Today, I'm showcasing the work of a superb auto modeler, fellow club member, and friend, Jim Palasz.
Jim passed away suddenly earlier this month. I first met him when he was trying to match the blue of the Minolta decal on the Tom's Toyota in the first photos. These models now occupy a place of honor in our display case. Fare well, Jim, you are going to be missed.
Be good to one another, and as always, I bid you Peace.
I'm back…
I may as well start with the bad news. My mother passed away on 26 February. Her health never recovered from her two falls, and to be honest, it was more relief than sorrow to me when she crossed over. She's with dad and the rest of the family that has gone before, and I like to think they're catching up on old times…
Funny thing, though–after the memorial service, my sister-in-law kept on saying that Mom was going to mess with her. The family wanted to get together and do something after the memorial. When we last were together in December, we went to Joe's Crab Shack (Mom loved her seafood), so we decided that we'd all go back there after the service. There were 13 of us, but we told them 14. First weird part of the story–we got the same exact table we had in December. There were a few different faces this time, but those of us who had been there in December pretty much all sat where we had back then, and we left the seat Mom had been in back then vacant. Next, it got really weird–those who wanted appetizers ordered them. They arrived, and no sooner had the plates been cleaned, an order of mozzarella sticks arrived–an order that nobody had placed. The server says, "This has been happening to me all day, sorry. Enjoy them on the house." I looked at my brother and sister-in-law and said "There's your sign." See, one of mom's favorite appetizers was mozzarella sticks. I imagine she and dad and everyone else up there got a good chuckle out of that one…
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Between the end of February and the service on 9 March, I had some time to go through some boxes of stuff I brought to the house when I last visited Mom. Going through the photos, I found several years' worth of Christmas photos, and in most of them were pictures of our stacks of Christmas SWAG–and in most of those pictures, there were model kits. I say it often, but it is true–back then (1970's-1980's), that's something kids did. We had video games (Pong, Atari), but we also still built models. I'll share some of those photos at some point in the future…
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My wife has a librarian friend who came upon several large boxes of modeling magazines. Since her library had no use for them, she called my wife to see if she would like to have them. My wife said yes, made a donation to the library, and hauled the collection home. There was a mix of plastic and radio control modeling magazines, and among the boxes were some issues of "Scale Modeler", "Scale Aircraft Modeler" from the UK, and some early issues of "The Squadron", the magazine the Squadron Shops used to sell. Interesting stuff, and I'll share those with you, too.
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While I was in Ft. Lauderdale dealing with Mom's estate, I found the time to stop by the IPMS/Flight 19 meeting. While some of the faces have changed, and the venue had moved, the meetings were much the same as when I was General, President, Doctor, and Dictator-for-Life for about seven years between the early 1990's and about 2000. They had just held their annual contest the previous weekend, and from what I heard they had quite a successful show, indeed. I was happy to see that the Chapter was as healthy (healthier, actually) as it was when I ran the show. One of the Old Guard had sent some books in so he wouldn't have to toss them. Among the boxes I found Volume 1, Number 2 of "Scale Modeler". An interesting observation–back in the day, they ran articles on all sorts of modeling, both static and operational (slot cars, radio control and free flight, model soldiers, etc.)–about the only thing they didn't cover was model railroading. One piece that caught my eye was a two-page spread by some guy named Bill Koster on scale radio control airplanes. If the name rings a bell, it should–Bill was a long time employee at Monogram Models, and has his own one-man cottage industry that makes vacuum form conversions and kits called Koster Aero Enterprises. I've met the man several times–although I doubt he remembers–and he's always been a wealth of information, information he is not shy about sharing. Back at the 2005 IPMS/USA Nationals, he sold my wife a 1/48 scale PB4Y Privateer conversion kit for the Monogram standard, and he spent nearly a half hour giving her tips on how to get the best end product out of the conversion, even examining the kit and replacing some parts that we wasn't happy with. On the spot. Bill Koster is an example of a true gentleman in every sense, and it was interesting to read his tips on scale radio control airplanes.
I also got to see some folks that I hadn't seen in a very long time. It was a joy being able to catch up with so many old friends. I'm only sorry that I didn't have enough time to spend with each and every one of them. Next time, though…
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I think that about wraps this installment up. Until next time, be good to one another. I bid you Peace.
Yeah, yeah, I know…
See, its like this: I finally had enough time to collect my meager thoughts. The new car was running nicely (and still is), work was humming along, the family stuff was on an even keel…
I even got to take a vacation. What happened after that? See the title to this post…
We're a small shop at work–we do with five or six technicians what other shops won't touch unless they have at least ten people available to work the job. We schedule things pretty tight, too–remember what I've said in the past about the empty hangar not making us any money? With things packed nose to tail, everything has to pretty much run like a Rolex (by the way, did you see the Rolex 24? More later…) or the whole schedule turns into a logjam. Yep. You guessed it. Unforeseen problems with parts, unexpected findings, and some aircraft sales issues clogged the pipeline a bit. As a result, we're trying to unburden ourselves from said pile of airplanes. We have two in the hangar, two on the ramp, and two stashed in various hangars around the airport to keep them out of any inclement weather that might move in. And, get this–we have two more on the way early next week. So it kinda goes without saying that we're working overtime. Lots of overtime. As in seven day a week overtime. The money's good, yes, but you have to be alive to enjoy it. Fortunately, we're on schedule to deliver one by the close of business Monday, and another a day or so after that. But we're still up to our eyeballs in aviation fun…
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To add to the array of spinning plates, my mother is again in poor health. She was improving when we saw her in December, then she suffered a pretty significant setback, one which the family is dealing with. Lots of issues there, not least of which is I'm going to have to carve away some time to visit. Or clone myself. Or both.
