Journaling and Scale Modeling with Steve Anderson: Episode 132

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

All right folks, welcome to episode 132, our first feature episode of the new year. Happy New Year, dave.

Happy New Year, Mike.

How are you doing? Well, I guess you might as well just give privacy to the wind. I'm nursing a kidney stone, Dave.

Yes, not fun, Not fun at all. Oh, I luckily have avoided those and we know several people who suffer from them and they're just not any fun, me too, and his name is my dad. Yeah, so you came by it honestly.

I came by it, honestly I came by it.

Honestly, I did Good to know. Well, hopefully it won't move during the recording of this episode. We should hope not.

Yep Well, Dave, that's not my model sphere, but what's up in yours?

Well, not terribly much. Well, not terribly much. The last two weeks I have gotten very little done. When I have gotten to the bench, I've been unmotivated, as you well know, and as others know we've got in the last two weeks we've gotten hit by a couple of snowstorms and unfortunately you would think, oh great, there's a foot of snow outside, just go down to the hobby room and model away. Well, that's not the way it works. You got to dig the cars out so everybody can get everywhere, and it just, you know. Then you're dealing with all the stuff, trying to make sure that everything gets done that needs to get done, so that you don't have pipes freeze or stuff like that. So unfortunately, and part of its motivation, I just have found myself not motivated, particularly the the last week, and so we gotta fix that. Yeah, I know I've got to find my mojo. Well, I need to borrow a cup of mojo from you, because you apparently have mojo to spare. So, what's up in your, what's up in your model sphere?

well other than riding the pain train. Since about last Sunday with this freaking kidney stone, I've been working on the new look. That's kind of rolling out and kind of in tandem with the new website, which has not quite rolled out yet. But we were wanting to test the look of all our social media versus the links on the staging site we're using. So I went ahead and changed all the dojo the PMM Facebook page, the Patreon page and one other what was it? Oh, the merchandise store. So I created new banners for those. Three of them look pretty good. One of the Facebook ones really dumbed down the image, so I'm going to go ask our design team for their raw high-res image for one of those line drawings we got on there. So it doesn't look bad, but it doesn't look great either. I'm not happy with it.

I'll be honest with you. I was a little worried you were getting lazy. You weren't doing so well, other than the stuff for plastic model mojo, how is your model sphere?

Ben, well, that is the model sphere man. That's, uh, modeling related, getting this show up to the next level. Yeah, I've also been thinking ahead as to what project either current or not started yet. We'll take the forefront here once this float plane's done. We'll talk about that shortly. You know, I've been opening some kit boxes and rustling some parts and doing all that stuff we all like to do.

Oh, there's nothing more fun Looking for something new, right yeah, there's nothing more fun than opening up a model box and fondling the kit parts.

Man, so I got ideas. We'll figure that out, but nothing new. I'll get one done. I hear you.

Well, you're close. You're close, We'll talk about that. So, mike, we're recording our first official episode of 2025, first main episode. I'm assuming you've got a modeling fluid to go along with the first episode of 2025. What is it? Well, total Line finally got some Russell's Reserve tenure back on the shelf with the first episode of 2025.

What is it? Well, total Wine finally got some Russell's Reserve tenure back on the shelf, so I got one of those, oh nice. Now it's a modest pour because, while one might think that would alleviate some of the kidney stone pain, they got me on that Flomax crap so. I don't need to further reduce my cottonseed.

Gotcha, you would prefer not to wet yourself on air or in the bed, or in the bed. Yeah, the wife's going to object to that. So well, russell should get you through the episode.

It's good, I'll be good, I'll be good. Yeah Well, what about you, my friends?

Well, you know, normally you'd hear the sound of a beer opening, but I'm doing a bourbon.

Sounds like my microphone.

Yeah, doing a bourbon. This episode Thanks to a good modeling friend, scott Skippy King, who came over and modeled on New Year's Day with me. Skippy King, who came over and modeled on New Year's Day with me. Skippy brought a Christmas present which was a bottle of Dereringer Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey from Rabbit Hole Distillery, and this is a bourbon that's finished in sherry casks, and so I've got them. I'm sitting here with my plastic Model Mojo whiskey glass with an ice ball, a pour of the rabbit hole dereringer my new— Dereringer or deringer. It's deringer D-A-R-E-R-I-N-G-E-R. D-a-r-e-r-i-n-g-e-r.

I'll have to look that word up.

It's not the gun. I'm not sure what it's named after. I'll have to read the label. I'm sure it tells me. But I've got my plastic Model Mojo whiskey glass, I've got an ice ball, I've got some bourbon, I've got my Model Airplane Maker keychain and I'm ready to record.

Well good, because we deferred the listener mail last episode there at the end of the year. Yes, and we've gotten a few more. So this episode is going to be rather listener mail heavy, all right, but it's always fun. Yes, we love these and I guess we just need to get into it, because the first one's a really good one. Dive in First up from the south of England, mr Eddie Turner. Eddie's enjoying the podcast. He says he's even joined his national IPMS in the UK and went to scale model world at Telford, which blew his mind. That's someplace we need to go to. We need to. Yeah, you and I need to figure out how to do that.

And some other shows maybe over there. But yeah, that one's the easiest, yes, well, anyway, his question for the mailbag is NASA has just chosen Plastic Model Mojo to be the first podcast recorded on the moon. However, they have left the sponsorship deal up to its astronauts. You and Dave, what model company would you entrust to build your Lunar Lander recording studio spaceship, and why Bonus points if you can both agree on the same one? Well, I know who's building mine. I know who I would choose To me. It's building mine. It's going to have the fewest parts to break and it's going to fit together and work.

Well, if I had to choose, well, the natural choice would actually be SpaceX. It said model company, I know, I know. If I had to go with model company, I do agree that Tamiya is an excellent choice. The only thing that I can think of right now that might rival it would be Arma. But I think you're right you can't beat Japanese engineering, at least for model kits, at least for model kits. Hey, they've got a great space program too.

Oh man Up. Next, dave from the Netherlands.

Okay.

We're getting international Lauren Steffers, so the first two are from outside the borders of the United States. Lauren's is 47, been modeling since he was 13. He's been a voluntary firefighter most of his life and I think he's finally put that aside and doing more modeling now. A lot of 3D printing stuff. He's printing figures in all scales. It's really cool. He's actually interested in starting a podcast, I assume in his native language. That might be a good idea. We can talk about that offline if he's interested.

Something short 20-minute stuff you can listen to while you're walking the dog, but he's just saying howdy and liking his 3d printer. Well, you know what we know speaking of model airplane maker. He just got a 3d printer and started playing with it and you know everybody I know who's gotten one has really. They're really enjoying the experience. Now, the only downside is that can become a hobby in and of itself. But you know I fully support anybody out there. You know who gets a 3D printer, going in and experimenting and you never know what you can come up with. You never know the need that. You see that nobody else sees that you may end up designing and printing something that just absolutely stuns the modeling world. So I'm happy to see more people doing it.

Up next Dave is Will Jordanger and he's from Buckley Washington, which is about 20 miles east of Tacoma.

Okay, we got somebody in the US, all right.

And he's been enjoying the laser cutter stuff because his father had a trophy and awards business and has been using one for a number of years and they just started using it for structures, for model railroads, hon and scale dioramas. His dad does, and then he's been using it for background materials and base planks for his 1 to 144 scale aircraft. He says the main difference between a diode laser and a CO2 laser is the wavelength of light which it puts out. The CO2 offers a greater energy output, power output, because of that, and that's why you can cut more stuff than the diode can. So there you go.

There you go. Well, I thought I think I knew that that was the distinction, but it's glad to have. I'm glad to have somebody who knows confirm it. And I guess we're starting 2025 as the year of technology and modeling 3D printers, laser cutters. I predict that we're going to see exponential growth in both of those areas in the hobby this year. You like the?

easy bets, don't you?

Yes, I do.

And if anyone's interested, he's using a program called FreeCAD for his major 2D and 3D designs and you know it can do your 3D print stuff and I guess can also put out a file that the image processor, like CorelDRAW or something, can use and then port on over to the laser. So there you go, freecad.

There you go.

Well, we missed Bruce McRae down in Murfreesboro. We didn't get to go down there.

I know.

I know, and currently Bruce is looking for his next round of travels with his wife and they're looking at four shows, including the Amps Nationals again, so maybe we'll get to see him come springtime. That would be really great. Well, he was at murfreesboro as he promised he would be. Yeah, and he won a 50 prize for the furthest traveled.

All right, I think that's a great idea it is too.

second place went to a guy from illinois who I bet thought he was a sure end for the prize until Bruce showed up. Oh man, but that's you know.

I would love to see more contests do stuff like that. You know, youngest modeler, oldest modeler, who came the farthest? Things like that are. You know those local variations where you see stuff like that at shows. I think that adds the color that makes a show different and enjoyable.

It is, and he's found something that makes our show more enjoyable too, which is Remember his wife's the technophile in his house, and he's quite the opposite.

Yeah.

And on this recent trip she introduced him to actually playing the thing over the car stereo. Oh good, although that means she's got to listen too, so Well but he says they'll pause and have a discussion about stuff and puts her two cents in. Apparently the dogs don't seem to want to be involved with it.

But it just goes to show the dogs have good sense.

And he says right here, the other people also spend their time crawling around on the floor looking for model parts.

Oh God.

Yes, and he chuckles at our sometimes we have to push to make a deadline comment and one of the last episodes he thought that was cute because he spent an entire career working against deadlines that you can't move. You put in the midnight oil to get them done, and even under budget if possible, and then, when it's all said and done, they cut the entire scene from the movie.

Yeah.

Yeah, we've had this one a little while. It came in a little after Thanksgiving. So, bruce, I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving I'm glad all your travels went safe and a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and hopefully we will see you in April or May whenever that is April, I think. Another one for the Netherlands, dave. All right, it's from our friend Gus Gouyere, and he says he wrote in about a year ago about his modeling mojo and fear of starting a special kit which was the 100th scale, oh, excuse me, the 1-400th scale Heller aircraft carrier, carl Dorman, I remember, and he says that one's currently on the shelf of doom because connecting resin bits and bobs to a 1974 Heller kit is a bit challenging.

Challenging is the word you're looking for Putty sand prime.

again and again he's used all types of cement and putties. He's found the right combination. He likes the VMS 5K CA resin yeah, and an automotive putty.

Mm-hmm.

And Mr Hobby. He's using the Aqueous Surfacer mixed with Unicorn Tears.

