drawings. You can kind of make it out. And so all the hard, there's hard, there's hard dimensions that you need. And then it's all pure photos. Okay. And since the the benefit of being in New York slash Texas, that the the girder work is pretty much the same. There's little things that the the New York tweaked, you know, in its in her life on on that thing that that they didn't on the Texas. Now they're those little braces and braces and stuff. And there's another modeler up in, I can't remember his name, he's up in Dallas area. Okay. And he brought, I understand he was at the yeah, he went to Virginia. I didn't I didn't go last time. Hampton. Yeah. Yeah. And he brought the New York with the three planes on the side. Yes, I remember. Yeah, he had been. And we had been detailed. And so I thought this was weird that two of us started, and he does more turrets than I do. So we just exchanged, you know, ideas and stuff. And like we were all it's weird that how we were all both tracking on the on the design of the mechanics.

Close behind you guys. So maybe we're gonna swap some contact information here when we're done.

It's it's really the mechanical part of how the dang thing you learn how the catapult works when you build, especially scratch build. It's it's tough scratch building because you you're you're translating with the pitch and you're and you gotta have calipers. Um just just a space, just space you you you you have a given length, and you say, okay, the the the girders, it's open, it's all pretty much all plastic, plastict. Okay. The the actual girder work, and pretty much all of it is it's it's all plastic. Very little brass, some some brass like wire, uh brass wire for the tubing. Okay. Rivets was the Archer fine transfers. Okay, the river. They do railroad trans. Yeah, rivets or rivets, and so you just you're just looking for spacing. And you're trying to find the triv the the rivet patterns on those, it's still on the gussets and everything else on the on the on the uh braces and all that stuff. But but that it's it's hard. The difficulty was trying to get it because you you're trying to break it down to where you just like finish as much as you can before you mount it on the turret. And so you're you're trying to get it all spaced right at that right level and everything else, and it was it was hard. Uh keep my language clean. But uh it was it was interesting because you had these braces that that it it actually hooked up to, and it they all there's three-dimensionally they all had to match up right to on because it's really open. And and so, and it had to be the right angle. And it can't be, you know, twisted or your y-axis your x and y-axis, and and your you know so yeah, scratch building. I love scratch building, it's it's I love the challenge. Um it's so neat, it's so neat. The satisfaction is is is this thing never existed in in a it before I built it. That's that's where I get the pleasure of scratch. I kind of more I love doing plastic and I'll do plastic, you know, and and a trumpeter, you're if you buy a trumpeter and you want accuracy. I know there's a debate on accuracy, but if you want it anywhere, most 99 per people, 99% of the people will not even care and see it when they finish a nano box model.

Yeah.

But if uh here we are, we're kind of fanatics about right. And we all have our own pen projects and yeah. You know, somebody could tell me how many rivets are on the F4, you know, whatever. But but uh nothing wrong with that. I mean, if you but but whenever you uh start to scratch build, it's it's uh it's it it takes it beyond the modeling. It's it's true for me, it's it's it's I get the most the joy out of it. Well cool. But Trump reunits inherently that's a major by the way, it's a major one two. I I do scale one two hundred, not so much they do one three fifty, but I don't do too much for 350. It's okay because uh to me the one two hundreds it range. I said it's one two hundred or one one ninety-second. Um it it it pops for me. Um you you could put it's the right balance of it's putting enough detail into it because the larger scales are great, but but the response to the model are is to put more detail in it. Yeah, because it's like zooming in on a it's like zooming in on the earth, you know. How much can you see? And then you zoom in on this the scale of the earth is what's scale, then you zoom into your house, and it's okay, oh now you can see your doorknob now. So it's that balance. I think I like 1200. Now, when you start getting into bigger ships, it's space is a problem for displaying. Right.

Uh so do you have a project going on right now?

The hood, yeah. It's a trumpeter hood. Oh, okay. And uh, of course, the Brits, there's like lots of things, issues with that, especially there's a good British, oh I say he's he's a I say podcast, but he's he has his own YouTube and he's really great. It's called the Ma Model Shed.

Yeah.

The model shed, and it's a British guy, and he's he does he did what I he does all these different models, but he had a the on for Nate Naval, he did the uh course a hood, and then he also did the Bismarck. But okay, but it's all step side. He he interlaces it with Pontos, which is if you can get through a Pontos hood photo X, you can get through it, because I'm contemplating the next project being a Yorktown, World War II, Midway. There's more and I I based on there's more information available for Midway than it was. I was gonna do a Coral C prior to going to Coral C, but and and and I couldn't really get a definitive what the any air and and it's still uh I'm not ready to start it, so there's because they she came back from from Midway and she got a lot more any aircraft. Namely, I think 50. I think she was supposed to lose the 50s and get more 20s. They've got the 20s and then just they didn't take off the 50s. So I don't know how they adjusted. There's like two more there's more questions than because if I'm gonna put it on on on the on the platform of uh it's gotta be right. Right.

So I know it's not well that's a the aspect of ship modeling that I think a lot of folks don't realize that it's especially if you had a long like a ship that was never sunk. Right. Yeah. It's got a long service life, well, for World War II. It's it was there from maybe it existed before the war and it it it was there still around at the end. Well, it may have been refitted a time or two. Correct, yes. Or it may have been battle damaged and sections of it rebuilt. Paint paint's gonna be different.

So it's got to be that's when she was doing Atlantic convoys. Okay. When you spoke about when she lost her aircraft as prior to D-Day. Okay. They took it off because it just it would have beat the catapult to death. Yeah. And so I think the squadrons aren't part of the ship's crew. They're they're attached to the ship. So the squadrons, I think they got I want to say they got sp- they got the flash spitfires. Okay. I think. I I wouldn't I wouldn't swear by that. I wouldn't say that in court, but but uh but but it's it's an interesting story that that where they got dispersed in while they're doing it. Now, as soon as Didi was over and uh in the operation down south in France, it they she got her sh obviously she she got her catapult because there's pictures of her in the Pacific with her I just assumed it got removed completely because so many of them did on other nation ships. Oh yeah. Uh after she was demilled, or I would say actually she was tired of it.

I have to wonder how how robust those things were if those guns were getting used very much. Well, yeah, we've spent nothing's robust when they those guns start fighting. Yeah, so maybe it wasn't a great place to keep an airplane.