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All isn't gloom and doom, though. I have actually tried to get back to the workbench and get some stuff done. I broke my vow of not starting anything new until the backlog was done and started on the new Airfix 1/72 scale Folland Gnat T.1. It has been a relatively quick build, and I hope to be able to get some color onto the model shortly. There were a few minor issues. The fit of the wing to the fuselage can be tricky–be careful once you get everything ready for the glue. If you don't get a good, tight fit where the wings meet the inlets, work on it before you get out the glue brush–if you don't, you'll wind up with a slight gap that could set your wing askew. I'm speaking from experience, here. Also, watch the part numbers when you build the slipper tanks–I didn't and got the left top on the right bottom and vice-versa. By the time I noticed, the tanks were permanently fused. I had to trim and shim to get them to fit. I hope that those of you reading this take heed and learn from my ignorance.
I'm gonna build this one up using the kit decals. I figured it would be a good slump-buster, and I was right–were it not for all the overtime and other things, I'd have it finished by now.
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Other things, you ask? Well, in addition to the family stuff, the court date for the guy who caused the accident in November came up a few weeks ago. I think I told you all at some point that the man is 82-years old. Well, when I saw him enter the courtroom, it reinforced what I had been thinking–he's indeed 82, has two hearing aids, two canes, and glasses with lenses thicker than any I've seen on a pair of glasses. How this man–a fine man, I'm sure–can hold a driver's license evades me.
Anyway, he wanted to speak with the judge. The way traffic court works in South Carolina starts with your ticket. If you pay it and take the points, your case is removed from the docket. You also have the option of holding the court date and speaking with the law enforcement officer who cited you. At that point, the two parties usually work out what amounts to a plea agreement with reduced fine, you pay the fine and take the reduced points, the case gets closed, and all is right with the world. If you either don't want to speak with the LEO or don't like what he or she is telling you, you appear before the judge. This session was to start at 10AM. The trooper was in a jury trial and was not going to be able to appear until just before the judge was ready to take the bench. By the time the trooper showed, there were about five minutes left before the judge entered the court. An interesting conversation took place:
"I want to talk to the judge. I want my ticket throwed out."
"Sir, I doubt the judge will do that, especially since there are several witnesses to the case present in the courtroom today."
"I wasn't speedin'. There was other cars passin' me like I was on flypaper."
"Sir, you weren't cited for speeding. You were cited for driving too fast for conditions."
"But them folks wuz speeding!"
"Sir, I run traffic stops there all the time. I understand what you're saying, but I didn't cite you for speeding. We weren't running a speed stop that day, and while they may have been exceeding the speed limit, that's not what you got the ticket for. Traffic was stopped, and by your actions, you damaged seven vehicles."
This went on for a while. Then, he changes the subject:
"My van was totaled! They gots to get one of them lit signs warning about congestion or sumpin' on the road. I've been driving for seventy two years, and ain't never had anythin' like this…"
"Sir, I understand you vehicle was totaled–so were three others. As for the signs, the judge here can't help you. All he will want to hear from you is guilty or not guilty of the charge of driving too fast for conditions."
He pressed that issue for several minutes. Then, another quick sidestep:
"My brakes musta failed or my foot musta slipped."
"Sir, we tested your van's brakes–even with all the damage, the system was intact and you had a firm pedal. But that's also something the judge isn't interested in…"
The trooper had to explain this to the man at least three times before he switched tracks again:
"The hospital cut me loose and I wuz still hurtin'!"
"Sir, You'll need to take that up with the hospital. This judge won't rule on that. All he wants to hear is guilty or not guilty to the charge."
Then the guy's wife starts chiming in:
"Can't you reduce the fine?"
Ma'am, the fine is $81.88 and two points, the lowest traffic fine we are allowed to levy on this charge. The judge will not reduce the fine lower than that."
"You really think not? My husband's a Veteran and everthin'."
"Ma'am, even if the judge thought your husband was the finest man he'd ever met, he can't, by law, reduce the fine. He could be a Saint, and the law still applies."
Finally, the couple decide that maybe it is best to pay their fine, take the points, and move on. Much to my delight and to the delight of the other witness. Of course, by the time they decided this, the judge entered the courtroom. We did the polite thing and sat until the trooper and judge dismissed us.
There's several hours of my life I'm never gonna see again. But if he made his appearance with no witnesses present, the case would have likely been dismissed. So, I did my good deed for the day, and got a few hours away from work on top of it all. Sometimes life is like that…
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During one of the lulls in the action, my wife and I paid a visit to one of the smaller hobby shops in the area, one that we hadn't been to in quite a while. When I say small, I mean it in size, mainly–what the shop lacks in size is usually offset by some of the stuff held within it's walls. We poked through the stacks, and I noted that the owner must have bought parts of a collection. One man's trash (or SIDNA) is another man's treasure (or future SIDNA, depending on how the stars align): I snagged a Fujimi 1/72 scale HSS-2B Sea King in JASDF markings for $12 and a Hasegawa 1/72 scale F-111F for about $20 and some change. Not bad, considering Hasegawa is pricing the kits of the Pig that they do re-release at nearly double that. I also noticed some HO scale/gauge Proto2000 Atlantic Coast and Florida East Coast locomotives priced nicely–I didn't get them yet, but will soon do so. It pays to shop local, doesn't it?
The Fujimi Sea King is a nice kit that can be difficult to find. It had most of the detail differences included (sponsons, short and long horizontal stabilizer, ice shield) in the box. I'd like to have some fun and maybe build this one as one of the CH-3B's that the U. S. Air Force used to resupply the Texas Tower radar sites or to recover drones. Eventually, I will build a Navy version or three, but the Air Force titles on an engine gray and orange helo intrigue me…
As for the -111, I may again break my vow in order to do something I've meant to do for years. Stay tuned.
