More Modeling Goodness With The Inch High Guy: Episode 149

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
The Voice of Bob (Bair) (00:11):
Welcome to Plastic Model Mojo, a
podcast dedicated to skillmodeling, as well as to news and
events around the hobby.
Join Mike in Kentucky David tosubscribe to be informative,
entertaining, and help you keepyour modeling mojo alive.

Mike (00:42):
All right, Majovia.
Welcome to uh episode 149.
We are sneaking up on thehalfway mark to our second 100
episodes.
Kentucky Dave, what about that?

Kentucky Dave (00:53):
I'm telling you, 150 is going to be a big one,
but 149 is a big one too,because we got a good guest.
Well, won't you introduce ourthird chair tonight, Dave?
I'll let you do it.
Our third chair tonight issomebody we saw last weekend,
and somebody we're going to seetwo weekends from now.
Jeff Groves, Inch High theModeling Guy, who uh was at the

(01:18):
MMCL show.
Our table was next to his, andso we got to spend basically an
entire day talking modeling.
Jeff was kind enough to bringus some stuff from his lending
library, and we're gonna go.
I'll be going through thatprobably for a couple of weeks.

(01:39):
You okay, Jeff?
Yep.
Hello, greater Bo Jovia.

Jeff Groves "The Inch Hig (01:43):
Well, good, man.

Glad to have you back.
So, Jeff, do you have fun atthe MMCL show?

Jeff Groves "The Inch High (01:48):
Oh, I'm telling you, that
Louisville show is I always lookforward to it.
It's one of the better shows inRegion 4.
Always a good time.
Great raffle, great show, greatfriends.
It's it's just one of thehighlights.

I saw that you entered a few models there.
That KI-43 looked really,really nice.
That's the first time I've seenit in person.
That was impressive in a groupof really impressive 72nd scale
single-engine aircraft.

That was a loaded category this
time.
There were so many entries.
Um, there were.
It was.
It was crowded.

Now you had a table, so you were doing the
same thing I was.
We were both trying to sell offstuff from the estate that uh
you so kindly alerted me to, andwe went up and helped rescue
books, and now we're we'refinding them good homes.
I found good homes for aboutprobably 15 to 20 of them.

How'd you do?
I sold several.
I didn't do as good as Ithought I I was gonna do or had
hoped I was gonna do.
I had marked the prices waydown past where I would have
bought them myself if I didn'talready have them.
So yeah, I did that.

I did the same thing.

Jeff Groves "The Inch High Gu (03:08):
I was just trying to move them
out and blow them out and spreadspread it around a little bit.

Mike (03:13):
Yeah, you'll get another chance in Cincy.

Yeah, I'm I'm I'm looking forward to
that.
I I I think I think that'llwork out.
I the guy next to my table wasalso selling books, and he was
selling them a lot quicker and alot more volume than I was, and
I couldn't figure it out.
I solicited some advice fromsome people that gave me some
pointers.
So my my my flaw there was Ithink I was trying to vend how I

(03:39):
would have liked to have seen atable full of books, and that's
not the presentation that otherpeople may have been more
attracted to.
So I got some good advice.

You'll try it up in Cincinnati the other way and
see if that does indeed make adifference.

Yeah, yeah.
I hope it will.
I hope it will.

Yeah.
Well, let's see, you suppliedMike and I with reading
material.
Uh we all got we all got tohang out together.
Mike, what what's it besidesgoing to the MMCL show?
What's up in your model sphere?

Mike (04:10):
See, now you're encroaching on my uh territory,
Dave.
After I let you introduce theguest, now you're just taking a
mile.
Taking a mile, man.
Hey, I'm trying to I'm tryingto help carry your load, man.
Jeff, other than selling books,is there anything else up in
your model sphere?

Jeff Groves "The Inch High G (04:29):
Uh the only other modeling related
thing is Friday night.
My son and I watched Greyhoundwith Tom Hanks in it.
I hadn't seen that yet, and thelibrary finally got it in, and
I dashed down there and we weate a lot of popcorn and watched
watched Tom Hanks sink someU-boats.

How was it?
Because I have not seen it yeteither.

Well, I I have a love-hate
relationship with those kind ofmovies.
I love to see the animationsand the action and everything,
and it's it's just you know,it's eye candy, but it it kind
of it kind of wears thin on theaccuracy and the plot in places,
but it's good overall.

Aaron Powell Well, being a navy guy, I'm sure
you notice stuff that that manyof us wouldn't.

Yeah, well, s maybe, maybe, but um
some of them were kind of justyou know Hollywooded up.
And you know, the frustrationis, as you well know, there are
so many excellent stories thatcame out of of the real history
that you kind of wonder why theyfeel the need to embellish
things.

Sure.
Yeah, I agree.

Well, that that's actually after a
novel by C.S.
Forrester, The Good Shepherd.

Yeah.

So you know, he he's a quality
writer.

A really good novel.

Oh, yeah.

If you if you haven't read it, go ahead and
get it and read it.
It's worth it.

Mike (05:52):
Well, Dave, what's up, what's up in your model sphere?

Well, really good contest.
Got to hang with good modelingfriends, not just Inch.
Got to see a lot of the MMCLguys, got to see a lot, a number
of listeners.
Again, got to find homes forbooks, and that's that's kind of
my goal with those things isI'm not trying to really make

(06:15):
money.
I'm just trying to find peoplewho would appreciate these books
and and get them into theirhands so that you know they'll
be taken care of.
I like modeling season, contestseason.
MMCL is barely behind us, andI'm already anticipating

(06:36):
Cincinnati.
My mojo is high from my modelsphere.
How about you?

Mike (06:42):
Well, mine's been mostly in administrative in the context
of this segment.
We got some stuff we're tryingto get laid down for, I guess,
the fourth quarter here of theyear.
Yeah.
I've got a couple of irons inthe fire that uh I'm trying to
get going.
I can't say much about them, soI don't even know why I'm
bringing them up, but uh one ofthem involves something we're

(07:03):
doing in November, and the otherinvolves uh just general
podcast stuff and uh visibility.
So um looking forward to that.
We've been kind of running uhpretty good here last few
months, and uh we're gonna laythe foundation to keep that
trending in the right direction,I hope.

Yep.
I agree.
So we are recording tonight.
That means modeling fluid.
Inch, do you happen to havemodeling fluid?

I do.
I'm violating my self-imposedprohibition tonight.

Okay.

I'm having another Blue Moon
Belgian wheat just because Ilike them so much.

That is that is an excellent drinking beer.
I'm telling you what, if when Igo to some place and I want to
have a beer and I look on tap,if it's nothing but the mass
market, Mikelobe, Bud, etc., Iwill always get a blue moon.

Yeah, it's been my favorite for
years, and it will certainly getme through the episode.

Good.
So, Mike, you have a modelingfluid?

Mike (08:07):
I've reverted back to my former staple.
I've got a little bullet orangelabel tonight.
Oh, good choice.
Good choice.
Which that yeah, I'm a littleinto the into it now because I
bought it Thursday night.
Friday night.
Yeah.
I brought it, I bought it justahead of the weekend, so you
know I'm into it pretty goodnow.
But man, that first one afterdrinking that Russell's 10 was

(08:29):
glad that wasn't the reviewtaste for the episode.

Yeah.

Mike (08:33):
But it's an old, it's an old standby, so we'll we'll
we'll be fine.

Well, my modeling fluid is something for those
who who prefer their modelingfluids non-alcoholic.
Mine is Trader Joe's organicsweet tea and lemonade, also
known as an Arnold Palmer.
Trader Joe's markets thisstuff.

(08:59):
You can buy it in the bottle,already pre-mixed, already
pre-made.
And uh since I'm recoveringfrom a little bit of a stomach
bug, I want to try and take iteasy on my on my stomach.
So I'm having a non-alcoholicmodeling fluid, and I went with
an Arnold Palmer.

Mike (09:18):
That'd probably be pretty good with some bottom shelf
plastic ring jug Jim Beam orsomething, in it.