It's like the oh for Texas, it's I understand that thing was built, it's like the World War I 1914, so I just launched is so uh it's certainly World War I. So it's like it's kind of like after so cat aircraft is kind of an evolution kind of thing. Cool. Sure. You only got one catapult, like most of your later uh pre-war battleships got uh two, you know, like one on a fanta like Arizona or something. Okay. Any any plans to do any others? Catapult if I do one that's more feasible that you you perked my interest because I had seen that, but I said, yeah, I don't know. But if I said that's that's that I I was looking at pictures last night. I I I confess, I said this doesn't look very hard. After after doing the Texas, yeah. This is kind of this is kind of easy. But um I might do and I think the guy I I I'm sorry I can't remember this guy's name. I'll you can do it on a post post post uh interview. I can give you the name. I think he was going to also make a uh do a Texas turret, the first flight. Was it McDonald? The the pilot makes something I think wanna say McDonald. I might be mistaken, but they did he did the first flight off of the of the of a ever of a battleship. Okay. Aircraft off of a battleship, and then it was the US Texas. So there's a lot of firsts for Texas. First one with any aircraft guns. Um that's pretty cool. I didn't realize that was. First, I think first with maybe radar, and I believe first flight, and I think radar. First, I think I can't remember a lot of weird little firsts for for uh you don't hear about. Okay. It's almost like she was a test bed or something. I don't know.

That's really interesting.

But but um uh my next one probably be the platform, the flyoff platform. Okay first flight. And it had uh number two turret. Uh yeah, they rigged up a like a platform off of it. Yeah, you know, it was like a it wasn't a new port, it was a sopwith. Sorry, I wish one blank, you know.

Well that'll be interesting to see, man. We'll see that some of them in the future. Yeah, that'd be listen. Thanks for sharing about your model. Sure. Thanks for coming by and working this out with us. And uh we'll get this one on a probably our first episode after we get back from Nationals gets this put together. We'll have several other interviews and you're gonna be part of it. Cool. Uh pleasure to meet you, man. Yeah. All right. Thank you. That was fun. I'm gonna be in contact with him shortly and see what else. And maybe he he knew somebody else too. So who knows where this might go.

Yeah, I'm waiting for you to do an entire series of the late 30s and early 40s US battleship turrets with uh with the different catapults.

You and me both, but uh that's gonna be a lot of work, man.

You just crank those out as a side project, right?

I don't know. Some of those are pretty dedicated projects, man.

I'm kidding.

I know you are, but uh well, I'm already in the rabbit hole. Sunlight's still coming. I'm not just coming down. I'm not down that far yet, but uh you'll get there. It's gonna get dark. You go, baby. It's gonna get dark, and I'm gonna have to turn on my own light and keep on going down the rabbit hole. Uh I thought it was interesting that he was friends with uh Don Gilbert.

Yes.

And both from the Texas area down there, college station, I think. And yeah, that was just because then Don came out and was talking about beer.

So yes. In fact, Don was standing behind him for part of the interview.

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Dave, this interview came to be because Brandon Lowe suggested we talk to this person.

Yep. And it turned out to be quite a shock once we did.

It did. I almost feel set up like he knew something we didn't. We didn't. So we'll we'll sort that out at a later time with Brandon. But uh there are right next to us. I mean, literally two, if we're facing the table across our table, literally to our left, there was a television screen that he was running some stuff on, Brandon was, and there were some models in front. And then next to that on the next table was the B-24 built up from the kit exclusive.

Right.

Um The Dragon and His Tail. The B-24 Liberator. And they were built by modeler Keith Zimmerman, who we got a chance to talk to.

And I gotta say, it was it was great.

It was. Let's see what Keith had to say, man.

Keith Zimmerman And The B-24 Build

Dave, we'd never know, well, we had no idea where all this squadron thing was gonna go. And we had a really nice spot in a squadron corral. And we've got Keith Zimmerman, is that right? Yeah. Keith Zimmerman here is actually coincidentally, through squadron, we've come together and realized he's from our own backyard. You belong to our club, but you're like me, you're kind of absentee.

Yeah, uh the meetings are always falling on when I'm at work or it's just too late. So too far to drive.

Yeah. Now you live in La Grange, right?

Yeah, Lagrange.

You're about twelve, fifteen miles from my house.

Yeah, small world. It is a small world, but um your small world's big and build building some big planes for for for our host or squadron. How'd how'd you get into that with those guys?

Yeah, so whenever I started modeling, I just was like most modelers, built in my room, just something to do on my own, then progressed to forums, then after forums, I saw people posting on social media. So then I sort of like got into that, into like the social media modeling. Uh run a channel called Green Creations. And from there I was posting on there for a few years, and you know, after a while I was like, well, what's like next? Like, is it is it just posting on social media? So I sort of thought about like what else I could do, and that led me into like wanting to maybe do like articles or magazines for you know some of the different publishers. And I had talked to Brandon and Jeff before from Squadron, so I reached out to Brandon and asked if he has any kind of connections with any of the publishers or magazines to see you know what if he had any fillers around anything like that. So he had let me know that they were thinking about kicking their flyer or magazine back into high gear. So I was like, well, hey, let me compose some of my forum posts into articles for your magazine. And I did that for a few months, and after, you know, it seemed like it was pretty successful, all of his customers seemed to enjoy them. He let me know about the the upcoming Dragonist Tell exclusive, and I agreed to build it for him and provide him with a big article about it, and yeah, that's how that's where I got here.

It's it's clear you're a very talented modeler. Just just a hobby for you? Just I mean, it the way you got into it, just to relax and and enjoy history or whatever.

Yeah, so sort of my origin. It's funny. I was just like staying up late on like a Saturday night, and like Plasmo, the YouTube modeler, would come on. I'm like, what's this? You know, I didn't know like it's like a thing that people really did. So I started watching some of his content, and then I started watching Night Shift and the other modelers. Then Plasmo eventually built a Gundam, and I was like, that seems like a pretty easy way into modeling. And this was like maybe 2016, 2017. So I watched him build that and all the other airplanes, and he had built an F-18. I think it was a 172 scale, and I was like, that is a real F-18 that he's made. And I was like, I just want to do this. So having seen all of his stuff up until then, I was like, I'll buy me a Gundam, and that's where it all began. I started I built like three or four Gundams, then bought an Airfix P40, and I was like, I think planes are what I like more than Gundams, you know, especially with painting and taking apart and all the stuff that goes along with Simpler. Interesting entry point story, though. Yeah, that is. Yeah.

So what all of you built? All these are down here next to us? Yeah, all those are mine. Okay. Do you have any on the contest tables?

No, I would love to enter some things into the competition, but I'd really just like to get out of here a little early tomorrow.

I understand completely.

