What If Winning Ruins The Hobby: Episode 170

Welcome And Weekend Show Recap

Welcome to the plastic model module. As well as to the news and events around the hobby. Join Mike in Kentucky Days to try to be informative, entertaining, and help you to keep your modeling module alive.

Episode 170 with Jovia.

We're coming up on 172, man.

I know.

Which is gonna be my favorite episode.

Yeah, we need to talk about that offline.

Yeah, I know.

I got ideas.

Yeah, I got ideas too.

Well, coming off a brilliant weekend. Yes. In all regard, what is up in your model sphere, Kentucky Dave?

Well, my model sphere is happy and full. Like you mentioned, we can't we are just coming off of a fantastic uh modeling weekend. You were finally able to make it to our local club show, the MMC L.

You made it last year in Shepherdsville. I know I gotta give you a quick I'm uh two for two counting the bad year, not counting the bad year.

Um but uh we got to we got to meet up on Friday evening and we got to meet up with uh Bill Moore and Ben Pluth and you, me, and Bill had dinner. We all got to to sample some fine beverages and to share a lot of modeling talk, which was great. Oh yeah, we had a good time. And then we went to a really great contest, and I spent money, and you'll hear about that later in the what broke your wallet. In addition, I continue to assemble the new model display case that I got, which is going beautifully, I've got to say. Um so far, I'm very, very happy with this item.

Better than the other furniture you were very better on about.

Right, much better than the other furniture, you know, put it yourself together furniture. And and while haven't been completely successful in my dedication to making sure I do, you know, 20 minutes of model reading every night, I am getting better at it. And all in all, I'm I mean, I cannot complain. It would be, it would be, it would be bad of me to complain when things are going so well.

Does the model reading come before after your 30 minutes of actual modeling?

Well, okay. All right, are we gonna start throwing down on that?

Just as bad. I'm just asking. Okay. Well, it just I've not added model reading to my list of things to try to get done.

Yeah, sometimes before, sometimes after, sometimes instead of.

Well, you got plenty of books, so yes, I do.

So uh all in all. I'm I mean, I can't gosh, coming off the nationals, coming off a great local show. I'm I I just can't I'm like I said, I could complain, but why? It's great. So I'm doing great. How about you? How's your model sphere?

Oh man, it's it's good, man. All the same stuff you just said, and I'm gonna tag on a little bit with the Military Modelers Club of Little Show. Just kudos to to our home club. Just a really nice time. Our table location could not have been better. So I hope we can pin that one down again next year. We were the first thing people saw when they walked in the front door.

Yep.

That can't hurt.

It helps when you know the vendor coordinator.

That's true. And you're a member of the club. Yes. For a long time. Yes. Uh, you know, we met some listeners.

Yes.

But we got to see a lot of old club members. Well, I was gonna mention that. It's like I went back to Uncle Daddy, John Dietrich, was back there with Kevin Smith, aka Shock, and they were they were selling some stuff. And I went back there and was chatting, and and Stu Gordon was there, and and somebody else showed.

Keith Gay and his lovely wife were there.

Yeah, they were behind us at a different table. But I was thinking about when all the old guys were there. And yeah, it was a meeting of the ghosts. It was a great time. It was nice to talk to all those guys again and just really, you know, you know how old friends are. You just pick right back up and exactly tell tell the same old jokes. And I I brought up the old story about old Ray and the one for one to one forty-four scale planes and the cereal box joke that John Dietrich made. And uh folks, you had to be there. I'm not gonna get into into inside jokes, but uh uh only to say that uh everyone, everyone who was in on it surely remembered it. And uh just all that stuff. I I miss all that. So coming back from that show hot to uh make a few third Thursdays of the month again and and uh see if I can't reconnect. Uh if not those guys, if they're not coming, you know, there's plenty of new people. Uh you know, I can't say I recognize even half the half the show staff. So I did I did slow up the uh the late arrival entry line by talking baseball with uh Cliff Bernstein. Yes, it's good to see Cliff. Talking Cliff Cubs baseball with him and Vintage Cub baseball, you know. Ernie Banks and Ron Santo and Billy Williams and all those guys. So uh that was a fun little conversation, except a couple people got a little a little impatient with us, but that's all right. I don't see those guys too much. So Cliff sure enjoyed it, so it was good to see. You know, the show was awesome. I had a great time, the weather was perfect. Whether the early arrival was great. I'd greased the skids for that. There was no back-end drama happening that kept me preoccupied. I had a tentative hard stop at about three that kind of panned out that I actually had to take the hard stop. But had it gone any better, I made a stayed, I may have stayed to the bloody end, and then there was a place on the east side of Louisville I was gonna stop on the way home. But I ended up having the hard stop. But that was okay. Everything else, you know, 95% of what I want to get accomplished that day was done. It was great hanging out with Bill. It was great going to dinner, and the weather was so good, you know, we didn't need the suite we rented or paid for at the hotel. We could sit down on the the patio of the hotel and sit outside, which we did till, you know, not too late. We ended up getting a great night's sleep.

Yes.

Went to the Waffle House for breakfast. Bill joined us again, and then we hit the show and we were there till uh just about the end. So kudos, kudos, MMC. It was a good time. I really had a great time. That's it, man. That's my model sphere, just relishing and in the show this weekend.

It was fantastic.

Modeling Fluid Whiskey Check-In

Well, Mike, uh, we're recording a regular episode. So regular episode means modeling fluid.

Well, regular episodes mean we actually acknowledge the modeling fluid.

Okay, well, I do.

Okay.

If you want to give people a peek behind the door, that's fine.

But that's behind the door.

I'm assuming you have a modeling fluid in your mind.

I do, Dave. I have uh Westland flagship American single malt whiskey. Oh my! Where did that come from? This came from Washington State, Burlington, Washington, through the cautious hands of Tim Nelson from the Seattle Club.

So Tim was a a really good mule, both coming to the show and then he carried stuff back to uh Jim Bates. So he did a really great job.

We'll talk about it at the end. That's what I got. What about you?

Well, as a matter of fact, I I have a very nice, very nice modeling fluid courtesy of instead of a listener, a podcast co-host. My podcast co-host was kind enough to bring to the MMCL show half a bottle of Weller Special Reserve. A little more than half. A little more than half. Well, maybe not by the end.

Not now, but in this is gonna be third, third, maybe.

But uh he brought a very fine bottle, and Weller is my favorite bourbon of all time. Beats out plant's by a bit. I it just you you can't go wrong. So yeah, we'll talk about it more at the end, but everybody knows this is gonna be fantastic.

Well, good. We're both sipping whiskeys tonight. You got a bourbon? This is not a bourbon, but we'll talk about it at the end. Uh, you know, considering we're kind of back on schedule and getting getting the regular dose of listener mail, the mailbag

Contests Without Losing The Joy

is in pretty good shape, so we should probably get into that, Dave. Sounds sounds like a plan. Well, we missed one a while back. What do you mean we pale face? I I I missed one. Louis Toledo had had sent out a blast question to to the pods he listens to. And it's about competing in in model shows.

Mm-hmm.

And the original question was, do you need to do this to be recognized as a modeler? I I don't know what happened. I I didn't answer it. And then I was listening to the to the model geeks episode, and he came up in their listener mail, and then you know, they had their their opinions and commentary on it. And we never did. So it's an easy answer for me on the original question, which is an emphatic no. Me too. I concur completely. You you don't. If you want to, go for it. That's fine, but no, you don't have to. No, you don't. So absolutely. He's followed up with another question. It's he's chosen the path that he wants to go do this.