Oh, okay.

He's lost his mojo a little bit on the project. He stepped away from it. He's got the lower hull and flight decker ready for the next few steps and he's been 3D printing Grumman trackers. I don't know if he's been printing. He's been getting 3D printed Grumman trackers from Le Arsenault. It's a very nice 3D print company making these small scale airplanes. That's the beauty of 3D print. There I guarantee nobody would be chucking out 400 scale aircraft on the regular.

Yeah.

If it weren't for 3D printing. Yeah, unless you really loved an old Heller aircraft carrier kit.

Carrier kit. Thing with figures is, you know, the ability to have a figure that's been done up in CAD that you can do 48 scale, 72nd scale, 35th scale, 32nd scale. That is one of the beauties of 3D printing.

Well, gus, keep chugging along on that, you'll get it done. He says he's going to pick it back up again in 2025.

I'd like to see a Carl Dorman done.

And I remember why we got some of these longest emails because we asked folks to send in what they've been doing.

Yeah.

And a lot of them did, including Gus. 2024 was also the 80th anniversary of Operation Market Garden. Yes, it was, and he visited the Remembrance and Airdropping with his 11-year-old son.

Oh, that would have been great.

Air dropping with his 11-year-old son oh, that would have been great. And he's inspired to start a 35th scale Arnhem diorama using some Red Devils and a Stug III. Yep, there's quite a few images around their involvement there with Sturmgeschütz and the Red Devils.

And if you don't have the After the Battle book on Market Garden, you should get it Well worth it. The battle book on Market Garden you should get it Well worth it.

Well, he picked up a ton of aftermarket at Scale Model Challenge for the DOSWorks kit and he's looking forward to getting into that and he's been watching Evan's videos to get brushed up on weathering.

Well, if you have any questions about stugs, email Evan. That's right.

And his son's going crazy on all the 3D printed animal items at SMC. And now he's building a jungle diorama with all kinds of 3D printed animals and vegetation Cool, rubbed off on him. That's great. And for our Black Friday question, his local hobby shop had a 10% discount on airbrushes and he picked up an H&S Evolution 2024. Good choice. Cr Plus, which is the one we've been test driving, yep, and we've been real happy with that. Good, gus, keep it up. Get back on your ship, send us some pictures of it, yep. Well, steve Rui has written in again and he's the person who went in or wrote in oh gosh, a couple episodes back about how to get motivated again. A couple episodes back about how to get motivated again. He was in a funk and lost his mojo spinning his wheels, which is actually the email that our guest answered that got us to have him on the show. Yeah, well, steve's got it back, dave. Great, that's good news. And he's been working on a kinetic CF-104.

Mm-hmm.

Canadian version of the Starfighter.

Yep.

He's got the Belcher Bits decal sheet and it'll be a natural metal finish, so that's going to be sharp.

Yep and Belcher Bits. Those are great decals.

Well, he enjoys listening to the podcast on his long drives or when traveling in his Piper Cub airplane. Oh nice, there we go, mojo in the air.

There you go, mojo in the air.

There you go. Mark Doremus is back from his Asian travels.

Yep. He messaged us while he was traveling. It was really kind of neat to experience it along with him.

Well, he summarized all that in a Word document and I'm not going to get into that with this email reading we're glad you're home, mark, and safe, and I'm sure you'll be heading somewhere else before too long. You seem to travel a lot, yep, but once we get the website up and going, I got a plan for his summary. Good Folks will be able to see that eventually. John Lees is next and we met John at the MMSI show. Mm-hmm is next and we met john at the mmsi show and he sent me a link. Well, he sent me a link to a. It's a japanese float plane, rather obscure one, like a pre-war thing 72nd scale resin kit, and he knew this company because he was clearing out his brother's estate in many cases giving away some of these kits about. To mention this, mention Chorosi's, the brand there's more to the name than that.

Oh yeah, chorosi Model Brought.

Yeah, that's it. And yeah, they do make some interesting things. They also make some interesting 35th scale things.

Yep, and some of their stuff is really, really nice.

In fact they had a Soviet World War II pre-war like 85-millimeter anti-aircraft gun that I was hot to get until Trump had released their two in plastic. So I was almost there. But yeah, that plane he sent me is kind of being used in the early stages of their involvement in China and Southeast Asia. Which aircraft? I can't remember, it's a little bitty biplane floatplane. Okay, you'll have to send me, I will, I'll send that to you. Up next, martin Pietta. And he says maybe it's just Dave that doesn't like stouts, but here's a pretty damn amazing one from Three Floyds, the Marshmallow Hansy, really Yep. And he sent a picture of the label and he's got another one too. It's called Kentucky Brunch and it's you know, it's one that's been finished in whiskey barrels. Right, I've not had that one. It's a toppling Goliath Brewing Company on that one for the Kentucky Brunch, you know what.

I am not a stout fan, but if it's a 3 Floyd's product I'm willing to try any three Floyd's product. The only thing I've not liked of theirs is their Scotch Ale, robert the Bruce. But you know they just do such good, good stuff, so I may look out for that and I may sample it.

Well, you weren't a hops guy until about 2020.

Yeah, that's true, that is absolutely true. My palate has evolved.

Up next from West Alexandria, ohio, is Greg Williams, and he sends a rather succinct email that hits all his high points for the last year.

Yeah.

His best all around experience and fun build was a 48 scale T 34, 85. They did for the posse 100 episode 48 scale group build.

Oh great.

Yeah, that wrapped up, I guess right before the holidays. I assume, that's the Tamiya kit. It could be it could also be a hobby boss kit.

Oh, just hobby boss, but I bet it's not. I'll bet it's yeah right, why?

I don't know if they make an 85 or not. They may I know they make some of the other ones or no. They make the KVs, don't they? In 48 scale.

Yeah.

Neither here nor there. He also partook in Andy's Hobby Headquarters Black Friday.

Oh good, I bet you that hurt yeah.

Four kits later he was done with that. Oh, that's not terrible.

No, it's not. Well, it depends. Four 48th scale kits, that's one thing. Four 16th scale kits yeah, that could be bad. That could put a dent in you.

Well, in the new year he wants to continue to hone his skills with finished models. He's got no set plan of a number he wants to build, just hopefully one or two more than last year.

That's the best way to approach it. I really do think that it's nice to have goals and everything, but I think you can put artificial pressure on yourself if you do too much of that.

And putting goals on your list you're likely to not meet is never any fun anyway.

Exactly.

Well, john McAvoy writes in again. I'm always going on about BT-5s, yes, and he asked if I'd ever picked up the Hellcat Models BT-5 3D resin conversion for the Hobby Boss BT-2? And if so, what were my thoughts on it? Well, as a matter of fact, I do have that conversion kit and I think it's pretty good. Hellcat is run by an old friend of mine named Scott Dimmick that I met via pen palling from the old military modeler magazine.

Yep.

We got into email or not email. There was no internet Mail mail. We got into hard copy mail back and forth for a number of years and I finally met him face-to-face at AMPS and maybe we'll see him at the next AMPS show, because I don't think he was at Fort.

Wayne, south Bend. Sorry, south Bend, not Fort Wayne.

So he's been doing those. It's pretty good and maybe I'll get to it someday.

I haven't built it yet clearly, so I can't. Well, if you get to it, that would probably cause whoever to produce a BT-5 kit.

Well, there's that and yeah, maybe I just need to do that. Maybe that should be under consideration for my 2025 new projects. There you go.

I could do it that way.

You can go fondle that so yeah, he's got a couple others too. And scott also made an interesting discovery about an eccentricity in the turret ring on the, on the bt2s and maybe the five as well, I don't know. That was kind of interesting. He noticed something in a photograph and he's made the correction for that as well.

Interesting.

One of those old German photos, mike Shelley from Pearland, texas. Is it Pearland or Pearland? I couldn't tell you. I'm going to find out now.

Yeah, that's right, you will.

Well, he listened to 130 on the way to model Fiesta in New Braunfels, which that looked like.

That was a fun show that did it really did they? Texans know how to have fun.

And, as we've discovered, hot water is one of the best ways to get older stubborn Japanese decals to behave, and he thinks it might even be mentioned in the kid instructions sometimes. Yeah, and I think I mentioned it on the dojo. The reason for that is it's basically stamp gum that holds those things on the paper.

Yes.

And it's just solution chemistry. You warm it up, it can dissolve it faster, and there you go. That's why that works. Tip two use distilled water. You may not live in an area that has mineral deposits in your tap water, but why take a chance? Yeah, sometimes you can get some tide rings on dark colors from decaling. I don't. I'm usually pretty good about getting almost all the water away, me too. It's kind of like some of Strangebrush's advice. It's kind of on that 99th percentile kind of Right, you're wringing the last bloat out of the turnip kind of thing. But it's a good point, especially if you live oh my gosh Kentucky. We got some hard water here sometimes. Yeah, we do.

Although Louisville's got some great water.

Tip three scan your decal sheet before you start cutting it up. That way, if the decal fails catastrophically, you can possibly print a replacement or make a stencil. Or make a stencil, that's true, yep.

That's a good idea.

And you hope somebody finds these useful and I suspect they will.

Yep.

Oh, longtime listener Terry Wilkins has written in. He's heard us ramble on about burnishing tools so he ordered the whole suite from Model Paint Solutions. So thank you for supporting Dr Miller for us there. Terry and he's kind of come up in the Shep era and primarily built AFVs from World War II and he's started to go down the model aircraft hole. Hope I hadn't scared him off with my project. His question is when adding the fiddly bits such as pitot tubes et cetera, what adhesive do you use?

Mike, you can answer this question.

And it's going to be unorthodox.

Okay.

I knew that these things were going to be a handling issue for somebody who doesn't build many airplanes, so, were they to break off, I didn't want to have to finish breaking it off and creating a hole again, right. So I bored all the holes and got them to like a just fit situation. So let me back up. I used some oh, albion alloys, aluminum telescoping tubing for the pedo tube right, and the big diameter was like seven tenths of a millimeter. So I I had a .7 bit and I'd already put the pilot holes in the wing faces before I finished the model. Let me back up. Lesson learned Next time I will complete those interfaces before the wing is ever attached to the aircraft. Next time, gotcha. So that's my tip, one tip, and then I take those reamers. I've got a set of them. You probably do too.

I can't remember where I got them Micro reamers. I got them at Brian's at Scale Reproductions.

