Hampton Havoc: Reflections on 2025 IPMS National Convention

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
The Voice of Bob (00:11):
Welcome to Plastic Model Mojo, a podcast
dedicated to scale modeling, aswell as the news and events
around the hobby.
Let's join Mike and KentuckyDave as they strive to be
informative, entertaining andhelp you keep your modeling mojo
alive.

Mike (00:45):
Oh yeah, kentucky Dave.

Kentucky Dave (00:48):
Yeah, Mike, what do you say?
We just cut out this modelsphere section, this episode,
Because I mean we haven't doneanything in the last two weeks
or gone anywhere.

Mike (01:00):
Speak for yourself, but I know it's not even true for you,
man Woo man, I'll say it for mymodel sphere, but I'm.
It's not even true for you, manman, I'll say it for my model
sphere.
I'm going to ask you, dude.

Well, no, I'm going to, I'll preface this.

Mike (01:13):
We both had to come up for air to even get to the
nationals.
Yes.
And then I had to go backunderwater as soon as I got back
into town.

I know Well, I kind of did not to the level you
had to, but yeah, I think it'sfinally over.

Mike (01:28):
on Sunday they were recording.
This is actually one week sincewe returned home from the IPMS
national convention in HamptonVirginia.
Yep.
And, man, I tell you what?
Let's just get into it, brother.
What is up in your model sphere?

Mustang week of the year Every freaking year.

Mike (01:49):
Every time I go I say it was the best one yet, and it was
Well, don't say it this time,even if it was.

It was.
It just had an awesome time,other than the downside of you
having to drive the whole wayboth ways.

Mike (02:04):
You know, that's okay other than that.

I mean just that you know you're visiting the
world's largest traveling hobbyshop, which this year was
incredible model contest,fantastic facility, great
getting to spend four and fivedays with guys that many of

(02:29):
which this is the only time weget to see them during the year,
almost.

Mike (02:33):
Well, a lot of them, yeah.

Yeah, it emphasizes to me once again guys
, get to model contests.
The contest is the leastimportant part of it.
Get to the contest.
You'll connect up with peoplewho have very similar interests

(02:54):
Some people you may interactwith online, others that you've
never met before.
We met gosh, a dozen or morepeople that we had never
interacted with at all, where wehad just really interesting
conversations and my modelsphere is full.

(03:15):
I got nothing else to say otherthan my model sphere is full.
The moment I got home, I wasdepressed because it was over
and I can't wait for next year.
And it's 360 freaking days away.
Or whatever You'll make it, man, I may not, but what a great

(03:40):
time.
How about you?
Did you enjoy yourself?

Mike (03:43):
I did.
You know we wondered if we'regonna get to go.
You you're tossing around theidea after we got there that you
were kind of on the fence atleast part of the time there.
I was at the last minute and Iwas it's.
We're kind of a package deal,so if you had bailed I'd
probably not gone either.

Yeah, well, that's what made me go.
I mean, thank God I wascommitted because, yeah, no life
has just been coming at both ofus so hard for the last four or
five months, but I needed it.
I am so glad I went.
I needed that and I think youdid too Well I did.

Mike (04:19):
I had two weeks and some of it's still going on, this
moving my sons, yeah, which isalmost done For the my sons,
which is almost done For themost part.
The moving's done.
School starts for those guys,one of them next week, the other
one the week after, because thefreshman's got some non-class
stuff he's got to do for a week.
But that's all said and done.
But you know, I came back fromthe Nats and were faced with the

(04:41):
SpaceX 33 launch, prepping forthat.
I mean, there was stuff goingon while I was gone and I was
keeping up with it on Slackwhile we were at the show.
So you know I got right backinto that when I got home and
that all got shipped out thedoor today.
So it's time to relax a littlebit and think about, finally,
what happened last week.

That's the other thing.
It happened in the blink of aneye it did.
We got there Wednesday and thenext thing I knew we were
closing up the Airbnb on Sundaymorning.

Mike (05:14):
Well, I guess the Airbnb kind of is the focal point of
what I would have to say.
It's just really amazing and Idon't know, I don't really know
how to describe it.
It's basically we spent fournights in an Airbnb.
Yeah.
With three guys.
We didn't even know three yearsago.

(05:34):
Yeah.
And gave one of them copiousamounts of money to help make
that happen.
Yeah, and it all worked out.

And it worked out .
It was good.
Now, if you get an Airbnbdisaster, I could see how that
could be bad, but we got areally good Airbnb and it was
just perfect for what we needed.

Mike (06:03):
Well, I think my point is how fast those friendships have
developed and how deep theyalready are, and the trust and
the mutual understanding and Ithink you were talking about
being around like-minded peopleand I think that's what
facilitates that, and it wasjust a lot of fun.
I guess if I had any regrets,it would be that our typical
dojo activities after hours atthe National Convention were
much muted and subdued.
I think part of that was wellone.

(06:25):
We were at the Airbnb insteadof the host hotel, so we had
other people involved whichwould have probably been open to
some of it most of the time,which is great and we did.
We did it one night, but wewe've, we've, we've played with
fire twice, Right, and I thinkwe're going to come up with

(06:47):
something different, but notquite there yet.
This was a lot of fun and Iliked it because you know we
weren't up till three in themorning every night and what
have you, and didn't come backnearly as tired.
No, it was fantastic, but worktook care of that this week,
yeah.

You and me both, brother you and me both, brother
you and me both.

Mike (07:05):
So my model sphere is really just trying to get my
wits back about me and figureout what the heck happened last
week, and we'll talk about someof that as we get on into the
episode.
But you know it was a lot offun.
I'm glad we went.
I'm glad the Airbnb worked outwith our friends and just was
glad.

Great to see everybody at the show.
Well, and you're fired up tomodel, aren't you?

Mike (07:28):
Yes, I am, I just need.
Maybe that's what I'll do thisweek.
There you go.
I didn't do any last week.
Yeah.
Well, that's my models for Dave.

Good, I almost feel stupid asking you if you
got a modeling fluid, because wehave some very generous
listeners and we came home withridiculous amounts of modeling
fluid.
So what modeling fluid do you?

Mike (07:55):
have Mike Well, and I'll remind you to save the details
for the end, but I am sipping onsome Uncle Nearest 1884 small
batch whiskey.

Oh, can't wait to hear about that.

Mike (08:08):
This was gifted to us by the amazing Bill Moore from
Middle Tennessee.
What do you got, my friend?

I have Medallia Premium Light, a beer out of
Puerto Rico, courtesy oflistener Hector.
Colon and Hector, thank you,thank you.
I'll thank all of you, butthank you for tonight's modeling
fluid.

Mike (08:34):
Yeah, we'll get to the rest of you in the coming eight
to nine weeks.

Exactly Eight to nine episodes.

Mike (08:39):
Eight to nine episodes, so more like 18, 20 weeks.
Well, we'll get caught up onthese at the end, dave.

Yep, so do we have any listener mail?

Mike (08:50):
We do, because we took some time off.
We got a little bit of abacklog that we're going to work
through tonight, but I'm reallylooking forward to it.
Yep, me too.
Well, I'm just going to dive in, man, go ahead.
First up, dave is SpencerTalmadge, from Methuen,
massachusetts.
Okay, talmadge, that's mygrandfather's first name.
Oh, okay.
That's an old English name.

(09:12):
Yeah, that is.
And to have it as a first nameis really old English.
Well, dave Spencer wanted tothank us for having Harvey Lowe
on and taking the time to talkabout the Shizuoka show, and
he'd already seen some coverageof the show through other
content creators.
He was really engaged to hearhow it contrasted and compared
to what he'd heard elsewhere,and he just now has got to

(09:32):
convince his wife to take a tripto Japan.

Well, I'm glad and I was fascinated too.
I've met Harvey a couple oftimes at different shows and all
, and I was really lookingforward to that conversation and
it did not disappoint.

Mike (09:51):
Well, he also wants us to plug and give a shout out to
PATCON 2025, an upcoming show.
It's going to be held nine tofive on Sunday, september 28th
2025 at the American HeritageMuseum in Hudson, massachusetts
Nice, that's a nice museumactually.
Yes, museum in HudsonMassachusetts, nice, that's a
nice museum actually.
Yes so that'll be fun, yep, andanother Sunday show like
HeritageCon Yep.

Yep, that seems to be a Northeast thing.

Mike (10:15):
Maybe it is.
Yep, he actually sent me twoemails, and the other one was
just to let us know, even thoughhe lives in New England
currently, he's from theDayton-Cincy metro kind of area
Okay.
So one of the things he likesabout the show is we're
jabbering on about shows in theregion, things he's familiar
with.
So he's given us a burger,fries and beer tip for

(10:36):
Cincinnati.

Well, good.

Mike (10:38):
Should we make that show in the fall?

Well, I'm trying to plan for it.
I don't think I'm going to makeMMSI, so I'm trying to plan for
it.
I don't think I'm going to makeMMSI, so I'm trying to plan for
Cincy.
For a number of reasons.

Mike (10:49):
Well, Stephen McDonald has written back in Now.
He was the one looking for thereal space info.
He's out of Sullivan, Indiana,and Mike Ida-Cavage, our friend
down in the Marietta and who wealso saw at the National
Convention.

Yes, we did Heck.
We saw everybody at theNational Convention.

Mike (11:05):
Yes, we did, heck, we saw everybody at the National
Convention we did.
He's been getting more and moreinto the hobby, which is great.
He ended up getting Horizon's72nd scale double box in the
Mercury capsule.

Oh nice.

Mike (11:15):
Which was per our recommendation, and Mike out of
Cabbages probably as well.
And since he got sidetracked ona 69 Mustang Fastback he was
building for his dad.
And he also mentions this ModelCave Hobby Shop up in Ann Arbor
.
What's the?
How do you pronounce it?
Ypsilanti, yeah, ypsilanti, upthere, a lot of kits.
So you know, I'm thinking, ifwe go to Heritage Con again and

(11:37):
we do what we did this year andovernight in the Detroit area, I
wonder if we need to hit thisplace too, because this is the
place where all the kits are.
Yeah.
Yeah, michigan Toy Soldierdidn't have that many kits.

Right, it's got all the other stuff.

Mike (11:51):
And Stephen, I must say you bought an eclectic
collection of stuff from there.
He's got all kinds of things A60s TV series, Batmobile, a big
U-boat, a 16th scale tank.

He Automobile, a big U-boat, a 16th scale tank.
He's what we call a renaissanceman.

Mike (12:07):
I think so, dave.
Yeah Well, he's got a questionfor us All right.
He wants to know if we couldbuild a highly detailed,
impeccably engineered model ordiorama of any movie scene.
What would it be?

That's a good one .

Mike (12:23):
It is, and we probably should have saved it, but too
late now We've let the cat outof the bag.

Yeah, that's right, we've let the cat out of
the bag.
Movie scene.
You know what would be reallygood.
Now this has actually been done, and been done by a master, but
a U-boat interior from Das Bootwith the figures and the you
know, with the red light on, andI mean that would just that's.

(12:48):
I love that movie.
That movie is very atmospheric,it captures.

Mike (12:55):
That's a good one.
Yeah, you should build it, dave.

No, no, I shouldn't, no, no, no, I don't
need.
I don't I got enough to do, sohow about you?
Well, let me mention he.
No, I don't need Got enough todo I got enough to do so.

Mike (13:05):
how about you?
Well, let me mention hementioned one.

Okay.

Mike (13:09):
You know something from the 53 War of the Worlds movie
where the Martian war machinesare giving the army the what for
.
Yeah.
And another one was SlimPickens riding a bomb, Dr
Strangelove.
Now, if I'm not mistaken,there's a figure out there.