It probably would, but again, that would
just that would do and I've gotthat.
I really in the in the bar,I've got that, but no, I'm I I'm
taking the night off, hoping tohoping to recover my in my
recover back to my pre uhstomach upset.

Mike (09:44):
While you're doing that, we ought to get into the
listener mail.
All right.
Well, guys, we've had a adeluge of emails regarding model
show spotlight, which typicallywe don't address in this
segment because we've talked tothose folks and uh hit them up
with the model show spotlight,which we are scheduling right

(10:06):
now.
I think I think we have hitcritical mass with that.
Yes.
Um we are certainly gonnaprobably hit a high tide with
that for this month forNovember.

Of course, this is the busy part of the fall
season.

Mike (10:19):
You're right, it is, so it won't last.
The moon phase will change andthe tides will recede, but we
had a lot of those.
Yeah.
So we're not gonna get intothose.
Outside of that category, wehad but one email.
Okay.
And there was a follow-up.
Well, no, it wasn't afollow-up, it was a warning that
this email was coming.

(10:40):
That's what it was.
Okay.
You know, we had Chris Wallaceon, our one of our favorite
Ottawa's, and uh you kept doingyour typical Canada bash and you
always like to do.
Oh wow.
I I tea I teased you of ofcreating an international
incident.
Yes.
Well, you did, uh-oh.

(11:00):
But it was not with Canada, atleast not in whole, maybe in
part.
And I got an email from a Mr.
Will Edwards, and honestly, Iwanted to use AI to read this in
the voice of Foghorn Leghorn.
Um, if not Foghorn Leghorn,maybe Don Johnson and Django

(11:25):
Unchained.

Okay, there you go.
I say, I say.

Mike (11:29):
Or maybe even Carol O'Connor in the heat of the
night.
Okay.
I got it.
One of those.
You got it?

I got you.
I got one where you're coming.

Mike (11:37):
I'm not gonna imitate that.
Thank you.
I probably could, but I'm notgonna.
Yeah.
Dear Kentucky Dave on theplastic model mojo.
So this is not an email toplastic model mojo, Dave.
Okay.
This is an email to you.
We write formally in relationto comments you have recently
made concerning scale models ofWorld War I aircraft,

(11:59):
specifically those crafted in170 second scale.
Your remarks, which we considerdisparaging and unfounded, have
caused undue distress,reputational harm within the
modeling community, and anunjust diminution of time,
skill, and dedication involvedin their creation.
Such comments are not onlyunconstructive, but are

(12:22):
reasonably capable of beinginterpreted as defamatory, given
their negative impact on mystanding among fellow fellow
enthusiasts, collectors, andassociated groups.
Accordingly, I demand that youone, immediately retract your
disparaging statements regarding170 second scale World War I
models, and two, issue a writtenapology within the Facebook

(12:46):
group dedicated to World War Imodels and 170 seconds scale,
acknowledging that your remarkswere inappropriate and cause
reputational damage.
Unless I receive a satisfactorywritten retraction and apology
within your next episode, Ireserve the right to take
further action, including butnot limited to the pursuit
pursuing a claim for defamationand or seeking injunctive relief

(13:10):
to prevent further harm.
I trust that you will treatthis matter with the seriousness
it deserves and respondpromptly.
Yours sincerely, World War Imodelers in God's one true
scale.
So there, consider a oneinternational incident had.

Okay, well, it's funny that you have that email
because right after our goodfriend Steve Hustad listened to
the podcast, that same podcast,he reached out immediately to
berate me for exactly the samething.
As you know, Steve has builtmany World War I aircraft

(13:53):
models, all in 70 seconds scale.

Mike (13:56):
And not all from kids.
And not all from the nationalswith one, if I remember
correctly.

That's right, one best of show with one.
Yeah.
And and my response to him isexactly the response I will give
to our correspondent here.
I was referring to meremortals, to the average modeler,
such as myself.
Those who can build in 70second scale in World War One,

(14:28):
World War I aircraft in 70second scale are not your
average modeler.

Mike (14:34):
Pause right there, Kentucky Dave.
Listeners, if you have somesunscreen, you know, SPF 50 or
more, you might want to put iton your posterior right now
because Dave's getting ready toblow the Jericho trumpets of
sunshine.
And you know where it's aimedfor.

Yeah, that's right.
Go ahead, Dave.
But but the those thoserarefied modelers among us who
can build World War One aircraftin 72nd scale, nay, those who
can build scratch build in 144scale.
Yes, they are not the averagemodeler to whom I refer.

(15:14):
They are, for want of a betterterm, Gods walking among us, and
we can do nothing but sit backand marvel at their skill.
But for the average modeler,the average Joe such as myself,
the guy who's the kit assembler,I maintain that my mark remarks

(15:38):
still hold true, and for thosethumbless folks such as myself,
48th or 32nd scale is better forWorld War One.
For Dave.
For Dave and his ilk, thumblessKentucky Dave.
But I will acknowledge thatthere are those among us who are

(16:00):
whispered about in hushed tonesthat can accomplish amazing
feats, including but not limitedto building model aircraft
World War I in 70 second scale.
Did you minor in theater?
No, I'm an attorney.

Mike (16:20):
That's it has more to do with the rodeo, Mike.
I wonder if Mr.
Edwards is as well.
Well, I don't know if you'vesatisfied his complaint or not.
Inch, what do you think, man?
You build any World War Istuff?

I have got a few in the stash.
My only comment I got twocomments.
Well, one in solidarity withour friend Will.
I am in fact wearing a Canadat-shirt as we speak.
Well, I don't know if he's inCanada or not, unless you know
you're talking about Mr.

Wallace.

Oh, Mr.
Wallace.
Yes, I'm sorry.
The second thing is I hadalways, always, always, always
wished that Wing Nut Wings wouldhave broken down into the other
scales as well, particularly72nd.
Their stuff is just sofantastic.
I've looked at so many in theboxes, and and I know where
Kentucky Dave was led astray bytemptation with that.

(17:13):
But uh they're just beautiful.
I wish they'd scale it down.
I don't know why people whythese manufacturers don't do
that.

Yeah.
Well, I do think, I do thinkwith the advances in 3D printing
and and CAD and computer aidedcut it tool cutting, I I'm not
so sure.
I mean, Edward has already beendoing it with, you know,
they'll come out with somethingin 48 scale and then they'll
release the same thing in 72nd.

(17:40):
I'm I'm not so sure you won'tsee more and more of that.

I I'd love to see more and more
of that.
I what it one of my greatregrets is that the late great
Mr.
Tomia didn't release the armorline they came out with in 48th,
also in 72nd.

Yep, yeah.
And my my big regret is hedidn't release that P38 in from
48 scale into 72nd.

Oh, well, that list is long.
There's a ton of those kitsthat he came out with that would
have been just brilliant toscale down.

Mike (18:14):
Yep, I completely agree.
Y'all missed the wrong waysigns.
Well, I hope Mr.
Edwards is uh satisfied withthe response.
I'm so I'm sure we'll hear fromhim again.
If not, it could be classaction day here.

Brushed up.
Yeah, I I'll have to get myI'll have to get my litigation
skills working.

Mike (18:33):
Well, luckily we got one we got a lot of mileage out of.

So folks, yeah, there you go.

Mike (18:37):
Please send us more email.
I was a little disappointedthis month.
I love that one.
But we came up short.
What about on the directmessages?

Well, we don't have a ton of direct messages.
I think this probably has to dowith the fact that there's a
lot of shows going on.
There's a lot of interactiongoing on in the dojo, plus, you
know, we got to see a lot ofpeople that we might otherwise
have gotten DMs.
We got to see them in person,such as Inch.

(19:07):
But we did get a few.
First is Mr.
Michael Aluzzi, who wanted to,among other things, remind us
that MMSI is coming up.
I believe it's the same weekendas Cincinnati.

Mike (19:21):
It is.

He also wanted to taunt us by sending us a
picture of him grilling out onhis big green egg and drinking
Gumball Head.
Okay.
And of and of course, he's alot closer to Gumball Head than
we are.

Mike (19:38):
And he's a lot closer to MMSI than we are.