I got mine from the. Do you see this guy that would come to the shows in part of our region, from Texas, that had all his tools, the tool man, the tool guy, I don't know what ever happened to that guy, I don't know, but he had them and I start sizing up that hole.

Yeah, that was like 0.7 millimeters or 0.8, one or the other, and I had drill bits that were that size. But I really think using a drill bit can be a problem when you've got a thin face and it's made out of two parts and if it binds you're just going to pop your wing joint. So the reamers are really nice because they're long and slender and they increase the diameter gradually as you twist them and you can go a little bit clean it out. And then what I do is I take a pin vice, I turn the drill bit around backwards to where I've got the shank end sticking out and you can use it as a gauge pin and it won't cut the plastic. It's sticking in the hole you just made. So once I get exactly the right size and I'm ready to glue that in, I flood that hole with Tamiya Extra Thin and push that PETO tube right in there.

Right and you count on the melted plastic to— Will fill up the slop in that hole, right, and it'll be tight enough that it's not going to fall out, right, and I came back and I ferreted in with paint. So it's there pretty much. I did the same thing with the cannons. I had aftermarket brass cannons I used, and the same thing there. Those were, uh, basically set with liquid cement and then ferret in with paint. Yeah, and as long as you're not pulling on, them definitely get dinged and bent, I can just pull them out. And I got a hole that's the right size. I can just put them back in In theory.

In theory In theory.

Yes.

Well, just be careful with it, so that you don't have that problem.

Yeah, I'm getting there.

We'll talk more about that in a little while, Like an antenna mast. Well, what do you do? Seasoned aircraft builder. I have done several different things and it almost depends on the build. I have done what you just described, which I think is a really good method. Sometimes you get kits with holes that are too large, and so you either get some rod and plug them and re-drill them correctly. You can. Sometimes I will resort to gator glue or another white glue, which now you have to play with that, but it actually can. You've got a lot of time to play with it, to get it where you want it, and when it dries, that's generally pretty darn good. Impacted, brushed up against, it tends to pop out, so that you can replace it as opposed to break off. Now I think the best thing to do is always make sure you use brass or aluminum. I think using a plastic pitot tube or plastic anything like that in plastic is just asking for it to eventually get broken.

Hope that helps. Yep Can't wait to see Terry's first airplane.

I'm serious, I'm not making a joke. It's no joke.

I like people trying New Horizons, because I've done it and we've talked about that a lot.

I think you learned a lot with this aircraft.

I did Up next from Guelph a lot. I think you learned a lot with this aircraft I did Up next from Guelph Ontario. Hey, you said it right. I quit Gwesson.

Duncan Young. Okay, that was good. I'm going to give you that one. That was good.

Duncan Young from the Hamilton Club.

We're going to see them soon, man.

If we can find a place to stay.

Yeah, well, we're working on that and if I get my real ID on the 23rd.

You still got a passport.

Yeah, but it expires in April.

We'll go get it renewed tomorrow or Monday. All right enough of that Holiday modeling activity. So he's answering the call again, Dave. All right enough of that Holiday modeling activity, so he's answering the call again, Dave. Okay, Unfortunately his was interrupted with some deconstruction of his basement hobby room, so he's going the wrong way.

Yeah.

Rather than melting plastic, he's been tearing apart his hobby room. They had a leak in an exterior hose bib. They found in the summer and there was some exploratory stuff that had to be done. To find it they had to empty the room to do it.

I hate that.

Well, the bright side is he's now got an opportunity to install recessed lighting throughout the room.

Smart man, take advantage. If you've got to deal with that, take advantage of it to redo the room. Milk it for all it's worth. Yeah, exactly.

And now he's got the ceiling exposed and the exterior wall above the foundation, he can install a dedicated exhaust duct for a spray booth to the exterior house, that's great. This is turning into an upgrade, so good on you, duncan.

Yep, hey, take lemons and make lemonade and he says there'll be some very important heritage announcements coming up regarding entry tickets and model registration inbound next week or so. So wanted us to uh be aware of that. Okay, and to remind everybody is, the show is on sunday, march 23rd of 2025, at the Canadian Workplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton, ontario, and I suspect we may be speaking to those guys ahead of time. Yes, I suspect we will too. Well, german scale modeling YouTube sensation, michael Reese, also known as Hamilcar Barkas, has sent us a lengthy email and I'm going to touch on a couple of these. He says VMS Varnish has pretty much saved his modeling, more or less, because he'd given up on clear coats. Okay, so he's cleaning up with AK Airbrush Cleaner and finishing up with some tap water and it just works. Okay, that's how he does it. So I've not given up because you know I bought the big bottles. So, right, I need to figure out how to use it right.

People, people, people do use it and and make it work.

So it's not a matter of you can't, it's just a matter of figuring out what you do not calling it dog crap and throw it in the garbage yet, but clearly I'm doing something wrong and I own that. So yeah, that's the story, man. A lot of folks are doing good with it. I just I do for a little while, then my airbrush stops and it's I know it's the nozzle and tip size.

And you're not the only person who's had that problem. So, again, it's a matter of figuring out what you need to do that works.

Well, the other one I'm going to pull from his email is he's been seeing a lot of better kits of like agricultural and construction equipment and vehicles coming. Yes, miniart, revell, hasegal have released some tractors and stuff of late and they're all pretty good. He says even a modern John Deere tractor would look awesome with a lot of mud and wear on it. Same for construction vehicles, excavators, trucks, dumpsters, cranes, all of it. He thinks it's really cool and he's wondering what we think about it, all this equipment that helps keep the world going around.

I think it's fantastic. It has both traditional modeling uses. You can model a Ukrainian tractor pulling one of those abandoned Russian tanks down a road, but you can do actual. Some of the most interesting dioramas that you see are not necessarily military dioramas. If you go to a show like MMSI or even like the Nationals, or even like the Nationals, you'll see a diorama where it is something like construction equipment or it's a non-military modeling scene, and some of those can be some of the most effective dioramas. I really like it and I'm thrilled that we're getting more and more of that dual-use stuff.

Well, I think one of the interesting things is the weathering, because you have a lot of this equipment that started out life as a glossy kind of automotive, finish on it, yep, and then it's got these big rust scabs on it. So you kind of got an interesting situation there that a lot of people have brought a lot of realism to their models. Yeah, and it's cool. I, I've not gotten the bug yet, but god, what was it? You and the other septembers were jonesing over some 72nd scale, 72nd tractor tractor.

it's one that it's an agricultural tractor, but it was also used on airfields to pull aircraft and do other stuff. So again, it's one of those dual-use items and you could build it on a 1930s farm or you could put it on a 1940s airfield.

Up next, from Charlotte, North Carolina, the voice of Bob Bob Bear.

All right.

Voice of Plastic Model Mojo.

Yep, that's it.

Well, the new year is upon us, he says, and he's ready to hit the bench with new vigor. Good, hopefully it'll last a month or so. Like us, he's been busy during the holidays, but he's been to bench time. He's been playing with his favorite present, the Despay Reciprocating Sander. I've been seeing these all over Facebook and places. Yep, not meant to replace any Dremel-type tool. It was great for minor shaping and smoothing jobs where the bigger tool is just too much.

Yep smoothing jobs where the bigger tool is just too much. Yeah, he's making progress on his Tamiya P38, though he says he put himself in a deep hole by getting all the aftermarket Edward makes.

Yeah, aftermarket can be a two-edged sword.

Hopefully it all fits.

Yeah.

And he's finished his Mung 72nd scale Dune ornithopters. They're just waiting for paint. Yeah, those are cool, that's been a popular kit. Those have been very popular. That's not a franchise I ever got into, but a lot of people have.

I read the books when I was a teenager.

He's looking forward to attending more shows. He says the IPMS Nationals, for once, has been driving distance. Yeah, he got TS in the aid one year. Yeah, he's not going to do that again and he's got a local show, the Hope it Don't Snow show in Spartanburg.

Yep.

And his brother and he have planned to meet up in Louisville for the MMCL show, since his brother has a house up here. I didn't know that. Did he tell us that? Yes, he did. He's got digs in Kentucky, yep.

In Louisville? I'm not exactly sure.

Okay, let us know, bob, we have another poolside chat. I missed last time.

Yes, All right. The voice of Bob came over and we sat out by my pool and had a great time.

All right. Well, dave, bob's going to end it for the email side of things. Don't let me forget, I've got one from Christian Gurney I want to mention, right after their ad.

Well, I'm going to mention Christian in the DMs.

Okay, well, that's fine. Maybe you take care of it, maybe send it to both of us. And a couple of folks sent some show stuff in and we've got a show shout-out we're going to do here in a week or so and I'll make mention of all those during that. So keep me honest, dave, don't let me forget, I won't.

Well, that's the 23rd 2025. And he's going to post a flyer a copy of the flyer, on the dojo. I have heard nothing but good things about that show. I've never been to it and I'd love to go, but I know that Mark really likes it and if you're in the area in February in Atlanta, the weather's probably going to be pretty good. Take advantage. Speaking of Christian Gurney, mr Gurney DMed me and mentioned that Bases by Bill has a couple of new products that they're working on and we're going to get Christian on for a vendor spotlight where we can talk about some of those things, because I really kind of like some of the stuff that he's mentioned that they're working on. So I can't wait to hear a little more and to share it with the listeners.

Our friend Paul Gloucester, the Quokka Been in California, was in the United States, in both Texas and California. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see him this trip but of course, being the world traveler that he is, I'm sure we'll see him for the Nationals, if not another show sooner, I don't know. But yeah, the Quokka has made an appearance in the United States, got a DM from, as he phrases it, a Brit in exile in Nova Scotia. Bob Chambers reached out and sympathized with us over the fact that some Canadian left the door open and we got all this snow. But in addition to that, he was talking about products that he would love to see for modeling that don't currently exist. And he was talking about ejection seat handles for a modern aircraft ejection seat, which are the braided yellow and black. He doesn't, like you know, taking a piece of wire and painting it and alternating stripes, doesn't think that looks good and you know you can't really twist a really tiny yellow and black wire together and make it look right. He's just waiting for somebody to come up with that product. So who knows, maybe somebody will. But I agree with him that if somebody figured out how to do that in the aftermarket, that would be a great product.