There is there Now, if I'm not mistaken,
there's a figure out there thereis there is a figure that goes
with the bomb.

Mike (13:26):
I can't remember who did it.
I don't remember Maybe morethan one, but it seems like
there's a Jimmy Flintstone one.
Maybe, For me.
I don't know, man, that's tough.
There's so many.
I can even go into sci-fi.
There's some stuff from StarWars I could do.
There is a couple of scenesfrom well, you could do it that

(13:47):
you know the, the, the barcoremanor scenes in band of brothers
yeah, you know their firstengagement with the german 105
millimeter gun battery.
Yeah, one of those would be goodyeah there's a scene where
they're crawling through the,the junk car, the rusted out car
, in the junkyard on theproperty.
That could be cool.

Well, and you know it's funny our friend Mark
Copeland, because he runs toursover there, he's actually been
there on at least one, if notmore than one occasion, so
that's something I wouldconsider.

Mike (14:17):
Yeah, Well, speaking of folks we met at the show, I
mentioned the Arm Air chapter inSalisbury, North Carolina.
Yeah, show, I mentioned the ArmAir chapter in Salisbury, North
Carolina, in a recent pastepisode and one of their chapter
, well, one of their officerspresident in fact and I'm
looking at the email real quickof the Arm Air chapter in
Salisbury, North Carolina, SamMorgan, and this just dredged up

(14:40):
all kinds of memories.
He sent me a really quicksynopsis I guess the club is no
longer in existence and he gaveme the cliff note version.
That said, he was at Hamptonand he came by the table and I
got to meet him face to face.
As soon as I saw him Irecognized him.
I mean, after all these yearsand I'm talking 35 years or more
, and it was the first modelshow I ever went to.

(15:02):
And we mentioned MikeIda-Cavage, who volunteers at
the IPMS Nats every year in theregistration area, Former club
member, colleague of mine backin Tennessee, and we drove to
the Arm Air chapter in Salisburyin his Subaru station wagon
1985 or something like that.

That's ironic, given the car that we were
driving.

Mike (15:21):
Yes, it is.
We had a Subaru out backourselves for the rental car,
yeah.
But, Sam, if you're listeningand I hope you are, thanks for
coming by it is good to connectwith you again and relive some
of those those memories.
But yeah, I think I still gotsome trophies from that show.
Good to meet you again.
Well, Dave.
Up next is Colin Tatusko.

(15:42):
Well, Colin writes in and talksabout a recent episode where we
were discussing model shops inJapan and model shops on
military bases in Japan.
Yeah.
Which I think came up inHarvey's episode yeah.
And he was flying out of NavalAir Facility Atsusugi with the
Carrier Air Wing 5.
And it's about an hoursouthwest of Tokyo and he loved

(16:05):
living in Japan and there's alittle hobby shop nearby run by
a Japanese gentleman, and it waspacked, just typical story.
You know, I've got my Hong Kongstories Right and Harvey had
his Japan stories.

Yeah, tiny shop packed to the gills.
Have to turn sideways to walkdown the aisles.

Mike (16:23):
Yes, he says it was a great way to spend some of his
overseas pay and no idea whenthe shop closed, but he thinks
it got shut down not long afterhe came back to the States.
Thanks for writing in, colin.
Next one's from Ireland, dave.
Oh good, paul Gogan, mm-hmm.
And he sent in a great email.
And it all gets back to yourorganizational struggles, dave.

Okay, and I'm still struggling.

Mike (16:50):
And I'm going to forward you this and, should we get to
where we want to be on thewebsite soon, I'm going to post
what he sent there as a blogarticle.
Well, Paul says given your loveof all things Japanese, Dave,
this is ticks and boxes for youin the Toyota way.
All right, he's talking aboutthe 5S approach and applying
that to our modeling spaces.
Are you familiar with the 5Sapproach?

(17:11):
Kind of like Six Sigma, isn'tit?
Yes, it's a lean concept andyes, he mentions me being an
engineer.
Not just from being an engineer.
I'd never really heard of 5S toactually work for a Japanese
auto supplier.
And then there are posters allover the place the 5S is in
English which are kind of madeto fit the Japanese definition.

(17:35):
Some of them are a littlequirky or corny.
They are sort set in order,shine, which that's the odd one
standardize and sustain, and itis a method to streamline your
work process.
Keep your workplace clean, keepthings where they are, and I'll

(17:56):
send you this, dave.
He generated a document for usthat explains all this and how
you might apply it to a skillmodeling workspace.

I would love to see it, because man organization
is my downfall.
I absolutely admit that I couldget twice as much modeling done
if I was organized.

Mike (18:14):
So he sent an example of his workspace and talks about
what he's done and it's allapplicable.
You just got to do it and yougot to stick with it.
That's the hard part, sure.

Yeah, and that is my problem.
Which was the hard part?
Sure, yeah, and that's yeah,that is my problem.

Mike (18:26):
Which was the hard part at work too.
Yeah Well, Mike Halliday'swritten in again.
We hadn't heard from him in alittle bit, no, and he'd
listened to episode 144.
And he agrees with myassessment of discord.
Says it's not just me, Not.
Intuitive Barely works.
Since it's not just me, notintuitive, barely works.
It could all be true.

(18:46):
Or maybe the young folks got itall figured out and it makes
perfect sense.
That could be true as well Forme.
I didn't like it.
Folks who run Discord groups.
I just haven't got there yet.
Yeah, no, I agree.
Maybe it's fine.
Second, as far as turning upthe heat on figure painting and
the brute force of improvementthrough large volumes of

(19:06):
practice, he asked if I wouldconsider something like the bolt
action tabletop game, Becauseyou know there's lots of figures
to paint.
It's a decent idea.
I just don't need another hobby.

Yeah, same problem with me.

Mike (19:20):
Yeah, I think, yeah, that would work.
They're like 28 millimeter orsomething like that.
Right.
So they're a little bigger than72nd scale.

Yeah, they're 156 or something like that.

Mike (19:32):
Something like that, but it would be a good idea.
Yeah.
Other than me not needinganother hobby.

I'm with you, brother, I am so with you.

Mike (19:43):
Thanks for the suggestion.
And finally, dave, from theemail side of things, there's
somebody else we saw at theNational Convention Not till
late, I believe it was SaturdayEric Curvina.
Mm-hmm.
And he had listened to episode145 on the drive down from
Northern Virginia and hewouldn't respectfully disagree
with Bruce McRae's statementabout competition making

(20:04):
everybody better.
Yeah.
He sends a pretty long email.
It's not too bad, eric, but I'mgoing to paraphrase here.
You know he said that's notnecessarily the case if there's
not really any kind of feedback,anything meaningful.
Coming back to the modelerafter the competition, to
understand, like Bruce said youdon't know if you're fourth or

(20:24):
20th Eric would say thatcompetition may help some
modelers progress, but others itdoesn't affect at all and even
alienates some from the hobby.

And I think that's true.
I think competition is a reallydouble-edged sword.
I think that it can have theeffect that Bruce talks about if
you want your hobby to besomething that's competitive.
I don't think competition makesthose folks better.

(21:05):
I think it may drive them awayfrom the idea of even showing up
to shows, which is why I'veharped on the fact.
Listen.
Shows are fantastic.
People need to come.
It's some of the best part ofour hobby, but the competition
is the least important part ofit.

Mike (21:23):
Eric goes on to say that it isn't competition that makes
people better.
It's honest and clearevaluation and feedback
delivered in a way that themodeler is prepared to hear, and
there are a fair number offolks out there who are not
ready to hear it.

And that is one thing that they provide at the
IPMS Nationals.
Actually, two things.
One, there's a seminar thatthey give every year, what
judges look for, and then onSaturdays, they actually have
the ability for you to bringyour model to a table that a

(21:57):
rotating set of judges sit atand they talk with you about
your model, the pluses and theminuses, so that if you want
that kind of intensive feedback,the nationals is one of the
best places for it.

Mike (22:12):
Yeah, I think the seminar what judges look for probably at
a high level of constructionand fundamentals is good.
But you know, whether folkswant to admit it or not, there's
some subjectivity that creepsinto this and that's not going
to help.
You know why you aren't one ofthe top three, necessarily if it

(22:36):
was outside the scope of thosethings.

By the very nature of judging models, which
are artistic creations.
They don't get Buddha andMuhammad and Jesus to show up to
be the judges.
They are judged by othermodelers and those modelers have
biases.
Those modelers have likes anddislikes and no matter how hard

(23:03):
they are personally trying toput all that in the background,
it is by its very naturesubjective and cannot be
otherwise.

Mike (23:13):
Yeah, that's true too.
It's not a nothing's perfect.
Nothing.
Nothing ever will be, I think.
Well, here's Eric makes a bunchof good points here, and I
agree.
Well, here's Eric makes a bunchof good points here, and I
agree.
I think, though, that thecompetition and contest is not
necessarily the only place.
Well, it's not the only placewhere that can happen.
So this is me speaking about mymodeling journey and my

(23:38):
experiences, and this may berooted in my engineering
training and my own technicalawareness, but as far as
contests are concerned, or modelshows even if they're not quote
unquote contests prior to AMPSat least in the United States
and I don't know how it waselsewhere, but in the United

(24:00):
States prior to AMPS, thisfeedback was not a thing.
Right.
And I don't remember anybodyasking for it.
Honestly, I don't that's not mebeing a smart aleck.
Well, I don't, I don't rememberanybody asking for it, and let
me, let me finish here, not tosay that it's a bad thing that
folks are asking for it.
Now, that's not.
That's not my point.
My point is, for me personally,I feel like I was self-aware

(24:20):
enough to know why I wasn'tplacing here or there, or
getting this or that.
I don't know.
That's just the way I feelabout it.

No, I think that's true, Although back in
the before times you did havethe occasional modeler who would
, after a show, walk up tosomebody and say how can I get
better, what can I do?
And they would-.
That's true.

(24:54):
But it was very individual.
Amps came along to providefeedback on a routine basis to
everything entered, althoughthere can be some challenges
with that.
And then IPMS has the whatjudges look for and then talk to
the judges about your modelsopportunities.
I do think more people areseeking feedback and I wonder if
part of that is just a changein our society that people

(25:20):
become more open to seekingfeedback Possibly so I don't
know, but it's an interestingobservation.

Mike (25:29):
And you know I'll.
I'll clarify again that I don'tthink it's a bad thing, I don't
think it's something that'sshould not be asked for.
Right, I like it too, but Ijust I remember a time when it
wasn't a thing, and now it's.
Now it's a, and now it's a hugething in some circles.
But you know, eric, Iappreciate your candor, I
appreciate the email and I thinka lot of things you say here

(25:52):
are correct.
Competition in and of itself isnot the end.
All you got to get somethingmeaningful out of it on the back
end, or it's really not goingto help you.
I can see that absolutely beingtrue.
Yeah, I agree with that.
Well, dave, again, that's allthe email.
What do you got?