Yeah. It it's it is a drawback for people who have need a travel day sometimes. Yeah, and we understand that two little kids and work and you know, real life waiting for me back at home.

So and an understanding wife that is so understanding, but not.

Yeah, and and my son's all into it. He he was here yesterday walking around all excited about the planes and the models and got him a few, like the the Neo Mia dinosaur, the Snapkids. Oh, that's great. Uh yeah, he's into all of that as well. So it's been pretty fun.

Listen, if you can get the next generation involved, that's a that's a win in and of itself.

Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Anything to get people off of screens and like doing something with their hands and you know, some of like the research that goes along with it, and you know, it I think it just helps in all different aspects.

Now I notice with your models, you you've got a wide variety of aircraft. Jets, World War II. Do you have a favorite era or so?

I'd say over the past like year or so, I think I've come to like the Vietnam era the most out of aircraft. And that's just because I feel like they're just so dirty and rugged, and there's all these pipes and wires and knobs and gauges, just like the most amount of stuff going on whenever you move past the Vietnam era, especially into the most recent generation of jets, it's like sort of plain and like it's a couple screens, the bombs are all hidden. And you know, I I started with World War II because I do really like World War II, but you take any 148 World War II aircraft, and you know, it a couple weeks if you're like really getting into it every day, but you can't really do that with a jet because the jets just have by the time you get all the stencils and ordnance, just it's just so different. Like I one of my friends once equated World War II to like building a classic, like a muscle car, right? Where building a jet is like building a race car or like a sports car. Interesting analogy, yeah. Yeah, so I I I sort of saw where he was coming from, and I agree. Well, how was the the liberator build? Well, I did it in two months, so it was kind of stressful as far as getting it done in time. I got it in May and I had it done by July. It's the Hobby Boss 148 B24 J Liberator. Okay, but it's it's in Squadron's show mark markings for the show exclusive, right? Yeah, it's the show exclusive squadron the dragon in his tail limited edition box. Okay, cool. Um with the kit, I used a lot of the Edward parts, like the tires, superchargers, just all like the detail parts. The kit itself, you know, has most things that you would need. You really don't need a lot of that stuff. I just was just going overboard and loading it, packing it up as much as I could. But overall, I'd say it's pretty fun build. The only reason I had not built something like that before is just space at my house. That's a very complex set of markings.

How'd the decals work out for you?

Is it to you encounter any problems laying them down or so with the build, I did like a quick like synops recap, like YouTube video, like after I did the decals. That way I had like the fresh memory of what I did to let people know they're going to be doing it themselves. But from what I remember, the the hobby boss decals are very thin, which obviously everybody wants thin decals, especially for an aircraft. But having a thin decal usually it's more likely to rip and tear, especially some that are, I'm sure those are quite large. Yeah, and the the decal itself comes in three sections from squadron. So uh you you sort of apply the front where the dragon's head is and the the woman first. The major obstacle with that section is just making sure like the horns and the hair don't flip backwards. So I just did everything in my power to envision what it was gonna be like before I did it and thought through the process before actually dipping it in water. And since it's such a large decal, I coated the entire front of the aircraft and the back as well, but specifically the front with a lot of water and the adhesive that Hobby Boss uses on their decals is pretty strong, so even with all that dilution, it's still stuck just fine. What are you working on now? So whenever I started this, I had three ongoing projects. One of them is for a squadron, which I'm not allowed to talk about yet. Okay. Um, and then the other two, I'm doing an A10 C, and it's going to be I'm working with two bobs, the decal manufacturer, as well as Res Kit. So they sent me some stuff in collaboration. So I'm building that. Then I'm also building an EA18G Growler mines kit, in which all everything I'm doing right now will be an Epic Fury markings. So all these decal manufacturers have Epic Fury stuff coming out. So I thought it would just be cool. Of those three, I'm the most excited for the Growler because there was a picture taking taken of a growler with four anti-radiation missiles on it, which is sort of like a callback to like the Vietnam like wild weasel era. Yep. And I was like, if they have that on a growler, like that's just so cool to me. Like I love Vietnam era stuff, and if it's gonna be on like on a more modern jet, like I have to do it. So that decal's coming out. I already have everything else except for the decal and the the jet's in paint now, so it it'll hopefully be my next thing done. Fantastic. Outside of Squadron's publications, do you have an active YouTube channel? I have a YouTube channel, but it's not really like my primary source of content. Like I upload some of like my shorts. I'll just you know, take them off Instagram or Facebook and just paste them there. What's the name of it? It's Green Creations, Green Create Creations with a K at the beginning and a Z at the end. Okay, yeah, and that's a call back to my name. My name's Keith Zimmerman, so K Z. I'd say my primary source of content is Instagram and Facebook.

Okay, cool. The young kids.

All right. Well, let's get back to your day, man. Yeah, nice to be a good one. And it's great to meet you here, and we have this thing with Brandon now in common, and uhwhell. It's really cool. And you're not that far away, so hopefully we'll see you again. Small world, yeah, for sure, guys. Yeah, nice talking with you. Thank you. Thank you. Sometimes this world is what would we say? Super small. I don't know. I'm at a loss for words.

Well, I'll I'll tell you what, what was funny is all three of us belong to MMCL at the local club here in Louisville. All three of us didn't we didn't recognize each other because we're all having trouble getting to meetings because of work and other stuff. And uh I mean the funny thing is Keith lives less than 15 minutes down the road from me. So that's information that I'm certainly gonna utilize in the future.

I'm gonna ask Brandon if he knew that. I'm sure he knew it, but if he if he knew we didn't know it. Right. Whoops, sorry. That that's the that's the thing I want to ask. We have trouble getting to meetings, but I think we're all we're in a bad habit. I think uh when I was coming to meetings I had a job.

Well you but keep in mind when you were coming to meetings on the regular, you had either no kids or one very small kid.

Yeah, so yeah, that's kind of when it started going off the rails for me after after the first kid came along because it's an hour drive for me to the to the to our our clubhouse where we have the meeting.

So well, and you you just shipped one off to college or out of the house to college, and I'm shipping one off to college this week, and so who knows? Maybe maybe that will affect our ability to get to the club meetings.

Well, this discovery gives us a chance to tighten up things with the MMCL, which we may do during the model show Spotlight. Yeah, and with Keith, because he's a fantastic modeler, and it just thinks he's not a regular at the meetings because uh he's got he's got a lot to teach. I always thought member Dave Crouch was always unassuming. He is just a super guy, yeah, humble, right, modest.

You wouldn't know that he was a super talented.