Exactly.
Exactly.

Mike (19:42):
He came to our room and well, he actually came to
Stephen Mark's room, which we'rewe were hanging out in.
Right.
And uh gave us a littlemodeling fluid, so I hate we're
gonna miss him this time.
Yes.
Uh, but it's just it's not inthe cards.
MMSI is not in the cards forus.
I we made it to a lot of showslast year, Dave.

We we did nine last year.

Mike (20:01):
I'm still not sure how that happened.
Neither am I.
Because I I can't I've becausenow that I'm trying, I can't
make it happen.
Yeah, I hear you.
I hear you.
Well, what else we got?

Well, uh Mr.
Haggerty, who I sold the B-25,Airfix B-25 on the dojo, he
bought it and I mailed it out tohim, and it happened to have
the bad fortune to arrive onSaturday just as he was

(20:34):
returning from the West Michiganmodel show with a bag of models
that he had purchased.
So he walks in the door,there's a bag of models that
he's already purchased, there'sa box that he opens up, and
there's a model in it.
And he said that his wife, whomight otherwise have been upset,

(20:55):
was willing to be forgivingbecause it was his birthday.
And so he got the birthday freepass.
And uh, it looked like he madesome good purchases at the West
Michigan show.
He sent me a picture of the bagand looked like he did well.

Mike (21:13):
Well, I would say just to be above the table.

Yes, that's right.
That's right.
Don't try and sneak them, man.

Mike (21:19):
Uh just you're just asking for trouble.

Yeah, that's right.

What do you think, Anch?
I think you'll always getcaught, but the the play here, I
think, is to put them in awomen's shoebox and bring them
in that way.

Mike (21:31):
There you go.
What happens on their birthdaywhen they when they when they
open the package is not a pairof shoes.
That's right.

Jeff Groves "The Inch Hi (21:37):
Honey, here's the B-25 you've always
wanted.
I don't know.

I think uh That might not work.

Mike (21:44):
Haydn's a symptom of other things.

Yes.
Our friend Dutch Vossbergreached out because they had an
amp show up in in his generalarea up in Connecticut, and he
reached out to ask about postinga flyer on the on the dojo,
which of course is always whatwe want.
And I want to use his DM justto remind people if you have a

(22:12):
show coming up and you've got aflyer for that show, and almost
every show has a flyer, take acopy of that flyer and post it
on the dojo.
You know, we can't, as Mikealluded to earlier, we can't do
a show spotlight for every showthat's going on, especially in

(22:32):
the spring and the fall showseasons.
No doubt.
If you've got a show, you aremore than welcome.
In fact, you are encouraged to.
We plead with you to get a geta copy of the flyer, take a
picture of it, or take a PDF ofit, and post it on the dojo to

(22:54):
let people know the show's goingon.
So it's one of the ways I mean,Mike and I can't keep track of
every show that's going on.
So it's one of the ways thatwe're able to keep up with
things.
So we appreciate you doingthat.
And I appreciate Dutch reachingout and asking permission, but

(23:16):
you don't have to askpermission, just go ahead and
post.

Mike (23:20):
Yeah, please.
Just go ahead and post those,especially if it's just a an
image of your flyer.
I think a lot of folks thinkthey're gonna send a PDF or
we're gonna pin it or put it ina file section.
Really, I think if you wantmore people to see it, if it's
just a a JPEG or a similar typeimage file in any phone.

Oh, just a photo.

Mike (23:40):
And you just put it in in a normal post on the dojo, more
people are gonna see it.
And it's it's just a lotfaster.
So if you only have a PDF, justopen it up on your computer and
take a screenshot of it, andthen then just post it as an
image file.
And folks can see it.
But we still want folks to uhat least solicit us for
inclusion on the model showspotlight.

(24:01):
And another thing I will add isuh Brandon over at Squadron on
Squadron TV on Wednesday nightsis is doing this at least on
part of his episodes during themonth.
So that's another outlet, andthen we need to probably touch
base with Brandon and uh see ifwe can not double dip and expose
more shows.
Yep.
Got any more?
That's it.
All right, folks, please sendus more email.

(24:24):
I was a little sad.
Well, not really, because Ireally like the one we did get.

That was that that was uh That was only
because you like it only becauseyou could use it to abuse me.

Mike (24:34):
Well, gold hit a high this week, and the email gold did as
well.
That was really good.
So if you want to email theshow, please do so by emailing
us at plasticmodelmojo atgmail.com, or you can send a
Facebook message through thedirect messaging system, or
there's a feedback uh web linkin the show notes of this
episode or off the website thatyou can drop us uh a message

(24:57):
there, and uh, they're all thesame.
They're just quote unquoteemails, and uh we'll get to them
and we love it.
It's favorite sec favoritesegment of the show.

If you have not rated Plastic Model Mojo on
whatever podcasting app you'relistening on, uh Spotify or
whatever you're using, please doso.
Give it the highest ratingpossible.
It drives the visibility of theshow and gets us more
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We continue to grow and we wantto continue to grow.

(25:48):
The single best way you canhelp us grow is if you will go
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If they need help in figuringout how to listen to podcasts,
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The number one way we get newlisteners is recommendations

(26:13):
from current listeners.
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So please do so.
Help us grow the podcast.

Mike (26:29):
You can also rate the podcast through a web link in
the show notes.
And once you've done that,please check out the other
podcasts out in the modelsphere.
You can do that by going towww.modelpodcast.com.
That's model podcastplural.
It's a consortium website setup with the help of Stuart Clark
at the Scale Model Podcast upin Canada.
Now they're on a little hiatusright now, but uh Stu's still

(26:50):
working behind the scenes tokeep the website going.
You can check out all thebanner links, the other websites
or the other podcasts there.
In addition, we got a lot ofblog and YouTube friends in the
model sphere, and one of themwas is with us tonight.
Jeff, what's going on at theInch High Guy?

Well, I'm keeping up with the posts,
which is good.
Well, yeah, it's it's a kind ofa challenge some days, but the
the builds keep coming.
I get I I have kind of aschedule, kind of an internal
schedule.
Every Friday I try to post whatI'm working on, and every
Tuesday I post a finished build.

So So you're using it as a motivation to
finish.
That's great.

Yeah, it it it's going.
It's going.
It it's a self-imposed deadlinethat that keeps keeps me on my
toes.

Mike (27:35):
Well, you've been on your toes.
You you it's pretty regular, sogood job on that.
Well, thanks.
Well, we've also got ChrisWallace, my L Air Playmaker, who
we've mentioned already.
Great blog, great YouTubechannel.
Evan McCallum, Panzermeister36,YouTube channel there.
You want to want to check out.
Stephen Lee, Sprue Pie withFred.
Steve's got a great blog,mostly 70-second scale stuff.

(27:57):
He he crosses over into ModelRoading sometimes, but uh a lot
of long and short forminformation there.
You're gonna want to check outhis blog.
And then uh Paul Budzik, ScaleModel Workshop.
You can get to him through uhYouTube and Patreon, and he's
always got some wisdom you'regonna want to check out.
So please check out all ourfriends out in the model sphere.
Subscribe to all they've gotgoing on.

If you are not a member of IPMS USA, your
national IPMS chapter, pleaseconsider joining.
I'm the IPMS retention andrecruitment secretary.
This is the last term I'll beserving in that office.
My goal is to get IPMS USAmembership to 6,000 members.

(28:41):
We're in the 5200 range.
It's a big goal, but I believeit is possible.
If you are not a member of IPMSUSA, please consider joining.
Become a member.
I'd appreciate it personally.
Help us reach the goal to getto 6,000 members.

(29:02):
If you're not a member of IPMSCanada or your own national IPMS
chapter, consider joining thatas well.
Also, if you are interested inarmor or post-1900 figures
modeling, consider joining theNational Armor Modeling and
Preservation Society, AMPS,their national chapter.