Rock Rozak reached out and gave us a little preview of what they're working on. Their next book is going to cover the Allison Engine P-51s. He sent a couple of images from a couple of the pages and, like always, those things are just. You know, if you're working on a model and you need a single reference for the model, if there's a detail and scale available, that's always the one to go to Because you're going to get the history. You're going to get the detail differences on the different versions. You could get plenty of photographs, both detail photographs and overall markings photographs which are good for helping with weathering. I can't wait to see it. I'm sure it's going to be great. Listener, john Colasante is making me jealous. You put him on to something good. Yes, he was going to be in Pensacola, florida, and I made sure that he got to the National Museum of Naval Aviation and, just like when I talk about the nationals, I did not undersell the— or oversell it.

Or oversell the National museum of naval aviation. He spent a whole day there and told me through DMs that it wasn't enough, that he needed more. It is just, in my opinion, the best aviation museum I've ever been to no-transcript.

I need to go there. I've never been oh it is.

It is awesome you would. There aren't quite as many aircraft as there are at the US Air Force Museum.

That'd be tough.

But the layout is just so nice, the design, the fact that none of the aircraft are behind barriers, the fact that none of the aircraft are behind barriers. You can walk up, touch, go under. You know, look in the cockpit of any of the aircraft there. It's just fantastic. I've been a member of that museum foundation for probably 25 or 30 years and I fully support it. So if you're in Pensacola, do not pass up going to that museum. Got any more. Last one, Our friend Bruce Worrell listened to us talk about decals and he said we didn't mention the one thing that he does, which is when he puts a decal down, he uses a Q-tip to roll out any water trapped under the decal.

Once he gets it where he wants, he uses a Q-tip to do that, which I've done in the past. Now I told him that what I tend to do with that now is I tend to use a silicone brush, just simply because you don't have the problem with hair shedding that you get with the Q-tip. But he just wanted to mention that that's what he does to squeeze out any excess water that might be hiding under the decal, once he's got it where he wants it.

Another tip Yep, it's kind of what I use my damp flattened out brush for.

Yep exactly.

It'll pull most of that out from under the decal if you put it right down at the film edge.

Yep. Good stuff, yes, good stuff.

Yes, good stuff. A lot of good email. Yeah, a lot of good DMs. Well, folks, get in on it. Send us some more, because we're all out now. You can do that by sending email to plasticmodelmojo at gmailcom or direct messaging us through Facebook Messenger system, and we look forward to each and every one.

If you've listened this far, we would appreciate, when you're done listening, to go to whatever podcasting app you use Apple Podcasts or iTunes, whatever it is. Rate us, give us five stars. We appreciate it. It helps us grow. Also, if you have a modeling friend who isn't listening to Plastic Model Mojo, please recommend us to them. If they need a little help, help them to download a podcasting app and subscribe to the podcast. The best way for us to grow an audience is a personal recommendation from a current listener. We continue to grow. We want to continue to grow. 2025 is going to be a big year for us. Frankly, we're going to have a tough time topping 2024, but I think we can do it and a lot of it's down to your all's helping.

Well, we'd also like you to check out the other podcasts out in the model sphere and you can do so by going to wwwmodelpodcastscom. It's model podcast plural. This website is a consortium of banner links set up with the help of Stuart Clark at Scale Model Podcast up in Canada. He's aggregated all the links and you can go to that URL and check out all the other podcasts who are participating in this Spirit of Cross promotion with us? We've also got a lot of blog and YouTube friends. We've mentioned Chris Wallace, model airplane maker, great blog and YouTube channel. Evan McCallum, panzermeister36. Great YouTube channel. You're going to want to check that out. Sprupi with frets with Stephen Lee long and short form blog. You can go get a lot of great modeling content there, especially if you're into 72nd scale. You can do good with Steve there. And speaking of 72nd scale, you're going to want to check out Jeff Grove's blog, the Inch High Guy, yeah, and all that's good stuff. Please check it out. Oh, and one more Can't not mention the Paul Budzik Skill Model Workshop.

Well, and Evan, I did say Evan. Oh, did you say Evan, you sleeping on me? I'm sorry I missed it. Well, there were so many of them. We've got so many modeling YouTube and podcast and blog friends. It's hard to keep them all straight If you're not a member of your national IPMS organization IPMS USA, IPMS Canada, IPMS Mexico, whatever nation you happen to be in. If you're not a member of your national organization, please join. And also, if you are into armor modeling or post-1900s figure modeling, please consider joining AMPS, the Armor Modeling and Preservation Society, a great group of modelers who are dedicated to advancing the art of armor modeling.

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Well, Dave, we've got something a little different tonight for our special guests. Yep, to reiterate the backstory and I'm pretty sure it was Steve Rui who had written in as a listener about losing his mojo, which is an issue we're trying to fix on this podcast Exactly, exactly. And our guest tonight wrote a response back and had some suggestions for him and mentioned journaling as a possible solution to overcome his what's essentially writer's block for modelers. I guess you could say that Steve has published a journal for scale modelers and we had him on the show to talk about that concept a little bit and how it might help some of you out there, and he sent us some copies and we reviewed it and it was a fun conversation. We kind of mannered a little bit on some topics, but they're all fun, kind of stuck to the table of contents of the journal. It's just an interesting concept, dave, to actually use a disciplined writing to get through ideas and situations and whatever.

And I'll tell you after our conversation and after looking at the journal I've committed. I'm going to try it and see if it does indeed help with my mojo.

Well, dave, we've got something a little different tonight. We have listener Steve Anderson from Matamidai Minnesota with us. Steve, how are you doing tonight? I'm doing really good.

I'm happy to be here.

Well, steve, you've written into the show several times. I know you've been a listener for a long time, but I can't remember the exact situation it was. I think it was that we had a gentleman asking about finding his motivation again, I believe that's the email. It was yes, and you responded to him and you. You said some fairly general things and then you provide a link to this journal book you've done, titled a guided journal for modelers making the most of your Hobby, and we just kind of went from there and getting hooked up with you and trying to see what that's all about. So before we get into the journaling, folks might like to know a little bit about your background, from modeling to even the journaling. Assume there's more to this journal than just this book for you.

Yeah, well, the important stuff right, grew up with Ravel and monogram kits right In the 80s. So my brother, who's three years older, he was building models. My cousins were building models. So I'm like, well, I'm going to start building models and so did that in my teens A lot of World War II stuff, because that's what my brother and cousins were reading. So I read it. So, like building models, I got to be careful what I read because you know I read all those military books and then went into the army, easily influenced, right, but stopped building, like all the reasons guys stopped building. Right, but stopped building, like all the reasons guys stopped building. And then in my 30s I started building again and I had branched out as a kid. I love mac robotech, right, it's macross, yeah, japan, but I ended up with some you know robot macross kits, right, they have great battleships that are like 15 pieces there's entourage ships that you can put together in a weekend and started back into it and have just haven't stopped since I got back in, which is probably why my stash is so huge.

And then on the journaling side, so I was an English teacher at community college for 20 years, but I was also teaching student success classes, right, and we're always looking into how do people get motivated. You know what are the roadblocks to being successful at school, and I would always take extra classes on things like you know neuroscience, you know any sort of anything that would make me feel like a better teacher. And so that's where I started moving into, you know, coming up with good questions to get people think, to think. And one of the reasons that I started these guided journals is because you know, whatever works for me, great, but who cares? Because there's just one me in my situation. And so what I love about having good questions is, you know, I know what works for me, but I don't know what works for somebody else, and so the questions never, you know, there's no expected answer. It's like, well, what do you think and what's going to work for you, and so that's you know. That's why guided journals, right, so it's got questions that can get you thinking about you know what's important to modeling for you, right, what's your biggest roadblock?

And then I throw in, without without saying it, right, and I don't. I might say neuroscience five times tonight, but just kind of ignore that. I'm not saying that to like, oh look, he's using the big bird or something. It's because this isn't just. Oh, steve had an idea Like I listened to on the bench and I can just hear Julian right Saying oh man, I can't do the Australian accent, sorry, but you know, oh man, anybody could come up with a bunch of questions and it's like yeah, but these will be.

A lot of them are sort of based on things. I'll just give you one quick example. In this one neuroscience course I took, it was great and they said environment always wins. So, whatever your intention is, it doesn't matter. If, like say, you want to build but your bench is a mess, but you're not going to build, right, it doesn't matter, so environment wins. So I've got questions that don't say anything about environment winning, but get you to look at your bench and what do you want it to be. So that's kind of a little bit of the background, of some of what shapes the questions it shapes the questions.

Well, it's interesting because I know of well, journaling as a hobby in and of itself and I know of journaling to where I'm familiar with. It is kind of in the context of what you're doing. Here it's kind of the opposite it's using the journaling to get over something that's not so great, not to enhance something that you're doing that's good. So this is interesting because I guess I've was unfamiliar with this, this application, and you know, I think neuroscience is fair.

You know it's great. Like one of the other things and this is in journal is if you say I want to do something big, right, that, that's huge, that's daunting, right, I'm going to build a full model, well, holy crap, there's so much to go into it, especially if it's an aircraft for me, you know the cockpit is going to stop me for a month, right. But if I pick something really small, right, I'm not going to build the whole thing, I'm just going to do this small start. I'm much more motivated. I do that small thing.

And then the brain science on this is you get that dopamine hit and by doing the small thing it can lead you to the bigger. So each journal entry has the question, some space, and you can write as little as you want or as much as you want, right. And I always come back later and see what's changed. And the last part is a place for an insight or an action step. So you can take it. And here's the thing you know, right, mike, how do you get this to be something where it's not just you know your diary, which there's nothing wrong with that. But if you want action, right, go on to get more out of your modeling. You know there's that. Okay, what's that insight or what's that step that you can take to move in the direction where you want to go, so you're having the most fun that you can have.

Yeah, I think that's just. It's really interesting. A lot of the questions are interesting. What inspired you to take this approach with modeling and then direct that toward other modelers?

Well, it's a funny story and this involves I wanted to make sure everything I talk about is going to involve models, because this is this is the show for talking about modeling. I was teaching a mythology class and I had questions. That would be, you know, you'd read a story about fighting a dragon. So then, to make it real, I would have I wouldn't ask them to tell me about the story, I'd ask them okay, so what dragon do you have to fight? What's the dragon you have to battle? What's the reward for you afterwards? And they totally got into it because all of a sudden now it's like oh yeah, it gives you a framework to look at things differently. And then at this class a mythology class probably won't come as a surprise tons of Star Wars fans in it, and then star trek, and so at the end of the semester and this is my last semester of teaching I said, okay, I'm, I'm gonna leave it. So I had a bunch of star trek models and a bunch of star wars models and for like the last three weeks after class was over, I would have raffles right there just for showing up, right, you get your entry in there and was just giving away Star Trek and Star Wars novels and novels models, and they loved it.