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On our trip to Florida, we stopped by the usual haunts and came up with a few hits. I bought the wife a copy of the new Kinetic T-45 Goshawk. It is a nice kit–she has already finished the model, and it looks quite nice. I also managed to snag a Revell Germany issue of the 1/72 scale MPM A-20G kit. Just as nice at half the price. Really.
She found one of the new Academy 1/48 scale F-4B Phantom II kits, which she promptly wrapped and gave to me on Christmas. Personally, I think it is a superb kit regardless of the hubbub on the 'net. Mine is destined to wear the Top Hat of VF-14…
She also was directed towards a Zvesda 747-8 kit that I had spied for an oh-so-nice price. So she's got that going for her…
Before we left on the trip, she had pre-ordered a couple of the new Meng 1/72 scale F-102A kits. All I can say is that if you are a Century Series fan, get one. Or two. Or a half-dozen. Yes, they are that nice…
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The 51st running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona is history. Scott Pruett won for the fifth time, tying Hurley Haywood in the most wins in "Daytona's twice 'round the clock classic" department. Let's say that I'm not Scott's biggest fan, but I do appreciate the achievement. Winning once is a lifetime goal of so many people, so to win it five times is truly remarkable. And I'm glad that Charlie Kimball was on the team for this race–Charlie races in the IndyCar series even though he has Type 1 diabetes–he carries a Novo Nordic FlexPen in the car with him, and he's done quite well for himself on the track. He's also a nice guy, and I'm happy that he now can say he was on a winning team in Daytona. Wayne Taylor Racing and their new partner Velocity Worldwide was on the second step of the podium this year. The BMW's were the class of the field, so Wayne's Corvette DP just didn't have the muscle to keep pace, even with Max Angelelli, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Wayne's son Jordan sharing the duty. Last year's winner, Michael Shank Racing's #60 car, finished third but was later fined and stripped of all the winnings and most of the points because of a rules infraction. Part of the fines go to Camp Boggy Creek…
In the GT ranks, Audi and Ferrari came to play, and play they did. Audi Sport/AJR took first, AudiSport/APR took second, and AIM Autosport/FXDD took theird in their Ferrari 458. And, the new GX class had mixed results–the three top finishers were all Porsche Caymans. Three Mazda6 GX entries met with misfortune early on, all of them dropping out due to engine and mechanical problems after 50 laps.
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So there you are. We covered a lot of ground this time–some work woes, some family woes, some interesting disorder in the court, some plastic tales, and some racing. I hope that holds you for a while.
And I hope to be back sooner. Can't make any promises, but I'll do my best to fill your head with useless trivia, questionable knowledge, and goofy tales from back in the day.
Until then, thanks for reading. Be good to one another, and I bid you Peace.
Howdy, y'all!
Yep, I'm back…need I tell you that I've been busy and life has become hectic yet again?
So, what does one do when one needs to make a post to let everyone know one is still alive? Well, let's start with another one of those *$m@ airplane stories…this time, I'm going to tell you about my brief acquaintance with Douglas AD-4NA, U. S. Navy Bureau Number (BuNo)126882, N91945, replete (at the time) in VA-176 "Papoose Flight" colors…
If you were an airplane geek and lived anywhere in the coastal region of Central Florida in the 1980's, you knew of two important facts: The Valiant Air Command had formed in Titusville and had airshows every Spring, and a man named Harry Doan was a Colonel in the organization. I first learned of both when, driving around Daytona Beach, I spied a large, fenced lot off Big Tree Lane–and contained within that large, fenced lot were carcasses of H-34's. Lots of H-34's. The sign on the fence said "Valiant Air Command–Big Tree Division". The man who owned the lot was, of course, Harry Doan, and Harry had a helicopter service–hence the many H-34's, I believe he used them for spare parts. I never got to meet Harry, so I have to go on what I was told at the time. His main facility was at the New Smyrna Beach airport, and along with said helicopter service, he also re-built and flew warbirds. The first of Harry's airplanes I ever saw was a Hawker Sea Fury–but he didn't call it that. His was a "SkyFury". See, Harry knew that the original Bristol Centaurus sleeve-valve radial engine was A: temperamental and 2: hard to source parts for. So, being the wily old airplane guy he was, he removed the Centaurus and installed a Wright R-3350 he had removed from a Douglas AD Skyraider. They were about the same size and weight, so I guess the swap was fairly straightforward. I saw the airplane fly at several airshows, and it was quite a sight. Later on (2006), I got to see an honest-to-goodness Sea Fury fly, too, and the sensory experience was day to night different–the 3350 sounds like many U. S. built radials, it has a distinct sound. Well, so does the Centaurus…
Anyway, back to the story at hand…after I had graduates from The Harvard of the Sky, I went to work in Ft. Lauderdale. My roommate had graduated the semester after I had, and he went to work for the space program and had also started to do some work for the VAC. He reminded me of the airshow, and I would go every year to watch the hardware take flight, and to see what he was working on at that particular time (the first airplane he worked was a total rebuild of an F4U Corsair that would be assembled from at least two wrecks–a -4 and a -7–and many more fabricated parts and to the best of my knowledge was never finished; the last one I knew he was working on was an Avro Anson that I believe still sits in the VAC hangar/museum, also waiting to be restored to this day). It was an annual ritual, of sorts–I'd drive up on Friday, we'd go to the show on Saturday, and I'd be home by Sunday afternoon.
The 1992 VAC Warbird Airshow started nicely enough, and it looked like we'd get to see some unusual hardware take flight–someone had brought a fairly freshly restored Canadair Sabre (a Canadian built F-86F), a group known as "The Georgia Boys" had not only a T-37, but also a C-119, a group of folks had rescued a C-123 from Customs impound in Ft. Lauderdale and had it ready to fly, and Harry had his Skyraider there. Our friend Bill Noriega was on the Air Boss scaffold, as he was every year. We walked the flight line, looked at the airplanes on display, then moved over to the viewing area. We stuck close to Bill, since he could tell us what was up next.