Yeah, you didn't know he could model circles around just about everybody else.

Yeah, oh yeah.

He never made that known to anybody, you know, or whatever. He never boasted or bragged about it. He was good.

Yeah.

And he did planes and he did NASCARs for a while and then came back.

Still does.

He still came back and doing planes, I guess, too. But yeah. Keith reminds me a lot of Dave. He does. You're right, he does a lot.

Plastic model mojo is brought to you by Squadron. Head on over to squadron.com for the latest in kits and accessories, all at a great price and with great service. Check out their wide selection of kits and supplies, including a growing range of squadron's own line of paints and 3D printed kits and accessories. Mark your calendar for April 2nd through April 4th, 2027, and join Squadron and the Chattanooga Scale Modelers at the Chattanooga Model Con EagleQuest 2027. Squadron adding to the stack since 1968.

Mike, speaking of squadron, we have to give Brandon huge credit for this next interview. I I cannot say enough about how kind Brandon was to set us up with this interview and how kind the folks were to talk with us.

That's right. And those folks you're referring to are Wojciech Buhach and Martin Chapirsky from Arma Hobby.

Notice how I let you do those pronunciations.

I hope I got them right, but I tried. Um you did well. All right. Well, folks, this was a a really interesting conversation because it it just kind of got into the minutia of being a modeler.

Oh gosh, it did.

Um and they were super fabulous to talk to and really kind. And Brandon helped us get this one going. And because he was they were hosting Arma and Air Fix. They were there uh in part due to Squadron's behalf on Squadron's behalf, and this went really cool. And um I really like these guys and hope we get to talk to them more here in the future. But uh let's hear what they had to say right now.

Arma Hobby On Kits And Craft

Yeah. David, this is amazing. We have two representatives from probably the two likes uh team.

Our favorite model company.

Our favorite current one of our current favorite model companies, especially in the scale you like and I I'm liking now. 172nd scale, they do some 148th scale as well. Uh, but it's the representatives from Arma Hobby from Poland. Gentlemen, thank you for sitting down with us. Uh it's a real pleasure to have you here. Um we've certainly enjoyed your releases over the last few years. Uh they're all really, really nice.

Very it's very nice to be here with you. Uh to hear such kind words from uh from you. Uh that speaks something for us.

Well, I think you've you've you've raised the expectations for 70 second scale modelers in particular.

Now I know your 48 scale kits are wonderful as well, but and for for for me this is most important because I'm I'm one 70 second scale modeler, and this is uh this is exactly what I uh wanted. I wanted for me and for other modelers.

I think it is like home cooking. Uh for yourself.

I I'm for all the home cooking that he can do, because you you have taken 70 second scale to the next level.

It just happened. Now I was about to ask, it didn't just happen.

How did Arma start? Uh many many years ago when I was in uh primary school. Okay, I go to the uh modeling club in the center of uh Warsaw. Okay, and uh there was one guy a little strange who started talking about Pacific War. Yes, and uh he told uh about Hellcat, carriers, and I was a kid in the sixth grade, and uh my eyes opened. I remember when I was uh um making Matchbox uh Hellcat, yeah, yeah, and it was it was something, yes, and then this guy disappeared. And uh the other instructors uh teach us how to build models, how to uh paint uh with brush, not with without airbrush, because then we were uh kids, and finally this guy came back. Uh it was Wojtek, he's a few years uh older than me, and uh it was time he visited Australia. So uh this is the first time we meet we met. Uh it was a modeling club, so we uh met uh every uh week. We have some uh contests where where we uh go in Poland, uh and we have many friends from uh this club, and after uh I finished high school, Wojtek was working in Mirage Hobby. Maybe you remember this company from Poland. Yeah, he started working there and uh asked uh me to help him in uh some uh projects. I started studying. Uh I learned uh there in Mirage Hobby. I learned uh to 3D design because uh one guy was designing planes uh there and I was sitting with him showing him what to uh design, uh showing him documentation. So a few years in Mirage, I finished my uh studying, and then we thought maybe we can make some company, uh especially when uh this was the time when 3D print uh started to show up.

Right.

Uh it was still more expensive than now, but there was some ideas how to use it. I I uh managed to uh learn uh 3D and 2D designing. So we started company. Firstly, it was Attack Squadron. Uh maybe you remember. Uh we have a few resin kits. Uh the masters were made in 3D. Okay. It was so long ago. Uh and uh step by step by step we um get to the moment where a plastic kit was possible to do. And this is the beginning of the Arm Hobby.

I I have a 70 second scale Hasagawa Wildcat with the attack hobby F4 F3 wings. Yes, it was uh they were great. It was you still had to do the work on the calendar, but it was so nice to be able to do that.

We've dropped flaps and uh it was first dash free wing, yeah, correct, available on the map.

Exactly, exactly. And that I loved the attack stuff when when it was attacked, yeah, and then when you all started armor or became armor or however that happened, you all kept the level of quality and increased it that you had already set an attack.

But as soon as we started plastic, we recognized that designing plastic and designing uh resin kits takes what I'm maybe not the same but similar time. Gotcha. So we thought plastic kits is better business to to do than uh resin, especially finally we could uh we could do some stuff that we really like, popular stuff, not only uh some prototypes of Polish airplanes but also mainstream models. But to to to get to this place we know we

have to uh learn many things about uh designing and producing uh plastic kits so uh the line of learning uh uh wasn't easy we started with uh easier subjects polish subjects uh some some some area where we can learn a lot and then more error proof subjects yeah yeah and uh when we know that we can make good quality good lines good details good uh how to say how it's quadal yeah uh being question from mirage to armor yeah the quality is very different but but but I think this is uh many years many years and uh technological uh uh improvement because uh uh many models from uh Mirage it was made by hand hand and machine cut tools uh no the electric the electrodes uh electrodes were made by hand okay the generators Polish industry evolved okay well and that's what I was going to ask you it seems like modern day Poland has a particular group of skilled individuals skilled in what mean injection molding and I saw one old is there some reason that Poland seems to have uh some of the top quality in injection molding out there I think generally in engineering uh uh we have so many well educated people gotcha uh and uh slightly more educated that uh industry needed right and uh we lost so many abilities in injection molding uh due some uh economic problems uh late uh thirty years but uh and now in Poland uh they make so many small industry products uh the the home maschinery and so many automotive products for Germany.