Mm-hmm.

And he's starting to get it's getting in his head a little bit, I guess, is one way to say it, about what what this is going to entail and and and is he gonna get this done? Is he gonna be disappointed? He says he is a very competitive person, and he says you know he'll be disappointed if he doesn't place, and at the same time he completely understands the level of talent he's up against. Well, it depends on what show you go to. There's always good stuff at at that shows. And then some of these people he may be in competition with are are are people who have inspired him. I'm gonna double down here. I guess I'll throw a question back at him. Lewis, what are you hoping to get out of this? I don't want to come at this, you know, disrespectfully, but I'm coming at it from a guy who's been where you are and decided I didn't like it anymore and chose not to do it anymore. Now I still enter contests, but I'm to the point now where I don't really care. I'm not building things to please other people. I'm building things for the enjoyment for myself. If you if you want to go do this, that's great. I mean, it can it can help you be become a better modeler, but goal uh for a finished model building something with the goal of competing against a fellow modeler and colleagues uh is ca causing you consternation. That might be reason to pause. I don't know if it is or not, but what you gotta worry about, and what you well almost say worry about, what you have to guard against, a better way to say it. Don't lose your underpinning and grounding for why you're even in this hobby to go be competitive at model shows. I don't think that's a healthy avenue to go down. For me, it was not. It for you, it may not matter. It may be fine, but based on all it can give you is my experience, right? I would think hard about why you're doing it. If you want to go do it, go do it. I did it for a while. There the recognition is it's nice at a base level, it's a dopamine hit in the moment. And yes, you can get some recognition out of it. And you know, you you do well at a show, you go to the next one, and people were talking to you. I mean, that's just a kind of a natural occurrence of how this might go down, maybe. I just I just think for me that this is was end up being a bad recipe because the hobby landscape changed on me r really quickly, and everything I'd worked toward kind of kind of fell apart and went away and it left me in kind of a perplexing position, I guess. Put me out of active modeling for quite some time, as you can attest to, Dave.

Yep. I'm not gonna tell anybody that they're modeling wrong or they're modeling for the wrong reason. But I do think, and and I understand some people are more competitive than others, I do think that the risk you run is you you risk it souring you on the hobby because there's always gonna be somebody better, there's always gonna be the subjectivity of judges. If being famous or well known is your goal, there are a whole lot easier ways to do it than to become a really, really s quote unquote successful modeler. Um on the show circuit. On the show circuit. Uh I I don't think succeeding in competition is in any way a requirement for being a good modeler and being recognized as a good modeler by other modelers. I'll give you a couple of examples just off top of my head. Paul Budzig, Night Shift, Martin Kovac, Plasma. As far as I know, none of those guys is competing regularly. They are all recognized as really, really good modelers. Now, the reason they are is that they go out and put stuff on the internet and people see it and like it and are drawn to it and learn from it. I'm not so sure you're if you want to be well known as a good model, I'm not sure competition's the way to do it. I think you're probably much better off honing your skills than putting your skills out there in the form of social media and education and showing people, hey, this is what I'm doing to get this really great result. I think that's much more likely to lead you to be well known in the modeling community than go into model contests and and winning awards. But that's my two cents. But again, I'm not telling somebody if that's the motivation for them to model and that's what they get out of it. I'm not gonna tell you you're wrong. Although I do believe you ought to listen to Mike's warning, because I think it is a pretty prophetic warning, that it can lead to disappointment and and ultimately souring you on your hobby.

Lewis, you say to be honest, I'm struggling with this more than I expected. It's not the journey or the build process that I dislike. What feels strange is building something with the goal of competing against fellow modelers and colleagues. Well, that right there, that struggle ought to give you pause. Yes. Completely agree. That's my opinion. Yep. So I'm not saying don't enter contests. Please go do it. Yeah. Support support your shows. If you place, you place. That's great. I don't want to take that away from anybody, but if this becomes the the impetus of why you are doing it, I would really caution you against that. That's all I'm gonna say. Agree. So good luck, Lewis. I hope you enter and and do as well as you want, but I think uh you need to you need to back up with your own words, in your own words. You you're saying there's things you're not comfortable with. So I would think about those things. And Dave, I think you give some good advice. And you know, I think Paul Budzik did compete earlier at times.

Oh, I'm sure he did. We've all competed.

He he'll write in and let me know what what the record was there as far as well, not the you know, this tally of awards or whatever, but just his experiences or whatever. In fact, I'd like to hear it, Paul. So if you're if you're listening, I hope you are. I think I know you are. What would be your your advice there? You know, we we we got I gotta know Paul, well, through the podcast, but he he was somebody I recognized and looked up to just because of all the the magazine articles he did for Finescale.

Right. You didn't you didn't you didn't look up to him because he was an award-winning modeler, you looked up to him because he showed you what he did and taught you in the process. That's right. Exactly right. That will lead to much more admiration, I think, from other modelers. Yeah. Keep us keep us updated a few months from now. Let us know how it's going.

Why Kits Got Better Since The 90s

Up next, David Poles, and he's from Ithaca, New York. Uh, he says he's an old fart engineer at 62. Man, you're you're really an old fart lawyer then. Yeah, I was gonna say. Like hotel couch old fart.

Yeah, that's right.

He says he's managed to bridge bridge the gap from analog design, which is pencil and paper, to CAD, which I think he means 2D CAD, to 3D CAD and solid modeling in his work life. I've kind of done the same thing. He's closer to my age than yours, Dave. Uh, he splits the difference, I think. Yeah, he splits it right down the middle. I learned pen and paper when I got into industry originally. They were doing 2D CAD. And for a 3D consumer product, doing all that in two dimensions, looking back now, is kind of like pretty amazing how they made all those parts fit together. We're so spoiled with 3D. But you know, we're we're we moved to 3D after I became a career engineer and uh never look back because why would you? He thinks the significant reason for the improvement in kits since the 90s and the early to mid-2000s is due to the due to the ability of designers to do 3D modeling. I agree. And I yeah, I think that's a big part of it. You can actually fit the pieces together in the virtual world and prior to committing to you know cut and steel, which is really expensive, and uh you'd really like to have it all hashed out before then. He thinks about the old 2D paper designs and creating kits from these drawings and and oh he says he can still smell the prints. Yeah, those mimeograph copies of that's why they're called blueprints, because they were the smell of ammonia. They smelled terrible. And he's also thinks it's all been assisted just by the basic mold design. He says three-axis C and C machines. Well, yeah, those are gonna like cut the electrodes and stuff for the for the tooling, but the the ability to make those electrodes to that kind of degree, either whether they're copper or graphite or whatever. Um yeah, absolutely. And a thing he doesn't mention here that I think is part of it is is the probably the industrial price point of some of this stuff has come down enough that that you can care about the nth detail on a something like a 70 second scale airplane where somebody like Airfix in the 60s making a kit they put on a blister card did not.

Well, I suspect of what you if you looked at it, you would find that labor cost has dropped incredibly. Yeah. So much of stuff that used to be, you know, hand cutting dies and and things like that, that's now CNC machines and stuff where you have one person doing the work of four or five. I mean, which is ultimately what uh technology and automation is all about.