A group of T-6's and T-28's did their thing overhead. At the same time, a group of airplanes–including the Skyraider, but I can't recall to this day what else was with it–waited their turn and the Sabre was in the process of spooling up, too. As the Texans and Trojans landed, the next group took flight. They marked time as the previous airplanes landed and as the Sabre took off. Once the runway was clear, the Skyraider led their flight over show center. They zoomed and looped overhead until their time came to return to the Earth. As the Sabre took center stage, we noted a huge could of dust at the departure end of the runway. We looked up the tower to Bill, and he told us to hang close–something had happened to the AD, and he wasn't sure what. As the Sabre wheeled in the blue sky, something darker was beginning to unfold…
At the time, few were aware of what happened, but they knew something was going on when the next group of airplanes to fly sat in the display area, idling. After a few minutes, they were told to shut down. At that moment the airshow effectively ended. The Sabre landed on the intersecting runway, taxied to a taxiway across the airport, and shut down.
Bill tossed a hand-held radio to us and told up to stay on frequency–he had requested the Fire Rescue squad to go take care of the situation. We were told that the Skyraider landed hot and long, and had flipped on it's back when it overran the runway threshold and hit a sand berm. We did as we were told–we listened and waited. Word slowly got back to us that yes, the airplane was upside-down. Then we got word that they were trying to get Harry out. Finally, we got the word that Harry had died. (The accident was noted by the Daytona Beach News-Journal on the following Tuesday–scroll to page 21 of this link…)
The next morning, Bill and a few of us went to the end of the runway to get the airplane upright and to the VAC hangar. That was a trip I never really want to take again…
Aviation is a small world. Several years later, I got to actually work on the same airplane when Denny Sherman of Sherman Aircraft Sales brought it to us for an intercom installation. I looked it over, and couldn't believe it was the same airplane. I later gave Denny a model in the same markings that I had built from a Monogram kit earlier that year, a model I built to honor Harry, a man I never knew but wished I had. Men like that have colorful histories, and more of them are leaving us every day.
Bill Noriega is also gone, from lung cancer. He passed about ten years ago, and I recall with great amusement those times when a group of us would descend uopn the Who-Song and Larry's Ft. Lauderdale location, where the server was told "Give us a couple orders of shrimp stuffed hollowpenises (Bill's phrase for jalapeños) and a couple buckets of beers. We'll let you know when we're ready for seconds…"
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Speaking of colorful men who are no longer with us, my uncle, a WWII Marine who saw action on Okinawa, left us last week. I build a few models for him about ten years ago:
A Tamiya 1/48 scale F4U-1D. Uncle Ted would tell me stories about his ride in a Corsair–he sat in the seat pan and the pilot sat on his lap…
An Accurate Miniatures 1/48 scale SBD-5 Dauntless. Uncle Ted rode in the back set of these many times, but not as aircrew. He'd go on short hops just to ride…
And, finally, an Accurate Miniatures 1/48 scale TBM-3 Avenger, just because. The Avenger and Corsair bases are scratchbuilt carrier decks made from basswood and plastic strips. The Dauntless base is HO scale ballast painted to depict a crushed coral parking area. Pardon the quality, these photos were taken ten years or so ago with equipment of the era…
Uncle Ted, we miss you already, but we know you're home again. Semper Fi!
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As a follow up on an earlier airplane story, here are some more leads on Catalina Zero-Four Juliet…
First, a story by one of the passengers aboard on that last, ill-fated trip. And, finally, a brief history of the CIA PBY's.
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As far as plastic goes, I haven't done a whole lot–except acquire kits. Today's purchase was the 1/35 scale Hobby Boss rendition of the IDF's Merkava IIID. From what I've read, it compares favorably to the Meng kit of the same subject, and it would appear that Hobby Boss corrected the suspension goof of their Merkava IV. I also was influenced to buy Italeri's 1/35 Carro Armato M13/40 Italian medium tank–our fearless leader at the AMPS Chapter is busily kitbashing a proper M13/40 with the Italeri kit (which is actually a pretty accurate M14/41) and Tamiya's M13/40 (which, he tells me, isn't the most dimensionally accurate thing out there). I'm slowly plugging away on the StuG IV as well, so as I get spare time, I should be able to complete another kit or three. It seems that I'll go for weeks without touching plastic to weeks where I'm popping them out in quick succession. Maybe that stems from my pledge to clear the backlog before I start anything new…
Thanks for reading. Be good to one another, and as always, I bid you Peace.
Been a while, hasn't it? Yeah, I know. I promised to spend more time with you. I promised to finish more stuff and show it to you. Well, life got in the way. In order to pay the bills, I have a job. And in order to keep said job, I have to work some pretty wierd hours–but you know that already, don't you?