So so yes cars yeah so I did not know that so so if you um uh use uh BMW probably seeds plastic etc are made in Poland or design but it is it is not told and I think we should cut it well we'll be happy to tell it here that's great but the first right now 72nd scale kit that armor release that really drew my attention I have bought the the Polish aircraft but the F4F was unbelievable and how did you pick a wildcat you wouldn't think that would be the uh the most natural subject for me the specific war the conversation as a kid very natural wildcat was uh I think my uh favorite I playing and many times I build uh Hasagawa uh beautiful kit but also also old and lacking uh interior and I uh I I know what I want to do and for example uh first our model was FM2 and it was always the dreaming to make this uh all uh glossy blue uh wild cats from the uh end of the war right from uh escort carriers and it was impossible to do and for me it was uh that subject that uh I I have to do uh it was my passion and then after Fento we uh we uh gone to uh dash four right and in dash four I was so concentrated on uh engine uh area yeah to make uh all the air ducts or radiators in inside wheel bay uh in this section of free slash also engine maybe maybe this project was a little too uh complicated uh but I really wanted to make it and finally we uh get to this year when we made uh dash free finally in plastic yeah and uh uh I need to change uh the philosophy behind this uh kit a little uh uh less parts a little easier to build uh because I know that I really like Wildcat I really love to make many of them right uh not to concentrate on one only one perfect model because there's too many uh fascinating variants of painting of this airplane especially Wake Island Coral Sea beginning of uh 42 yeah yeah yeah so that's why this model is a little different design and also 3D printing changes so many because I know now now that uh experienced modeler first what would they uh do they would take 3D printed engine with all the cables uh all the details and in plastic I will never have a possibility to make as much levels right uh level of details so that's why I I I I I a little uh uh roll down the design of this airplane well your passion for the wildcat shows in your kids they are just some of the nicest models out there and I just really I I I'm like you I I I have a soft spot in my heart for the wildcat. I added some uh sugar some topping on this very model because I added wing pylons and uh something which is commonly seen before the war the containers for uh training bombs yep uh never done uh before and this is I think this is the the exactly what uh give you the the the feeling of the wildcat before the war yep I agree I'm excited for this Curtis Hawk from that part of the war very very favorite aircraft of mine um it seems like you lot a lot of the Pacific theater things uh I know you have things you're working on that you probably won't disclose and that I understand that but man what were we talking about the other day a uh TBD yeah somebody needs somebody needs TB devastator okay I don't know if it it would if it would sell uh so good but with TBD you have uh uh everything as uh similar to uh early wildcats you have uh yellow wings you have uh all over grey you you've got uh early war so for me this subject is also very good I I of course I I had uh airfix all but it's very hard I don't don't know if it if it would be uh good subject and it may not be maybe for you and me and him it would be a good subject but not the mass people I sometimes I feel that good model could make m money because it is good model yeah not not perfect subject right but if it if it is good quality it i if it is easy to build if it is uh easy to make collection with this I think that that uh even the uh little less known handcraft could be good well without it without asking you to tell us what you've got in the future I will tell you that I cannot wait to see what you do next and I think that you will be uh really really happy at what we cooking for you thank you thank you very much well gentlemen I hope you're enjoying your time at the show yes and I we appreciate you sitting down with us and having this conversation it's been a real pleasure keep up the great work your kids are fabulous and we we cannot wait to see what you do next it was a pleasure to talk with you thank you is wonderful thank you yeah that one was fun and those guys are are modelers at heart for sure and uh and that's the thing that I I love the most about that interview we're sitting down with folks who run a model company and you know we're we try and be professional and and we we run a prof try to run a professional ship and we start talking with these guys and within just a couple of minutes it's like four modelers sitting around a table at a model meeting talking about cool model well it was fun learning how that came together.

Margin and Vojak met in a model club voicek kind of had a mentorship and rehashed the entire interview and we went away for a while and then came back and next thing you know they're they're they're doing doing commercial stuff together. It was a really really interesting story and in the end they ended up being very generous generous to us and uh we thank them for that and hopefully we get a chance to work for them some more going forward because uh I really like what they're doing and I like I like their kids and uh they're they're kind of at the cutting edge of this so hats off to them man our final interview is with our host Brandon Lowe Squadron we caught a few remarks from him on Saturday before we wrap things up after we can pin him down a little bit he's a busy man.

He was very busy I cannot say enough about Brandon's kindness to us he has done so much for us we had the opportunity to be in his area with our cable and that provided us not only things like the interview with Arma but the ability to talk with all the modelers lined up to purchase stuff from the squadron area. We met a lot of folks who were listeners we let met a lot of folks who didn't know anything about plastic model mojo and it gave us an opportunity to kind of market ourselves. Brandon has just done a lot for us and I can't thank him enough.

Squadron Booth Life With Brandon Lowe

Well Dave we've had a blast and we've remiss not to thank our host here Brandon from Squadron it's been just a blast hanging out back here and we really appreciate it.

You just can't imagine how how great this has been for us to be back here watching all this go down and we appreciate the hospitality you've extended us so uh hopefully hopefully we return this somehow well you guys are great it's been a real pleasure having you here in the booth uh just watching everybody coming over here interacting with you guys seeing you do the interviews I saw you over here talking to uh Wojek and Martin from uh Armahobby yeah they they appreciate it a lot let's just say that yeah it's it's just neat seeing you know we hear you guys on your podcast uh all the time talking but it's nice to s put a put a name to a face or a face to a name uh and see the guys behind the microphone and and I know you uh we've met many times right but all of these uh modelers here and and uh and friends and customers that come through that perhaps have got to meet you for the first time it's just really cool seeing people come up shake your hand saying hey it's nice to nice to meet you so it's a good thing.

It is fun. I'm sure you get a lot of that too from customers walking in.

We do we do and that's one of the cool things about coming to these shows is uh in our case you know we got these orders that come through our website and you see these names of these people that are buying models and then you come to the show and you look at their name tag and you recognize the name and you get to meet somebody in person. It's a great thing.

Well you you've been busy I mean I think you've sold out on your RSOs haven't you I think so they took the sign back.

I was upstairs for a few minutes and I guess uh you're right yeah the stack is gone so yeah to me is brand new tool 35th scale RSO uh complete sellout that's awesome if you said they had plenty I'll come back on the last day and grab one you've you missed out they gotta wait for the general release now yep September 25th general release for any any standouts this year for you guys uh as far as I mean you got this down to science probably you got your goons to help you out and well uh speaking of the goons we we do have a really really good team uh we brought a lot of guys from ring gold from the Chattanooga area up here this time more than we ever have uh guys and gals can't forget Jackie uh but we've got a we're we're officially calling it the squadron road crew now that's so and we've got I don't know five or ten guys that come from all over the country and for the past few years they've been showing up to help us set up uh and not just set up but all throughout the show you'll find these guys uh cleaning up the stacks you know organizing things yeah it's just really really good we can't do it without these guys and I really appreciate everybody that pitches in to make this big squadron booth happen.