And he makes a final point that the evolution of instruction sheets is greatly improved as well. Amen, brother. Now, now a lot of these kits have drawings and and instruction sheets derived directly from the 3D renderings.

Yeah.

He's currently working on a kit from 1962.

Oh, God.

The instructions are insanely bad and vague, versus the instructions on a modern Edward or Arma kit. He says it's almost like it's a different hobby.

Oh, yeah. No, I I think if you pick up uh you you like to do those nostalgia builds for air fix or or matchbox. Well, luckily the part count's small, so they can't but in many ways it is indeed a different hobby because you know, with a vintage.

It's an improved hobby.

It's an improved hobby. But I don't know if it's different, but it's well, I d it's different in some ways. I mean Well, sure, yeah. I don't think you you don't have to face some of the challenges. Challenges today that you had to face with kits with uh you know soft molding and stuff that vaguely fit and things like that.

That is true. Well, as you always say, man, we're in the golden age.

We are indeed, man, and it keeps getting better.

And you had nice things to say about Arma's latest construction sheets versus their old ones.

Oh, absolutely second that. Having built their P51B and now in the middle of their Hawk 81, even those kits, which are not that far apart in time, there has been a vast improvement in regard to the layout and clarity of the instruction sheets.

Beating Burnout And Getting Back

Up next, and I'm not going to say Middle Tennessee, because I think Jason Campbell is actually from Knoxville or thereabouts. That would be East Tennessee. That would be East Tennessee. He says he's been dealing with some mental burnout. Difficult to find motivation to get to the bench. He says he's planning on attending an Eagle quest in April. Yeah. Well, that'll help. He's well, he's given a presentation on the history of Gundam modeling there. So looks like Brandon's roped him in too.

I'd like to hear that.

He'll have examples of some of what he'll be talking about with him as well. He's gonna be at Murfreesboro in November, so I think you're pretty solid for that one. I'm gonna wait and see. I'd like to go. Not been to that one in a long time, and I feel like I owe Bill FaceTime down there. So uh Jason, uh, what can we do to help you out, man? Get you out of the funk. Maybe it's your presentation, I don't know, but try something different. That might work.

And this is something that I think every modeler faces. I don't think any of it, you know, and sometimes, and Mike and I can sympathize with this, sometimes it's a matter of things not related to your hobby, your work life, you know, family, family, real work, the things that puts bread, thing that puts bread on the table. Those are stressors. And even if you deal with them at work and then come home, you you carry that stress and you're like, God, that took so much out of me at work today. I just don't have the energy.

Yeah, you just got to realize that that will help get rid of stress.

Yep. Not only that, but find your way, find your way back slowly. If you don't have the energy to walk down and sit at the bench and do some modeling, read a modeling-related book, or uh watch a modeling-related YouTube video on a subject that you'd like to build, or mastering a technique. I keep going back, I'm still working with these AK watercolor pencils because I see the potential and I'm trying to get better and better. And there are things you can do when you your day has taken it out of you to the point where you're too tired, you're too mentally fatigued. And usually it's that. It's usually not I'm too physically fatigued. It's I'm too mentally fatigued. Work took it out of you. I had a hard case, I had I dealt with a problematic client, and they just they're an energy vampire. They suck the life out of you. And even when you can't, when you don't have that mental energy to sit at the bench and model, f try and find your way slowly back because I think you'll find that if you do those things, you know, watch the YouTube video, read the modeling related book, et cetera, et cetera. Yeah, I think you'll find it leading yourself, leading you back to the bench because you'll you'll feel both inspiration and motivation.

Well, I think those interruptions can kind of slip you into a different orbit. Yeah. And then your your normal routine starts to evolve to where it doesn't include the bench time. Yep. And you just gotta figure out a slow down or speed up and get back in the orbit that lets you do that.

Yep, I agree.

It's I'm not saying it's easy, it's not. I mean, we deal with it, you and I, all the time. And uh yeah, I just hope you get back there, man.

Yeah, and one thing I will tell you is that when, and I think this probably applies to both of us, Mike. When we do beat it and get back to the bench, when we do beat that exhaustion or whatever, we almost always find it rewarding and energizing.

True.

Because you come you come away from you know a great decaling session or a really nice detail painting or whatever, and you you're you're jazzed by the progress.

VW Bus Kit Made Easy

Up next from State College, Pennsylvania, Scott Huber. He heard our comment of, you know, I guess it was Faves and Yons. I mentioned that 23-window bus, is that right?

Yes, the the VW 23-window bus.

He said Andy's hobby headquarters had just done a video on it. It said it looked like a fun kit. And I said something about masks just because it had so many flipping windows. I knew nothing about the kit. Right. He says, to me, has designed this kit to make painting optional. Oh, okay. And the parts are all molded in color, chrome trim, separate parts, all the decals or stickers or whatever. And he says it's the first of a new series of simplified car kits to me as oriented to make an easy, fun build that's either paint in detail or not. Interesting.

That is interesting. Listen, I appreciate a listener when they hear us talking about something like that, and they have something to add, some, some, you know, more knowledge than obviously you and I who were simply commenting on a kid announcement we saw. I love nothing better than a listener writing in and telling us, hey, this is the story behind this, or this is what's going on. Because not only does it make us more informed, we can pass it along to the listeners as a whole.

And now I'm even more interested in that kid. Me too. I don't know if painting's ever an option for me, but uh we'll have to see. I'll look for that one to hit the shelves. I really will. That's such a cool subject. From New Brighton, Minnesota, up in the Twin Cities area, Larry Donovan.

Hobby Shop Nostalgia And New Openings

Uh he says from episode 169, two things really hit. And one of us was talking about, I guess, shops closing. Yep. So he he's he's got a shop, they've got a shop up there. It's moving from, I guess, sp specifically St. Paul to specifically Arden Hills.

Mm-hmm.

And he he's made a suggestion here that I appreciate. We won't we won't say much more about it, but uh hope that shop move goes well. And I wonder if that's one of the shops uh scale model supply in St. Paul, Minnesota. If our uh Minnesota Twins buddies uh frequent that one or not.

We'll have to ask.

Uh second, he says, I was talking about in the last episode McCrory's, which is a five and dime kind of place, essentially. Did Louisville have any of those places? Yes, Louisville had a McCrory's. Where was it? Downtown. Okay. Ours was in the mall when they built the mall. Yeah, ours was on 4th Street. And you could either enter it through the mall or you could enter it externally from the parking lot on the other end of the store. You know, they had a lunch counter and everything. It was really a neat store. I used to love those kind of stores. Yep. Um was another one we had in Johnson City. Bought a few kits there. That's neither here nor there, though. He's I guess it's kind of a nostalgia flashback. He used to work for a discount store called Turnstyle. That was a division of Jewel Foods in in the Chicagoland area.

Mm-hmm.

And he says every August, for the two years he worked there, they get a huge shipment of model kits from Air Fix, Ravel, Tomia, Hasegawa. And uh he was on the toy department crew, and they'd set up the hobby aisle quotes, and uh he they get first pick at this stuff because it was right there on the shelves. And that happened in the summer, so he says figuratively Christmas in August. Right. Interesting because McCrew, what I what I was talking about, this stuff would always drop after Christmas. So they'd have all these like all the Tyco and AHM railroad structures and stuff.