(29:25):
You can Google and find themonline.
Consider joining.
It's a very dedicated group ofarmor modelers dedicated to the
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Mike (30:03):
Well folks, we're gonna do a back-to-back shop talk.
Got our guest Jeff Groves withus and got some topics to talk
about.
Let's get into it, Dave.
Well, two thirds of thisentourage have actually finished
something in the last couple ofweeks.
Okay, we're done.

Okay.
Hey, you take shots at me.
Hey, it's all gonna take a shotat you.
Well, let's talk to the guy whoactually finishes a lot of
things first.
Jeff, tell me about what youfinished recently.

Mike (30:46):
You've got a couple that you finished recently, and one
of them was kind of not asurprise.
The other one, at least for me,was a surprise.
Uh and I'm gonna start withthat one first.
You've kicked out, I think itwas the Fine Molds, TIE Fighter
Advanced.
It's in 72nd scale, I assume.

Yes.

Mike (31:06):
There's somebody who's at a lot of the shows we go to
who's had several of those.
Of course.
They're not the newer Bandaikits, but the fine molds aren't,
you know, they're not terribleeither.
What possessed you to buildthis this subject?

Well, you you want to go outside of
your normal genre every once ina while, just as a skills
exercise, but I was goingthrough the stash, and this
thing just jumped out at me, andit kind of kind of inspired me
to make a an unusual diorama outof it.
You you guys and I had talkedabout putting models on bases

(31:40):
and temporary bases andpermanent bases and all that,
and I thought I'm gonna put thissucker down on the moon and
have an astronaut looking at itand kind of scratch your
scratching his head what theheck's going on with this thing.
The challenge of this one is II got to looking at the rear
part of the TIE fighter, and itlooked to me like there were

(32:01):
some access panels back there.
And I thought, wouldn't it becool to open those up and open
the top hatch up and have anabandoned TIE Fighter with
footprints leading away from itand the astronaut wondering what
the heck is going on and letthe viewer fill in all the
blanks?
Where is the pilot?
Was the pilot Darth Vader?

(32:21):
Is he sneaking up on theastronaut?
Did he walk away all in a huff?
What happened to him, etcetera, et cetera, et cetera,
what's Star Wars doing on themoon, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah.

Mike (32:32):
Well, let me back up real quick.

And why was this kid in your stash?
I'm not exactly sure.
Either my son snuck it inthere, he's a big Star Wars fan.
Either he snuck it in, or wedecided we were gonna do that
someday and he lost interest, orI got it as a as a as a contest
win in a raffle.
I don't know.

(32:54):
There's a couple others inthere as well, and I I know at
least one of those came from araffle.
But the kit's a good kit.
It's a fine molds kit, and it'slike you would expect from a
fine molds kit.
It's fine molds slash Hasagawaquality.
It assembled quickly.
It was a fun build.
It was outside of my mywheelhouse, and I got to do

(33:16):
something the guys at Lucasfilmdid on the original Star Wars
filming models, is they famouslywent to a hobby store and
bought the hobby store out andused all the bits and pieces
from various model kits to makethe Star Wars models.
And if you look at things likethe Millennium Falcon or
whatever, you can see the enginedeck from Tiger Ones and just

(33:38):
all kinds of parts if you ifyou're used to looking at that
stuff.
And so I rated my spares boxesand filled the the detail in
these access panels, and I had alot of fun doing it.

Well, it looked great.
I mean, I've got to say, itreally looked fantastic.

Well, thanks.
I I had fun doing it.
The one really unusual thing,and I have this is unique in my
experience.
I've never seen this before,probably never see it again.
It turns out that if you are adedicated Star Wars fan, there
is more than one proper size forall of these ships.
Apparently, the studio for eachof the original three movies,

(34:18):
or maybe into the the threeprequels or whatever, they
redefine the dimensions for whata TIE Fighter is and what a
X-Wing is and what theMillennium Falcon is.
So they're the Fine Moldslicensure went with one of these
paradigms, and the Bandai wentfor another.
So if you take a Bandai TIEFighter and a Fine Molds TIE

(34:41):
Fighter and put them next toeach other, they're different
sizes in the same scale.
I did not know that.
I didn't either.
I when in my research I cameacross that.
There's also a hotly debatedtopic about what color you
should be painting your TIEfighters.
If you can believe that.
Oh, I believe it.

Wait, modelers arguing over what color
something is, that neverhappened.

Jeff Groves "The Inch H (35:04):
They're counting rivets in a galaxy
far, far away.
It turns out.
There is one camp that saysthat the filming models were
actually a blue-gray.
Some say it's equivalent to theNavy haze gray, some say it's a
little bluer than that.
And there's others that saythat on the actual film, if you
look at the movie clips, theyhave washed out in the lighting

(35:28):
or the editing to a light gray.
So if you want to do it as it'son the screen, it's a light
gray.
If you want to replicate thefilmy model, it's a blue-gray.

Mike (35:37):
And what are the odds that these were painted with some
jarstock bottles of uh FlocalRailroad paint?

That's right.

Yeah, probably or something out of
Home Depot.

That's right, a spray can out of Home Depot.

Jeff Groves "The Inch (35:50):
Exactly.
And, you know, that that kindof modeling's interesting, but I
would not like the timepressure with that.

You know, hey, it sounds like you really went
down a rabbit hole with thisthing.

Well, I enjoyed it.
You know, I I do like toresearch what I'm what I'm
getting ready to build and tryto get it accurate, but then it
occurred to me, you know, I'mbuilding a fantasy ship that
never existed.
How accurate should it be orcould it be?
And when I got into where thesource material couldn't even
agree on the dimensions of thething, I thought, well, I'm
gonna have a lot of fun buildingthe inside of this thing.

Yeah.

Now it it turns out that there are
references for what's inside ofall these ships.
There's a DK book that is in myson's collection uh of Star
Wars ship books, and I he kindlylet me borrow it for this
build.
And the artwork is justfascinating.
And the old schooldraftsmanship, if you see some

(36:46):
of these original drafted thingsfrom World War II or another
example is in this book, they'rejust they're meticulous.
They're they're wonders to tobehold just the artwork of this
stuff.
And it was I I was inspired byit, but I did not feel obliged
to to replicate everything Isaw.
Let me put it there.

Mike (37:06):
Well, given that this was outside your wheelhouse, which
we've talked about quite a biton the podcast, what are your
kind of takeaways from from thatproject?

First, it was a lot of fun, which is
the whole point of what we do.
It was a lot of fun.
There was some relief from theburden of getting everything
technically correct like youwould on a historical build.
Opening the panels up was anexercise in widgetology, and it
was a lot of fun.
And and I like the idea ofplaying with the viewer and

(37:38):
letting the viewer fill in theblanks.
I didn't want to tell the wholestory, I wanted to set up the
premise.
This is the opening scene ofthe movie.
And you know, the guy'simagination can take it wherever
you want to want to take it.
As far as a skills exercise, uhI didn't really try anything
really new.
I don't normally base mymodels, at least not

(38:00):
permanently.
So I I did it with this one,and I've done that before, but
it was it was nice.
It makes a great presentationin a small footprint, which is
always a good thing for adiorama in my mind.
And it wasn't too crowded.
You know, I had one ship andone guy and told the whole
story.

Does this incline you to go build another Star
Wars model sometime?

I I wouldn't be disinclined.
I'm not looking to make a StarWars collection, but I do I do
see the allure of those ships.
They they were revolutionary inmy mind because they were the
first science fiction franchisewhere the ships weren't
pristine, scrubbed down, pearlywhite, everything's clean.
They were dingy, dirty, hadbeen lived in, had been

(38:46):
repaired, had been, you know,scavenged and that sort of
thing.
So you get the whole weatheringattraction that you would with,
say, an armor build orsomething like that.
You can go down that rabbithole with these ships, and it it
it was fun.
It was fun.
Well, good.

Mike (39:00):
Well, I I've I'm gonna go down that path at some point.
I I think I'm gonna go bigger.
I keep talking about the theAMT recently released their 30
second scale TIE Fighter.
That's that's one I want to Iwould like to do.
And there's some of the 72ndscale either Band-ai or fine
molds, whichever I can find thatI'm interested in doing as
well.
And would you ever do one tothe to the kind of I don't want

(39:24):
you to say standard, but to thesame kind of endpoint that you
build your 72nd scale aircraft?