Well, we got some Facebook DM stuff, and the
first one's from Dutch Vospert,who encountered another one of
Facebook's little joys that weencounter running the dojo.
Dutch posted a post and itdidn't publish.
And the reason is Facebook hasthis thing where they will

(26:37):
randomly and it is utterlyrandom, I can see no pattern in
it whatsoever, Utterly random, Ican see no pattern in it

(27:07):
whatsoever Utterly randomlyselect a post and say, well,
this needs to be reviewedbecause it might be spam.
And it's happening to a coupleof posts a day.
And Dutch got caught up withone and he DM me and said, hey,
what's going on?
I looked into it, I found outthat was happening and so I
fixed it so that it wouldpublish.
And then I went on andwhitelisted him.
And they give you the abilityto whitelist posters so that
they won't get, in theory, won'tget flagged as spam.
But I've seen people that I'vewhitelisted and it still does it

(27:29):
.
It's just Facebook.
And you know, as much as Ienjoy the dojo and as much as I
enjoy the good things about ourcommunity and the ability to
interact and show each otherwork and stuff like that,
Facebook does seem bound anddetermined every once in a while

(27:49):
just to take a hand grenade,toss it in and go, hey, enjoy.
And then it's a matter offiguring out, okay, what's going
on here, how do I fix it, howdo I turn it off, if I can turn
it off, or if I can't turn itoff, what's the workaround?

(28:12):
And it happens.
So if you post something and itdoesn't show up, DM me, I'll go
check the spam.
I check it every day anyway,but I will check the spam filter
every day anyway.
But I will check the spamfilter and if there's stuff in
there, I will publish it out.
So, Dutch, I appreciate youreaching out to me and, yeah,

(28:33):
we're doing what we can.
Steve Sauve from IPMS Canada,from the Great White North I
usually see him at the Nationalsand didn't get to see him and a
bunch of the Canadians at theNationals this year, but he did
happen to be in a bourbon barand thought of us and sent us a

(28:54):
lovely shot of the bourbons onselection at that particular
bourbon bar.
And it's just nice to know thatour brothers in the great white
North are thinking about uswhen it comes to bourbon.
So, Steve, I hope we get to seeyou in Fort Wayne.
Chris Wallace model airplanemaker, another Canadian friend.

(29:16):
He DM'd me wanting to know theresults of the IPMS elections
and I told him that they're notover yet.
They still have a little whileto run.
I think it runs through the endof August or middle of
September or something, sothere's still time to vote.
He thought that the votingended at the national convention

(29:39):
and the results would beavailable.
That's not the case.
The voting runs sometime after.
So if you haven't voted you canstill go out there and vote.
I'm not telling you who to votefor, Just if you haven't voted
and you're a national member,please do vote.
We've actually got a couple ofraces where there's more than

(29:59):
one person running, so that'sgreat.
I'm thrilled to see it.
So I got to tell Chris thatI'll update him when the results
come out.
Martin Hulst out of theNetherlands we've interacted a
number of times and he waslooking at photos at the IPMS
nationals and he saw the UPStable.

(30:21):
You know the place where youcould go to ship your packages
home via UPS and he said over inEurope you don't see that at
all.
And he wondered is this new, Isit common?
And I explained that due to thevastness of the US and the fact
that there are many people whoshow up to the nationals who've

(30:45):
come there via air, that if youbuy a fair amount of stuff it's
hard to take it all back on anairplane with you.
And thus I know the UPS tablehas been at the nationals, or
some shipping company table hasbeen at a Nationals at least as

(31:05):
far back as 2004 in Phoenix,because that's the year Terry
Hill shipped back a ton of stuffto Louisville when he and I
were out there, but he was justinterested in it, just simply
because there wasn't somethingthat they see over in Europe.
It's not something I would haveeven thought about if he had

(31:26):
not brought it to my attention.

Mike (31:29):
That is interesting.

Our good friend Bob Bear.
The voice of Bob.
Good news, well, bad news.
Bob had a little car trouble atthe Nationals and frankly we
feared that it was really badnews.
But it turned out not to be asbad as it could be.
He got his car shipped backdown to his home and got it to

(31:53):
his local mechanic who deliveredthe good news that it wasn't
nearly as bad as we had fearedwhen talking with him.
We're happy for him, althoughsad that he had to go through it
in the first place.
Listener Terry Wilkinsonreached out and Terry came to

(32:13):
the Nationals and was lookingforward to seeing us, got there
Tuesday, traveling with his wife, and had reached out beforehand
, said he was looking forward tocoming by and talking with us,
et cetera, and he never was ableto come by and he DMed to
explain that late Tuesday nightor early Wednesday his wife took

(32:38):
ill, and ill enough that theyhad to return home.
Now, luckily it turned out notto be anything serious, but it
crashed his Nationals plan, soI'm glad that she's okay.
I'm sorry that you didn't getthe Nationals experience you

(33:01):
were planning on, but Fort Wayneis 360 days away.

Mike (33:06):
Well, we missed him at amps too.
So, and I know we were.
I was thinking he had said hewas looking forward to seeing us
.
Yep.
I didn't go.
Look, while we were at the showI was like I thought Terry was
going to be around.
Yep.
Maybe I misread the email, butapparently not.
He just had to bug out.

Yeah, had to bug out and get his wife home, and
but apparently not, he just hadto bug out.
Yeah, had to bug out and gethis wife home, and I completely
understand that.
There are priorities.
And then there are priorities.
And finally, on the DM side,Bob Sarnowski reached out right
after we got home from the Nats.
He had picked up a PZ-4, and hewanted to do it in AfricaCore

(33:51):
markings and the kit didn'tprovide those markings for it.
Now I did not inquire as towhat model of PZ4 and whether
that was AfricaCore appropriate.
That's beyond my knowledge base.
But he did ask if I knew of amanufacturer who did aftermarket
and I pointed him to StarDecals, which has several

(34:13):
AfricaCore sheets in their range.
So hopefully there'll besomething that is useful for him
.
Well, is that all you got?

Mike (34:22):
That's it man All right.
Well, that was a lot.
Hopefully we're caught up now.

Yes, we are.

Mike (34:28):
So folks, we're going to need some more emails and DMs,
and you can email us atplasticmodelmojo at gmailcom, or
you can send us a directmessage through the Facebook
Messenger system, or you cansend us a message through the
message link in the show notes.
So we got three ways we can dothat now.

Yep, after you're done listening to this.
If you would rate the podcaston whatever podcast listening
service you're using, pleasegive us the highest rating.
It helps drive visibility ofthe podcast, brings in new
listeners.
The other way and best way tobring in new listeners is to

(35:25):
have a current listenerrecommend us.
So if you know a modelingfriend who isn't listening to
Plastic Model Mojo, please tellthem about it.
Ask them to listen, tell themhow to listen.
If they need help walkingthrough the technology, walk
through the technology with them.
It is the single best way forus to continue to grow and we

(35:49):
are continuing to grow and it'sin large part down to you
current listeners recommendingus to your friends.
So please do that.

Mike (36:00):
You can also rate us on the web link in the show notes
and once you've done thathowever you're going to do it
you're going to want to checkout the other podcasts out in
the model sphere and you can dothat by going to
wwwmodelpodcastcom.
It's a consortium website setup with the help of Stuart Clark
from the Scale Model Podcast upin Canada.
He's aggregated all the bannerlinks to all the podcasts in the

(36:20):
model sphere.
It's a one-stop shop there togo find out all the things you
can be listening to In additionto podcasts.
We've got a lot of blogging,youtube friends out there.
We've mentioned Chris Wallace,model airplane maker.
He's got a great aircraftmodeling blog and YouTube
channel.
We've got Jeff Groves, the InchHigh Guy 72nd scale blog.
Stephen Lee SpruPi with Frets,who we saw briefly at the IPMS

(36:42):
National Convention.

Yes, we did.

Mike (36:44):
It was good to see him he day tripped down.
He's got a great blog, also alot of 72nd scale Sentry stuff.
Evan McCallum Panzermeister36.
A great YouTube channel dealingwith armor weathering.
The occasional railroad subjectthrown in and hopefully he gets
caught up on his project soon.

Yeah, evan's been like you and I.
Evan has been busy with lifestuff.

Mike (37:07):
That's right.
Funny how life gets in the waysometimes.
It does.
And finally, dr Paul Budzik,scale Model Workshop.
You can see him on YouTube orhis Patreon link will get you to
some great videos and somegreat insight into the hobby.

Yeah, he just posted a new one not long ago.
Hobby Yep, he just posted a newone not long ago.
If you are not a member of IPMSUSA, ipms Canada, your national
IPMS organization, please join.
These organizations are run byvolunteers to make all of the
hobbyist's hobby experiencebetter, and there's no better

(37:41):
example of that than the IPMSUSA Nationals every year.
In addition, if you are anarmor modeler or post-1900s
figure modeler, the ArmorModeling and Preservation
Society is a great group of guys.
They are dedicated armormodelers.
They do fantastic work and havefantastic shows, and there are

(38:07):
shows in South Bend again in2026, and Mike and I are both
planning to attend.
So if you're not a member ofAMPS, go and join.

Plastic Model Mojo is brought to you by Model
Paint Solutions, your source forharder and steam-backed
airbrushes, david Union powertools and laboratory-grade
mixing, measuring and storagetools for use with all your
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Check them out atwwwmodelpaintsolutionscom.

Mike (38:43):
Well, dave, while we're at the National Convention, we
recorded a few bits and piecesfor some content with some folks
we found either interesting, orcompanies we hadn't heard of,
or folks we had never talked tobefore.
Right, it's kind of the way welike to do it.
The first one, however, thoughyou already mentioned Bob Bear.
We ran into Bob early on thefirst day.

This was before his car trouble.
This was before his cartroubles.

Mike (39:06):
This was before his car troubles.
So let's take a listen to whatBob had to say with us, dave,
for us it's day one, thursday.
We've been perusing the show alittle bit, yeah, buying a few
things Already.

Attended a seminar, bought a little bit.

Mike (39:30):
Starting a seminar at nine before general admission seems
a bit odd to me, but hopefullyit was well attended.

Yeah, it was.
It was extremely well attendedand really well done.
It was Lynn Ritger's 109 talkand previewing his upcoming book
, so it was really good, that'scool.

Mike (39:50):
Well, we've run into the voice of Bob, one of our last,
most recent guests.
Bob, what do you think?

It's the Nationals, man, I mean.
What else is there to say?

Well, and for you it was close.
I mean, how long was the drive?

It was like it was about five and a half hours
, Not bad.
Not bad at all, it wasn't bad,it was raining the whole time.
Yeah.
But other than that, no, infact it wasn't even any traffic.
Really, I was amazed.

Mike (40:17):
I was really surprised.
We didn't have any either,until we got up near Richmond.

Well, the stretch of 81 where you have to get on
81 for a brief period.
That's always really crowdedthat mix right there.
Yeah, yeah.

Because I run into that going 77, 79.
Yeah Well, bob, did you bringanything this year?
I did.
I brought one of myornithopters one of my main
ornithopters.
I didn't get the—I was going toto bring both the harkonnen and
the atreides, but the, theatreides I messed it up.

Mike (40:49):
So yeah, you mentioned that when we talked to you last
yeah, are you on the tablealready?
It's on the table okay, we'reat the final.

We haven't been in there yet no, we haven't even
been in the, in the model roomat all.

Mike (40:59):
Well, what are you hoping to accomplish?
Uh, this year at the nationals.

The usual Spend money I'm hoping that I
can spend money.
In fact, I've already done thatPicked up a couple P40s and you
know, there's a few specialthings, specific things that I'm
looking for, but it always endsup that I have this little list

(41:23):
and then I buy everything else.

Mike (41:25):
Yeah, everything else except what's on the list.
I gave up on lists at modelshows a long time ago, Me too
for the exact same reason.

I'd make a list and I'd end up buying everything
but the stuff on my list.

Yeah, and honestly, you know everyone's
here, all these great people arehere.
I mean it's all in the order ofwhat's important.
It's seeing everybody buyingstuff and contest too sure, but
it's it's really all about.
You know, I would come herewith and bring nothing and it
doesn't right, it's great Ibrought stuff, but it's not

(41:57):
going to the contest this year Iwas gonna put it in the tiger
meat.