It became like a fun five minutes at the end of class and some of them were taking them for themselves and some of them were like, oh, my dad's going to love this enterprise and that was a great way to clear off some space. And now I've got some more shelf space to build and, you know, giving it to some people who are like really enjoying having this, and I am not. I'm not being modest, I am a mediocre modeler and that's just honest. If there's a seam showing, I'm okay with that right now. You know I want to get better, but when you're giving giving stuff away for free or to people who aren't model builders too I think for those of us who don't really see ourselves as high-quality builders yet, it's like people will still appreciate them because they don't know everything that goes into it and they don't have that picture in their head. So that was just a really fun way to clear some models some built models off the shelf space a really fun way to clear some models, some built models, off the shelf space.

Steve, the first question that occurred to me when I saw your journal. The cover of it is your classic builder green builders mat that you know, one of those self-healing cutting mats. And I have to ask is this a photo of your actual building mat from your hobby bench?

Absolutely, and it only took me 10 different tries to get the picture just right and the lighting for it to work. But yeah, that's my mat my mat.

It's a well, it is a well-worn modeler's mat with all of the stains and cuts and other stuff that that a modeler's mat accumulates over time and it's just. It's the perfect cover for this journal.

You know we're talking about the journal, but I just want to make sure too, before we go any farther, that you know there are some major things I've gotten from listening to your show right in the, the guests that you have, so I just want to thank you for that. Like you know, I think one of the reasons that I I went to I always go to wonderfest, right, but going to other local shows that was totally you know, you guys right saying it joining amps, right, dave, you know I mean. So you guys right Saying it joining AMPS, right, dave, you know what I mean. So you guys have done a lot for me, just kind of making me branch out, get out more, and thank you for that, and that's just one thing.

Were you at AMPS this past year or not AMPS? Were you at Wonderfest this past year?

No, it's about a nine and a half hour, 10 hour drive, so I'm about every four years for Wonderfest. Okay, well, the reason I asked is both Mike and I managed to be at Wonderfest this past year and you're right, it's just absolutely wonderful. A question that occurred to me. I don't hesitate to say this Modelers as a group tend to be fairly intelligent people on the whole. You know, there are lots of doctors and lawyers, engineers, college professors, architects, etc. And a lot of them because of that. You know, this hobby seems to attract people with that kind of intelligence, kind of intelligence. Before you did this, when you were building in the hobby, did you have just a regular notebook that you made notes on your projects as you built them?

You know? No, I have that in the back because I know there's a lot of people who who like keeping track of things right for my models. I have not been doing that in my. One of the things that it's I. Now that I have this journal, I use it myself too, and you know, one of the things that I want to do is build in more regular time. I'm a sporadic builder, so I might go a month without doing anything and then in the next I'll build three and then go for a pause.

Do you think this journal will help you become more regular at the bench?

I don't know about regular, but I already know as far as having more fun and feeling just better about it. It's already doing that. And for me it's my stash Cause. One of the questions, the first question, and there's a reason. Whenever I make a guided journal, the first question is always what's your vision for? You know what's your vision for modeling, what do you want it to be like? Because everything else builds on that. So it's important to say you know what it is that you want.

And I was just looking at it and it's funny because I went to Nordicon and sold some of my stash and then you know, I was that felt good, and you know some that was just good. And so now I'm going to I hope it doesn't snow in Rochester. On the first I got another table and I'm going to Hope it Doesn't Snow in Rochester. On the first I got another table I'm going to sell. And my wife, katie, she goes. You know, you've had this stash for decades, literally and she's like what's going on? Why are you? Why now she's not complaining? She's like why now? And I went and looked back and the third thing that I wrote for what's my Vision is I want the right size stash. That's what I put down and I only wanted kits in the stash and to me that was the right size, is it's still a ton, but I only want kits that I want to build Right. And it was funny to go back and look at that because, yeah, as far as moving my stash, I am going through picking out the stuff that I'm like you know I'm I'm never going to build that and it just feels great. I'm creating up space. You know I'm going to, I'm going to local shows and meeting and talking with people. So there's this effect that I didn't even think of when I said I want to lower my stash and that's from me sitting down, because half 90% of my stash right is in the attic, kind of hidden. Well, so I don't think about it a lot until I wrote that down.

So, more regular? I don't know, I hope so, but I can. It was interesting for me right now. That's the biggest thing and it makes me feel good about my stash. You know, I don't have to feel guilty about it, or just what am I doing? It's like no, okay, I'm getting rid of the ones that don't keep in, the ones that I like, and you know I feel it's funny, I feel lighter and also in converting empty space into you know, a. Uh, the first one I, the first time I went up there's a hobby town. Is is a good hobby store outside of Duluth and they actually do consignment. And I walked in with a bin and came back a couple weeks later, walked out with a 132nd scale old Revell Focke-Wulf. You know I'm like, oh, this is good, right, give in 10, walk out with one and happy about it. So I'm having more fun, that's for sure, with one and happy about it.

So I'm having more fun, that's for sure. Well, you know it's funny you talk about the stash when my lovely bride, when I first showed her my hobby we were obviously still dating, and you know showed her the stash and she's like, why would you buy all this? And one of the points I made to her is I can point to every model in my stash and I can tell her exactly what I intended to do with that model, what markings I wanted it in. You know if it's for a diorama or something like that, what it was intended to be. Mike makes the point occasionally that the stash is actually a big part of the hobby and that's absolutely true, which is too big, I will admit, and can tell you what I intend to do with every model in there.

Yeah, I've got models that just unbuilt, models in a box that just make me smile.

I do too, Yep, yep, it's like that's not bad for a chunk of plastic that's not even put together yet Exactly. That's not bad for a chunk of plastic that's not even put together yet Exactly. From my desk right now I can look up and I can see I have the SDF-1 Macross, a new kit. When I was a kid there was I can't remember if it was Reveller, monogram, whichever one bought the rights to Robotech, the modeling, and they had an SDF-1, which I built and I have to say it is so bare bones right, just so. It's like a 70s tester's model of a Corsair without a cockpit kind of deal, like lots of low decals. And now this one is a Hasegawa, you know, and it's beautiful. You're just looking at the box and pulling out the parts and going, oh man, yeah, that's's just a couple of minutes of. I'm smiling right now just from looking at that kit and hopefully within the next 15, 20 years I'll build that one I like, kind of my kind of timeline.

Well, you know, you can't rush it, except if here's one thing that I was thinking of too is just about writing this stuff down, I think, stash, you know, I know for myself that is an interesting conversation to have with your spouse or future spouse, right, and to see how they go about what's going on. I'm like, yep, that's it and that's big. But I, for the longest time, you know, know those Ming has those tune tanks, yeah, right, and I would look at them and go, you know it's got to be realistic and everything. And then one time I got one and I built it. And for me, if I'm burned out or just want to build something but just want it to be fun for the weekend, I've built like 10 other different cartoon tanks, because for me it's like, oh, I don't have to worry about realism, it's a weekend build, I can paint it, make it real simple and then decide if I want to do weathering. So I love having a simple build and getting to the point where I used to put weird standards on for no particular reason. Right, it's like it looks fun, build a thing.

Steve, why are you talking yourself out of modeling? And I think so. Some of the questions I have in here too are like you know what's one of the biggest roadblocks you have to modeling, and then what are some things you could do to move around it? You know, or what's that biggest idea that's holding you back and then what are some things you could do to move around it, or what's that biggest idea that's holding you back, and then what are? I think that one says, like, what are five true things that would also help you get past that mental block that you're setting up here, because I think I don't know about other people I've absolutely taken the fun out of modeling every once in a while, while just for crazy thoughts. It's not good enough, or why am I not doing this? And it's like man Steve, you're forgetting why you bought the models in the first place.

Right. Every time I look at those tune tanks I'm like why? Why is they doing it? But I cannot tell you the number of modelers who have told me that they've had the exact same experience you have, that they sat down and they built one just as a palate cleanser because they were stuck on quote unquote their real modeling and that it just provided them a joyful experience. That was modeling that they didn't put any pressure on themselves and the end result they enjoyed and it got them motivated. It got their mojo back to get moving on quote unquote regular modeling yeah, so what do you?

so that's me, I'm, I'm toontang. So, mike and dave, do you have a? You guys make longer projects. Do you got any palette cleansers that you do, I suppose for david's?

a zero, well no, actually you, you know, for the longest time and I have not done one in a while and I will probably do one again.

For me, a great palate cleanser was always a little 700 scale modern submarine okay and I have, I'll bet you, if I went and looked in my case there are seven or eight 700-scale Russian, us, british, japanese modern submarines, and part of the reason for that is they are very few parts. There's no real detailing to it. You're, you're, it's a tube with a conning tower on it and a couple of a couple of dive planes and that's it. And that, always for me, when I was stuck, and I haven't done one in a while, but that for me, when I was stuck, and I haven't done one in a while, but that for me was always my palate cleanser.

I don't know that my work really manifests itself in that way. I've got things that I started that had the intention of being kind of a low-key kind of thing that ended up enjoying them but they ended up being more than what I intended from the start. And the one that comes to mind first is I was kind of between projects and I built that little Airfix Morris tractor in Bofors and I'd built that kid as a kid and basically all I did was paint the tires black, put the decals on it and it was running around, you know, chewing up the Africa Corps my little HO skill fighting soldiers from Airfix it's. And it was running around, you know, chewing up the Africa Corps my little HO scale, fighting soldiers from Airfix, it's what it was doing. But anyway I was like you know, when I bought it I thought it was going to be this cool great thing and I was going to do such a great job on it. It's going to be my little masterpiece.

And you know how that usually ends up when you're a kid usually not the way you intended, but you know mine still got good use. But I guess this thing, I got into it and I enjoyed it and it just kept getting more toward that vision I had as a kid and surprisingly, it's it's. It's been a very good. It shows when it's been a popular model for me. I get a lot of compliments on it and I think it looks pretty good, but it's mine. I guess I'm probably biased, but it's made me pick up a few more of those At some point when I feel the need. I'm going to crack one of those out and do one of the others that I did as a kid, or one that I always wanted to but never did.

Well, that's one thing that occurs to me, mike, is you got a ton of enjoyment out of that build. I mean you were. You were having fun from beginning to end, at no point during that build were you like I don't want to go do this.