In in what respect?

Mike (39:30):
Oh, an X-wing or a Y-wing or something like that, or
another TIE Fighter builtoutside this diorama idea you
you did, and and kind ofapproach it as a you know, one
of your other standard aircraftprojects.

Yeah, yeah.
They're they're they'reinteresting ships.
They're an interesting concept.
You do run into with the TIEFighter, especially, apparently
every place you see them,they're hanging from some kind
of girdle arrangement.
Um so you know, you you couldbuild a hangar full of these
things all hanging from theceiling, and that would be
interesting, but that's that'suh a kind of an Uber project.

(40:05):
I I think with the rebelfighters, they all have some
kind of landing skid under themof some sort.
And so they could they couldsit on a shelf, but yeah, I
could see building some sort ofmini collection of them.
It wouldn't be something I'mI'm jumping up and down to do at
this point, but if if it if Igot drug into that, you know, it

(40:26):
opened up that box one nightwhen there's nothing on the
bench, you could very easilymake a collection of it.

Mike (40:31):
Well, you you've you've said you've got a couple more in
the stash, at least one, maybe,maybe more than one.
What tell us again what madeyou start this particular one?

It was just serendipity.
I I was going through my mystash and I saw that and the the
idea hit me.
The the model has two DarthVader figures in it, uh one
seated and one standing.
And I I got to looking at thosefigures and I thought, man,
that that'd be kind of cool toyou know pose as a just uh for a

(41:03):
photo shoot, if nothing else,standing around next to
something.
And pretty soon I had the thingon the bench and I'm cutting
the sprues away.

Mike (41:10):
Well good.
So juxtaposition against thatone of your recent builds,
you've you've you've built anF9F as well.

Yeah, I did a a a batch of Navy
fighters from the 50s.
I did that just prior to theTIE Fighter.
No, that was two builds priorto the TIE Fighter.
I did those.
I did a Sky Raider, a aBearcat, like Dave was building.
He was talking up the HobbyBoss Bearcat, and I thought,
well, I gotta see one of thesethings.

(41:39):
I did two cougars and a pantherin that build.
And those are old Hasagawa kitsfrom I think the 90s.
No, they're earlier than that.
Yeah, they're earlier thanthat.
They're earlier, but you canstill find them, and they're
cheap and they go together well.
I I like the simpli simplicity,simplicity of these kits as

(42:02):
opposed to some of the, youknow, Warren brought the the
Spitfire IBG Spitfire doubleboxing.
Yes, and there's more parts inthe cockpit of that Spitfire
than there are in the whole boxof the Panther.
Yep.
It's it's just the attractionof both.

(42:25):
Sometimes you want a simple,straightforward build, and you
can get, I think Killick makesthe decal interiors for those
Panthers and Cougars, and theyjust look beautiful when you put
them in there, and you don'thave 40 parts to put in to do
it.
But on the other hand, if youlook at the builds of the IVG

(42:46):
Spitfire family, they've got areally hot commodity on their
hands because there is everylittle aspect of that is molded.

Yeah.

But the you the trade-offs of
complexity.
You're talking a, I don't know,a 200-part kit.

Yeah.

It's got to be pushing that.

For a single engine 70 second scale aircraft.

Jeff Groves "The Inch (43:05):
Exactly.

Yeah.

That's a lot.

It's a lot.

That's a lot.

Mike (43:08):
Well, I've got an F9 I want to do, but it's You're
doing one of the early ones,aren't you?
It's the the long one, thestretch.
The F5, I guess.
Is that right?

Yeah.

Mike (43:19):
Yeah, the Dash Box.
Yeah.
The only kitted version is thematchbox, which I have, which is
not that great.
Yeah.
And it's got this this goesback, this got inspired by oh,
who was it?
The Model Geeks had had a had aMIG-killer group build, and
there was one on the decal sheetfrom the Las Vegas show.
Yeah.

(43:39):
But it's a dash five.
So what are you gonna do?

Right.
So uh put put it away and waitfor somebody to come out with a
new Dash Five kit.

Mike (43:51):
I guess not.
I guess not.
Well, Dave, you just finishedsomething too.

Yes, I did in the in the space of time that it
took me to finish one model.
Jeff finished oh 15 or so.
But I did finally finish theBear Cat.
I took it to to MMCL just toput it on the table, although
that model was never built forindividual entry and competition

(44:20):
because the kit itself has somesome limitations due to its
simplified nature.
But I finished it.
It's a good kit.
I mean, if you want athree-foot model of the bear
cat, just to put a particularset of markings on, it's a good

(44:41):
kit.
Visually, it it very much lookslike a bear cat.
It looks good and overallglossy blue.
Thanks to uh to Dr.
Geldmacher, I have uh uh anunusual set of custom markings
on it for the Norfolk NavalReserve Squadrons from the early

(45:03):
50s.
And uh this model, I will bemeeting Dr.
Geldmacher in uh Murfreesboroin November to hand this model
off to him so that he can put itin the Hampton collection and
he can keep the Hamptoncollection together.

Mike (45:24):
I'm glad you got it done.

I am too.
I am too.

Mike (45:27):
Now, did you have any takeaways from this building?

Yes.
I still need to get a lotbetter.
Particularly it's stillparticularly pay places I need
to pay attention to.
The canopy interface with thefuselage of the model, I always
seem to have uh some sort ofless than ideal setup there.

(45:50):
The connection never seems tobe quite as good as I want it to
be.
I uh Dr.
Delmacher, as I said, had somecustom decals made.
Now he used the tr railroaddecal company mic that I think
you're familiar with.

Mike (46:08):
No, the name escapes me at the moment, but uh we'll go
with that.

And and I got I'll be honest with you, when I
first got the decals and lookedat them, I was like, there is no
way these are going to work andbe opaque and and all of that.
But they really did work quitewell.
I was I was shocked andsurprised.
And thank gosh she did thosebecause there's no way I would

(46:33):
have been able to do that kitotherwise.
And the final thing that youcome away with, especially if
you've built a Corsair or aHellcat, the final thing you
come away with is you realizehow small the bear cat was.
I mean, that aircraft is likehalf the size of a Hellcat.

(46:56):
It's amazingly small.
And the idea that you weregoing to fly those in combat,
our grandfathers had had stones,man, I'm telling you.

That was one of the goals of the
design, though, wasn't it?
The biggest engine you can getand the smallest, lightest
airframe.
Right.

And what they what they wanted was uh a
storage to be able to store themaximum amount of aircraft on a
fleet carrier and speed straightline speed because this whole
thing was built to go killkamikazes before the kamikaze
could get to the fleet.

(47:36):
That's right.
It's it looks like a racingplane in many respects, because
kind of it was.
But I enjoyed it, I will tellyou.
I I enjoyed the heck out of it.

Mike (47:49):
Well, I hope you get back to some of your regularly
scheduled programs.
Naz, you got any got that onedone?

Yep, and when we get to the bench top halftime
report, I'll tell you aboutthat.

Mike (47:58):
All right, well, folks, I didn't get anything done in the
uh scope of this episode, so uh,we're gonna move on.
Well, folks, our second topictonight was also inspired by one

of uh Jeff's blog posts: improving efficiency and (48:13):
undefined
modeling mojo with a workshopoverhaul.
Jeff, you posted themid-September about revamping
your workspace.
I did.
So, folks, uh we'll we'll linkthat so folks can go read that.
This one kind of ties, well,will tie into uh our second
episode of this month, but we'llget into that during the second

(48:35):
episode of this month.
What exactly did you do andhow'd it work out for you?
And why?