One of the bits of fallout from working all those hours is that I finally got a day off. Not the way I'd like, no, because I spent a good part of the day at the doctor's office and then at the hospital. Nothing serious, but I've been hobbling about for a week or so on a bum knee–when things didn't settle down as usual, the other knee started to hurt, too, so I decided it was high time I had them looked at by a professional (unlike my boss, who, like an eager coach, tells me to "walk it off"). The bottom line is that age is catching up with me–neither knee has been 100% for a long time, and between that, spending a great deal of the day kneeling on a hard aluminum floor (and when I'm not, I'm walking on a hard concrete floor), and arthritis that I've known about for 15 years or so, well, you get the picture. The doctor suspects some inflammation of the soft tissue, but the insurance company wants to have an X-ray before they'll approve an MRI. In the meantime, NSAIDs and rest it is–and in the words of John Astin playing Buddy Ryan (Harry Stone's father on Night Court, not the football coach), "But I'm feeling much better now…"
I finally finished a project! The Operation Cool Snow Hog '82 model in 1/48th scale, in all her glory:
That's Monogram's kit as reissued by Revell. It builds up into the nicest (in my opinion, anyway) 1/48th scale A-10A. I still feel, however, that the world still needs a state-of-the-art A-10A in all scales–the newer kits out there leave a great deal to be desired. A simple base from the craft store, a printed ID card, and a quick protective box made from foam core board, and she is now int he hands of her rightful owner. I'll build another for my collection, using what I learned on this build…like how to get that camoflauge scheme done right and look the part. What you see is the result of at least three attempts and one complete strip and repaint. I still see things that make me cringe on this one. The engine covers hide some particularly nasty intake and exhaust issues with the kit that I didn't care to fix. Lazy? Yep. Next time, I'll get some resin intakes that will eliminate the issues…
Oh, and remember that little waif cat who adopted us last year? Here he is, inspecting the work:
He learned from his big brother, here checking out a Hasegawa 1/72 scale F-16D Barak in 2004:
That's all I have from around these here parts. I'm working diligently to have some progress made on the StuG IV, which will be the subject of an airbrushing demo for the local AMPS Chapter meeting in October.
Thanks for stopping by. As always, be good to one another, and I bid you Peace.
Howdy!
The beginning of the summer finds me once again on the treadmill at work. We're getting busy again, and if all the birds come home to roost (i.e., if all the quotes out for approval come back approved) we'll be booked until close to the end of the year. Truly, in this economy, it is a good problem to have, given the vilification of corporate jets across the board because of the truly stupid actions of a few corporations at the height of the crisis a few years ago…
In the meantime, I've been able to steal a few minutes and work on some projects. The Cool Snow Hog '82 A-10A is nearing completion. I got the repaint done fairly painlessly, although I still have some learning to do with the new airbrush. It is a good job, no doubt, but it isn't the same quality I used to get with the older airbrushes I've used. Once I master the Patriot, I think I'll be right back where I was. All I need is time and practice.
I've also started tinkering with the Monogram 1/48 scale F-106A more and more. It wasn't as bad as I feared it would be, and it is actually further along with the re-scribing than I remember, too. That's a lesson for you, kids–don't give up on a project because it frustrates you, or isn't progressing as you had hoped. Put it aside, a build something else. Eventually, you'll come back to the project and realize that all is not lost. And remember, too, that in order to build better models, you have to finish models. They all won't progress smoothly, but the goal is to get them finished.
On other fronts, I must praise the Newberry County Public Works department. Our house, as I've told you, is out in the country on a gravel road. A sloped gravel road. There are drainage ditches on either side of the road, and the County does periodically re-grade the road. This re-grading started the problems for me a few years ago–when the road got re-graded a few years ago, it lost a lot of the gravel and was largely down to the clay and sand base. Since we live in the woods, the leaves and pine straw mixes with the clay/sand to make mud–and it promptly clogged the culvert under my driveway. I'd dig the clog out, and it would reappear with the next heavy rain. After a while, the clog got to the point where the runoff would bypass the culvert and run down the road at the base of the driveway, creating deep cuts in the road–some, it appeared, large enough to swallow a small car.
After months of digging it out, or trying to blast it out with high pressure water, I finally contacted the County. I heard nothing from them. A few days later, they came out and re-graded the road–again. Three days later, we had torrential rain which once again caused havoc in the road. A second e-mail was sent, and the head of Public Works said they were working on a permanent fix, the just regraded to make the road passable. Within a day of the response, they were back out at the house. The removed the old plastic culvert that our lame-ass GC used when the house was built (against my wishes, by the way, much like a lot of things that are causing problems at the homestead) and installed a new concrete pipe. They brought the grade of the road level at the bottom of the driveway, and they re-defined the drainage ditches on either side of the road, from where it begins to where it ends–they even made two or three diversion cut-offs up the road so the water at that end won't travel all the way from one end to the other. Genius. And, finally, they added about 10 truck loads of crush and run gravel to the wettest areas of the road. We had more or less a week of rain last week, and things are just ducky.
Oh, the down side? They accidentally cut the phone line. AT&T came out and fixed that…
So, now I have to put gutters on the house, get rid of a bunch of trees, and re-grade the yard. I'll do that in my spare time. Yeah. Spare time…
I did tell the higher-ups at work, though, that next weekend was mine. Why? This, of course…
Thanks for reading. Be good to one another, and I bid you Peace.
I'm still recovering from the IPMS/USA Region 12 show, held yesterday in Columbia. To say it was a success would be an understatement. We had 87 contest entrants enter 466 models. An additional 123 people visited us. 50+ vendor tables were more or less packed full of goodies. I know of one minor glitch (and, as Lloyd Christmas said to his pal Harry Dunne in "Dumb and Dumber", "I took care of it!"), but everything else went of with nary a hitch. I was so busy either manning our vendor tables or executing my Assistant Chief Judge duties that I didn't get any photos, and I didn't get to circulate very much. I'm still seeing photos of models that were entered in the show–and wishing I saw some of them in person. That's the way it goes, though–you get so busy with helping run the show that you miss the show. No matter, though–I saw all the aircraft up close and personal, and the quality of the work was super. I managed to see the best of the other categories, too, and if the other ACJ's had the same quality of work, then judging a lot of the classes and categories was tough!