What amazed me is given the volume of people you've had moving through here your checkout line has operated like clockwork. I mean there was always a line but it was moving quickly.

Well we've been doing this for 20 years now going to these shows and every year we learn what works and what doesn't work and the checkout line is you I think it was either last year or the year before our system was not working like we wanted it to and some guys were standing in line for over 30 minutes and it was funny hearing some of the stories some of the guys were laughing about it how awesome it was to stand in line for so long and that's cool but you know at the end of the day we don't want you to have to stand in line. You've got other vendors to go see you've got seminars so this year thankfully we were able to work that out and get people through the line pretty quick.

Well that's great.

Well you got a show coming up yes absolutely what you can tell us about that have you furthered that cause since you've been here this week?

Yeah a little bit so uh ModelCon Eagle Quest in Chattanooga is April 2, 3 and 4 next year, the weekend after Easter it's in Chattanooga, Tennessee at the Downtown Convention Center. And now that we've got nationals behind us uh we're gonna start promoting that quite a bit probably starting in September but it's gonna be really good. We've got 36,000 square feet uh set aside for the show. Uh the vendors are all sold out something north of 200 vendor tables I think closer to 250 if I remember correctly. Wow we've got a lot of uh awesome vendors coming all of our from all around the country we've got some manufacturers coming to Mia is our title sponsor for the show they'll be there companies like Atlantis are going to be there you you met Chris Stokes here from AirFix AirFix is going to be there several other companies like that we've got a lot of good uh really great guys lined up to do seminars such as Dana Bell who's gonna be there talking about stuff you know Dave says I'm in I'm there uh but it's really really shaping up to be a fantastic show we're really looking forward to it Eagle Quest of course was Squadron's show in Texas before that it was MasterCon uh VLS's show and the Chattanooga scale modelers host ModelCon and have for many years. Well when we brought Squadron to the Chattanooga area it just made sense to hook up with the Chattanooga scale modelers and combine the two shows into one and hopefully it's gonna be hopefully it's gonna be really good. I understand that there's this certain podcast group that's gonna be there so that's probably gonna make all the difference.

Yeah that'll make all the difference yeah well for us I will I will tell you I've purchased things from several vendors who mention that they are going to your show and cannot wait very enthusiastic about it.

Right well and and you say my show and and it's not I'm certainly a I'm certainly a big part of uh of that club down there we've got I don't know a few dozen guys in our club and and everybody's pitching in and doing a great job to pull this thing off and it's it's just really going to be a fantastic time. We're looking forward to it. Can't wait. What's left uh to do here today well we get the big uh push to tear down here in a couple of hours our semi truck will be here to pick up what's left this evening and uh as soon as they close up here it's just a mad dash to pack everything up wrap the shelves and you got a lot of stuff so it's uh you got less than you brought unless you bought some that's always the uh the goal but we always find that out so we have a semi truck and we also have a 20 foot trailer and we're hoping that the 20 foot trailer is empty and that'll that'll lighten my load pulling it back to Georgia.

Yeah well I want to thank you again for letting us be a part of this and uh hopefully we can do this again sometime absolutely we'd love to do it this has been this has been fantastic best experience I've ever had and I've been to 31 or 32 national okay by far the best experience.

Well next year Huntsville Alabama we'll do it again yeah that was easy for us too good well let's uh let's plan to do this again we'll put on a big

What Broke Our Wallets

spread for those guys we're already we're already settled in for the April show so awesome well I'm looking forward to seeing you guys there and uh again I really appreciate you being here with us it's been a fantastic week all right thank you thank you sir well you thank Brandon ahead of this segment and I was gonna do it at the end but uh I'm just gonna I'm just gonna say Brandon Lowe and all the guys and gals at squadron thank you so much for having us and uh we really look forward to doing it again so cannot wait to our next opportunity man yeah it's it's been a good good ride so far yes absolutely well we were remiss to not talk about what happened in the vendor room Dave do we have to we do so folks you're gonna want to hit the pause you're gonna want to hit the restroom you're gonna want to grab a drink and maybe make yourself a sandwich because my co-host Kentucky Dave lost his ever loving mind in the vendor room guilty Dave what broke your wallet my broken brain broke my wallet um Mike why don't you go refill your rust I already did man okay what broke my wallet well well let me back up and say I grease the skids because about a week and a half before we went to the Nashville we put in an order and had a bunch of stuff to bring you to the show in order so aside from that stuff okay we'll put that to the Mike showed up at nine o'clock on Wednesday evening with a lot of stuff one of the things he brought was a number of characters four characters for me and then one that I had gotten for for Jimmy in addition to that where started okay let's start here Edward start there and that's the lion when Edward comes in addition to bring trophy back and royal class and all of this other trees are just boxes there's no instructions no decals no mask nothing no box art it's a plain white box to convince my wife that I bought like a new shirt and it would just shirt what they look like a shirt and so they bring them and they sell them very inexpensive.

Because they're the cheapest part of a kit.

Yeah exactly most people don't realize that most people do not realize that the screws are actually the the least costly thing in a model and so basically for eight dollars and fifty or eight dollars and seventy five cents for their seventy second scale ones you can pick up pretty much one of everything they do in 70 second scale that they do for eight dollars and seventy five cents it's a great way to get a back up here if you've bought the regular boxing and all and you know you want to do another one and again if you buy the regul even if you don't have the decal collection I've got if you buy the regular boxings they come with multiple markings. So if you buy and build the regular boxing you've got three other markings all you need is the overdread to build another one overdrew everything They brought in 70 seconds scale that I did not already have an overtree of BF 109K ME110 F MiG-21R or no MiG-21 BIS. Sorry. Oh gosh. Oh, I can't even remember. Spitfire Mark V Late Wing. But basically 10 or 11 of those kits. And of course, while you're in the Edward area, you can't just buy those. I mean, I suppose you could, but I can't help myself. So I bought a whole bunch of Edward aftermarket parts that they make for different kits. I got a cockpit interior for the ME110. I got an interior for the ME 109K that they've just brought out.

It's almost like a loss leader at the grocery store.

Yeah, yeah. Okay. I feel like enough of a sucker without Europe. Well, you know, it's a lot of kids.