Mike (42:00):
But I'm like I want people to see it and talk, talk about
it.
If it's in there, I'm not inthere, you're not in there.
So I just brought it out here,yeah, and hopefully it survives.
I don't do something dumb likehit it with my microphone cable.

Well, you just have to get people to stop
trying to spin the propeller.

Yeah, exactly.

Mike (42:20):
I saw a little kid do that at a show a long time ago, yeah
.

But, I saw a little kid do that at a show a
long time ago?
Yeah, but it's presented well,I really like it.
If people yeah, well, theydidn't get a chance to see it, I
was thinking, oh, you guysought to come out and look at it
.
Well, okay, they're notlistening right now.

Mike (42:35):
That's right.
Well, I need to get Wes andBill from Bases by Bill to come
by and look at it now, becausethey made the base for me.

Yeah, they made the base for it, yeah.

Bob Bair (42:41):
And it came out really good.
I really like the way it cameout.

Well, it's good to see you at the show.
I'm sure you're going to be.
We're going to see you some oneof our evenings.
Oh okay, Looking forward tospending some time over some
adult beverages and talkingmodels.

Yeah, I think that's actually probably higher
up on that list that I gaveearlier.
I hear you.
Yeah Well, I look forward to it.
I always look forward to theNationals, I always look forward
to meeting you guysface-to-face, and it's all a
good time.
It's all about.

Mike (43:16):
Hopefully we'll see you up our way sometime soon.

Yeah, that's a possibility.

Mike (43:29):
You know the show from last year.
I think I might be meeting mybrother there in Kentucky at the
same time.
We'll get together and go overthere.
Yeah, fantastic.
All right, bob, We'll have agood national show man.

You bet We'll see you around Hang out Yep
Working on the lightning wallet.

Mike (43:39):
All right, take it easy.
Bob ended up spending somemoney at the Nationals just
putting on model kits.

Yeah, thank gosh, his problems turned out to be
not as serious as they couldhave been.
I know when we were firsttalking to him and he didn't
know, it was pretty depressing,so I'm glad the result came out
to be better than what it couldhave been.

Mike (44:10):
Yeah, I think that tow bill was more than I spent on
the show floor, though.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'm sure he doesn't want tohear about that.

Mike (44:18):
Well, moving on, we saw another guy who was catering to
the Gundam crowd.

Bob Bair (44:23):
Yes, I saw another guy who was catering to the Gundam
crowd.

Mike (44:25):
Yes, and I don't get to a lot of shows where well, I
didn't get to a lot of showsthis year at all.
So far Right, but up to todayor any time in the past, I've
not seen any vendor beyondselling Gundam kits.
That was actually doingsomething different for the
Gundam crowd.
Yeah.

Yeah, and it's a natural development.
This guy had 3D printedaccessories and really a wide
variety.
It seemed like a natural thing.

Mike (45:02):
Well, Dave, we're always looking for new things at the
National and get people on thatwe don't normally see in our
normal travels, and this Gundamgenre has really taken off.
And finally we've got somebodyhere at the National Convention
that's actually doing someaftermarket for these fabulous
kits.
John, why don't you introduceyourself and tell us what you're
doing here?

MiniMechArmory (45:22):
Hi, I'm John.
I started Mini Mech Armory andI'm here to sell some 3D printed
weapons for, you know, Gundambuilders and or anyone in
general who thinks it fits theirprojects.

So how did you?
Were you a Gundam builderbefore you started doing
accessories for?

them.
Yeah, actually I was.
I started in like 1998.

Mike (45:48):
Oh, wow for them, uh, yeah actually I was.

I started in like 1998 and then, oh wow, it's
a long time just building for awhile.
But actually the funny thing isI started doing my 3d printing
for lego related stuff okay,that's so if you actually look
down at the, the model, okay,that's if you look at the body
proportions, that's actuallylike a lego minifigure oh cool
so.
But then because you know howall the tolerances for lego are
like super, like precise, Iwasn't able to match that, so I

(46:11):
kind of kicked out off thewayside.
And then, as when I got backinto gundam building, that's
when I started making exclusiveparts for gundam kits.

Brandon Lowe (Squadron) (46:19):
But where are?

you from oh, just up um virginia.

Mike (46:22):
Okay, so you're close you don't have to come very far do
you set?
Up many other shows, gundamshows or more other IPMS shows
I've done.

A couple IPMS shows.
Mostly like the Fairfax areabut this is the first one.
That's pretty far.

Mike (46:38):
IPMS has been actively trying to cater to this genre
and bring it in.
It's mainstream for you guys inyour own world, like ours is in
ours but they've really startedto cross a lot more.
Lately.
There's been a lot moreacceptance, we think, in the
IPMS community.

I've seen a lot of like Gundam stuff at like
specialty stores for a while inlike the very late 90s, early
2000s and then it kind of dieddown a little bit.
But then definitely after thepandemic I saw a big difference
in seeing it more often.
Were you a?

3D printer before you decided to start 3D
printing for Gundams, was itpart of your job or did you just
start learning it because youthought?

YouTube.
It was all.

Mike (47:23):
YouTube there's lots you can learn on YouTube, because
she thought YouTube.

It was all YouTube.
There's lots you can learn onYouTube.

Mike (47:26):
Yeah, so.

I started the whole 3D modeling venture with
the Legos, okay Related stuff,back in 2015.
It was not doing great, so thenthat was around 2020.
That's when I shifted gears togo back to doing stuff for
Gundam.
Okay, cool, well, tell us aboutthe kind of things you offer.
So right now, what I like totry to do is I'll take a design

(47:48):
and I'll try to make it modularso you can replace out, like the
magazines, the optics.
Ok, maybe add a.
You know, don't you want agrenade launcher attached to
your machine gun?

Brandon Lowe (Squadron) (47:57):
I'm sure most people probably do so.

I'd like to give that option to people.
So right now it's mostlyarmaments, mostly ornaments.
Um, yeah, like sometimes I'llfind stuff from like old video
games, okay, and then I'll go,you know, just try to get
something 3d out of a 2d picture, all right, yeah, just try to
find like a lot of like reallyniche stuff that maybe you'll
only find in a manga.

(48:21):
That's in like one panel andsome obscure, some obscure story
that maybe like five peoplehave heard of, but you know
there's some people that reallywant that part and it's like all
right, well, I'll try to makeit and see what happens.
Okay, do you have a website oran Etsy or anything?

Mike (48:35):
like that.

Yeah, you can find me on Etsy.
It's a mini mech armory.

Mike (48:39):
Okay, well, I'll find that link and put in the show notes
when we get this episode up.
The show notes when we get thisepisode up Awesome, listen.
Good luck this weekend and Ihope you sell a lot, and it's
just really interesting to seeyou out here.
Cool, thanks for having me,michael.

All right.

Mike (48:50):
Thank you very much.
Thanks.
Well, I hope he did all rightat the show.
I hope he did.
I don't know how big.
You know it's a growing genrewithin the IPMS shows, which is
good, but I don't know to whatdegree it would be supported on
the vendor floor.
But he had a lot of nice stuffand he gave us a couple samples

(49:13):
that we probably need to offloadhere to somebody at some point
and we'll get to that in afuture episode or short or
something.
But really interesting to see.
That was the first time I'veseen like quote unquote,
aftermarket for, uh, for thegundam genre at an ipms show and
it was really well done it was.

(49:33):
He's doing a good job with it.
The quality was was good and itlooked like it was uh designed
in a way that would integratewell to the to the bandai kids
yeah well, the next one wasanother kind of aftermarket
supplier, I guess DioramaAccessories.
Yeah.
This gentleman had a lot ofstuff and what drew me to the
table was just the quality ofthe craftsmanship and finish on

(49:57):
his display items.

Yes, yeah, I mean really really well done really
well done.

Mike (50:12):
Well, dave, we're always looking for unique and different
things when we come toNationals and try to showcase
some of those people, and we'vegot one.
Red Wild Diorama has got somereally neat displays at their
vendor booth and we have theproprietor here.
Why don't you introduce?

Greg VandeVisser (Red (50:24):
yourself .
Hey guys, Greg Vandivisser.
Okay, I've been doing modelingsince I was a kid, but in the
last 10 years or so I've kind ofrekindled it up and started Red
Wild Diorama.

What made you decide to get into the business
side of the hobby, as opposed tojust being a hobbyist building
and all of that?

Greg VandeVisser (Red Wil (50:49):
Right .
So I always wanted to build avillage and a diorama with a
train and everything, and I waskind of a 135th scale guy and a
train guy.
So I ended up building a prettyeight foot by five foot French
village, all scratch built.
I tried to find already builtbuildings with Verlinden, but

(51:09):
all theirs were blown up.
So I got the village built andthen a lot of people my friends
who were modelers and otherpeople were like hey, we'd like
to see these as kits.
So I gave it some thought,talked to some people about how
to pour resin, how to pourplaster, different things like
that, and next thing, you know,red Wild is born.

So you're doing both 35th scale and 87th HO
scale buildings, barns, mostlymodeled off, like you said, a
French village.

Greg VandeVisser (Red Wild (51:46):
Yeah , the catalyst was European for
my village and then, as I gotinto it, I like trains as well,
so the number one scale inrailroad was 187.
So I kind of started there.
Of course, the S-gagers woulddisagree with that.
Well, that's okay.
So I wanted to diversify and tocover both customer segments

(52:09):
because I'm a fan of both, andso yeah, but the European was
the 135th scale because of yourwartime guys Right here at IPMS,
and the train guys are moreAmerican, but I have some
European influences there,gotcha.
But it's also accessories andstuff that you'd find in a

(52:29):
diorama or layout.

And you've got both stuff that you pour out of
resin, make out of resin.
You've got some laser-cut woodaccessory items a cart, some
coffins, some other stuff itemsa cart, some coffins, some other
stuff.
Did you have any priorexperience in resin casting or

(52:53):
anything, or did you?

just decide I'm going to do it.
Yeah, I think I just decided Iwas going to do it and I'd
figure out how to do it.
You know, I saw other people'swork and I did some research.
Luckily, I met a guy, a trainguy, named Chris White.
He's since passed away now.
He was making Soviet-era trainsHO trains and he taught me how
to do resin pour.

(53:14):
Okay.
And I took that to do plasterpour.
I've since moved away frompoured resin.
I do a little bit to 3D 3Dresin.
I bought a laser cutter andI've converted some of my resin
parts, like wooden doors whichwere resin, are now laser cut
wood.
So yeah, so I had learned it.
As I went on, I've met peoplewho've taught me things and I've

(53:38):
tried to share that with otherswho have questions.

Mike (53:40):
How long have you been even in the hobby?
You said you came back to it.
I ask because the workmanshipand craftsmanship and finish on
your product samples up thereare just exquisite.

Greg VandeVisser (Red W (53:50):
They're really nice.
I appreciate it.
I guess I started out as agraphic designer.
Okay.
Drawing, painting, that kind ofthing.
And I have a career as I workmy way up to art director,
creative director, marketing.
So my career side kind of lendsitself to the creative output
and I'm a maker at heart, sogetting into this, when I say

(54:11):
rekindled, you know when I was aboy I had trains and I built
models, you know, followingShepard Payne and the monogram
models.
But then that kind of went awayand I focused on the career.
And now I'm in a position whereI could, you know, kind of
maximize the hobby and share itwith others and make a product.
And there's something aboutmaking something with your hands

(54:33):
, selling it to someone andsharing that experience.
It's different than buying analready made product from
wholesale selling at retail.
You don't get the sameexperience.
So I think I like that part ofit.

So how long have you been in business, doing the
hobby as a business?