Speaking of vendors, we managed to fill our two tables with no issues–and we managed to sell off most of what we had. Now, I wasn't proud of my stuff–when someone asked why I was "selling out" by pricing them low, I told them that most of this stuff had been moved 8 times, and the last time a lot of it saw the light of day was when I did the inventory last year. Bought with the greatest of intentions, my interests had either changed or I simply realized that I didn't need the kit. Yes, I could have done the eBay thing and made more money. I could have priced them in line with one of the many kit collector pricing guides. And I most likely would have wound up hauling two thirds of it home again. I told anyone who asked that I was more interested in seeing that someone who would build the kits got them than I was in making a ton of money–and anyone who tells you model kits can make you a ton of money is either very patient or operating under a delusion that everything he or she has stashed is worth more than it actually is. What didn't sell got donated to one of the local models for the troops groups–they have the kits on hand for troops who are either waiting to deploy, just back from deployment waiting to go home, or injured troops recovering in various facilities. Again, that goes along with the theme that I wanted to see these kits get built by someone who would enjoy them…
Back to the "I missed the show" theme–back in the day when we held shows in Florida (IPMS/USA Region 11), a good many of the shows were two-day affairs. Registration would be on Saturday, judging would be done Saturday evening, and the awards ceremony would be on Sunday. With the judging being done after the show closed down for the day, you had opportunity to go and look at all the models. The room was empty except for the judges, which left them pretty much unencumbered by the show's visitors, all of whom were still trying to get a look at the models. Up here, I don't think I've been to many two-day shows–most are Saturday-only, and the ones that are more than that are usually Friday night-Saturday deals. There are many reasons for this, and I've noticed a lot of the shows I used to go to in Florida are now one-day events, too. The last show I was directly involved with in Ft. Lauderdale was expensive–the venue alone was $2,400 for the weekend, and we had to guarantee a definite number of room-nights to get that rate. I can see why one-day shows are becoming the norm.
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My trip to Dallas was uneventful. I was glad to see the folks at American Airlines are still working hard to get people from one place to another amid the ongoing bankruptcy and rumors of mergers. The folks I dealt with for both flights were friendly and professional. The Embraer Regional Jets, though, are looking tired. And I'm still puzzled why, with the airplanes in service for this long (initial in-service for the type was 1999), someone at Honeywell hasn't done something to kill that annoying roll oscillation that the airplane exhibits in cruise. It isn't that bad, but you do notice it. If Learjet could do it back in the days of analog circuits and systems, surely a digital or software fix would be possible.
Thanks for reading, and if you attended the show on Saturday, thanks for attending. Be good to one another, and I bid you Peace.
Hello, folks!
After a long absence, I've finally carved out enough time to update the place. Why the absence? Well, the last trip to Dallas put a kink in a lot of things, and it was really more drama that I'd like to remember. I'm also doing my best to try and fight off the creeping crud that seems to circulate around the hangar at this time of year–I've been moderately successful so far, but I fell like I may have caught some of the fringe. Then, well, I got into a funk–a pretty deep funk, too. I'm still in a mild funk, but I think I've found a few things to keep me occupied , and that might just pull me back into the world.
First, a catch-up is in order. The Rolex 24 at Daytona came and went this year, and like most years, we worked on models. My wife built a Fujimi Mazda RX-8 kit during the race, and I think it came out very nicely. I, on the other hand, didn't really feel like doing anything. About an hour into the race, I decided that the 1995 Monte Carlo that has been featured here before was about three hours from being done, so I pulled it out of the queue on the bench and brought it downstairs. It took a little longer that I first estimated, but I did get it all finished–or as finished as it is likely to be. I haven't taken any photos yet, but once I do they'll get posted here. Oh, and congratulations go out to Mike Shank Racing for taking the top step this year–a hard-fought win, one that is well-deserved. Magnus Racing took the GT honors…
We also helped out at December's South Carolina Historic Aviation Foundation's celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the opening of Columbia Army Air Field. Three of the local modeling clubs put on a display of aircraft, ship, and armor models depicting World War Two subjects. The event was well-attended, and the Foundation was pleased to see as many models as they did–we filled 10-12 tables with models.
I've also taken out an old build for a rehab. The model in question is Dragon Models original (1mid-1990's-vintage) Israeli M50 Super Sherman. If you've ever seen and/or built one, you know that the kits takes some work, and that the tracks are perhaps the worst rendition of the HVSS T-80 tracks ever produced. They're also a link-to-link track, with not a lot to keep them together. Well, when I moved from Florida, they exploded like popcorn. Some links were lost and gone forever, while the rest was a hot mess. Well, the other week at the hobby shop, I spied not only Tamiya's new 1/35 scale M51 ISherman, but two sets of AFV Club's replacement track. "What the hell", I thought, "Tamiya's vinyl tracks are good but not great, and I always have the M50 that need replacement track. How hard could this be?" I think you have pretty much deduced the answer. The tracks look great, and they go together moderately easy–until you get to the part where you install the end connectors. Even that isn't the worst part–the end connectors won't stay put without glue, which makes wrapping the track around the running gear a real adventure. And I must have forgotten that the M50 was based on the longer-hulled M4A4–I counted out 79 links (and added a few for insurance), since that's supposedly how many a standard-hulled, HVSS equipped Sherman is supposed to have. Well, this one will take more along the lines of 85 or 86 per side. Now, I'm pretty sure the pitch was the same 16" as the VVSS Shermans, so the only explanation I can think of is that the kit is based on the longer M4A4, or Dragon really screwed up. No matter, there are enough parts in the box to get the job done. There are some loose parts to reattach, and some touch up needed, but once I get these &*%)(*^) tracks to behave, I can paint and weather them, and reassemble the beast.
I've still got the other projects on the burner, too. They'll get some love shortly.
And, lastly, we have a model show coming up in late April–the IPMS/USA Region 12 Regional Show, to be exact. I've already sponsored a trophy (Best Ship) and may do more. I also reserved two vendor tables, too, to get rid of some of the SIDNA that's accumulated upstairs. It will be nice to move some of the kits that I know I'll never build.
Work is a bit on the slow side right now–which is fine by me. We have two of our technicians out of town for the next week or two, working in our Grand Junction shop. We're waiting for a few people to finalize their quotes and bring their airplanes in, too. We're also looking for a larger (better) place to set up the shop.