Yeah.

So they were they were targeting the folks who got train sets for Christmas.

Yeah.

And then the the the Ravel Italary stuff, I I don't I don't know. Maybe Ravel would entr import this stuff in like these huge tranches and just sell it to everybody that might want to sell model kits. I don't know, but you know, they have these big gondola displays, just piles of this stuff. For I mean, just cheap for 1977, just almost giving it away. I said in the last episode, I'd I would have these things five five at a time on my on my um with my kid money.

Yeah, listeners, this is your nostalgia warning. Your nostalgia warning. You can you can hear it in his voice, kid.

I know, man. It was so much fun. But uh I don't know. Now I know those a lot of those revelled itsillary kits are uh you know, I might get tempted by an old white box itsillary armor kit every now and then. I might. I might.

Well, I've and there's nothing wrong with that. As long as you know what you're doing going in and you realize I'm building. I'm building this for the nostalgia of it. I think that's great. Take a look at what you did with that little Beaufers thing. It it came out very nice for what it was.

It did. So I need to do another one. Yeah, yes, you do. Well, thanks, Larry. Thanks for sharing uh your own experience of a of a similar vein there. That was that was kind of cool. Well,

Air Quality, CO2, And 3D Prints

Dave Wapels is written in again, and he brought the air quality monitor and all that before. He enjoyed our discussion about air quality, and he he found his model room in the basement had better air quality than the upstairs. Yeah. So it's not a lot, but surprising. That that is interesting.

Well, I told you that I took it to work and it the air quality in my hobby room. Is it is actually a little bit better than the air quality in my office downtown.

Uh, and he's also talking about S SS models we brought up. Right. And you know, they make a lot of ships. And Dave's a ship guy. He says, you know, it's hit or miss. Some of the some have amazing detail as a print, but not very well thought out as a kit. The resin choices are a little perplexing. Just, you know, be careful, folks, on the internet.

Yeah.

Especially when as a as in regards to 3D printing. And he says there's another company, Mr. Yao, taking over the ship models. He says SS models and Yao Studios have merged. The intention is to improve quality, expand subjects, and have a higher global presence. So something to watch, folks. Looks like the the uh 3D print ship factions are are getting some traction here. I just hope uh hope the quality's there. Anything that improves quality, man, I'm all for it. All right. Well, Dave, keep us posted on that. I know we've got some folks who'll be interested to know how they're how all this stuff, all this tempting stuff on eBay, what what are you really getting in the box? Yep. Or what or whatever. Tim Nelson is written in. Tim is the provider of tonight's modeling fluid being consumed by Mike. In fact, he asks, have y'all tried the Westland distillery whiskey yet? Well, it's kissment, man. It's perfect timing. The answer to that question is yes. It's been a hurting put on that bottle since night's, but it's been a while. There you go. We were talking about his CO2 air. He he bought the air monitor too after after Dave had mentioned it and and uh said, Hey, maybe I need to look into this. He's got a pretty large workspace. Yeah. But he's got the mioculpa here. He's been a little lax with the ventilation when he's using water-based acrylic acrylics, especially for small jobs.

Right.

Not anymore. Yeah. He's he's giving it the full money now, treating it, treating any airbrush job as a as a big airbrush job. Yep. Now he says CO2 levels he was seeing, they weren't great, but they weren't they weren't like life-threatening or anything. And he sent us a link to to know what's good for CO2 indoors, indoor level chart from the CO2meter.com. We'll put that in the show notes. Tim, glad to hear it. Glad you're gonna be with us a little while longer. Not uh asphyxiated with the CO2 outgas in your basement workshop.

And even if you're spraying acrylics, man, anything that puts particulates into the air carries a danger. And your lungs are not exactly self-cleaning. So and you God only gives you one set of them. So take care of

Books, Deals, Tours, And Community

them.

And finally, Dave, Rock Rozak, Blacksburg, Virginia. Detail and Scale has announced a new book, Dave. Yes, they have. The S3 Viking in Detail and Scale, volume 24 in the Detail and Scale series. Looks like another good one if you like colorful airplanes, man. Get the developmental history, covers all the variants from the YS3A prototypes all the way up to everything else, man.

Yep.

Pilot narrative and paint paint scheme chapters. That's interesting. Pilot narrative. Is that normal for those? Is that something?

Yes, there's usually some sort of Okay.

A comment from somebody? Yeah. Like it's been like flying a lumber truck or something like that. Uh, you know, they got all the detailed chapters, uh, 145 photographs, extensive scale modelers section, and totaling 245 photographs and drawings, one profile, and all the unit insignia are shown in this book. Digital copies from Amazon, Apple, Google, and Kobo at $14.99. Or you can get a print edition for your your own hands for $21.99. So check it out at www.detailandscale.com. So rock, uh glad to promote that. Looks like another banger man.

Well, Mike, if that's all the emails, I've got some direct messages, but you stole my first one because I was gonna mention Rock. He had reached out via DM to tell me the cover all his bases, man.

I know he does.

I'm not complaining.

Don't blame him at all. We can one of us could forget. That's true.

Uh Martin Pietra reached out to tell me that a website was having a sale on fine molds kits. And guys, I love this. Uh, thank you for reaching out and telling me whenever you spot a sale, particularly something you think I'd be interested in. The only thing I would ask is that you go and post it on the dojo to spread the word as widely as possible. Let people know when you find deals because you never But did you buy anything? No, I did not because I just came back from the Nationals, man. Was the selection good? No, the selection was excellent.

Okay. Sometimes they have those sales and it's it's kind of right. Yeah, but but it's a little tempered because they're out of stock, yeah.

Right. But let people know. Whenever you come across something like that, let people know, even if it hurts their wallet. And Lord knows every time Inch sends me a thing from Hamilton Books, it always hurts my wallet. Because he knows what I like. Next, Michael Aluzzi reached out. He's from the Polish Coast Watchers. Relating back to what you talked about earlier with a hobby shop moving, we have been talking about hobby shops and the, you know, the death of hobby shops and good hobby shops still being able to survive and not like that. He mentioned that a new hobby shop is actually opening in LaGrange, Illinois, which is a suburb of Chicago. So it's not all gloom and doom out there. There are new hobby shops opening. And if one opens near you, support it because I'm here to tell you there is nothing better than having a local hobby shop that you can drop by when you need something vital for a current project, but also that you can drop by on a Saturday morning or Sunday afternoon and have a Coke or a cup of coffee and talk with fellow modelers that come in and out of the shop. So support your local hobby shop.

Yeah, a lot of those places live and die by the $3 sale, man.

They really do. They really do. So support them. Next is Don Gilman, our uh brewer extraordinaire from Texas. And if you, if listeners listened to the last episode, you heard the modeling fluid was a beer that Don did and gave to us at the Nationals. And I talked about it on that show, and Don reached out, and it was really interesting. He gave me the backstory on the beer and what what particular ingredients and hops and other things were used in it. And it's really kind of fascinating. I I like beer and I have a good interest in in these sort of things, and I have some familiarity with the process, but it just really, I mean, uh, Don is is really good at doing these homebrew beers, and it's really interesting to see what goes into that. So, Don, I really appreciate you doing that and keep the beer flowing, man.