Well, I I had finally gotten to the
point where I was encounteringenough minor frustrations that
between builds I bit the bulletand I said, I'm just gonna
straighten out, organize, cleaneverything down in the work
area.
Now, normally between batches,and I, as many of your listeners

(49:04):
will know, I build in batches.
I usually build four, five,six, seven at a time.
But then when I get that batchdone, I don't start anything
else.
I I clean the bench off, I geta perfectly clean bench, I scrub
it down, and I'm ready to startthe next batch.
Well, this time I went over andabove that and went a little
further.
I cleaned out the drawers, Icleaned out the stash, I

(49:27):
reorganized my spares, Ireorganized my paints, I finally
hung my airbrush hoses up,which I can't believe I hadn't
done that.
Just went through and got ridof all the little things that
bug you when you're sitting atthe bench.
And part of this is I'm alwayslooking for something that I can

(49:51):
do 1% better.
I I am competing with myself oflast week and trying to do just
a little bit better, a littlebit more efficient, have a
little bit more fun, get alittle more productivity,
whatever little genre, littleniche you want to take that
angle on, but I'm trying toimprove all the time.

(50:11):
And I thought it's finally timeto get all my paint sorted out
so I'm not looking through thepaint drawer for five minutes
trying to find the right colorand get my evergreen sorted out
and get my spare parts sortedout so I can find what I'm
looking for and just geteverything organized.
And it was it was time for acleaning anyway.

(50:32):
Uh the stash was alldisorganized.
I had spare parts in old modelboxes.
So you pick up the boxes, isthis the one that's got the
track in it that I want to glueto my Sherman or whatever?
It was just time and it feltgood to get everything finally
put away, organized, and where Ican get at it good.

And how long did it take you beginning to end?

About a week.
And a lot of that was gettingthe spare parts organized
because for years I had takenwhen I finished a model, the
unused stuff had gone in a boxof like kits that I had
finished, so I might have a boxfull of German armor parts, and
then I might have two boxes ofGerman armor parts, and then I

(51:17):
might have a box of Americanarmor parts, and then I might
have a box of Luftwaffe droptanks and that kind of thing.
And then pretty soon which boxis which?
And if you if there's somethingyou want, particularly
something that's like a I don'tknow, a piece of ordnance or a
machine gun for a rear cockpiton an aircraft or something, you
know you got one, but which boxis it in?

(51:39):
And I'd finally had enough ofthat, but I just decided to
eliminate all the littlefrustrations and kind of
streamline everything, and itwas a good feeling.
And I had a good setup to startwith.
My bench is how I want it.
I I used kitchen parts, kitchencabinetry, and put a bench top
on it.
I put glass on that, I've gotlighting up above, I've got

(51:59):
stereo speakers in the overheadso I can listen to you guys on a
podcast or put in Pink Floyd orwhatever it is I want to do.
And I've got a nice littlesetup in a corner of the
basement down there.
But the peripherals aroundthat, you know, I have, I don't
know, a dozen folders withdecals in them that weren't

(52:20):
labeled.
So I think this one's myJapanese folder.
Oh no, it's another Americanfolder.

Mike (52:24):
Dave's head just exploded.

Yeah.
Yeah.
It's just the minorfrustrations that kind of get in
your way and slow you down.
And that can lead to do Ireally want to go down to the
bench and try to find thatmachine gun first?
You know, that kind of thing.
And that hesitancy sometime canlead to you not even going down
to the bench that night.

I feel you.

Mike (52:45):
Yeah.
Watch TV instead or doom scrollon the phone or something,
something else equally dumb,right?

Yep, yep.
But I I took a I took thebetter part of a week between
batches and got everythingorganized.
And it was a good feeling whenit was done.
Yeah, I I really need to dothis.

Me too.
Me too.
Did you find yourself throwingaway a lot of stuff?

Oh, I did.
I did.
I probably threw away, I don'tknow, close to 40 old model
boxes.
Many of them had parts in them.
I I kind of save the old boxesthat are top opening to use as
trays.
When I'm we we all hate the endopening box, so you can't
really work with that on thebench.
So when I get one of those, Itake the old top opening box and

(53:31):
use it as a tray and dump allthe sprues in there.
And if you look at my bench,often you'll find a box from
something I built three yearsago with the new build parts in
it, because you can't work outof a end opening box.
You're going to lose something.

Mike (53:44):
Yeah.
Well, I I've got I've got boxesin my stash that I've I've
robbed from, and and typicallyI'll take a paint marker or a
sharpie and write on the end ofthe box that I've done that.
But did you have that situationwhere you had parts kits that
were maybe not complete anymore?

I I tend not to rob rob kits.
That that rubs me the wrongway.
Now there is something you dothat to me is an exception to
that.
You will kit bash a lot oftimes and take two or three kits
and put them together, and I'vedone that, and then I'll have
one of those boxes with all theexcess parts and then the build
that's in the case.

(54:21):
But I don't take just one bogeywheel out of something because
it looks better, and now I'vegot a kit that's minus the
bogeys or something like that.

Mike (54:29):
Yeah, mine are usually a little more in-depth than that,
but still I try to mark theboxes so I don't pick one as a
project and then find it to beuh less and complete later.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, that could befrustrating.
Well, Dave, what do you got todo in your shop?
You're always trying toorganize stuff.

I mean first thing I need to do is I need to
throw away 10 to 15 percent ofthe paint bottles I have.
Then I need to organize therest, and I've got no excuse for
not organizing because I've gotan old Model Master paint rack
that Club man member RandyFuller gave me.

Mike (55:08):
But you know, I don't think those are as useful as you
think they were gonna be.

They they they hold Mr.
Color, they hold Model Master,obviously.

Mike (55:18):
But they were made, they were made for for eight to ten
of the same color in each row.

Yes, that's right.

Mike (55:25):
If you got one of or two of each bottle, you can't you
you start putting those in thesame row and now you're not
organized again.

Right.
Well, you could there are someorg ways to to organize that
where you can put say, well, theway the thing that you can
label them, you could put two orthree different colors in each
row and have them clearlylabeled.
So it it just I need toorganize the paints is probably

(55:56):
the first thing.
General cleanup andorganization of my model bench
because I find myself modelingon a postage stamp.
I've got so much, you know,I've got a 13-foot bench and I
am modeling on a space the sizeof a postcard because I've got

(56:20):
stuff everywhere.
Well, I kind of shove themicrophone and boom out of the
way, or my video camera.
But, you know, there's sandingsticks everywhere, 20 different
bottles of adhesive, just allsorts of stuff, and it's all
spread out everywhere, and itjust needs to get organized

(56:45):
organized.
It's hard to say it any otherway than organized, a place for
everything and everything in itsplace, and one that makes sense
at least to me.

I'll tell you a trick that'll help
with that.
I want that.
When I go down to the benchbefore I sit down, I make it a
habit to put something away.
And when I get up from thebench, when I'm done with that
session, ready to go backupstairs, I put something away.
And just putting those twothings can lead to your bench

(57:19):
not being cluttered over time.
And of course, nothing stopsyou from putting all seven tubs
of paint away.
You know, you could you coulddo that, but just get in the
habit of when you go down there,what am I not going to use
today?
I'm not gonna sand anymore.
I'm putting all my sandingsticks away.
Well, you know, and then whenyou get up, what are you done?
I'm gonna put all mypaintbrushes back in their

(57:40):
holder.
You know, it can be as simpleas that.

And what I do find is, you know, let's say
I've used uh yeah, I'll justthis is an example because it's
right in front of me.
Gator grip thin thin blendwhite glue.
And I use that.
I was using it on the Hellcatcanopy.
And I used it and what did Ido?

(58:06):
I just sat it on my bench in atthe first clear space that I
could find.
Okay, and over time, if youcontinue to do that, you have
everything everywhere all atonce.
And it just it just it it leadsto me searching for everything.

(58:27):
And so I need in fact, Matt,maybe I need you to come down
and and help me organize mymodel.

It sounds like with with the gator
glue glue and everything, I'dprobably glue myself to your
bench in in a few minutes.