I mean, it's a volume, it's a vault, it's a volume of plastic, but think about it though. No, if you got 10 of them, you still haven't even broken a C note yet. Yeah. You can still get lunch. Exactly. You got eight models and you still have enough to go get you got you can you could buy lunch at the convention. Yes. The overinflated hamburger price.

Right. If if you restrained yourself and didn't get a whole bunch of aftermarket like I did, which I did. So then I bought four books. One of the things that that I really like at the Nationals, if you take your time at the vendors and go through all the vendors, you'll find some vendors who are selling new and current books. And in fact, I bought uh the latest Pacific Profiles book from the folks at Casemate because I love that series and I pick them up as they come out. And of course, they had them on sale. Most of the vendors, even if they're selling at regular retail, are usually running 10 or 20% off just as an inducement. So I picked up that book. But I picked up a number, three other secondhand books. One, a colors and profile series on the late model Fock Wolf 190 D's and the TA 152s. I picked up a couple, an old squadron book that I don't think I had, but wasn't sure. But for $5, I wasn't going to pass it up. Ended up picking up four books in total. Let's see. I picked up some gator glue from Squadron and some of their, they're they're marketing a new glue. And so I got some of it to try and kind of experiment with it to test it out. I got, let's see, what oh, I picked up two 700-scale ship kits.

You did.

And both of them Japanese, one a carrier, one a liner, a cruise liner. And really one of the skills I would like to acquire is soldering photo etch. And both of these will allow me to try that. And that's one of the things I want to learn. So I thought, why not? It's a great way to try and practice something I I haven't practiced before. I picked up, let's see, uh Paul Gloster brought me some tweezers, the Ennies tweezers.

You got some decals somewhere. I saw you.

I did. I bought only one set of decals. Only one. Uh MiG-17 decals. And these were actually marketed by Squadron Signal to go along with their MiG-17 in action book. And so the decals are actually for three of the aircraft in the book. And I knew that sheet existed, but weirdly, it was a very short special run set of decals. Who made them? That's a great question. I don't know if they were cartograph or super scale. I'm betting they were probably made by SuperScale.

Or even micro scale before scale. But there was a superscale. Yeah. Interesting.

I saw it and it was again very cheap. By the way, that's kind of a theme in the vendor rooms at the show is that you see a lot of stuff and it's really cheap, and you think, you know, what the heck? Five, ten bucks, fifteen bucks, whatever. And the next thing you know, where's all my money? Well, not only where's all my money, but oh my gosh, how am I going to get this all home? Luckily, I managed to give Evan McCallum an air booth that I brought, a spray booth that I brought to the show for him, that he had had shipped to my house. And then Dave Goldfinch was staying in Fort Wayne. So that freed up a lot of room. And between the generous gifts that our listeners brought us in the form of modeling fluid, and all of the stuff I bought, it filled up the entire space taken up by Dave Goldfinch and the airbooth. So it worked out just barely. Let's say, oh, I bought about $50 worth of Mr. Color paint.

Yeah.

Because again, got it at a really great price. And it turns out that that hobby or the hobby shop that was there vending, it was a hobby shop from Muncie, Indiana, where near where Inch lives. And so they have a really great price on Mr. Color paints. And so I picked up about 40 of them. And Inch is always telling me that, you know, I'm always complaining that those are still a little tough to find. And he's telling me he can always get them for me if I need them. And now I understand why, because his local shop had pretty much the complete range.

So you send him a list every now and then.

Exactly. Or go up and visit him. Hey, I hang out in his library. Uh his his love his lovely wife, Mrs. Inch, brings pizza. It was it was a great time. It was a great time. Now, hang on, I'm trying to think if there's any.

I'm about to ask you if you had a full account of your uh Okay, I'm not gonna count convention shirts.

I'm not gonna count the convention decal. The folks at Arma were very generous to us. Technically, I didn't purchase any of that, but they were kind enough to gift Mike and I a pre-production sample of their new Hawk 81A. And as they left the show, they gifted us some other stuff. And what else?

It's like Jerry Maguire, man.

Show me the money. Um or either that or help me help you. Help me help you. And folks, the thing that really was irritating here is the ran out of money. Well, I did kind of run out of money. I didn't completely run out of money, but I ran out of money.

That you can explain your way out of.

That I could explain my way out of. And what's really irritating, besides that, is that my podcast partner was utterly and completely restrained in his purchasing. And there is nothing more irritating than walking around with a guy who picks up and looks at a whole bunch of stuff that he says he'd be interested in and then he doesn't buy it.

Okay.

What broke your wallet, Mike?

You broke you broke my heart throwing me under the bus like that.

Well, I'm sorry. It's it's got I said you were right earlier. You're gonna, you're gonna, you're going to use that sound clip.

So a year ago at HeritageCon, some stuff was going on that I felt like I couldn't really just getting to the show was a big deal for me. And I really didn't spend much money up there. Did a little better than that at HeritageCon this past year. Yeah. And I don't know. This this year at Nationals, I it just didn't matter that I needed to spend a bunch of money and buy me myself a bunch of new stuff. And there are some things I got that I'm glad I got. There's one thing I missed that I'm gonna keep looking for. Should have popped on it when I had the chance, both chances. Three actually, because one guy had two of them.

Yeah.

But I didn't I didn't spend a lot of money. That does not reflect on how much fun I had at the show. Oh gosh, no. No. It was I don't know. I I was honestly a little surprised how little I spent myself, but I guess my point is I don't remember having a thought that I really don't need to spend any money. That was never that never crossed my mind. I just didn't.

I just so what did you buy?

Well, I was pretty heavy in the book department. I picked up a stack of older squadron in action books. I picked up four of the original white cover series.

Yeah.

And then a copy of the Light Panzers in Action, which was the first full color cover they did. So these are all like armor in action number 10 or less. So I was glad to get those. One of them ended up being a duplicate I had already, but it was part of the book.

I was gonna ask if you were rounding out a collection.

I am rounding out a collection. Glad to get them. I love these books. I they're good reference, but they're all they also have a big nostalgic component with me. Yeah, sure. In addition, I picked up a newer squadron book, uh still still pre pre-branded squadron. They started those walk around color series books, various armor and aircraft subjects. I got the Panzer 38T, 38 check, walk around in color. I did not have that one. So that one goes.

Well, and you like that tank.

I like that tank. I like that tank and I like that series of books.

Yeah.