You know, at no point were you facing some sort of huge obstacle that got right, right, yeah that there's like maybe one technical challenge in that thing that I put on myself and really it was not much more than that, but it's a good escape. Build as during COVID I built that one.

So I've totally gone back and, you know, picked a model that I built as a kid and to build it again, you know relaxed, with a much better airbrush, If I even was using the airbrush back then and it just, yeah, that's fun, that's, it's like time travel.

Well, your journals, broken up into one, two, three, four, five, five sections to count right here on air, and a lot of stuff we've been dancing around here in the last few minutes is in the very first section, getting the most from the hobby, and there's a lot of stuff here that's important and I'm just curious if I started writing these down, which I probably am going to. Taking modeling risks, negative self-talk around modeling, things like that are all kind of how adventurous of a model are you? And they all kind of culminate down to like line item 28, the number one roadblock to your modeling. Because all these things kind of culminate down to like line item 28, the number one roadblock to your modeling, because it's it. It kind of all these things kind of feed into that and I can see this guide. If you journal these things a little bit, you maybe get a little sense of what's holding you back and whether you like taking risks and what does success mean to you and things like that yeah.

And then the nice thing I think too, for anybody who, anybody who's thinking about this when it says how adventurous you are. I mean, it's one of those. You know, hey, how adventurous you are, on a scale of one to 10 sort of, and what do you think of that number? There's no right answer, right? Some of us, I'm not super adventurous and I think sometimes it's nice to go oh, you know what I'm not. Maybe I want to push myself Great, so I do. Or maybe it's just like you know what I can.

I have about 10 Destroids old 80s kits from Macross and I can build one of those every six months and just enjoy the heck out of it, just because, you know, I got such fond memories from the show. So you know it's not like, oh, I'm going to be more adventurous, so you can, if you want. It's really, too, about finding out what kind of modeler do you want to be, and just be that guy or gal, right, because somebody else can be Panzermeister 36, who is awesome, and I just watched a really good basic weathering thing there, you know which I'm totally going to try, you know, but that's, that's awesome. I'm a different builder and it's totally. It took me a while, though I honestly probably didn't build for a while, because the stuff wasn't going to look as good as I could be in my mind, and that was one of the things that you know for me. I had to get over as a modeler, cause it was just like I get it, steve, but stop being a knucklehead, you know just.

You know sometimes I have to get out of my own way, right, and I think some of these questions are to help us figure out. We all get in our own way in different ways, and so here's a chance to spend a little bit of time, and you don't have to. You can do this in any way you want. It could be a bulleted list, you could write out paragraphs it really doesn't matter, as long as they're coherent thoughts that you put down that make sense. It will move you forward. Totally different even in how your brain works. Your brain is way more active when you're handwriting as opposed to typing and stuff, so it's crazy how it really does work. It's different. Instead of spending 10 minutes scrolling on something, maybe just pick a question that seems right and spend a few minutes and see what happens, or jump around, find a topic that feels good for the. You know, in the moment you don't have to go in order at all, but there is an order if you want.

Mike and I were recently talking with Paul Budzig.

One of the nice things about talking with him is that he really thinks about modeling beyond the surface technique stuff.

He actually has some really great philosophical insights and he was talking about modeling being creation and modeling intentionally, and I think that probably a lot of modelers because it's our hobby and we want to enjoy it a lot of us don't and I'd include myself in this a lot of us don't think deeply about what it is, why this hobby is our hobby and what we get out of it hobby and what we get out of it and what we enjoy out of it and what we don't enjoy out of it. And I think something like your journal really will help somebody actually stop and think about those for a second, and I think for many modelers, if they do, I think the answers will surprise. Think about those for a second. They build, why they enjoy this particular hobby as opposed to golfing or bass fishing or whatever be a cross stitch, whatever other hobby. And that's to me, when I look at this, that is one of the big benefits I see from it.

Well, and I hope that that happens Because it is. It's a great hobby and I had for a while. When I got back into it you know I was it took me a little bit to. I did it as a kid. Now I'm doing it as an adult and I was private about it and in my office when I was teaching, at one point I got to the point where I'm like you know what? This is something that I do. I don't want to not be showing who I fully for work, right, I don't want to just all be not saying who I am and have no personality. So I picked a couple models and put them up on a filing cabinet in my office and as an English teacher so all of us, we just have a ton of books in our offices I put a couple models up and I was actually sweating bullets, right. I was nervous Is somebody going to walk by and go, what's that stupid stuff or something?

Don't kids do that? And it was the exact opposite. You know, people would walk by and they'd be, hey, what's that? Did you make that? And I'd be like, yeah, and they weren't model builders. So they would be like, wow, that must've took a lot of time and I'd be like, oh, it was fun. And then so my colleagues, it was like, oh look, there's just a, we're supportive students. All of a sudden they had something to look at. You know, a lot of times they would just be you know, going to talk to a professor is now, he's fun. So they'd be oh look, he's human, you know he's, he's got a model up where I do I'd have something up to like, for maybe from like something I think they would recognize, so something from star wars or something. And it was just, it was like my planting my flag, you know, saying to the public in the world that, yeah, I build models and I enjoy it and it's cool.

And once I did that, though I I felt I was afraid at first, right, that what people were in, and then I'm like I just had to get over that because, dang it, I enjoy it. And ever since I've done that, right, it has been nothing but positive, and I only had a couple up. I don't want to go crazy, but giving away to the students at the end and just having conversation pieces, and so making this journal was absolutely a passion project and putting something out there and say this is a real hobby, that's a hell of a lot of fun and it's for all ages, right. It's like tennis and golf for sports you can play that as long as your knees last, right.

And so, yeah, it's a lifetime hobby, and I think as long as it's a lifetime hobby, right, let's make sure we're getting the most out of it once you completed it and published it and put it out in the world, think, oh, I should have put this in, or I should have put that in, and has that led you to start doing a volume two?

Well, I didn't say I should have, but I have all of a sudden started saying ooh, and I can add. So, yes, I am actually starting a list. It's going to be well, because I have some other projects in there, but I'm thinking of and I will definitely be keeping my ears open for feedback. But, going forward, I have some new ideas for questions, whether it's going more into specifics or taking some of that stuff that I love, like about flow and how you get into flow and figuring out so, like from all the research, if you want to get into that flow right, it's having that challenge. That's just a little bit above where you're at right, so you're not bored and you're excited, it's like okay. So I'm starting to think how can I take those things that we know and turn them into good questions for volume two, advanced questions for getting the most out of your hobby thing, but definitely, I think, in six, seven months, very good chance of a volume two.

That's good news. Well, I think a roadblock a lot of us run into that. The next section in the book is things around the actual hobby, the building part of the hobby, and you just got a lot of questions here that I think a lot of us ask these for certain projects and a lot of times. But this is pretty comprehensive. I think there's techniques and things that that's where a lot of fear comes in for people you know back in the first section of the book is how adventurous of a modeler are you, and then the negative self-talk around modeling. A lot of that stuff probably centers around, I would think, things you don't think you're very good at and maybe you need a plan to get the level up to something you could be satisfied with.

Yeah, right, and I think for so many of us right now I'm sure you guys have even mentioned it, right, what, what's, what's your plan for getting better? And there is something concrete about you know writing down. It's like dang it. I'm just. You know, I got a finished model. It looks good. I'm afraid to weather, maybe you know that's the thing.

Okay, what's, what are some simple things you could do to start trying out weathering, right, and then, instead of becoming some very big oh my goodness, weathering, you know it's like well, maybe I can do a pin wash and that doesn't seem so daunting, right, and what do I need? I'll get some'll get a couple oil paints and some thinner. I already got the brush. Now, all of a sudden, it becomes something realistic and easy that, oh well, I can do that. I don't have to become a master at weathering. I can just take the one kit that I have, or an old one off the shelf. Heck, even if I want, I've never done it before.

And you know, do low cost, low cost attempts at this stuff? There's definitely in those questions that idea of figuring out what you're up for. Right, what's the what's? A small step you can take that's actually going to move you forward and I think a lot of times the rest takes care of itself right Once you get going. I think a lot of times the rest takes care of itself right Once you get going.

Yeah, I think that's probably true. And your neighbor, steve Hustad, up there in Minnesota. He talks about spending a lot of time experimenting and practicing, and that's something Dave and I have taken to heart during this past year. And yeah, you just got to figure out how to get to the starting point and then give it a shot.

And not being afraid to fail. Steve talks about experimenting and doing a lot of experimenting before you try something on the model so that when you finally do it on the model, you already know how to succeed. But failure teaches us too. But failure teaches us too. And as much as success makes us better, failure makes us better too. But people a lot of modelers and myself included have a fear of failure that, especially when a project is really really going well, that becomes a bigger and bigger boulder to push up the hill.

So you guys just gave me an idea. We need a new category out there at shows Uh-huh, screw-ups, failures, last-minute destruction just where people bring out their kit that looks great until they blew it at the end or in the middle. That's half built right, because we never see. We see Steve Houston At least I've seen his stuff at Nordicon Holy crap, yes, yep, beautiful. And now you said it.

He talks about experimenting and you know he's failed, but I never see his failures right. I just see this beautiful thing with 20 handmade sheep that he made that are you know four different models of the sheep in there. It would be great. There should be a category where people get to bring in a kit that they just botched, they messed up, you know, and have a table right and then everybody can go by and go oh yeah, I did that, that's a new one, you know and just have. Oh, I think of the conversations at that table. We could all bring in our messed up but then have an award for you know the good effort, you took a risk, you tried.

Yeah, nice try award.

Yes, nice, a nice try coin. I could bring a lot of models to that table.

Yeah, you and me both.

Well, we talked about the stash at the front end of this. So the last question section of your book is sharing the hobby and the future. So some important stuff there too. You mentioned bringing your models in so co-workers can see them. I've kind of done that sort of. My slideshow on my screensaver is a bunch of my builds and some of our colleagues' builds are running across there. But I think when I get this float plane done it's going to go to the office with me.

Nice, and you know there's a lot of ways too to do that. I mean, if you don't have an officer, it's going to go to the office with me, nice, and there's a lot of ways too to do that. I mean, if you don't have an office or it's just not something that's going to fit there, like screensaver, having it on your phone. I've got one or two guys who aren't modelers and every once in a while, if I build something and I'm happy with it, I'll just share or send it with a picture to them. So there's other ways to you know, having it on your screensaver, your on your phone.