Well, he's gonna come up not in this episode again. Well, he might, I don't know. He just did. He just did, folks. In the upcoming 12-minute model sphere for October, you may hear a little bit more about Don. So keep that, keep that in mind. It won't be about beer either.

Next, our friend Tom Choi reached out, and again, related back to hobby shops, I guess is there's a hobby shop episode. But Tom is headed to Singapore soon. And he mentioned that his favorite hobby shop in Singapore is a place called Miniature Hobbies, and was going on about the proprietor and and how nice he was and how welcoming. And it's one of Tom's favorite hobby shops. And so I encouraged him when he goes to post something on the dojo with pictures and and location information, etc. And that applies to anybody. If you are going and to someplace and visiting your local hobby shop or you're going to another place for work and you're aware of a hot really good hobby shop in the area and you make a visit, please post that in the dojo with pictures and location information. Now, when we upgrade the website, we are hoping to be able to kind of collate all of that information. But for the moment at least, please go on the dojo and let people know about these shops. Because, you know, there's nothing worse than taking a business trip to some town and you didn't know that there was a really great hobby shop that you could have visited 10 minutes from your hotel.

I wonder if Mark Duramis has been to that one.

I don't know. That's a great question. Mark, tell us if you've been to that one. Next, Bob Carnowski. And Bob wrote in just to tell us, and we always love this. He placed an order from Kit Masks and wrote to tell us what great people uh Kevin and Janelle are. And of course, we know that. The really pleased with his interaction with them and with the service and everything. And Kevin and Janelle threw in a Kit Masks PMM sticker when they mailed him his order. And he wanted to let us know that he got that. So that was that was really kind of nice. And thank you, Kevin and Janelle.

Well, on that, folks, you'll find a link to KitMask in the show notes, and you'll find it on the website at plasticmodelmojo.com. Please use that link. That link will get you 15% off your order, or you can use Mojo 15 if you go through any other route. But if if you use the links we provided, it's it's an affiliate link, and that'll help out both Plastic Model Mojo and Kitmask. So uh we appreciate you supporting our sponsor, and they just do a great job, as Dave just said, with this particular modeler, and uh they just do good stuff, man.

And I think they're on vacation for like another two days. So if you reach out to them for a day in the next day or two, well, of course, probably by the time this airs, that won't be true. Yeah, they'll be home. But always check the website when these smaller one man, two man, one man, one woman operations you need to know and check on the website because they use. Make an announcement so that you're aware of any delay that might occur. Finally, our friend Mark Copeland reached out, as he mentioned when he was on the Museum of the Mighty Eighth is getting a B24, and they've gotten it, and they're rehabbing it, refurbishing it, and they are posting on the internet, like everybody does, videos of the process. And so Mark has been sharing those.

Oh, we need to share it.

Yes. And Mark also is just starting his fall tour season. If you reach out to him about an upcoming tour for next year, just be aware because he is traveling and he is doing his current current tours that you might encounter a small delay with him. He's really good about getting back to you. But just be aware he is traveling right now. And I highly encourage anybody who's got the least bit interest to consider one of those tours because Mark knows a whole lot and knows the ins and outs of all the places that you would like to see over in Europe. So if you're at interest, interested in all, and I know several listeners have already contacted him, please consider reaching out to Mark and booking a tour. All right, man. Well, the mailbag's empty now. Yep. Yep.

So you guys need to fill it back up. DM us. Email us. DM us through Facebook's messenger system or email us at Plasticmodel Mojo at gmail.com, or there's a feedback link on the website as well at Plasticmodel Mojo.com. So, folks, keep it coming in. We love this segment. It really puts us uh in close proximity to all of you. So keep keep the emails coming in, man.

Yes, please do.

Shop Talk Topics Kick Off

Well, folks, it is a shop talk episode this time. We haven't done one in a little bit. We got some topics tonight, Dave. All right. Have been submitted by our listenership. And they're all pretty good ones, man. We got a lot of good ones. And we're just we're still just at the front end of all these things, too. So looking forward to getting into some of these. Are you ready to get into it? I'm ready when you are, man.

Three Rules For A Modeling Philosophy

Well, Dave, the first one comes from longtime listener and friend of the podcast, Paul Wheeler.

Okay.

Now I can't remember where Paul's from, but the topic is three, the top three bullet points from our own modeling philosophy. So let me give a little context here. When when Paul submitted this, it was part of the the contest for the for the book, the mighty eighth book from Mark Copeland. You know, modeling's basically gone into hyperdrive, really. There's constant flow of new kits, pain of the week, weathering products by the day, new techniques, new podcasts, YouTube contests, 3D printers, et cetera, ad nauseum, and on and on and on. It can be dizz dizzying, it can cause paralysis as well as excitement. And he he's always wondered about establishing his own personal modeling philosophy with a few bullet points on it, just for just to navigate all this and to stay stay true to yourself, I guess. And he thinks this ought to be revisited from time to time, especially when anxiety creeps in. So at the time he sent this in, he he was rushing to get two projects done ahead of the national convention that was causing him some anxiety. So for him, his three bullet points for his own modeling philosophy are slow down, relish in the fact that one thing in life that shouldn't carry a clock like everything else does is this hobby.

Yep.

He's found this to be very helpful enjoying it, and he keeps he constantly has to remind himself of this one. Uh the other is simplify. Every build does not need to have every piece of aftermarket. He's found a new joy enjoyment out of and challenging work. He's found new enjoyment and challenging work working with the kit parts to maximize their potential. And he says that many times they exceed the aftermarket. And he seems to find some zen in this. And then finally, he takes breaks from social media and YouTube from time to time. It's allowed him to focus more time on his builds and release a bit of the twitchiness from the oversaturation of information. And he says he loves these things, but uh getting away from for a little bit helps him get back to ground. I, you know, do you have three? We probably have three. I think I can come up with three. We we we may have three between us, and they may overlap, Paul's. I don't know. I'll let you start number one, have fun.

It's a hobby. And if you're not having fun, stop and ask yourself why. Am I setting any unrealistic expectations? Am I rushing to finish on a deadline? Figure if you're not having fun, figure out why. Because this hobbies are supposed to be fun and enjoyable. And if you're not enjoying yourself, you need to figure that out. Number two, recognize and be grateful that we live in the golden age of modeling. It is easy to complain about, you know, nobody's released your a new kit of your favorite subject. It's easy to complain about the price of models or aftermarket or paints or whatever. But we live in the golden age of modeling, and man, it is I don't want to say ungrateful, but it is short-sighted to whine and complain about those things when we are so lucky to have them. Oh, yeah. And number three, don't wait till you get better. You know, we say, what's your plan for getting better? And and you should have a plan and you should try to get better. We haven't said that in a while. Right. But don't keep putting off something that you want to build because you don't think you're good enough or you want to be better before you do it. That is a great way to end up either with an empty model case or a model case filled with the things that weren't your favorite items that you've always wanted to build. So go ahead and pull the trigger, build the things that you want to build, even if you don't think you're ready to do it. Just go ahead and do it. I think those are all good. All right. You give me three, buddy, or at least try.