The last, and most exciting (for me, anyway) think to arise over the past two months is another research project. Out Learjet Program Manager's father flew B-24's out of Italy during WWII. His dad's health is an up/down deal–one day it is up, the next it is down–and he's reached the point where he can't live without constant supervision. While they try to find him a nursing home, they've been gathering his stuff in order to vacate the assisted living facility where he had been living, and they're finding all sorts of his wartime memorabilia. Scott wants a model of a B-24 flown by his dad, so that's what I'm working on. So far, I've hit some dead ends, roadblocks, and faint leads. The more I dig, the more I find–and I keep telling Scott to find his dad's photo albums and logbooks. I'm having fun with this, so far…
Here's hoping I get the funk out and get the funk going…
I hope to see you at the Region 12 Regional Show if you're in the neighborhood.
Thanks for reading–and sticking around. Be good to one another, and I bid you Peace.
I finally was able (once again) to get a weekend off, so the wife and I took a ride to Aiken, SC and Augusta, GA (part of the reason for the ride was to reconnoiter a possible driving route for an upcoming event). While in town, we stopped in at the HobbyTown USA in Augusta. Dave has a large selection of kits, the largest selection I've seen since I left South Florida. So, I wasn't really surprised to see that he had several new kits as well a a whole mess of reissues in stock. Some random thoughts follow…
I like what Round Two Models is doing. In case you haven't noticed, they acquired the rights to several manufacturers' catalogs from years gone by, including AMT, MPC, and Polar Lights. Dave had the reissue of AMT's 1/25 scale 1976 AMC Gremlin X in their "Original Art Series". You get the same AMT plastic from years gone by, and they also include an 11" X 14" print of the artwork less any other copy–no logo, no other text, just the artwork. I just had to pick the kit up, since this is just the type of kit I grew up building. The plastic parts are quite nice–no flash, very nice, very clean. It looks like it will be a fun build, too. The other things about this kit that caught my eye was that Round Two encloses a small fold-out catalog of their products as well as a postcard that asks the buyer "What do you want to see from Round Two Models?" It warms my heart to see a company is once again willing to listen to their customer base. The other Round Two products that caught my eye were a Limited Edition of the 1/16 scale Dodge Charger in the guise of a "Street Charger"–rumor has it that the NASCAR version (the Petty Charger) will be released shortly. Also, their 1/25 scale Big Rig collection has been joined by the reissue of the Diamond Reo. Very nice…
The other kit that caught my eye at HobbyTown USA was the new Revell 1/48 scale PV-1 Ventura. Twenty years ago, I would have been all over this kit like a fat kid on a box of Krispy Kremes–I lived for 1/48 scale WWII aircraft, and the Ventura was one I would have loved to build back in the day. Since then, I have switched scales to 1/72 for multi-engined subjects, but the Revell kit still interests me by the fact that is is a new release from the re-re-reborn Revell. By all accounts, it is quite the kit. I'm happy to see Revell back in the game. I'm also happy to see Revell reissuing recent kits (if you call 10 year old kits "recent") like the 1/48 SB2C, P-47N, and the Prowler/Intruder series. If that doesn't wake you up, have you seen some of the Renwal kits that Revell has been reissuing? Sweet…
Then there's Moebius Models. If you haven't seen them in stores yet, their 1/25 scale kits of the 1952/1953 Husdon Hornet are out, and they are very nice, indeed. My wife preordered the Tim Flock 1952 NASCAR version of the kit, and I am impressed. Build reports from the Internet are saying wonderful things about this kit and its 1953 street version brother. Next up from Moebius is a 1955 Chrysler 300, and I can't wait to see it.
Even better? All of them are offering some sort of newsletter or modeler's club. Nice, right?
I think what we're seeing here is a return of hobbyists having a say in how model companies are run. Back in the days of Lew and Royle Glaser (Revell), Jack Besser and Bob Reder (Monogram), Joe Giammarino and Abe Shikes (Aurora), to name but a few, the model companies were run by modelers and hobbyists. There was a sense of business behind them–after all, if the company made no money, they were out of business–but the driving force was the hobby. These folks were hobbyists themselves, and they knew what they wanted to see. They'd research a subject, and if they thought it would sell, they'd design, tool, and produce the product.
A lot changed, and not for the good, when Nabisco bought Aurora and Mattell acquired Monogram. The hobby people were either out for good or shunted to the side while the businessmen made the product decisions. Now, granted, not every hobbyist running a company had the Golden Touch–when Royle Glaser began running her late husband's company, she did some trimming, since Revell had a huge catalog, but was never very stable financially. But in the end, Revell, too, was sold to a business group. With the departure of the hobbyists, these companies did continue to thrive for a while. But things weren't as rosy, I guess, as they appeared. Monogram merged with Revell. They were bought and sold several times. The Monogram name has all but gone away for new kits. The last new aircraft kit from Revell (not Revell-Germany!) that comes to mind was the 1/48 scale F/A-18E and F kits from around 2005. The names MPC and AMT all but disappeared when Racing Champions acquired the company in the late 1990's. Nabisco liquidated Aurora in 1977. Hawk Models went away, many of their kits reappeared in Testor's boxes.
Recently, though, things have been looking up. J.Lloyd International has the Lindberg, Hawk, Weird-Ohs, Frantics, and Silly Surfers lines in their catalog. Round Two, as we've discussed, has AMT, MPC, and Polar Lights under thier banner, and they have been busy reissuing kits from years past. Moebius is going quite well with their Sci-Fi, vehicle, and various comic book and movie character kits. With the Revell release of the Ventura, one can only hope they are on the road to many more new releases and reissues of their kits from back in the day.