Plenty of ways to on this kind of on the subtle side too, to have it. If you don't just want them or if it doesn't really fit in, you know where you are, or you know if you're cross-country driving. There's nobody going to see it, but I'm just thinking how much you could I know cross-country truckers right listen to a lot of podcasts. I would be cool to see if there's's a semi out there somewhere that's got some stuff hanging in the cab. That would be cool in the back.

Well, we actually have interacted with listeners who are modelers and long-haul truckers At least three, yeah, at least three that I can think of off the top of my head, yeah, at least three that I can think of off the top of my head and all of them A listen to a lot of podcasts because they're doing a lot of driving, but also in modern trucking, they have the room where they can take with them a basic modeling kit and a model and can work on it while they're on the road.

That sounds good. I have taken a building. The building was really good. I actually had water damage to my house once. I couldn't live in it for a week, so torn up because all the water damage. And then to spend a half an hour just painting different brick colors on this brick house was like so relaxing and nice and easy. To do A little bin with the building and some paints. That can be a nice relaxing way to when you're not at home too.

That's simple when you're not at home too. That's simple. Well, one of the first amazing modelers I ever met, back when I was, in fact, still in law school in my early 20s, was a man named Carter Scales. And Carter was your old-fashioned traveling salesman. He worked for a company and he had a route that he traveled constantly in these same cities, visiting these same clients and trying to visit new prospects in his territory. Well, of course, after he had done the circuit a few times, he'd seen everything in all these towns that he wanted to see, and so he had a little case and he went to the hotel at the end of his workday. Wherever he was, in, whatever town he was, was in whatever town he was, and he, on the little desk in the hotel room, opened up his work case and modeled, and he produced some of the most amazing models I've ever seen built to this day. I mean, these things were gorgeous, which just goes to show you, if you're determined to do it, you can do that anywhere.

Yeah, and how much more satisfying too. I like vegging out in front of the television, in front of other people too, but sometimes compare that to spending a half an hour and have something that you built. I mean, there's just no, no comparison yep, screen screens can be the enemy.

You find yourself just staring at them, just to stare at them, and that's. That's always a mistake, and I one, I am guilty of well one in sharing of the hobby.

You know, dave and I talk a lot about getting out to shows and and things like whether you're into the competitive side of things or not. A lot of us aren't, or were and aren't anymore, et cetera. That's sharing of yourself. Granted, it's with like-minded people, but putting your stuff out there in front of your peers it can be tough sometimes, yes, and though also sharing the hobby, though doesn't have to be with your peers.

Yes, and though also sharing the hobby, though doesn't have to be with your peers, I wish neither of my boys liked Star Wars. I was seven when Star Wars came out, so you know that mattered to me. I did the smart stuff to try to get him to building models right. Took something in my oldest light horror I got him the guillotine model right. Took something in a you know my oldest light tour I got him the guillotine model right, my youngest. At the time he had a loved monster truck. So we actually got a monster truck, built a gravedigger, I think it was right. And then it just panned out. It's like dang it, it's not their thing, but they will sink a ship with me in the pond. So they've sank the Gato. They've sank a battleship of the Missouri right, and they sank a one piece. So it's like, probably not your typical way of sharing your modeling is, you know, shooting them and sinking them. But that is a way, a weird way, but I share with my hobby. But that is a way, a weird way, but I share with my hobby.

And then down the street there's this really nice couple and they've got three boys who are like, you know, four, six and eight or maybe six, eight and ten. Just, you know, tons of energy. And we were talking and we're like, hey, I build models and like, oh, the dad is really cool. And he's like, oh, I build models. And like, oh, the dad is really cool. And he's like, oh, I want to do that. And so went over there with some really simple kits. But just because I wanted them to have something that they could do besides put them together, I brought over some and this probably wasn't the smartest idea but some panel line stuff. So they built a little model because they didn't want them to have to worry about painting or anything. And then they put the panel lines. So the stuff popped and they loved it and their fingers were all black because they wouldn't let it dry before they were touching it, right. And so I'm like sorry about that, james, but you know their fingers are see him like, hey, when are we going to build a model? You know in? So, absolutely going to the shows or I need I've been thinking about I know there's two clubs in the twin cities and I want to get to one of those, but it it can be.

You can neighbors, family, and you might come up with some creative ways to share the hobby, whether it it involves a BB gun or something else. Be open to whatever pops up, because that's the cool thing, I think, dave, you mentioned this right that you never know the idea that's going to come to you unless you sit down for five, 10 minutes and actually write it out. And then all of a sudden it's like, oh man, right, yeah, I could do that. That might be fun. I'll give it a try. Why not? Well?

I think in wrapping up tonight we're going to let folks know that and you know too, steve. We talked about a little bit earlier, but you know, dave and I do our shop talk about once a month on the as the feature of the episode. And, dave, I think we need to take some of these questions as maybe one of our questions on the Shop Talks.

I agree with you.

Give our take, our hot take on some of these, at least for a little while, and maybe some other folks will start thinking about some of this stuff and take to this journal.

I'm anxious to sit down and start writing in it and thinking about some of those questions. Steve, tell people where they can get it.

Okay, so there's two places to get it. If you're in the United States, I'd recommend going to my website, journal Insights, because there I can give you a 10% discount and it's also free shipping. So put in Mojo, you know why, and you'll get a 10% discount. Right, that's Journal Insights, and then the other is Journalinsightscom. Yes, okay, and also, I sent you a link too, just in case you want to put it in the show notes.

Yeah, Michael put that in the show notes. I think that's your best option if you're in the States, or hey, and if you're just like. No, steve, I'm just a you want to use Amazon. It's on Amazon, I know from that first show. I know it's sold in the UK. You can get it, which is great because of local shipping. So check your Amazon if you I know you got viewers all over the place If you're not in the us and you can't get it on amazon, go to the journal insights, send me an email, right, and maybe it might make sense if you want to get some guys together or something and I'll totally work with you. It just postage is crazy for to send something to canada. This journal it's 20 bucks. I know that's more than the journal. So you know, if you're, if you're out of the states and amazon doesn't have it, you want to get some guys in your club together or something? Just reach out and I'll try to work something out with you to make it as reasonable as possible with shipping.

We have a bunch of friends up in Canada and shipping into Canada is so bad that there are a whole lot of sellers of different things that won't ship to Canada, are a whole lot of sellers of different things that won't ship to Canada, and so these friends end up buying stuff, shipping it to our house and then we end up taking it to Canada when we go up for a show, you know it's bad right when you would send something to Kentucky because it's cheaper and better to do that in wait months to get it.

Yep Well, steve, we look forward to diving into this and we thank you for being our guest, because it's cheaper and better to do that in wait months to get it?

Yep. Well, Steve, we look forward to diving into this and we thank you for being our guest tonight.

Yes, very much so. Oh, thank you. This has been great, and I can't wait to hear what you come up with when you're journaling, all right.

Well, keep listening. You're going to hear we're going to address some of these things, because Mike and I both found some of the some of the stuff in there really stimulating and fascinating. So that's great. We'll see how it develops through the year well, steve stay uh, stay warm in matamida I'll do my best it's not much better down here yeah, really not right now, because it's still snowing, all right, well, you have a good evening. You take care.

Well, dave, that was fun. Yes, and I'm glad Steve agreed to come on and talk about this a little bit, and I hope some folks take advantage of the discount code and pick this up and give it a shot. It's not very expensive. It's probably worth looking into, in my opinion. Yep, I agree, but for everybody, we're going to be taking one of these topics in this journal over the next several or maybe all year. I don't know how long we're going to take one of these journal topics and add it to our shop talk. So that'll be one question we don't have to think of, dave, yep, but one we'll have to ponder and offer our insight on. We're looking forward to it. Steve was excited to have us do that. So folks check it out. We'll put the information in the show notes to get this. He mentioned it in the interview, but you can find that again in the show notes and give it a look. A look.

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Christian and Bill and the gang up there certainly had their bench busy with some of their new stuff they've been kicking out, which hopefully we'll get to talk to them about in the near future. What's been going on with your bench?

Dave, my bench has been sad, lonely. I have, in the last two weeks I've done a little modeling. I've worked a little bit on the Moosaroo not nearly as much as I need to because, frankly, I need to get the Moosaroo. I need to get the base model done, probably within the next three to four weeks, so that I can work on the vignette portion, which I know what I want to do. But I got to get to it and I did do some work on the SAM to the point where I am about halfway through some oil paint modulation techniques that I'm working on with Steve Hustad's help. Really, like I said, I've not gotten done nearly enough and when I've gotten to the bench, many times it's late and I'm exhausted and I've just stared at it and then made worse by the fact that you are tearing it up. They can't blame me. Tell everybody about how you've been tearing it up. Of course they've all seen it on the dojo man.

You got to get busy, dude.

Yeah.

Steve was wondering if you were going to finish that plane of yours for me.

No way, I told him. I thought you'd finish first.

Man, Jeff, do you know my shortcomings?

Yeah, but you got inspired. You really got inspired In the last. Well, I would guess, since you went on Christmas break, I think you're right, dark time didn't get me, you just got. Yeah, you went the opposite of dark time, baby, you got fired up. I mean you didn't even let kidney stones bring you down.

I mean that's awesome, I wouldn't say that I've had. A couple of nights last week I was like, eh, I better not touch that model right now. I need to figure out, go back and think through my time management, because I don't think I've neglected anything during my time off that needed to be done around here. The only thing I didn't get done was the storage stuff I want to get finished in the furnace room. But that's not benchtop halftime report. That was just. I got interrupted by the weather. Sure, so back to the bench. My E16 Paul is flirting with completion, so exactly what I mean.

You could call it complete at this point. What do you have left that you want to do? There's some exposed metal chipping I want to do.

There's some exposed metal chipping. I want to do Okay With the Prismacolor. So right now the paint, the final flats on it. Right, the canopy masks are off. What flat did you use? I used Tester's dull coat. Thinned about 90%. 10% dull coat lacquer to 90% hardware store lacquer thinner.

Okay, you didn't use unicorn gears.

No.

Okay.

You don't want to put a paint retarder in your flat coat.

Gotcha.

You might not end up with a flat coat, though with the much flattening agent that stuff's got in it, it probably wouldn't matter. But it's almost all thinner you're spraying.

Right.

It's like you're almost putting nothing on it, but it's flat, it's really flat.

Yeah.