Greg VandeVisser (Red Wild Di (54:50):
I would say about four years,
four or five years.
I guess COVID kind of got mestarted into that Gotcha.

A lot of free time.
Yeah, a lot of free time, justswinging around.

Greg VandeVisser (Red Wild D (55:01):
So , yeah, I would say that me and
every other person in the worldstarted-.

Is this your first nationals?
Yes, okay.

Yeah , yeah, I've done a couple.

I didn't think we'd seen you.

Yeah , no, I did a regional in
Richmond, okay, and then anotherlocal one in Havelock, north
Carolina, gotcha.

John Figuroa (55:18):
Where are you?

out of, originally from Maryland
Eastern Shore and then moved toNorth Carolina about 12, 13
years ago.

Mike (55:26):
Okay, so you're in North Carolina now.
Okay, cool, fantastic.
So how's business been?

It's been great.

I mean I love meeting people.

Greg VandeVisser (Red Wild Di (55:36):
A lot of the vendors, the people
I buy from, were just you knowan online experience I've
befriended and now I know byfirst name, so that's kind of
exciting.

It is nice.

And then seeing customers who have
seen your product other placesor bought your product and they
like it, and then they say, hi,it's all just a good experience
and sales have been good as well, Great Well that's the goal
here is to make friends and makemoney.
If you're a vendor, both ofthem.

Mike (56:02):
That's right For folks listening.
Where can they find yourproducts?

Greg VandeVisser (Red Wild D (56:05):
So I'm online at redwilddioramacom
Okay.

Mike (56:09):
Sounds good.
Well, thanks for coming over,and we like your stuff.
Oh, I appreciate it, so we'reglad to help give you a little
push here, maybe it means a lot.
Maybe we'll send some people toyou.
Thanks a lot, all right.
Thank you.
Interesting story.
He had some nice stuff, man.

He did and it's an interesting story's.
He had some nice stuff, man hedid, and it's interesting story.
And it again goes back to showyou how many modelers also have
been my, have been or are modeltrain enthusiasts as well, and
how the the two hobbies crossover, inter interact and it's

(56:50):
just really interesting well, Ithink, especially railroading
and armor.

Mike (56:54):
yeah, kind of you got big steel equipment sitting outside
so you kind of got the same kindof vibe going there for
weathering and scenery and hisstuff he does a really he's a
really good modeler.
The bottom line is that he's areally good modeler and it's
really interesting to seesomebody turn that into a
cottage business.

(57:15):
Well, dave, the next one iswell, a little plus and minus.
The plus is it's it's a goodfriend of ours from our region,
ben Pluth.
Yeah, he was at a table behindus right in our little corral of
tables with a longtime listenerand friend of the show, frank
Blanton, who we had not metface-to-face until.

Right, we had interacted with, but never
actually seen.

Mike (57:38):
And they were just doing some on-site building.
We'd seen Ben do this before atour show a couple years ago,
maybe last year, the one Imissed maybe he was there doing
it again.
But yeah, you know, he he cartsaround his his modeling
supplies and he's got a coupleof projects that he works on in
this kind of environment andthose projects are kind of the
ones he brings to the shows andand works on and they were

(58:01):
setting up and they're workingon models right on the vendor
floor with the IPS nationals.

The downside is, I don't know what happened, but
I cut off a little bit of thefront of this interview.
Well, that's okay.
Technical difficulty.

Mike (58:13):
Technical difficulty.
It's kind of been our fortehere lately.
We've got to fix that.
But this is a quick bit fromBen and Frank and what they were
up to.
What are you working on?
So right now I'm working on theFine Molds KI-43, doing it the

(58:34):
Series 2 version and justbuilding it completely out of
the box, and been working onthis for about two months or so,
on and off at club meetingswith Model Makers Union.
So yeah, I'm really enjoying itand I think you've gotten a
chance to see the detail onthere.
So that's a good kid, but you,you do a good job.
Man, Getting people walking bythe table, it's like a really

(58:54):
amazed.
It's like, oh, that's how thebox.
I'm like, yep, it is.
Well, you know, we're behindyou over there.
I bought a few of my currentsto set out.
Yeah, it's like it's fun, it'spromoting the hobby.
It's like I'm here with FrankBlanton.

Ben Pluth & Frank Blanton (59:05):
It's like hand it over to him.
Frank Blanton with IPMSRichmond in Amp, Central
Virginia.
Yeah, you're a longtimelistener too, frank, I sure, am
I sure am, what are you?
Working on.
So I picked up the 25 for 25AFV Club M36 Jackson tank
destroyer.
Now I say 25 for 25 because itwas $25 and it's number 25 in my

(59:29):
kit stash.
Okay, I was.
I.
Yeah, I'm trying to get my kitstash down.
Uh, ben and I were talkingbefore the show and he says he
says I'm going to be building itto show us.
Man, I've always wanted to dothat, so I grabbed my toolkit.
This first time we've met inperson at this show.
We've been on chat groups forthree years now yeah, so I was
about to ask how that happened.
Yeah, I wanted to hang out andbuild models with my buddy.

(59:51):
All right, mike later on we.

Mike (59:53):
It's like, uh, floyd warner was gonna be joining us,
but right now he's at thereviewer core okay, so yeah,
you'll see.
Maybe uh two, three more peopleuh joining in, uh here at the
table working on stuff.
All right, well, guys, I'll getout of your hair, but uh,
thanks for quick chat all right,let it.

Ben Pluth & Frank Blanton (01:00:09):
Let frank have it again.
All right, mike, listen, I'vegot some extra road wheels to
clean.
You're always welcome to comejoin us, friend.
No, I got my own to clean.

Mike (01:00:18):
All right, michael ben where are we gonna see you're
gonna see at our show, hopefully.
Yeah, it's like an uh, I'llhave a younger modeler, uh, with
me, uh, checking it, checkingit out.
My uh, now fiancee.
It's like I'll have a youngermodeler with me checking it out
my now fiance.
It's like her oldest son isgetting interested in modeling.

Brandon Lowe (S (01:00:31):
Congratulations how old.

Mike (01:00:34):
He's 15 years old.
That's not young.
Is he interested at all?
He's kind of gotten the bug,but we'll see.
It's like how much more.
It's like him and his dad gotinto the hobby together a little
bit, but he really enjoys.
It's like my work.
So he's like trying to workwith his dad to get to my level.
So we'll see in September then,all right, I'll see you there,

(01:00:57):
thank you.
Thank you, mike.
Well, we see Ben at our show.

Kentucky Dave (01:01:05):
Yeah, speaking of cars on his way home with his
brand new fiance from the showbetween Hampton and Richmond,
ben got rear-ended.
Now, luckily it was not aserious accident it didn't
disable the car or anything likethat but a bunch of us actually

(01:01:30):
got caught up in the trafficbackup that happened when he had
that accident.

Mike (01:01:37):
He must have not been too far behind us because it was
starting to get dodgy when wewere coming through there and we
got through it okay.
But that poor guy was involvedin a pretty major incident not
that long ago, two or threeyears ago.

Brandon Lowe (Squadron) (01:01:51):
four years ago maybe something like
that.

Mike (01:01:53):
But glad he's all right and hopefully, if it was a
rental, hopefully they gave himtoo much crap about it.

Well, luckily, like I said, on his trip to
Virginia Beach and Hampton hegot engaged, and so he and his
fiancée were both in the car.
Luckily neither one hurt.
Luckily it was not very bad.
So all in all, good news forBen.

Mike (01:02:18):
Well, Dave, probably one of the high points of the vendor
room was the squadron booth isan understatement.

You can't call that a booth, you can't call it
a corral.
It was a warehouse inside thethe vendor room.
It's the only way I know todescribe it.
It was huge.
It was like brandon lowe andsquadron had just picked up
their warehouse and dropped alarge portion of it onto the

(01:02:51):
vendor floor.

Mike (01:02:52):
Well, I think that's exactly what they did, and we'll
just let him tell us about it.

Okay.

Mike (01:03:02):
Brandon, it's the last day of the show and we finally made
it over here, finally found you.
Yeah well, thank you.

Thank you of the show and we finally
made it over here, finally foundyou.
Yeah, well, thank you.
Thank you for coming over.

Mike (01:03:09):
This is absolutely impressive.
You've got video games, You'vegot some big clip speakers
pumping out the tunes and Ithink that may be your trailer
back there.

It is.
This is the first time we'veever got to park our trailer in
our booth.
I have never seen it.

It's like you lifted up not just a hobby store
but a hobby warehouse and justdropped it in the middle of the
vendor room.

We have too much fun with this.

John Figuroa (01:03:35):
I mean when you come here.

I want people to have an experience.
You know they're getting one?

The Voice of Bob (01:03:40):
Yeah, they're getting one.

We got tanks, we got planes, we got
ships, we got figures.
I want to bring enough that wehave something for everybody,
regardless of what kind ofmodels you like.
Even hot sauce, apparently.

Mike (01:03:53):
Yeah, hot sauce.
We've been working all thiswith shirts and hats.

It's very cool and we're very
appreciative that we have abrand that people like to
support, more so than just aplace to buy models.
They feel a part of Squadron.
So how are you going to outdothis?
Like maybe a disco ball orsomething?
I don't know.
We're already talking about it,trying to figure out what we're
going to do next year, becausethat is what we like to do.
We like to outdo ourselves eachyear and it's kind of like a

(01:04:19):
running joke in the warehouse.
Okay, what are we going to donext time to go bigger?

I see that you managed to get Tamiya's brand
new, not yet released, otherthan you got them.

Right, yeah, the new Pac-38.
Five centimeter, that's rightyeah.
Pac-38 from Tamiya in 35thscale does not release until
October.
Yet you can buy them here atthe squadron booth during the
show.

Well, you had a big stack of them and there are
not many left those.

Those seem to be very popular yep,
there's, they are the their newm36 jackson.
Uh, those are already gone.
Yeah, just all sorts of newreleases here this week.
Uh, that people have beenpretty excited about it.
Looks like you guys are havingfun over here, but busy, it has
been a busy week, but that'sgood.
That's what we're here for.

(01:05:11):
And you're live streaming thewhole thing, oh yeah, yeah, we
can wave, we are, and you know,it's just, there's a lot of guys
that would love to be able tocome, but they might be too far
away or for whatever reason.
My dad, for example, russ.
He was supposed to be here andsome things came up and he
wasn't able to make it.
So it was actually his idea tolive stream because he said,

(01:05:31):
look, I want to feel like I'mthere.
So I brought an extra webcamalong and set it up, so Dad's
sitting over there watching allday while he does the rest of
his work.

Mike (01:05:41):
Well, the next upgrade is three or four more webcams in
the corners of this thing yeah,we've got these little security
cameras.

Jeff wanted to do that and I was
trying to figure out how to hookthose into the streaming, but
that doesn't work.

Mike (01:05:53):
They have their own little thing.
They may not be as good atcameras either.

Greg VandeVisser (Red (01:05:56):
Probably not.

But no, it's good.
We really enjoy this, settingit up the best we can and
letting everybody have a goodtime.

I'm sitting here looking.
You've got a line 10 deep andit seems like every time I've
been over here you've had just aline at the cash register.

Oh, yeah, that's one of the things
we're going to try to do nextyear is perhaps have more
checkouts, okay, so we can getpeople in and out of here faster
.
I mean thankfully they don'tseem to mind.
We've got some good music going, you know, give you something
to listen to.

That was a good idea too.
The line's moving fast, but I'mjust it's amazing the number of
people coming through here andbuying.
Y'all brought a hobby shop.

It's impressive, it's a lot of fun
and, like I said, the more wecan put on display for people,
the better chance I have ofhaving what you need or what you
want.
Yeah.