Add to all this the recent releases and reissues from Dragon/DML/Cyber-Hobby, Hasegawa, Trumpeter/HobbyBoss, and Tamiya, several new issues from Italeri along with their extensive back catalog, the availability of Fujimi kits once again in the United States, Academy's releases and reissues, Roden's ever-expanding line of kits from WWI crates to airliners to, well, whatever strikes their fancy…and that's just airplanes, folks. We haven't begun to discuss autos in depth, let alone armor and ships.
If there is any modeler out there who can't see that we are living in another Golden Age of modeling, they haven't been looking very hard. I, for one, am being reenergized…
On another note, I'll be once again heading out to our comany's Dallas facility for a week. I hope to have more time to see the area than I did last November. No rest for the weary…
Thanks for reading. Be good to one another, and I bid you Peace.
I don't even know where to begin…
Since our last visit together, I've been busy–big surprise, huh? Well, it was a good busy, for the most part. We took a trip and visited my mother in Ft. Lauderdale. While we were there, we got some pictures. The houses are all in the neighborhood where I grew up–it isn't as nice as it once was, and I had traffic behind me, so the photos are the best I could do given the circumstances. I simply started popping away with the camera while I drove–much like an RF-4C over Route Pac 6, I didn't dare stop:
The lot where 5446 NW 18 Street used to stand, the duplex we lived in when we first moved to Florida in August 1971. It looks like the city is doing some cleaning, and the two duplexes at the end of the block were demolished.
1631 NW 55th Avenue. We lived in this house from February 1973 until November 1989. Other than the new roof, reconfigured driveway, and the coconut palm in the yard, it looks much the same as it did when we lived there. The circular part of the driveway was just that, semi-circular, when we lived there, it looks like the owners extended it a bit near the house.
1641 NW 55 Avenue, our neighbor's house to the North. It is looking pretty sharp here–which wasn't always the case. A few years ago, it had bright purple trim. There used to be a huge black olive tree in the front yard, right about where the fountain is now…
1611 NW 55 Avenue, two doors down to the south. I remember when that siding went on the house in the early 1980's. I believe the same man still lives there…
1741 NW 55th Avenue, the last house to the north before you got to the duplexes, triplexes, and quads that still apparently are the center of some not-so-nice activities.
We also did some running around town on one of the days we were there. Lunch at Char-Hut is always required, and we always try to stop in at the hobby shops in the area. Here's Warrick's Hobby Superstore, on University Drive south of Peters Road:
There used to be a Sound Advice store to the left in this picture, but since their demise, the hobby shop has expanded all the way to the end of the building, taking over the vacant space. They actually had more esoteric stuff that I figured they would, but largely the selection is Revell, Trumpeter, Tamiya, Hasegawa, and Airfix. Still, not bad considering what it looked like four years ago when there wasn't a geed selection on the shelves…
We had to visit Chuck at RC Hobbies in Tamarac, too:
Same store, and Chuck usually has a pretty good kit selection. He's rearranged the inside of the store since our last visit in 2007, but he still tries to have some of the less-popular stuff in stock.
We spent about a week with my mother, then made the trek home. We stopped in Daytona Beach both on the trip down and the trip home, and on the way home we had a few hours to check the place out. No pics, sorry, but I can tell you this–Daytona changes from year to year, it seems. We were there last for the 2008 Rolex 24, and at the time, the new ISC HQ building was under construction. It is complete now, a monument to themselves. The area around the Speedway is much the same, though, and ARCA testing was going on when we stopped on the way down. Soon, the area will be abuzz with Sports Cars and the Rolex 24. We're not going, again this year–a 3:30 PM start on Saturday pretty much kills the deal for us. Grand Am, are you listening? What happened to the 12 Noon start, so everyone could get a stint in the car when it was light outside?
Once we arrived home, I had no time to rest. I do a lot of baking for the holidays, most of which goes to the in-laws when we visit. With no time to spare, I was able to get it all done:
The first of two cheesecakes. I'd be disowned if I didn't bring them with me. I use Alton Brown's recipe, for those who are interested…
Good, old fashioned, Nestle Toll House cookies. Why mess with a good thing? I don't deviate from the recipe on the bag of semi-sweet chips…
A batch of Quaker Oats' Disappearing Oatmeal Cookies waiting to go in the oven. The recipe is on every tub of Quaker's Old Fashioned Rolled Oats…
Spritz, ready for the oven.
Pizzelle batter and pizzelle iron on deck. I didn't get any pictures of the finished product. Rats!
Something new for me this year, I made Italian Bowknot Cookies. I tried these last year, and they didn't work too well. I think I'm getting the hang of these now…
Another new item, Nutella Ravioli–a Giada DiLaurentiis recipe. They were good, but next year I may reduce the size of them–they're awfully good, but they're awfully rich, too. I didn't follow the recipe exactly, so that's part of the issue. I'll do it proper-like next year and see…
The only holiday baked good that I don't make (nor do most Italians)–Panettone. It is a sweet bread, full of candied fruit and raisins. We made French Toast from ours this year, and all I can say is that you need to try it. Very good, indeed!
As for Christmas, we had an enjoyable time. We spent most of the day at the in-laws, where we were treated to good food and good company. What more can one ask for? I did manage to get a few kits–Anigrand's 1/72 scale XF-103 and XF-108 kits. I guess I can stop scouring the Internet for the Ken Rymal vacuum-formed versions…
We spent New Year's Eve watching the "Big Bang Theory" marathon on TBS. Why I hadn't discovered this show earlier is beyond me–I started watching it when I was in Dallas, and it is a hoot. We switched over to ABC so we could be welcomed into the New Year by Dick Clark and see the ball drop…
As we usher in 2012, I would like to wish all of you Health, Joy, and Prosperity for the New Year.
Thanks for reading. Be good to one another, and I bid you Peace.