Yeah, well, I love the gator glue.
But yeah, it needs that.
And I have done some, you know,organizing with drawers and
things like that.
What I really need to do, and Iactually have started to do is
label the drawers.
Because you can put stuff indrawers, but if you don't

(59:03):
remember what thing is in whatdrawer, you will find yourself
spending 20 minutes pulling openevery drawer to look for the
item that you're looking for.
How many drawers you got?
One, two, three, four, five,six, seven, eight, nine, ten,
eleven, twelve, thirteen,fourteen, fifteen, sixteen,
seventeen, eighteen, nineteen,twenty two, one, twenty-two,

(59:24):
twenty-three, two, four,twenty-five, twenty-six,
twenty-seven, three.
Yeah, I see your problem.
Thirty thirty-seven.
Just that's a rough count.
Thirty-seven drawers.

Oh my.

So yeah, but but uh getting one of those P Touch
label makers and labelingeverything.
Now I know when I look overthat my photo edge bender and my
chopper are in that drawer, myrulers, calipers, punch and
dies, and drills are in thatdrawer, and that that alone.

(59:59):
Saves me the time of going andlooking for stuff as long as I
remember to put it back in theproper place, as opposed to just
looking for an empty spot onthe bench and putting it there.

Jeff Groves "The Inch High (01:00:12):
Man, that's a lot of drawers.

Kentucky Dave (01:00:13):
It is a lot of drawers.
But I got a lot of stuff, man.

Mike (01:00:16):
Well, folks, check out the blog post September 12th on
Jeff's Inch IGuy blog and getinspired to clean up your
workspace a little bit.
Well, this final topic for ShopTalk comes from Steve
Anderson's A Guided Journal forModelers.
And it is what change could youtry in displaying your models?

(01:00:38):
And Jeff, you already talkedabout one of yours with your
Star Wars thing.

Yep, yep.
Basing.

Mike (01:00:45):
Basing.
Anything else come to mind?

Jeff Groves "The Inch Hig (01:00:48):
Well, it's funny this one came up.
I came across on FacebookMarketplace a seller that was
selling a bunch of acrylicshelves.
And I have an alcove in mybasement that when I remodeled
the basement years ago, I putlighting in.
I thought someday I'd like tohave shelves in there.
And this guy had, I ended upbuying 45 four foot by 18-inch

(01:01:13):
plexiglass sheets, and I'm gonnaput shelving in that alcove.
And that's gonna be my modeldisplay.

Mike (01:01:21):
Cool.

Yeah.

Mike (01:01:22):
That's gonna hold a lot of models.

It'll hold a lot of models.
I I have six display cases inmy basement right now, and
they're they're full.
They're full.
But this this wall-o models issomething I've always kind of
had in the back of my mind, Iwant to do that someday.
And this was the opportunity.
He was selling them cheap.
And I asked him, I said, Howdid you wind up?

(01:01:45):
He had like 96 of these things.
I said, How did you wind upwith all this acrylic?
And he said, Well, he workedfor a data company, and they
were moving back into theirbuilding.
They were, you know, theback-to-work thing.
They're not letting their guyswork from home.
And so they were moving up thefloors in their building, and
when everybody left was COVID,and before they left, they put

(01:02:08):
those acrylic sheets everywhereas sneeze guards all over the
building.
And their boss apparently toldhim, said, I want these things
gone and I don't care what youdo with them.
So he loads them in the back ofhis truck and he's been selling
them on Facebook Marketplace.
But the the point is there'sprobably, if you think about it,
a lot of acrylic sheet outthere to be had in various

(01:02:30):
businesses.

Was that young man named named Jack Basket?

Mike (01:02:35):
Because that sounds exactly like something Jack
would my son is not arbitraginguh decommissioned acrylic
decommissioned acrylic sneezeguards.

Well, but but come on, admit it.
That's not outside of the rangeof possibilities of something
only because he hasn't thoughtof it.
I was gonna say, and not onlythat, he would make good money
at it too.

Yeah, yeah.
This guy was I don't know ifhe's you know how much money
he's made off of it.
He made some off of me forsomething they were gonna throw
away.
And it's something I'll be ableto use.
So we both won.

Mike (01:03:09):
That he has zero in, probably.

Yeah, exactly.
Yep.

Mike (01:03:12):
And somebody paid market for that raw material when they
put that crap in.

They paid a bunch of money to get it
and even more to cut it andhang it if you think about it.
Yes.
Or whatever it was they set itin there.

Mike (01:03:23):
They did.

And then he got paid to take it out
probably on company time, andhe's moving it out.

Mike (01:03:30):
And got to keep it.

Yeah.

Mike (01:03:32):
Yeah.
Well, that's that sounds prettycool, man.
So soon we'll see a blog postonce that gets rolling.

Yeah, it it's gonna be a project.
It's gonna take a while to getthat one done.
But yeah, I will I will showthat off when I get it where I
want it.

Mike (01:03:45):
Dave, you got one, you got a display, something you you've
been meaning to try?

One something I've been kicking around in my
head, and I have not come upwith a solution for yet.
I would like to have, at leastfor World War II single engine
aircraft and maybe small jetaircraft, a universal base.
A base that's not a terrainbase or anything like that, but

(01:04:18):
a single style of base that isattractive looking, that is of
uniform size, that I can take toshows and put my models on, or
permanently attached to, eitherone or both, thinking about both
ways, to have an attractiveuniverse because I think a model

(01:04:46):
on a base looks if if the baseis well done, okay, if it
doesn't detract from the model,if the base is well done, I
think a model on a base can makethe display of the aircraft
more attractive.
And I've kicked this around inmy head.

(01:05:09):
I've come up with a couple thatI've done one-offs of just to
see, but I haven't been able tocome up with anything that I
find fully satisfying.

Mike (01:05:21):
Well, it sounds like uh an interesting idea.

Yep.
Well, you'll see if you go tomodel contests, you will see
occasionally a modeler who dowho has done this, where you'll
walk along a model table andyou'll see three or four
aircraft enter, and I'm justtalking about aircraft, you
don't see this as much in armorbecause so many armor models are

(01:05:46):
displayed on a terrain stylebase.
Yeah.
If they're displayed on a base,but you'll see it where you'll
walk along and there'll be theexact same base under three or
four models.
And like I said, it has to bean attractive base, it has to be
well done, it has to notdetract from the model.

(01:06:11):
But if if it's well done and ifit it is attractive to the eye
in and of itself without beingdistracting, I think it really
does make it draws the theviewer's eye to the model.

Mike (01:06:28):
I've got my own thing I want to try, which is I want to
build one of these in flights onone of these blurred terrain
bases.
Oh yeah.
I like those.
Yeah.
What I don't know is whenyou're looking at the whole
thing on the table, does itwork, or is it the photography
that's making this work?
Where you're like cropping outall the stuff you can't see or

(01:06:51):
shouldn't be in the photograph.
I I don't know, but I'm notsure I've got kind of three
three ideas in mind.
I I don't know which one I'mgonna uh pick, but I I think
it's gonna be one of the three.
One is I want to do a a VietnamSky Raider.
Right.
I think that would be a coolone.
The other is I've got thisfascination with the age 56

(01:07:16):
Cheyenne.

Yeah.

Mike (01:07:18):
And I think that would be a cool one.
And then I I got this liftingbody that I'll talk about in the
What Broke Our Wallet segmentthat could actually oh yeah.
Could actually build quoteunquote in flight, but with a
gear down.

Yeah.

Mike (01:07:32):
And basically the box art are the famous photographs from
the chase plane of this thingcoming in for a landing.
Um that would be cool too.

I'm I'm gonna quiz you about that when we get
to that segment.

That would be an interesting
display.
That would be good.

I'm part I'm partly responsible for you
ending up with that.

Mike (01:07:48):
Well, it was on the it was on the list.
You just I know it just made meaware that our uh local hobby
shop happened to have it.
Yeah.
So that's kind of what I got inmind.
One of these blurred, I justthink the ones that are done
well look just really, reallycool.
Yeah, it can be really made towork.
Do I have the chops to pull itoff?

(01:08:10):
I don't know, but I'm gonna trywith one of these projects.
I just don't know which oneyet.
Odds are it's the lifting bodyor the helicopter.

Yeah.
I want to see that liftingbody, man.

What would you do for the rotor on
the helicopter?