Mike (01:06:49):
All right.
Well, we won't keep you anylonger, brandon, all right.
And we appreciate taking a fewminutes with us and we look
forward to the next time we seeyou, Absolutely.

And we'll probably talk to you
before then yeah.
Yeah, absolutely.

Mike (01:06:57):
And it's all great.

It's always good to see you guys.

Mike (01:07:00):
It's good.

All right, thank you so much.
Thank you.

Mike (01:07:08):
Always good to talk to Brandon and man did they have it
going on, Good grief.

If you couldn't find something in the squadron
area that you wanted to buy, youwere not working very hard.
Whoa dog did.
He have an unbelievableassortment of kids with a couple
of game machines and his ownMuzak sound system.

(01:07:34):
I mean it was impressive.

Mike (01:07:36):
New employee, jeff Hearn, was there helping out with the
paints and that stuff and folks.
I just can't wait to see whathe does next year, because it
keeps getting bigger.
He's already a platinum sponsorfor the convention, which is
great, and that's what he did,dave.
He did bring a big warehouseand drop it on the show floor.

Yeah, and every time I was over in that area he
had a line of people lined up tomake purchases.
I mean there was not a slackfew minutes during the whole
four days.

Mike (01:08:10):
Well, good on him and I you know we'll see what happens
We'll.
We'll see him before the Natsnext year.
Hopefully we've got a chance tosee him at Wonderfest.
We'll have a chance to possiblysee him at amps.
We get there both of thoseshows, but IPMS national
convention in Fort Wayne.
If he wants to outdo himself,he will.

Yeah, I'm not sure how.
How could you possibly?

Mike (01:08:34):
Well, speaking of Fort Wayne, Dave, we have a little
bit here from Mr Figueroa fromthe Fort Wayne area in the
upcoming convention in 2026.
Sounds like they're going tohave a good show man.

I have no doubt.

Mike (01:08:53):
Well, dave, as of Wednesday, it is less than a
year until the 2026 IPMSNational Convention, and who do
we have with us?

We have Mr Figueroa, who is the show
chairman, we have Mr Figueroa,who is the show chairman,
driving force and all-around bigcheese when it comes to Fort
Wayne and the Fort Wayne show Iprefer Grand Poobah.
Grand Poobah.
Okay, that works.

Mike (01:09:18):
I'm sorry, grand Poobah Do you need a big blue hat with
horns on it.

Yep, okay, we'll see what we can do.

Mike (01:09:23):
But what's in store?

in Fort Wayne, indiana.
Let me start with the themedawards.
We wrestled with these awardsfor weeks and the whole team we
got a team of 11 clubs doing theshow Okay and we wanted to get
something that gave a littlelove to the traditionally
underrepresented genres.
So we've got Happy BirthdayAmerica.

(01:09:48):
It's the American Revolutionfor figure guys.
We've got Gundam RX-78, back tothe Future or Back to the
Beginning, I'm sorry, that's forobviously the Gundam guys.
I guess RX-78 was the firstGundam Truck Town USA
International Harvester, anyInternational Harvester.
Subject 60th anniversary ofStar Trek for the sci-fi guys

(01:10:13):
and the 110th anniversary of theBattle of Jutland for ship
modelers, so you've gotsomething for just about
everybody.

Mike (01:10:18):
That's really interesting.

Yeah, I mean we don't.
I'm an aircraft and armor guy,okay, but you'll notice they're
conspicuously missing from itbecause they've gotten the brunt
of everything for 60 years.
Okay, and we need to pass thebaton off to people, younger
people that are interested inother subjects if we're going to
grow the society.
So we're pretty happy with whatwe got and, like I said, we

(01:10:44):
wrestled with it for a long time.
So when is the show next year?
It's the 5th to the 8th ofAugust.
Okay, it's at the Grand WayneConvention Center, which is
right downtown.
Fort Wayne is a small city it's275,000, but it doesn't even
have like a metropolitan area.
Right Outside of Fort Wayne iscornfields and there's little

(01:11:05):
towns, right, right, so downtownis like six blocks by seven
blocks.
Okay, you can walk from oneside to the other in 20 minutes.
You know if you're slow, right,but there's so much to do down
there.
It's very walkable.
We've got 60 restaurants withinwalking distance of the

(01:11:25):
convention center, anything fromArby's to Ruth's Chris.
We've got the Embassy Theaterright across the street, which
was opened in 1928.
That's where we're going to doour awards ceremony and I think
that's going to be the crownjewel for us If we don't do
anything else.
Right, I think people fiveyears from now are going to

(01:11:48):
still be saying oh man, rememberthat theater in Fort Wayne.
It's a real gem.

Now you've got three convention hotels all
attached by skyways to theconvention center, correct,
correct.
So that's going to open up awhole lot of rooms, I think one
of them.

You have to go from one hotel to the other to
get across, but you can stillstay inside.
And the same to the EmbassyTheater.
You just from the ConventionCenter.
You go up the escalator, you goacross the skywalk, down the
stairs and you're in the theater.
Great, fabulous.

Well, we're looking forward to it.
Like you said, you've got 11different clubs who have
volunteered to staff and man theconvention.
I know you're having meetingswhat?

monthly or every two weeks, twice a month, and
we're going to go to weeklymeetings here at some point soon
.

Well, and you've got a promotional table out here
at the Hampton Convention andevery time I've walked by it's
been A well-staffed and B.
You've had people coming by whoreally seem interested in going
to Fort Wayne.

Yeah we're going to be doing road shows also.
Nora and I are planning to godown to Pensacola, Florida.
We're in November 8th.
We're going down to, we'regoing to drive down to Austin.
Right.
And we've got a guy that's goingto go to Seattle.
So you know, I mean, and you'regoing to promote at Wonderfest

(01:13:25):
next year too.
Yes, exactly, and at the AmpsNationals.
So what we did is we talked toAmps Nationals, we said, hey, if
you give us a table to promoteour show, we'll give you a table
to promote your show.
And they thought it was a greatidea and that's happened in the
past.

Mike (01:13:42):
I mean, there's a big Amps table in Texas when we were
down there in San Marcos.
Okay, are vendor tables beingopen for reservation yet, or
when is that kind of thing goingto start?

We have completely sold out the main vendor room
already Damn.
Well, I mean there might be oneor two, okay.
But yeah, my vendor coordinatoris a hot dog, okay.
The first day I told him youknow, he said I'm going to go
sell some vendor tables.
I said you want me to go withyou?
And he just gave me the stinkeye.
I said John, that's your job.
I said go do good things.

(01:14:13):
I said I got other things to do.

Greg VandeVisser (Red Wild D (01:14:16):
He said you know, leave me alone.

Stay out of my dickers.
All right and he just did agreat job, for we actually have
four vendor rooms.
They're all right in the samearea.
You just go across the hall andin and one of them is about
25,000 square feet the main one.
We've got a 10,000 square footone and a 6,000 square foot one,
and then we actually have oneat the top of the stairs which

(01:14:37):
is in a beautiful.
It's got glass windows and theceiling is kind of glass and the
sun comes in.
You look right out over theEmbassy Theater and over
downtown and we got 27 vendortables in there and it's right
across from the Tiger Meat room,gotcha.
So that's another thing.
Tiger Meat we're live and well,we've got 65 tables for Tiger

(01:15:00):
Meat and anyone who doesn't knowwhat Tiger Meat is, it's
display only.
If you don't want to enter thecontest display, only Anyone can
put it up there.
We're going to do acommemorative poker chip, so
only people that enter the TigerMeat will get the poker chip.
We've got two t-shirts aconvention t-shirt and a vendor

(01:15:22):
t-shirt with different designson them.
I think we're good to go.

Okay, all right.
Well, I promised we wouldn'tkeep you.
Thank you for coming over andsitting down and talking about
what we've got to look forwardto in Fort Wayne in 2026.

Thank you, and maybe we can do this again in
six months or so.
We'll get a little closer,absolutely.

Mike (01:15:42):
Given that our club's involved with your volunteer
course, we would love to be abigger part of this one.

Absolutely Thank you guys for having us.
You're welcome.
Bye-bye.

Mike (01:15:55):
Looking forward to it.
Man, I am too.
I'm so glad we rose above oursituations and didn't bail on
this one.

I am so glad and it reminded me why it's the best
four days every year.
Again, I came home depressedthat it was over and immediately
starting to look forward to2026.
And especially the fact thatwe're not going to have to drive
nine plus hours.

Mike (01:16:24):
Yeah, and one of my wife's best friends is up there, so
this one may be a maybe a goodone.
Yeah, but before we get too farahead of ourselves for 2026,
what else you got to say about2025?

It was good.
Now, that's not to say it wasperfect.
I've never been to a conventionwhere there wasn't something
didn't work right.
This time they're transitioningto an online registration
system and if you brought yourmodels and didn't register them
ahead of time, you registeredthem there, but you had to do it

(01:17:00):
via the computers they had setup and that was a little slower
than I think they wanted it tobe.
They had some minor things withthe printed schedule for
seminars not matching what wasactually going on.
The vendor room map layout wasincorrect due to some

(01:17:21):
rearranging, but all that's Imean, that's so minor, it ran so
beautifully.
High compliments for the factthat they've altered the awards
ceremony and this year they wererunning slides of the first,
second and third winners in eachcategory during the banquet and

(01:17:42):
then, immediately after thebanquet, they announced all the
juniors, all of the best ofs andspecialty awards, announced
that 2027 is going to be inHuntsville, alabama, and then
released everybody.
The model room was opened by8.30, which is as early as I

(01:18:05):
ever remember it being opened,which allowed a lot more time
because it wasn't so late, tonot only get in and pack up your
models but to socialize withthe other modelers that you knew
and you had seen their work in.
Or you could catch somebody whowas boxing his work up and say

(01:18:30):
you know, I really like thispiece.
How did you do this?
Or how did you do that?
It gave much more time for thatand that was a great.
I mean, that was one of thehighlights of the show.
So what did you?

Mike (01:18:42):
think I had a great time.
The Airbnb worked out great.
Great hanging out with PaulGloucester and Mark Copeland and
Steve Hustad.

And let's not talk about the fact that Paul
Gloucester transported 10 modelshalfway around the world.
I don't know how he does it.

Mike (01:18:59):
I had a good time, man, and I tell you one thing I want
to mention is we have somecrossover with the Model Geeks,
but they killed it.
They were there broadcastingevery day and putting out
content every day and theyabsolutely killed it.
So kudos to those guys and, uh,it was great to see them.
We didn't get to spend a lot oftime with them this time just
because they were busy.

(01:19:19):
We were busy, but, uh, they dida great job.
Well, that's a wrap for the2025 National Convention.
Dave and I guess we'll get onto regular life again.

Onward and upward man.

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Mike (01:20:19):
I was glad Bill and Wes got to see the E16 on the base
they made for me.

Yes, yeah, that was fun.
That attracted a lot ofattention.
That was one of the things thatwe did that we hadn't really
planned ahead of time, but itreally did work out, having a
couple of things that peoplehave heard about when we talk
about them on the show actuallyon the table for people to stop

(01:20:44):
by and look at.

Mike (01:20:45):
Well, that one's been to Canada and it's been to Hampton
Virginia, and I think it's notgoing anywhere else.

Yeah, I think it needs to go in a case.

Mike (01:20:53):
It might come to our show.
Yeah, it ought to come to ourshow, that's a short one, so
maybe that's 60 miles.

You can do that.

Mike (01:21:00):
Well, you're always fired up after nats, dave, yes, I am.