Well, we're gonna overlap. Okay, that's fine. It's acceptable. Or my first one, Dave, is have fun, just like you said. Yep. This is supposed to be escapism, it's supposed to be time to relax, relax. You know, I won't even say it's supposed to be. For me, that's what it is. Exactly. For others, it may be something else entirely, but if this is your intent for this to be relaxation and a hobby, have fun. If you're not, you need to take a look at what you're doing, I think. Now it kind of gets back to the the listener mail we got about uh competing. Figure out what part of that is fun for you and what part's not. I'll I'll I'll pull that back into this comment in this line of comments. I want to enjoy this hobby, and the minute I don't, it's when I don't put any time into it. That doesn't mean that I won't have challenges and struggles along the way. But for me personally, I find enjoyment in those things. Good grief. Even if it goes bad and you completely wreck something and end up bending it. I mean, at least you get a good story out of it. Exactly.

And you learn something. And you learn something. I've never binned a model that I didn't learn something along the way.

Success is built on a mountain of failures.

Exactly.

I can't remember who said that. I want to say Thomas Edison, but I don't know. That's probably not right. Somebody uh a second a second bullet point in my personal philosophy. Model for yourself. Yep. I think that is not completely divorced from the my first bullet point and Dave's first bullet point of have fun. I think as soon as you stop modeling for yourself and start modeling, let me clarify. There's some people who do commission builds. That's not what I'm talking about. That's a completely different thing. Right. Um, I don't think I could do that, but again, that's a completely different topic. What I mean is you're modeling and the customer at the end of the day is you. Right. You mean your audience. But you are modeling for an audience that is not you.

Right.

I think you need to be really careful there. And again, I'll tie that back to Luis Toledo's email. If you're not modeling for yourself, you're opening yourself up to a whole lot of pressures.

Well, you're handing somebody else control over your enjoyment of the hobby.

You you are. Exactly. That's a good way to say it, Dave.

Yep.

And you don't want to do that. No, you don't. It will lead to tears. Keep the keys of the car, man. You should always be in control of your enjoyment of the hobby. And I I think when you're not modeling for yourself in in the context that I'm talking about, it can be a problem. Some people like doing commission builds and building for other people because of the variety that may come up or whatever. That's not me. There's a whole lot of aspects of that. That the the the time constraints involved, you know, what do you charge for it, all that. That's a completely different animal from what I'm talking about. Um model for yourself. You're you're gonna get better, you're gonna get you're gonna get good, probably, if you keep at it. And even if you navigate people, you're gonna have fun. But you know, people notice, especially if you're enjoying it. Yep. People will notice. So model for yourself. Third, man, I don't know if I got three, Dave. That's okay. You don't have to. I'm looking at Paul's. You know, the taking breaks kind of meshes with my get the stinky computer out of the model room.

Yeah.

The simplification kind of meshes with my nostalgia builds. Because those aren't things I'm gonna put a lot of extra into. I'm gonna wring out what I've got, get the best result out of what I can. I don't know, man. I think I'm probably done, but I don't know. I'm come back to this taking a break from social media and YouTube. Yeah. But not in the context of not enjoying those things. He he says he enjoys those things. It's it's avoiding distractions, and it's it's all a matter of willpower. Some of it has have better willpower than others. I I struggle with wasting time on a computer. For me, to get more out of my hobby of scale model construction, I need to get some distance between my workbench and this computer, probably. That work? Yep. All right. You got anything else? Nope. Not on that one.

In-Flight Displays And Judging Reality

Up next, Dave, is in-flight displays. And I've kind of joined two together here because two different submitters for the contest mentioned this, kind of coming at it from two different sides. One of them is Dan Brewer from Knoxville, Tennessee. The other's John Allen from Goodyear, Arizona. Well, Dan Brewer from Knoxville submitted this as part of the the topic suggestion. Do you think aircraft modeled in flight with a pilot are considered a vignette? Also, are they judged in the same place, same if placed on the table with regular aircraft category, since they do not display the landing gear? Okay, so hold that for a minute. Okay. The other submitter was John Allen from Goodyear, Arizona. And he just wants a a general discussion about different ways to do models in flight. So he's got a couple of kids he'd like to do this with. So despite my time as chief judge at our our own show, I don't have an answer for how these things are judged. I can tell I can tell. I don't know. Well well, tell us, Dave.

An aircraft, uh a plane on a pole, an aircraft in flight is entered in the regular aircraft category, it is not a vignette. A vignette requires even if there's a pilot in the in the cockpit that's just like a tank, just because you put a tank commander sitting out of the hatch of the tank doesn't make it a vignette. Just because there's a pilot in the pilot seat does not make an in-flight aircraft a vignette. So to answer that question, no, an aircraft, a plane on a pole is put in, if they don't have an in-flight category, it's put in in the regular whatever category in a 123-style system. Obviously, in an open system, it doesn't matter. Now, sometimes you'll cantilever it to something like if it's flying treetops level, and you'll you'll tie it into the top of a tree to try and hide the the support. Some people just use an acrylic rod and put it up in there, and and that's how they display it. But really, although the one thing I have seen a couple of times is magnetic levitation, where you have a base and a model, and they use magnets to suspend the model over the base. And I've only seen it a couple of times, and actually mostly with science fiction subjects. But it's a really cool way to display it because it does get rid of that can't the pole, the support for the model that it that attaches it to be to the base, be it either an acrylic rod or some sort of hidden support structure.

Excuse me. What you say is true, but that's that's where the creativity comes into mind. I mean what you say is true, but it's a generalization. There have been entries I've seen where uh and I've mentioned before these blurred bases. Right. Where now you kind of angle the base at 45 degrees and in the in the the quote unquote plan on a pole, the pole is between you is between the model and the backdrop. Right. So you hide it. Which ideally is is not in the line of the most the most obvious line of sight to look at the look at the entry or or the of the or the presentation. I like those a lot. Yeah. You know, just the plane on the pole looks just like a you know uh an executive desk model a lot of times. Now it can be a really really fine model, right, versus some of those things, but the the point there is is the the the pole is not hidden at all. Right. It's it's right there in your face, and you've got to mentally separate it from the model. Now another way that I've seen is these box dioramas. Right. Jim over at Small Subjects had an entry, gosh, where was it? San Marcos, where it was the the Lancaster fuselized kit from who came out with it. It was it was supposed to have been uh wing nut wings, but but border ended up doing it, right? Right. And it was a box diorama. I can't remember if it's damn busters or just a night raid or whatever, but when you have complete control of the view angle, you get a lot more, you got a lot more knobs to pull. Right. And another example was the the Moosoroo Cup we all did, and you built it, but the the mini sub? Yeah. Who was it? Was it uh Tim Holland Tim Holland from the Model Geeks did a box diorama.

Yep.

Where he where he did a force perspective with the little mini sub, and I can't remember what the aircraft was to save my life.

Catalina.

And that worked really well too. And in fact, given the time he had to complete that, I I would really like to see what that could have been. Because it would it was good.

Yes, it was.

Had that been a standalone, no time constraint time constraints kind of thing. So it just worked really, really well. I was really, really pleased with what what he had done with that. I just thought that came off so cool.

Yep.

That's the kind of thing for in-flight, I think, works best. Oh, I agree. It's got kind of the box box diorama.

Box diorama allows you to control the viewers' viewing angle, what they can see and what they can't, and the lighting and everything else. And once you have that ability, then making the model appear as in flight is worlds easier because once you control the angle, you know what the viewer can and cannot see, and you can plan accordingly. Now you still have to plan, but and it's still on a pole. And it's right, it's still generally on a pole, or it's got the man behind the curtain at that point. Exactly. Exactly. But I will tell you that a very convincing in-flight model, regardless of of how it's done, whether it's box diorama or cantilevered, you know, hidden support or whatever, when it's done right, it can be hugely impressive.

