(With apologies to Richard Scarry.) My brother and I had a copy of "Richard Scarry's Busy, Busy World" when we were kids, and I must have read that book a few thousand times. My wife also had a copy that she fund when we visited her parents a year or so ago…I do love the way he drew cats!
I had intentions of posting a few more RDUCON photos, but I haven't had the time–or, frankly, energy–to tweak them and get them posted. While we aren't exactly bustin' at the seams at the job, I have had some things to keep me busy, and with the slow period, we've all been trying to catch up with personal things (doctor and dentist appointments, personal leave, etc.) and, believe it or not, keep the shop equipment up and running. I spent almost a week with a paint brush and Safety Yellow paint working while we rehabbed some newly acquired ground support equipment for the shop. A good deal of it had been through two floods in Cincinnati, and it showed. Picking rust, priming, and painting was the order of the day…
Add to that, last week I attended a half-day battery seminar. And, during our clean up sessions, we located three Nickel Cadmium (NiCd) aircraft batteries, two of which were still in good shape. So, yesterday I discharged them and I spent this morning tearing one down to its component parts (cells, case, thermistor strips, shims, etc., etc.) and washing all of it. Tomorrow, I'll be re-assembling it and tumbling the hardware to clean it. Once the first battery is back together, I'll do the same for the other. After that, I have two days chock-full of fun–main charge, top charge, capacity check, and a possible deep-cycle. Repeat. Locate any bad parts and cells, repair, and repeat.
And, during this fun-fest, the state held a mock disaster drill next door. So, we got to watch the dog-and-pony show roll into town yesterday as they set up their circus tents and command posts and media centers and such, and got to watch today as the "victims" were airlifted in (actually, they were waiting on the C-17 in the hangar next door–after the airplane stopped, they walked across the ramp into the airplane, were "injured" or "killed", and toted back off the airplane on litters and body bags), their "injuries" evaluated, and were sent via ambulance or helicopter to the local trauma centers. A few hours later, the airplane flew off. I left work early today to tend to some personal business, but I'm told they repeated the process a few hours later.
Meanwhile, I'm still mulling over just how I plan to attack the A-10A paint job–I did a little repair work where the seams popped open, and I re-attached the parts that came off. Some of the seams needed to be re-filled and sanded, so that got done a few nights ago. I took some time this evening to continue dressing the seams with some 1800 and 2400 grit polishing pads, too. A quick re-mask of the clear parts, and I'll be ready to try again…
Meanwhile, a few comments on my "Thundering Jets" post of a few days ago: about the same time that I posted that article, Phil Friddell posted a piece on Monogram Models on his Replica In Scale blog. I agree with Phil–Monogram was the best in the business back during their heyday. The cockpit and other detailing was crisp, sharp, and accurate–careful painting was the only "detail set" you needed. Sure, the panel lines were of the raised variety–and we didn't care. We were used to them being that way on every kit–Monogram's were usually more petite than the others. One thing that I don't like is that these days, the Revell reissues of Monogram's classics are molded in a different plastic. Monogram used to have a semi-hard, very shiny plastic that took paint well and could be polished very easily when it had to be (buffable metallics, anyone?). Back in the day, an article in FineScale Modeler answered the question–Monogram added a larger proportion of clear styrene beads to their mix than the other manufacturers did, yielding that shiny plastic. These days, the Chinese companies that are molding the kits seem to add more vinyl to the mix, making the plastic softer. And, for whatever reason, the fit is not as good as it once was. The A-10A I'm working on is a Revell reissue, and while Monogram's original was no Nobel Prize for Well-Fitting Model Kits recipient, the Revell reissue seemed to fit even worse. These days, I'd rather buy an original Monogram issue of a kit second-hand than a Revell reissue. Still, though, Revell-Monogram kits are still a very good product for the money. And, if you are interested in 1/48th scale B-29's, F-102's and F-106's 9and many others), you go Monogram or you do scratchbuild.
Be good to one another. I bid you Peace.