What's your benchtop looking like for the
benchtop halftime report?
It looks better than it didright before the show.
As everybody knows, a groupthat I am a part of called the
Septembrists they do a groupentry every year.
This year, aircraft that werestationed in Norfolk from 1930
to 1950 or so and I was workingto finish a Bearcat.

(01:21:32):
I already had one model donefor the display is an F-4, f-3
Wildcat and Yellow Wingsmarkings, which I did get to the
show and was part of thedisplay.
But I was working on a HobbyBoss Bearcat in Norfolk Naval
Reserve markings and through acombination of pressure,

(01:21:55):
laziness, I failed.
And this happens every time andI apologize for the language,
but there's not another way tosay this.
I'll get rushed on a projectand I will try and half-ass
something I will try and insteadof doing it right the way I

(01:22:15):
know it should be done, I tryand shortcut it to get it done
because I'm under a time crunch,and that's exactly what
happened here.
I was working on the well,first of all, I hadn't thought
it out completely, and so Iapplied some details that I
should have waited until after Ipainted the tailband for, and

(01:22:37):
then, when I went to paint thetailband, instead of getting my
micrometer out and measuring anddoing it the right way.
I tried to improvise it andjust, oh yeah, that'll be good
enough, it'll work.
And of course, it didn't workto the point where it ruined the
model and, in a fit of pique, Idid something that I don't

(01:23:01):
think I've done in at least 10years, which is I threw the
model in the trash.
Now, luckily, I had a backup,because I was building two of
these F8F2s along with one F8F1,on the theory that I needed a
backup and had it available, andif the original one worked out,

(01:23:26):
then I was going to do thebackup in alternate markings.
But in any event, I trashed theone I was doing, but the backup
one is 99% done.
In fact, as soon as I got backfrom the nationals, I painted
the tail band on and did it theright way masking, measuring,

(01:23:48):
doing the things that needed tobe done.
And when you're trying to take ashortcut, you always know
you're trying to take a shortcutand, frankly, in the back of
your head, you know it's amistake.
Now, every once in a while, youget away with it and that's a
problem because that gets youthinking oh, I can do that, but

(01:24:10):
no.
But I've been posting photos onthe dojo.
The tail band is on.
I've just got to put somedecals on, gloss, coat it, slap
the gear, the propeller, takethe canopy mask off and it's
done.
So it'll be in the next week ortwo.
And then I've got to somehowhook up with Dr David Geldmacher

(01:24:34):
, the leader of theSeptemberists, who has the
current display, and get this tohim so he can include it in
shows that he goes to down theroad.

Mike (01:24:46):
Oh, I got to laugh.

Yeah, I know.

Mike (01:24:49):
I did it.
Not at your misfortune, not atyour misfortune.
I already did that.
That was last.
Yeah, I know.

That was nine hours in a car each way.

Mike (01:24:59):
So you guys had this display for the 2025 and you're
working on the next one for 2026.
Right.
And you mentioned Dr Dave.
Yep.
And most of these guys were atthe convention.
Yeah, a fair number of them.
We got to see them all, for themost part, who participated in
this build, except for Vitkus, Ithink.

(01:25:20):
So I'm on the emails for allthis.
I'm like this peripheralSeptemberist, I guess.

You're a member, we're going to suck you into the
group.

Mike (01:25:28):
So they're.
So you've said there's been ameeting set up to determine what
the next subject is going to be.
Yep, and I had to double checkthe date september 26th yeah a
month and a half away to figureout what models you're going to
build for the next convention.

Yeah, this is what yeah, I know, I know where
you're going.

Mike (01:25:51):
I love these guys, but Dave man, this is the most
eccentric bunch of modelers I'veever been around.
Yeah, watching you guys try toplan.
Something is like watching theepisode of the Bob Newhart Show.

Yes, it is With Larry Daryl and Daryl no no, the
old Bob Newhart show.

Mike (01:26:07):
Oh, okay.

Hopefully we're going to settle on a theme where
I've actually got one or moremodels that it might already fit
into it.

Mike (01:26:17):
But you know what happens in a month and a half.

We'll see what happens.

Mike (01:26:21):
I'll tell you what's going to happen.
As an engineer, I'm going totell you what's going to happen.

Ben Pluth & Frank Blanton (01:26:24):
As an engineer.

Mike (01:26:24):
I'm going to tell you what's going to happen.
Every Septimers is going tohave a month and have to think
about their own idea.
Yeah, you're going to be thatmuch further apart.

Well, I don't know, we'll see.
Actually, we've been, as youknow, because you're on the text
or the email chain.
We've already settled on maybetwo or three and it's just
figuring out which of thosewe're going to utilize.

(01:26:52):
You settle on one?
Yeah, well, we will OnSeptember 26,.
We will settle on one at thatmeeting, okay, because it better
not go one day past that.
It will not.
I vow to you.
That's all right To hear that,dr Gellmacher, I know he listens
.
So fun, fun to jab a little.

(01:27:14):
Oh yeah.
And also I've actually starteda little work on the special
Navy, kfk and 72nd scale.
That just cause I needsomething to work on when I want
to build and not paint.
And then as soon as theBearcat's done, the SAM goes

(01:27:36):
back on the stand and it getsfinished because it's 90 plus
percent finished, plus percentfinish.
So I have vowed to Steve Fustad, among others, that that one is
next and it's going to getfinished and wrapped up before
the end of the year, at whichpoint I will have four completed
models for the year in yourface.

Mike (01:27:59):
That's fine.
It's well, it's August, I'llget there.
You got about four months forthe dark period, as you say,
sets in.

Yeah, the dark time sets in, so if you finished
.

Mike (01:28:12):
If you finished, you're going to finish the Bearcat
Right and you finished the SAM.

That's three.
Actually, I said four.

Mike (01:28:19):
Well, there's a couple collecting dust.

Yeah, well, there are many collecting dust, well
no, yeah, well, there are manycollecting dust.

Mike (01:28:27):
Well, no, yeah, probably some of those weren't even.
We weren't even doing thepodcast when those were.
Well, that's true, startedcollecting dust.

Yes, I have a deep and wide shelf of doom.

Mike (01:28:38):
You could clean that up and maybe get five.

Yes, you're right , it's possible.
Folks push them on.
I want to see you finish twothis year.

Mike (01:28:46):
Yeah, it's possible, but uh, I want folks push him on.
I want to see you finish, too,this year.

Yeah, it's possible because the paul got
finished in january.

Mike (01:28:52):
It's not it's not likely, but yeah, yeah, I got finished
in january so all you gotta dois get that kv85 done by.

I mean, I'm not even gonna hold you to the base
if you can get the model doneokay, all right, I'll count that
one.
So, mike, speaking of that,what's?
What's your benchtop look like?

Mike (01:29:14):
I don't know, I haven't seen it in two weeks.
I really haven't I know, youknow, even though it's right
behind me, because it'sliterally behind me where we
record tonight but but I haven'tgot to anything.
I haven't got there yet.

Yeah, well, you came back and you dropped into
it big time.
Now I did too as far as workand all the stuff waiting when I
got back.
But I didn't have to work thisweekend and you did.
I actually got a night or twoof modeling in this week where
you haven't been able to unpackanything from having been at the

(01:29:52):
National Convention.

Mike (01:29:52):
Not much, but there's stuff that's happened.
Yeah, one was I got an envelopefrom Brandon Gentry, who we met
at the National Convention,mm-hmm, and he had heard me
talking about this nylon filtermesh I'm trying to figure out
for the for the KV 85.
Yeah.
And as he said he would at theshow.

(01:30:14):
He mailed this on August 11thfrom Indy.
Yep.
He sent me some filter mesheshe'd pulled out of some parts he
had told me about, and I'mtrying to see if it's going to
work Now.
I already took one in a hasteand hit it with some black
rattle can to see what it wasgoing to do and I don't know
what.
I didn't shake the can enough,so it all kind of beat it off

(01:30:35):
and made a mess.
But he sent me several.
So I gotta I gotta get thosepainted up and see if they're
going to work.
I'm trying to think it might betoo fine still, maybe not.
It's it's close, it's realclose.
So hopefully it'll work out.
So so, brandon, I appreciatethat you said you're going to do
that and you actually did it,and thanks for thinking of me

(01:30:56):
and coming up to the show andtell me about it.
So I appreciate that very much.
The other thing that's happenedis that we were able to open
the box that the Moosaroo Cupkit came in.

What did?

Mike (01:31:10):
you get.
I got a car kit, Dave, acurbside car kit.
Okay.
It's an aoshima kit.
It is a nb8c roadster, alsoknown in north america, maybe
other places, the mazda miata.
Oh okay, so it is a.
It's the.
The kit as boxed is a from amanga kind of anime, ip, so it's

(01:31:36):
got kind of that kind ofartwork on the front.
It's curbside kit again, so noengine, so you don't have to
worry about that.
It's the whole theme of thismoose root cup this year is kind
of the fast and furious kind ofthing right so this thing is a
typical god.
What to call it?
Exhaust, delete, non-functionalwhale, tail, fin on the back,

(01:31:58):
fast and Furious Roadster.

Now, what are the limitations out of the box?

Mike (01:32:06):
No, we can build it and implement anything that is along
that theme.

Okay.

Mike (01:32:12):
As long as it remains like the still looks like the car
right.

Gotcha.

Mike (01:32:17):
So I don't know I got to get into this.
I got an idea.
We'll talk about it later.

Yeah, yeah, we'll talk about that offline.

Mike (01:32:27):
Luckily it's an easy kit to build, so that won't be the
problem this year.

Well, now that you have SpaceX 33 behind you
hopefully this week you'llactually in in the evenings get
to come sit down at your benchand model Everyone got to see
the KV-85 where it is yeah, theydid when it is currently and
it's hopefully we can push onand get that, get that going.

Mike (01:32:52):
That's pretty much my bench right now, man.

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Mike (01:33:22):
Or get lost in their vendor booth.

Oh gosh, you know .
This next section is calledwhat Broke your Wallet?
Yeah, and on the outline I justwrote everything.

Mike (01:33:35):
Well, it's interesting.
For varied reasons we've bothbeen kind of muted in our
purchases of really sinceHeritage Con, since March.
Yep.
But we went to the nationalconvention and I was in a better

(01:33:55):
frame of mind than I was inHeritage Con.
The fog is lifting and somethings were bought, but who's
going first?

Well, I'll go first, because I think I got
more than you.

Mike (01:34:03):
I think you did too.

Right before the Nationals I placed an order with
Squadron Shop for another HobbyBoss, f8f because I thought I
was going to have to steal thedecals out of it and had it
rushed delivered to my house.
Decals out of it and had itrush delivered to my house.
So I've got it.
But it turns out I don't needit.
So I'll probably end up sellingthat because I don't think I'm

(01:34:26):
going to build a fourth Bearcat.
Other than that, we went to theNationals and the vendor room
was great.
I was relativelyself-controlled.
I counted it up.
I bought eight books, of course, three decal sheets, about six

(01:34:48):
of those foam blanking wheelwell blanking masks that UMM USA
has.
And then I picked up five, six,seven kits man, only one of
which was actually a new releasebuy it at nearly full price kit

(01:35:12):
and that was the Blosh MB210 inRomanian markings, because I'm
a sucker for anything inRomanian markings.
So I bought that.
But the other stuff, whathappened the last Saturday
afternoon?
We're walking around and allthe vendors are packing up and

(01:35:33):
some of them are blowing stuffout and stuff out, and some of
the things they were, some ofthe prices they were asking for
kits were just ridiculously low.
So I picked up, I think, fourJap.
Oh, I did find a Tamiya Zero atthe show.
Tamiya Zero for $10.