So it's it's been a while now, but I can't remember where it was published, but there was a plane getting refueled by a KC-135.

Yeah, there was that's been an at least one national convention. I've seen it done at least once, if not twice.

The refueling plane was suspended on the refueling boom of the KC-135. Right. I cannot remember how the KC-135 was suspended to the presentation.

Mm-hmm.

I don't think that's a good one.

I think I think it was a support, a straight, clear support.

It may have been. So yeah. That's an interesting approach. And, you know, had that been done against a backdrop where it could have been fastened through the wing through a cloud bank or in a box diorama where you had total control over the view angle, that would amped that one up even more. But uh that was an impressive thing, though, to suspend that second model off the refueling boom.

Yeah, it was an engineer, real engineering challenge.

So I think uh the choices are limited for for doing this. But like you said, Dave, the ones who, you know, they amp up their creativity and and do something kind of unorthodox when they pull it off, it's really, really a great thing.

What You Gain By Switching Genres

Well, Dave, this final shop talk segment is one we've talked on before. And it's from Victor Carlson from Murdahl, Sweden. And he wants to know what are the gains from genre changes. And I I, you know, I'll start here because the gets right back to our last episode. Michael Poland and his national award-winning F-16, right?

Right. And he's not a an aircraft modeler by trade.

Well, I think he kind of is at this point, but the the the point was he spent a lot of time painting figures just to get good at brush painting.

Yep.

And he ported that over to this F-16 project to do all the avionics bays and all the the weapons bays and stuff.

Mm-hmm.

So I I think for for me and where where where this where this resonates with me is the the the Moussarook stuff we've we've done over the last seven years.

Right. Well particularly something like a car the or or a truck.

I would never built a Gundam kit had it not been for Moosaroo Cup. Yeah. And you know I didn't I didn't push that one a lot but I I tried a few things. I I I did the the old the whole what would you say the the heat affected m metallics where you've got the blues and the purples and the reds and the yellows or whatever showing in in the in the metallics. I did a little bit of that just to play around with with like Tomia clear colors. Yep. I don't know if I'd only stayed true to my primary genre of 35th scale armor. Would I even own Tommy Clear colors I don't know maybe for the occasional tail or headlight. Yeah. Maybe but certainly wouldn't have would have pushed on them that hard no I wouldn't think so. And then you know the the car from the from the last Musaru cup custom decals was something worth exploring. I don't I don't know if I'll ever do it again. I might but I kind of know what to do now.

Right. You've got it in your back pocket if you need it.

That was a gloss finish beyond anything I'd ever done before. Now it could be better. I I'll admit that but uh certainly certainly it's nothing I would have done either with my primary genre of armor or even my my second one of of 70 second scale aircraft now would I have ever ever done anything like that. So learned a lot of things from both those moose root cup projects ah there's another one. The truck the little 70 second scale truck we did the one I did in the Hot Wheels box. Right. I don't know if I'll ever apply it again but for that one what I did well I had two things like how do I make injection molded plastic look like die cast metal on a cheap toy car and how do I make the other parts that aren't probably if it were a a Hot Wheels car that would probably not be metal how do I make those look like just molded in color plastic. So you know for that was just a thought process. And the solution was simple for the for the die cast metal you it's like 13 coats of gloss coat to kind of get that you know that powder coated metal finish on it right. And then the the the molded in color was just a a flat finish over probably a satin finish actually over a painted part but in multiple coats do you just start to start to get that that soapy look yeah like in like plastic molded in color. Would have never even thought about doing anything like that had it not been for the Moose Root Cup. So genre changes can can uh help you explore new avenues certainly add to your toolbox of skills it could even shift what you focus on as a modeler ultimately yeah because you may find you end up liking and having an aptitude for something that you never would have thought of had you not tried it.

What about you man? What do you think of this one? I would echo what you said that you ultimately it's you're going to learn something you're going to do something that you haven't done before you're going to try something that you haven't tried before. And yeah we do that inside our genre but particularly if you're more productive than you and I are I think people can get into a rut where they're used to building aircraft or after aircraft or after aircraft or armor piece after armor piece after armor piece and they get into the rut where everything looks the same even on vastly different models. And it's because you've stopped trying to do new things and I think a genre change can really lead to a breakout from that rut.

I think so so Victor if you're considering it do it.

That'd be my advice for scale modelers basis by bill is the name in innovative display solutions whatever the project whatever the scale want the custom touch bases by Bill offers hardwood bases finished with engraved or full color flackers, your text unit emblems and national insignia the finishing detail that gives your aircraft armor or chip a unique display. And now the entire simple base range of bases is available with both circular and square hardwood holders a polished plastic look that frames your model beautifully from every angle. Base styles include World War II American and Japanese wooden carrier decks, American CBN decks, concrete airfields and Soviet era hex and Pag 14 tarmacs with contest and show season here's by Bill can also craft your club's major awards plus 123 or gold silver bronze. A wide range of styles and options are perfect for clubs of any size and budget. Visit basesby Bill dot com because there's always something new at Basesby Bill folks it's the Benchtop Halftime Report Dave?

Bench Updates And Decal Wins

Yes what's going on on the bench at Dave's house?

Well I've got a brief halftime report bench top halftime report because I the last two weeks I have not gotten a lot of modeling done but I have gotten some modeling done Skippy came over and he and I built for a couple of hours and I he while he worked on both the Ferry Fulmer he's working on and the Arma Hawk 81A that he's working on I was working exclusively on the Hawk 81A and particularly the decals in the cockpit area which are numerous I mean you reflect back even into the 80s about the only cockpit decal you got was an instrument panel whereas the uh armakit on this Hawk 81A you have 10 12 decals that go into the cockpit area you have an instrument panel but you also have others and so I was putting those on and either I have gotten wildly better at placing small decals or Arma's decals are much better than anything I've ever worked with because these things and I pretty much have completed all of the ones in the cockpit I think I've got one left to do these things have been easy to place easy to get to stay in place they have you know conformed beautifully to the surrounding molding and I would like to believe that it's me and I've gotten wildly better at decaling I don't think it is I think these decals are particularly good. Well they are they're cartograph decals yeah and they are just they're wonderful and I it it's been a pleasure so that's the sum total of my modeling in the last two weeks but it's been fruitful and it's been enjoyable and you wouldn't think placing a tiny dial face decal into a receptacle on the floor of a P40 would be at all enjoyable but it was and it worked and yay arma.

So that's my bench top halftime how about yours well I'm also working on the Hulk 81 just started decaling so I I put one down one of the placards on the inside of the left left side cockpit wall. Yep. Let's see if I have the same results you did. I'm interested to find out looking forward to getting that done and closing it up because you know we talked to Inch at the MMCL show and he had a he had this kit on the table completed and just gonna see how this goes versus what he had to say. Yep and we'll we'll save that we'll we'll save that for later but uh he's a nice nice looking model man.

Yeah and you can go take a look at his blog if you go to the Inch I blog and search back you will find his blog post on the Armahawk 81 so I would encourage you to do it.