And then I ended up getting one of the photosniper books on the Hungarian Toldy 38M light tank. I've got some stuff in the stash to start building one of these when I get off my my rump and start modeling again. Uh but uh was glad to get that. So I got uh seven books, I guess. Yeah. I mean, all stacked together. They're not much more than an inch thick, so not like it's ever shattering. Uh what else did I get? I got two kits. You got two photo action? I did, but I got two kits. I'll get to that in a minute. Okay. Um you corrected my uh direction, course correction, on an E2 Hawkeye kit I was wanting to buy. Yeah. I I thought I was wanting the new Heller kit, but I was wanting to do a Vietnam era aircraft. Uh which means you needed the Fujimi kit. Which you found for me in a big stack of kits. At a good price. At a good price, a great price. It was Dean's models. Yes. Or Dean's hobbies. He's always at the nationals and he's always got a big stack of good stuff. E2 Seahawkeye from Fujimi. Yep. I've had to do a little bit of research. Actually, even the C is a little late.

Yeah. You you'll have to do some adjustment.

I don't know. Somebody can help me out here, but the interwebs say the the B, which was the predominant version during the Vietnam War, externally is not really any different than the C. Right.

Well, there are probably some antennas here and there.

Yeah, so that that may be it, but uh airframe, radar, radome, tail, all that. Yeah, all the big stuff. All the big stuff seems to be the same. I picked up another copy, and this is another nostalgia, man. Matchbox's LRDG uh kit, 176 scale, the 30 CWT Chevrolet truck and the Willie's Jeep little diorama. I had one of these. I bought this at an MMCL, one of our local clubs contests three, four years ago. Yeah. Ended up giving it to Stephen Lee, Sprue Pie with Fretz. Who did a beautiful job. Who did a beautiful job? I tried to buy a replacement copy. When I got it, it had the wrong kit in the box. So that looked like a failure, but it was one of the multi-vehicle things I would have would honestly would have bought anyway, eventually. So, so no harm there, no, no uh disparagement of the seller for selling me the wrong thing or trying to get my money back. I was a little disappointed at first it was the wrong kit in the box. I was like, you know, I would I was gonna get this one anyway. So what's a what's a box? So I've got another copy of this kit in the right box, and uh I don't know. Uh it's gonna be another one of those nostalgia builds. I like these kits.

And well, and and I've gotta say I owe Jim Bates an apology because every time he buys an old match box or air fix kit, I give him 40 kinds of hack about it. But I gotta say, I really enjoy watching you searching for and picking up these old nostalgic kids because they could they clearly do have a tie a tire, a callback for you that you have a really deep memory of. I do.

I like them a lot. And uh well, here's where it comes from. We used to, you know, department stores, Kmart, Hills, whatever, back in when we were kids. Or younger. Maybe you weren't a kid, but I was. Yeah, right. Sorry, man. Hey, man. You're a big kid. I was a little kid. Yeah. You know, they had their Hot Wheels and Matchbox displays, and sometimes they had the little carousel with the matchbox cars, and they were actually in the box instead of on a blister pack. Yeah. But sometimes they'd have the catalogs. The little, you know, they weren't much bigger than an index card, but they're really thick, and it had all the matchbox regular stuff, had the super size stuff. And then they started having the ones that had the model kits and the in the 76-scale military figures in them.

Yeah.

You couldn't buy any of that stuff in my hometown. There's just nobody, even the hobby shop in town who had a lot of airfix stuff, never had any of the matchbox stuff.

So you'd look at those things and dream. Yeah, exactly.

And then finally, after I got older and mail order started becoming a bigger thing, or I was exposed to it and discovered it was a thing, I could start getting some of that stuff.

Yeah.

And uh, these are some of the things I got. And uh this was one I always wanted. I never got it. But I I got my first MASH box stuff through the original squadron mail order.

Oh, yeah.

The flyer during one of their monthly flyer sales.

I remember the flyer waiting anxiously for UPS to show up. For the fly well, for the flyer to show up at the beginning of the month. Because, you know, I would go over it like I was reading the Dead Sea scrolls.

Well, I got one other thing, Dave. Yes, you did. I found a set of photoetch for the dragon Carl Mercer.

Um, of course you've got that kit.

No, I don't. I keep trying to get a deal on that kit and I keep missing out. One of the guys won't budge on his price, and he's been kit toting that sucker around for a while. The other guy had two at a pretty good price and sold them both. Two two different boxings of the same kit. And the one ah man, I should have popped. I I do regret that not buying that one.

Yeah.

But it's photo etched from the company part from Poland. So if I get this, I usually have to order it from Jadar or somebody like that. Right. This guy had was you know, it was half off his list price, which is pretty much retail. So I got a good deal on this set.

So uh and their photo etch is really nice.

It is good. It's straight brass, it's good and soft, and it's just their sets are comprehensive enough. We'll put it put it that way. Yep. So that's what tried to break my wallet, but really didn't. I brought back, you know, pretty good, pretty good amount of cash. So we'll figure out how to spend that later.

Well, you'll spend that at the at the MMCL show next month.

I might. You never know, man.

Either that or you're saving up for the next uh 3D printer you're gonna get. I knew that was a deferred uh that was a deferred that's right.

So who knows? Yep. All right. Well, folks, thank you for enduring our uh synopsis on uh the IPMS National Convention. We had a great time. If you've never been to one, you should come to Huntsville, Alabama in July of

Final Thanks And What’s Next

this coming year and check it out. You can have all the fun we had and more maybe. Who knows?

Well, I gotta say, Mike, as we head out here, Dr. Morris did a great job, the modeling fluid Trapiste Roche Fort, 9.2% alcohol by volume. Great beer. Thank you, Dr. Morris. It was very kind of you to bring these, and I definitely enjoyed this.

And thank you to Paul Gloucester for the uh Russell single barrel. Really, really good. A little hotter than the tenure I've been recommending to everybody, but this has it's got a little more heat, but it's got a lot of the same flavors, but a little more. Yeah. Put it that way. Good stuff. Intensified. Yeah. Good stuff, man. Well, Dave, we're gonna try to get a model show spotlight up here pretty soon. We're gonna have our own MMCL club, and then some friends of ours who were on the model show spotlight last year out in Oregon, I think it is. Yep. Are gonna come back because their jamboree is going on again, and uh, we're really curious what they're gonna change up and mix up and do a little different this time and see. Maybe nothing because it went so well. Uh we'll we'll see you then. Dave, until then, my friend. So many kits. So little time, so many kits for you. You're you're yeah, okay. You went stash, you went stash positive, man. Oh yeah. For like eight years at one show. All right, man. Well, we'll catch you on the model show spotlight. Warden Willem, we're gonna kick out another episode for this month. We'll do it.