(01:35:55):
So it was the automatic buyprice.
It was a model 52.
So it was the automatic buyprice.
It was a Model 52.
So now I have 14 of those.
But I picked up four Japaneseaircraft for like $5 or $7 a
piece, a couple of Fujimi kits.
It was just.
I mean, you know, when they'regiving them away like that, it's
hard to resist it, even thoughI probably should, because

(01:36:18):
usually I already have one ofwhat I'm buying at home.
But all in all I didn't gocrazy.
But yeah, I put a hurtin' on tothe point where I don't think
I'll be buying much of anythingthe rest of the year.
I think I'm done.

Mike (01:36:34):
We'll see.
I'll have to watch you at ourshow in September.

That's right, that's right.
How about?

Mike (01:36:39):
you Well, I guess.
On the kit front I only boughtthree.
I came back with more than that, though.
Yes.
We mentioned Paul Gloucesterearlier.
He had been to a swap meet inAustralia and found the Dragon
Cyber Hobby Gloucester Meteors.

Which are tough to find, man.

Mike (01:36:57):
Which are tough to find.
I got the F1 and F3.
So I got the two World War IIera birds.
Glad to get those.
I'm a sucker for this stuff,Dave.
There was a guy there sellingstuff at a good price already
and some of this classic Airfixstuff.

(01:37:17):
I just can't say no, especiallywhen it's cheap.

Oh, and this was cheap.
Doesn't begin to describe howcheap this was.

Mike (01:37:29):
So the first one's been re-released.
It's in a modern red box byAirfix, and there's also a 35th
scale kit.
I can't remember who made itoff the top of my head, but it's
air fixed 70, 17 pounderanti-tank gun in 32nd scale.
Yep.
In the original 1980 new releasebox.
Yep, just a classic kit.

(01:37:50):
The seller had four of them.
The seller had four of them andup until up until this show,
I'd not seen four in my entirelife, including two that were
built already and this kit notthat long ago, before they
re-released it and before the35th scale, you know way better
kit came out.

(01:38:10):
You couldn't touch this kit forless than $100.
Yeah.
So I got mine for $10.
Yep.

With asthma-inducing mold included.

Mike (01:38:22):
Yeah, I had a big allergy attack after leaving this table.
That wasn't all, though, dave.
Again, some things that havesome of these have been released
.
I think Some of them maybe not,but the Airfix 30-second scale
multipose figures.
Yep.
And this guy had a stack ofthese things for $5 a pop and
most of them were still in theoriginal shrink wrap.
Same with the anti-tank gun.

Yeah, and again, mold included.

Mike (01:38:46):
Mold included.
I picked up for two ideas.
One there's a scene from theMarket Garden campaign of one of
these anti-tank guns on theroad firing across the river at
the Nijmegen Bridge.
So I picked up the Britishmultipose figure set to use as

(01:39:08):
additional gun crew, becausethere's a British multipose
figure set inside the 17-pounderkit as well.
So that's 12 figures total.
Don't need 12.
I need more than six to do thatscene.
And on this theme of gettingbetter at figure painting, I've
always wanted the Japaneseinfantry set from the Airfix
Multipose range.

I think that's the box art that makes that one.

Mike (01:39:32):
I think it makes all of them desirable.
Should I have bought theMarines and the Germans and the
US infantry in Northwest Europe?
Yeah, probably, probably not, Idon't know.
They never did a Russian setthough.
Yeah, god help me, if they haddone that.
I'd have bought all of them.
But this is a fun little setand looking forward to maybe

(01:39:58):
getting some figure paintingpractice and maybe a little
vignette with those six figures,that might be kind of cool too.
Uh, I bought a couple of books.

Dave, yes, you did Well wait a minute.
Was that the only kit youbought?

Mike (01:40:09):
I bought another old airfix kit.
I bought a uh a Wessexwhirlwind.

Oh, that's right, that was at the blowout phase.

Mike (01:40:17):
That was at the blowout.
I think that was $2 orsomething.

Yeah, yeah, it was some ridiculous price?

Mike (01:40:23):
It wasn't much.
What else did I get?
Oh, the books.
Yeah, there was a publishercalled AGA Press.
I don't know if they're stillaround, they're out of Poland
and they've done a series on theJapanese tanks, they've done
one on the Panther, they've doneone on the Tigers.

(01:40:43):
They've done one on a lot ofstuff, Trying to think what else
?
M3 Lee and the AmericanHalftracks.
Well, the Japanese armor serieswas five volumes long and I
walk up to this table.
And not only has he got allfive volumes of the Japanese
tank books, Japanese armor books, he's got a copy of the T-34
Mythical Weapon, the old AirConnection book.
That was published I don't know, it was probably 15 years ago

(01:41:06):
now or more.

Which you happen to have missed when it was
published.

Mike (01:41:09):
Yeah, which I missed when it was published.
There's some controversy aboutthe book, but it's a good
reference.
Right.
Maybe not singularly, but as apart of an overall collection.
T-34 references is one youprobably want to have, so he had
that too, and all this stuff'sout of print and none of it was
at out of print book prices.

(01:41:30):
Yeah.
So I couldn't remember if I hadthe fifth volume of the Japanese
tank books or not.
So I texted my son back at homeand said hey, here's what the
spine looks like, here's whatthe cover looks like.
Pull all these off the shelfand see if I've got them all.
He said no, there's only fourof them, dad.
I'm like okay, so I picked upthe fifth volume.
So that was a good score for me.

And I'm glad that the bookseller was willing to
break the setup.

Mike (01:41:56):
Yeah, he was unsure if he wanted to break the setup and he
ended up selling the others too.
Yeah, kind of interesting.
There was another copy of themythical weapon book at the show
, yep, and it was at a muchhigher price.

Triple.
Almost three X not quite Almostthree X yes.

Mike (01:42:13):
Two and a half times as much, and I may be mistaken, but
I want to say it's the same guywho had that book at the amp
show up in South Bend yeah, yearbefore last yeah, or now last
year, he ended up buying theother four yeah we'll see what
those end up being sold for.
Yeah, I don't blame him.

(01:42:34):
I mean he's a lot out of printbooks.
It just happened to be thetiming this.
Somebody else was there withone who was willing to part with
him, for you know MSRP at thetime of their release, so I
picked up the Mythical Weaponfor under $100.
Yeah, it's a steal at thatprice.

Well, if you go by per pound, it was a real
steal, because that's a big book.

Mike (01:42:56):
That is true, it's a big book and I had to rearrange the
bookshelf, but it's over therenow.
I bought a lot of big, heavybooks this year, dave, I know,
but as far as the Nationals goesthat's pretty much all.
I bought Way more than I boughtat Heritage Con, but it's still
a little reserved.
I'm not buying a lot of kitsright now.
I came back with several, butglad to have them.

(01:43:19):
I'm getting quite thecollection of vintage Airfix I
need to start building a few ofthem.

I'm going to start calling you Jim Bates.

Mike (01:43:27):
Yeah, that'd be good.

You can't resist a classic Airfix in the old box.
Mike, we're almost at the endof the episode and I can tell
you that Hector Colon did us asolid by bringing Medallia
Premium Light Beer from PuertoRico.
It's about 4.5% alcohol byvolume, so it's 4.7%.

(01:43:57):
So it's a classic light beer,but it does have way more body
than an American light beer.
I'm not sure what the basegrain is.
You know most American beersit's rice and I don't think this
is rice.
It's got a little more body toit.
It's got a little bit more maltto it.

(01:44:20):
But, Hector, thank you.
Very good beer, Very enjoyable,Got me through the episode easy
.
How about yours?

Mike (01:44:28):
Well, I finished up the Uncle Nearest 1884.
Yep.
And it's really interesting.
Now, Bill, thank you forbringing this Interesting.
Now, Bill, thank you forbringing this.
We may have talked about this alittle bit down in Knoxville a
year or so ago when I met youthere.
This is an interesting one.
I've been wanting to trybecause of the history behind it

(01:44:49):
.

Right Uncle Nearest is named for a gentleman
named.
Nearest Green who is the firstrecorded Africanrican-american
master distiller in the unitedstates, and jack daniels
distillery there's.

Mike (01:45:07):
There's a connection there .
A little weak on the history ofthat, but yes, there's a
definitely a jack danielsconnection and it's a tennessee
whiskey.
Now, what does that mean?
Um, the mash bill is isessentially the as bourbon, but
with a bourbon it goes rightinto the new charred oak casks.

Right Charred white oak barrel.

Mike (01:45:27):
When they're done distilling the alcohol.
In Tennessee whiskey there's aprocess called the Lincoln
County process.
So before it gets barreled itgoes through a filtration,
through maple charcoal, right,and then it's barreled and it
mellows it out.
And one thing it does it kindof peels off those oak notes

(01:45:48):
somehow, I don't know how, butthe oak is not there, because I
think this goes into oak barrelsbut something's going on there.
I'm not sure what.
It really mellows it out.
It brings the corn forward,which I kind of don't like.
So it's a little sweeter.
But this thing, this is a goodsip man, it's not bad at all.

Yeah Well, it's a quality.
He didn't give you a cheap,let's put it this way that one
didn't come in a plastic jug.

Mike (01:46:15):
No, it did not.
It came in a nice bottle.
So, bill, thanks for that.
It's good.
Yeah, I'd do it again, for sure.
Yeah, from Shelbyville,tennessee, home of the Tennessee
, walking horse.
There you go.
Well, that's the modelingfluids.
Man.

Now we truly are at the end of the episode.
Shout outs God, I've almost gottoo many, but I'll confine them
to two.
You got some shout outs.

Mike (01:46:45):
I'll go first.
I've got one.
Okay, I'm going to skip thecustomary thank yous for all the
contributors.
We've got some more and I'lladdress those in the upcoming
episodes.
But, brandon Gentry, Iappreciate you remembering to
send me this filter mesh, andyou know it speaks volumes of
the modeling community that wehad that short conversation.

(01:47:06):
You mentioned it and we agreedthat it might be worth looking
into, and you've actually put anenvelope and sent it to me.
So, brandon, thank you, thankyou very much.

Appreciate it.
I've got two.
First is our thoughts andprayers go out to Dave Goldfinch
, podfather from OTB.
He recently experienced a lossin his family and that's always
difficult and Dave's such agreat guy.
We're always thinking about you, dave, especially at a time

(01:47:35):
like this, so I just want you toknow that we're all thinking of
you.
And finally, I want to thankall the listeners who stopped by
the table.
I think we had more people stopby this year than any other
year.
I especially want to thankeverybody who brought us a
modeling fluid.
You have stocked us well andthere's nothing I love better

(01:48:02):
than trying a modeling fluidthat I've never tried before.

Mike (01:48:06):
And we got a lot of them.

And we got a lot of them.
But the interestingconversations we had with
listeners, some guys we knew,some guys we'd met before,
plenty of guys we saw and metfor the first time and it was
immediately like talking withold friends and they bring up

(01:48:27):
something they heard on thepodcast or something on your KV
85 or whatever.
And it was just, it was animmediate rapport.
It was great.
That I'll tell you.
Obviously, when Mike and Istarted this, we never
envisioned or planned onanything like that and I got to

(01:48:48):
tell you it has really turnedout to be.
One of my favorite parts ofpodcasting is going to the
National sitting at our table isgoing to the National sitting
at our table and getting to talkto so many interesting modelers
, all of whom have something tocontribute Could say any better

(01:49:09):
myself, Dave it was a good time.
It was a great time.

Mike (01:49:13):
All right.
Well, as we always say, dave,so many kits, so little time.
I guess we got a show spotlightto kick out, and then it's on
September, yep.

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