In addition to that since we've come back from our own local show man I've I've pulled out the KV85 tracks and I'm looking them over I'm getting a plan I'm probably gonna prime them this week. Yay and then and then figure out how I want to proceed with them I I got a I got an idea. We'll talk about that later. But so it's not completely stagnant. Good we're gonna we're gonna try to get something done on it this week.

Stay tuned folks probably be on the dojo plastic model mojo is brought to you by Squadron. Head on over to squadron.com for the latest in kits and accessories all at a great price and with great service check out their wide selection of kits and supplies including a growing range of squadron's own line of paints and 3D printed kits and accessories. Mark your calendar for April 2nd through April 4th 2027 and join squadron and the Chattanooga scale modelers at the Chattanooga Model Con EagleQuest 2027.

Squadron adding to the stash since 1968 I can say I know for certain that your wallet has been a little bit broken recently because I witnessed it.

What Broke Our Wallets

So what broke your wallet the vendors at the MMCL show took some of my money. Good it wasn't obscene. What did you get? I bought really quickly like as soon as nine o'clock rolled around and we were ready to rock and roll man two Osprey masterclass books. Yep John Prigent's armor modeling and then Alex Clark's small scale armor modeling books. These are the hardbound but flatfold spiral ramp spiral bound books that that you can lay out flat and put on your workbench and the pages won't close on themselves. Yep I really like that now these are a little bit they're a little bit dated. Right but they're full of what I would say are are pre 3D craftsmanship that makes sense and at $10 a piece I mean come on. Yeah couldn't pass them up couldn't pass them up. In addition to that I found a fine mold Messer Schmidt 410 one of the initial offerings with the with the resin figure included yep yeah for $14.

That was a great deal I wish I'd seen it I would have bought it out for my I I couldn't couldn't let that one go.

So that was a that was a good one. And then finally oh man I hope I hope I get to a point where I actually sometime actually build this kit. Yep. Dragon's 35th scale UH1D this is a former panda models kit that Dragon inherited at some point and then they had it in their catalog for about two seconds. Two seconds a year 18 months maybe I had one at one point and sold it to somebody in our club and just wasn't long after that I regretted it because it went out of production and the price went way up. Yeah. So I bought one that was complete in a really roached box for a fair price. Glad to get it looking at it you know all the dragon enhancements to the original panda kit are really good. The the pan the plastic still got some limitations and some detail issues that aren't quite up to standard that if if dragon would have tooled this kit proper you know what I'm saying?

Yep I know which would have been better.

So but you know CMK makes some upgrades for this thing so I don't know maybe I need to start shopping for those but was glad to find it for the price I found it at so that's what I got. What about you man? Is that it? That's it. It's all I got well no there is one more thing. Okay. A gentleman from the Roscoe Turner chapter up in Indy was selling a sheet of model kit manufacturer logo decap stickers. Yep I bought some of those I thought that was pretty cool. I won't be decorating something with those I'm sure now that's all I bought.

Okay. Well I obviously I've talked about it I bought a new model display case that I'm assembling. It's a lighted built-in lighting model display case and it's coming along in addition after watching Paul Budzig's soldering photoetch video several times I went out and bought a soldering iron and the supplies and am going to at some point soon start practicing that because that's a skill I want to learn. So I so those are modeling related purchases and then went to the MMCL show and I bought several kits and now I have to look at a photograph because I took a photograph of what I had purchased and now I have to actually go look at it. Oh here it is the one thing that I got that was a really interesting find is a company out of I think Poland called Answer made a 72nd scale CASA 295M which is the military version of the CASA 295 passenger plane slash transport and I picked it up because a it had Polish markings in it which I Poland's a really big user of it Canada just purchased like 13 of these things. So even though there aren't markings in the kit there are certainly going to be markings for Canadian version. And it's just it's real unusual. It's something from a manufacturer that you don't see it's a kit you don't see and I saw it and it was a good price so I picked it up I picked up Special Hobby Mirage 3. I picked up an airfix British Phantom because it was a really good price and came with a whole bunch of aftermarket in the box I bought a Revell Hunter FGA 9 72nd scale because those things are really hard to find for some reason. And I wanted to have one in the stash so I bought one and then I bought a Revell 72nd scale HE177 even though I already have at least two of those kits already it was just a price that I couldn't pass up and I wanted to have another one if for no other reason than spares. I also bought a couple of decal sheets and a couple of books. So you know after what I bought at the Nationals I really should not have bought any of this but I couldn't resist it. So I went ahead and bought and I'm glad I did and I'm not going to apologize for it.

That's what broke my wallet all right man well we didn't do too bad plastic model mojo is brought to you by Model Paint Solutions, your source for hard earned steam back airbrushes David Union power tools and laboratory grade mixing measuring and storage tools for use with all your model paints be they acrylic enamels or lacquered check them out at www.modelpaint solutions.com Mike we're about the end of the episode and I suspect that both of us are going to have a very good modeling fluid wrap up to report I hope so I'll start first it's Weller

Modeling Fluid Wrap-Up And Shout Outs

it's not going to be anything but some of the best bourbon you'll ever taste in your life I enjoyed it it was great thank you co-host you're very welcome but I walked away with a good bottle too compliments to Bill Moore and we'll talk about that one later.

This one this this Westland from uh Westland flagship American single malt whiskey courtesy of Tim Nelson from uh Seattle it's good you know I I tell you the thing with all these non-bourbons is they're all they all just taste young this is good but it still has that little bit of leather taste to it yeah now the flavor palette is completely different because it's a single single malt kind of thing. So the mash bill's a little different right it's good I would certainly drink it again I really appreciate the bottle and the experience the the labels are wonderful it's got a a double sided label where you can see the inside from the inside of the bottle you can see stuff on the back side of the external labels. Nice bottle flavor is good there's there's just that hint of youngness in there that that I really like to know if they're gonna age anything past they need a flagship eight year or a flagship 10 year I'd really be curious what that would be like but this one's good. I'm I'm not disappointed and I I I appreciate it Tim it's a it's a good one from a bourbon standpoint it it reminds me of the stuff we've gotten from Texas. Gotcha that is bourbon right but it's young it's got that flavor note in it that's it's leather is the only way to describe it. And you can kind of get the single malt part of it I don't want to say it tastes like scotch but it does kind of lean that way just not all the way in it's I I can't explain any better than that. This this whiskey has a really unique flavor palette. I think it suffers just a little bit from the newness but overall it's it's really good.

Well good well Mike I've got uh we are at the end of the episode and I've got one quick shout out and that is to our home club MMCL for putting on a fantastic show giving us the opportunity to sit around and talk with modelers like Bill Moore, Ben Pluth, Inchai, and all of our club members and see over 400 really nice models. So my shout out is to the membership of MMCL well I'll second that and then I want to I want to shout out Bill Moore.

Yep Bill came up and camped out with us at the at the hotel that first night came up a day early had dinner with us had breakfast with us kept coming by the table during the show and was just really nice to get that much time with Bill because you know we see Bill a lot. Bill gets around to a lot of the the bigger shows and we saw him at Nats we saw him at Amps we we've seen him several places it was nice to see him on our home turf and to to to hang out with him and uh just have that kind of casual non-obligated kind of kind of time with him you know fully agree. All right man you got anything else that's it brother well we are at the bloody end of this one man Dave as we always say so many kits so little time and I don't know man what's next? I don't know we'll find out