So that's done. Well, before I did that I had to go back and I had some handling bumps and bruises. Trailing edge of the wing was a place that had a lot of wear back down the primer so I had to touch up the top side green on those. Basically, the way I did that as I got a good consensus consistency of my base color mixed with the tamiya retarder and just moderate brush load just hit the trailing edge of the wing about the middle of the the bristles.

Yeah, so you don't, you're not, you don't have the tip riding across the top of the wing or right the underside of the wing and just put another coat of paint on that and I got all that done. Had a couple of knocks on it that I touched up and and a couple places on the henamaru with some red and then, once I had all that brushwork done, I just flatted it again and then, since then I've got the top side wingtip lights done. I got to flip it over and do the bottoms tomorrow and this chipping I want to do. I don't want to do a lot. Sure, looking at photos I can find most of the carrier-based or ship-based planes were better kept than the ones that were working out of harbors and marinas along the South Pacific. They just I guess these folks had time on their hands to touch up the paint and whatever being on a ship, but they just seemed to be in a little bit better condition.

And you know, at some point it's like, eh, I better stop. I hear you, and after that I just have to mate it to the catapult.

Well, when you removed the canopy masks, it looks like you had a.

It was pretty good. There was a piece of debris on the turtle deck. You know the tapered tail section of the greenhouse and I don't know what it was or where it came from or when, but I took a toothpick and a chisel, tipped the end of it and slid it up in there and at least shoved it out of the way. And you know the canopy, it's the best canopy I've ever done. Is it perfect? No, but it ain't bad.

Canopy masks, man make all the difference in the world.

The problem is the demarcation of the framing on this old Fujimi canopy was not that great.

You're limited. It's just like the face on a figure. You can be the best painter in the world, but if the molding is so-so, there's only so much you can do.

But it came out pretty good. I'm happy with it. But it came out pretty good, I'm happy with it. So once I get this chipping done, I got to put the propeller on it and then made it to the catapult, which is I'm not sure how I'm going to do that. Yet there's no positive Right. Again, rewind hit the rewind button. I fudged a couple of pockets on the bottom fuselage center where the forward tube mounting points are.

Right.

On the launch trolley and then I don't know, Pinned it or something. It'd have been nice to pin the thing on there, to pin it to the plane Right Before I started painting it. So now I don't have a lot of options. I'm probably going to get it exactly where I want it and then use some extra super thin CA to tack it to the launch trolley.

Yep.

And hope I don't make a mess somewhere. So this chapter, this book's coming to a conclusion.

Well, good, now you can get that KV-85 done.

Yeah, which is one I haven't touched over the holidays. Now I was working on the little flak panser, the 3D model.

Yeah.

I did. On the underside, where the rear plate matches the rest of the hull, I added a weld seam out of epoxy putty and it came out kind of meh. The problem is the groove where those two parts meet isn't very uniform, so you don't get a very nice looking weld seam. So I I think what I'm going to do on the whole size, I'm just going to fill it and give some of those archer decal weld seams a shot gotcha, because I like the way evans came out on Panzer II. I do too so, and I've got several sets of those. Yeah, might as well use them. Sure, it's like a good opportunity, because this kit you know I'm not striving for it's paper Panzer, so don't need to get too wrapped around the axle about any of it that one shouldn't take long to finish building. There's not a lot to it. So I got to get my printer wash tank refilled with alcohol so I can reprint a few parts. But other than that, that's pretty much my bench.

Well, good, can't wait for next episode, when you tell us what your next project's going to be.

Yeah, I know. Well, if you got nothing else, I don't either. That's it.

Classic Model Mojo is brought to you by squadron. Head on over to squadroncom for the latest in kits and accessories, all at a great price and with great service. Are you a modeler on the go? Check out the squadron mobile app for your apple or android device for easy shopping from just about anywhere. Squad Squadron adding to the stash since 1968.

Well, Squadron's prices are pretty good.

Yep, and they ran some sales over the holidays, man they did they did, man they could hurt. Speaking of getting your wallet hurt, mike, did anything break your wallet over the holidays?

Well, I was going to say before I realized you lead this segment was that their prices are pretty good, and if you broke your wallet at Squadron, I'm sure Brandon Company is happy. But that's all on you, man.

That's right.

Yes, I've bought a few things.

Okay, tell me.

Let's go from least interesting to most. All right, I bought some new leads for my drafting pencil. Okay, this is a big deal for me, all right, I get a lot of use out of my drafting pencil and I got some Tamiya tape that's got the plastic sheeting already attached to it. Yep, got some the tamiya tape that's got the the plastic sheeting already attached to it. Yeah, now I posted on the dojo that I had, uh, you know, I was masking the, uh, the wingtip lights. There's some plastic showing somebody.

Somebody had mentioned I'd use parafilm, that's. That's not what that was. I just made my own plastic and tape masking. So sure, basically what this stuff is. It's to me a tape of a certain width and then overlapped onto some fraction of. It is about six inches of plastic sheeting, right, so you can get the clean edge with the mask and then the plastic shields a pretty wide area. Now, the one I got is the one that's about six inches wide. They make another one that folds out a couple of, and it's like I can't remember. I want to say it's about nine inches or something like that maybe a foot.

I mean unless you're building big ships.

Well, not only that, but unless you've got your airbrush on blast, you shouldn't be getting overspray more than six inches away from the edge you're painting.

Oh, you might be surprised. Generally that's true, but I got some of that. The coolest thing I got, dave, is from a Polish company called F&A Miniatures.

Okay.

Not F&A, like the surfers say.

Right.

But F&A Miniatures out of Poland. Wz-34 armored car.

I am interested in that Good because I got two of them. All right, you are the man.

This company. They're 3D printed models. Kits, they're kits. This is a subject I started many years ago. There was a little company called sardi, that kid kitted one in plastic. It's just awful. And then the original squadron in their encore line had it too yes and I probably got one of those back there on the shelf.

yeah, in fact I think I have the carcass of that project in in that box. Anyway, this is like a fresh and I'm anxious to check it out. They sell mostly through their Facebook page, so I'll put this link in the show notes. They don't have a website, but they also make a lot of other Polish equipment that was contemporary to the start of World War II, the September 39 invasion of Poland. So they've got, I think, a staff car and a truck and they've got an anti-aircraft gun and this armored car and then the WZ-28 was an earlier armored car that was still in service then. So if that campaign interests you, you might want to check it out and then when this kit comes I'll let everybody know what it's all about. And that's the most exciting thing I've bought. But what about you? You bought anything.

Well, jim Bates was placing a hand at his order and, of course, thinking of his friends, emailed me and said, hey, I'm placing a hand at his order, do you want anything? And of course I can't resist that. So there was a decal sheet I wanted. So he threw that in. So I've got a decal sheet coming from Hannitz via Jim Inch. Jeff Groves, inch High, was placing an order with two companies One White Stork Miniatures, again out out of Poland, for some 3D-printed figures and said, hey, I'm placing an order, do you want stuff? And of course I went on their website and, yeah, get me this and this and this. So those came in and we've got to hook up with an inch so that I can pay him and pick those up from him. He also was placing a decal order and said, hey, do you want any sheets from this company? Of course, Decals.

I can't resist. So I've got some F4D decals, the 50s Navy jet fighter, I've got some Japanese and British pilots and some civilians from White Stork Miniatures, 3d printed figures, and then, god, I'm not sure what the decal sheet I ordered with Jim was, but he'll remind me when he listens to this episode. And then the big thing I got, which was kind of modeling adjacent, is I ordered a laser printer, color laser printer, which I really ordered because I needed it for actual use. But it does have some possible modeling applications and we'll see down the road if this laser printer gets put to some modeling use. Well, I hope so. I do too. So that's it. Well, we didn't do too bad. No, we didn't. No, we didn't do too bad. No, we didn't. No, we didn't. Mike, we're at the end of the episode. I'm at the bottom of my modeling fluid glass. How was your modeling fluid? Well, russell's, it can't be bad.

Not bad, and I think I'm still batting a,000 for listeners who've tried it Yep, yep.

Well, that's one that you recommend that you really can't go wrong with.

No, it's pretty good stuff. What about yours?

This stuff is good. I will tell you Now. It's 93 proof, so 46.5% alcohol by volume. Three proof so 46.5% alcohol by volume. And there is a little bit of heat at the end of the sip, where you, you know, with hotter bourbons you tend to get that. But it's beautifully smooth and the sherry comes through, but very, very subtly. If you didn't know that it was finished in sherry casks I'm not sure you could say that that's what you were tasting. But it's there and it really smooths out the sip. This is great. I enjoy it. I'll be nursing it slowly to try and keep it alive as long as humanly possible. What do they call it on the bottle? They call it Rabbit Hole Derringer, kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey finished in PX sherry casks. What they do is they obviously, in order to make it a bourbon, they have to first age it in charred white oak never used charred white oak barrels.

That's where I was going. Does the finish change its liquor designation?

No, it does not, as long as it is initially aged in charred white. Never used charred white oak barrels. It's a bourbon. You can then re-barrel it in any barrel you want and it's still bourbon. You couldn't age it completely in the sherry casks and call it bourbon in the sherry casks. And call it bourbon, mike. We're at the end of the episode. Do you have some shout outs?

I do, and like I always do, dave, I'm going to shout out our most recent contributors to the show, one of which was our guest, steve Anderson's. A new patron, ted Pendergrass, David Roach, jeremy Peterson and Steve Chirazowitz have all chosen to support Plastic Model Mojo financially and we really appreciate it, and right now is as good a time as any folks. We are rolling out a new website and all these funds are being put to good use to make that a reality and then, once it gets all launched, we're going to move on to a phase two and all this is going to help bring phase two to reality. So thanks, guys, for contributing to the show it means a lot and all of those folks out there who are contributing to Plastic Model and the Mojo. It's really humbling and it's been a big help, especially in 2024, going into 2025.

Well, I'd like to shout those people out too. Thank you very much. We really do appreciate it. We're plowing the money back into the podcast, the website, everything, and we couldn't do this without you. So thank you very much. Additionally, I'd like to shout out both Jim Bates and Jeff Groves, who were kind enough, when they were placing orders with different model vendors, to text me or email me and say hey, do you want something? A? That's always a way to get me to spend money, but it's also very, very kind to think of me when you're doing something like that. So Jim and Jeff are both very good friends and I really appreciate them doing that.

Well, Dave, that is the end of the episode.

Yes, it is First one of 2025 is in the books.

There we go, so as we always say, so many kids, so little time. Dave and I'll see you soon. See you soon, Mike.