Mike (01:08:24):
Th there is a company that sells these etched blurred
rotors.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
That that if you just put it ona model without the blurred
base, would look a littleridiculous.
But I think I've seen a fewthat they've incorporated that
into the the you know, you'vegot a blurred rotor, blur uh, a

(01:08:44):
blurred tail rotor, and you gota blurred landscape, and your
brain kind of connects the dots.
Whereas if you just got a thingon a pole on a little p on a
little pedestal with a blurredrotor sitting on a on a table,
it doesn't quite work as wellbecause you have no reference.
It's a model on a stick with ablurred rotor at that point.

(01:09:05):
Yeah.

You gotta have some some other
sense of motion going on there.
Right, really.

Mike (01:09:09):
So when you when you put it all together, it it it it it
it kind of comes across as youintended it to.
So I don't know.
That's that's kind of mydisplay thing I want to try.
So we'll see if we get there.
Well, some interesting ideas,guys.
And uh I want to thank SteveAnderson again for uh providing
us the journal.

(01:09:30):
We've we've picked a few ofthese.
Well, gosh, I guess we're onour tenth one, Dave.
Yeah, we've been going since uhJanuary, and we'll uh continue
this to the end of the year, andit's been a been a fun segment
to consider.

Well, you know what?
Considering what we just talkedabout, the upcoming ad is very
appropriate.

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Mike (01:10:35):
All right, guys, it's the Bench Top Halftime Report.
Jeff, we're gonna start we'regonna start with you, man.
What's we know what youfinished of late because it's
always on the blog, but what'sgoing down?

Well, what's going down now is just
today I put the dull coat on abatch of U.S.
armor subjects and one Israelitoo.
So modern armor.
Okay.
Uh ready to come off the bench,probably finish them up
tomorrow.
You may be able to help me withthis.
The the laser reflective visionblocks that are on the modern

(01:11:09):
armor, they are uh kaleidoscopesof colors and they they're
refractive.
How does a armor specialistsuch as yourself pull those off?

Mike (01:11:20):
Yeah, I don't know.
I'm gonna be able to answeryour question.
I I know there's some folks outthere who do it.
I'm just not sure what they'reusing.
So I think you can find asolution.

I know what the old solution was.

Mike (01:11:30):
What's that?

But I'm I'm not sure you it it's applicable
anymore.

Mike (01:11:34):
Photo negatives?

Photo film negatives.

Mike (01:11:37):
Yeah.

If you went and got photo film negatives and cut
the negative, not the not thestrip edge part, which is just
brown, but the actual negativeitself, which of course is
multicolored, and you cut outthe little rectangle and glued
it to the vision block, you gotthat multicolored, multi-hued

(01:12:02):
effect from it.
But that's that's from back inthe 80s.
That's what guys used to do inthe 80s.
I mean, good luck finding photonegatives.

Yeah, I I've seen some painting
techniques on some of the onlineYouTube things that look pretty
interesting using various clearvarnishes, and then you know,
you mess with the background indifferent shades, and that's it.

Mike (01:12:25):
Yeah, that's what I was gonna think of.
Maybe a a background metallic,maybe, or something like that,
with the different clear clearcoats on it that are different
colors.
I don't know, man.
That's I I don't modern armoris you know, I built a PT76 or
finished one right when westarted the the podcast, and
that model doesn't even haveperiscopes in the the hatch

(01:12:48):
covers.
I mean, I just I I I just builtit out of the box.
So I I don't know.
So, folks, what's a goodsolution for uh Modern Armor uh
optics?

Either post it on the dojo when you hear this or
send in your emails.

Yeah, and in 70 seconds scale, it's
gonna be even more of achallenge, I'm afraid.
So Yeah, it might not matter.
It it'll be fun to do, though.
I'll I'll I'll play around withit some and and get those
things done.
But yeah, they're they're justabout ready to come off the
bench.

Mike (01:13:19):
How many models are in this batch?

Eight altogether.

Mike (01:13:22):
Are they all one manufacturer?

No, a lot of them are dragon,
various ages of dragon, and ofcourse you run into the famous
dragon instruction problem witha lot of these kits.
And I think I've got two Ravelin that batch.
And one of I've got an AAV7,the uh Marine Corps amphibious
tractor, and it had the olddragon metal hulls.

(01:13:45):
You remember when they used tocome out with the metal hulls
and all the the issues withthat?
But it's it's a neat thing.
They're retiring that thing, bythe way.
I think today was the last daythat they had those in service.

Yep.

Yeah, so end of an era.

After the they had a crew drown, uh training
crew drown, they stoppedactually practicing with them in
the water.

Well, I I had actually come ashore in
one of those as a midshipman aspart of my orientation with
what the Marines did.
And there is not a dry place onthose things if you're out in
the surf.
The the overhead hatches leak.
You might as well wear dieselcologne for the next week
because that's all you'rebreathing when you're in that
thing.
So an interesting exercise.

And that convinced you you didn't want to
be a Marine.

Yeah.
Well, they got a lot going forthem.
I mean, I always had a lot ofrespect for my friends in the
Marine Corps, but I did not likethose tractors.
I did not like any of the smallboats that had the diesel
exhaust blowing into the boat.
The the pitching of the sea ona small craft is bad enough, but
you start breathing diesel inthe middle of that and you turn
green pretty quick.

Yeah.

Mike (01:14:58):
Don't need face paint.
No, no, not at all.
Well, Dave, what's up on yourbench?

Well, now that the Bearcat's done, I've have
brought the SAM back onto thebench, and the BT7 is on the
bench.
But what I've been working onthe last week, as anybody who
knows from listening to theprevious podcast and the dojo,
is Jim Bates and I pulled out akit that we both bought in 2012,

(01:15:31):
the Edward Hellcat, when it wasbrand, brand new.
And we both bought it anxiousto build it in tw 2012, and both
of us put it in our stash andnever built it.
So because my wife was on acruise and had a week that I

(01:15:51):
thought was going to be reallyclear, I I decided to do a quick
build.
Now life got in the way, workblew up on me, followed by the
illness of a pet and illness ofme, which stopped me from
completing it.

(01:16:12):
But I got pretty darn faralong, such that I should be
able to wrap it up in anotherweek or so.
It's uh Edward F6F Hellcat, andI'm building it as a dash five
in the overall glossy blue, sothat'll might be my second
glossy blue aircraft in a row.

(01:16:32):
And it has a tie-in to thecurrent nationals because at the
current nationals that justhappened in Hampton, I bought a
Furball Aero Design 72nd scale FF6F5 sheet, which has something
like 13 or 14 differentmarkings options for this

(01:16:59):
particular kit.
So I haven't even decided whichone I'm going to do yet, but
there are a number of veryattractive ones.
And so that's moving along.
The SAM has been, I've gottenthe dust off of it.
I've gotten it up onto the thebuilding jig, and I've got it

(01:17:22):
flipped over because where Ileft it was I was doing the oil
wash on the bottom.
I had done it on the top, andit came out really well.
So I flipped it over, and I'vejust started doing the bottom.
And that and the F6F are thetwo next in line to get done.

(01:17:43):
And then the BT7 Vespid kitthat I started, which was my
first link and length track kitever, which has been frozen in
construction.
I'm gonna get it.
In theory, if the dark timedoes not interfere, I could get
all three of these done beforethe end of the year, which would

(01:18:06):
be five.
And if I do five, Mike willnever hear the end of it.

The Edward Kit is a good kit.
That's a great Hellcat.

It actually is a great kit.
Although you know what?
The fit is amazing, theengineering is great.
It's only 13 years old, butwhen you compare it to a modern
Arma or IBG or Edward kit,there's an actual difference.
There is still engineering hasstill gotten a whole lot better,

(01:18:39):
even in that 13-year span.
And as good as that Edward Kitis from 2012, it's not to the
same standard as, say, an Edwardkit that just came out last
week.

Now, would you say the same thing
about the Tomillo Zero?

That's a great question.
The Tomillo Zero is the bestkit I've ever built.
I've built three of them.
I'm probably gonna buildanother one in 2026.
And I I also want to get thenew Fine Mold kits because I'd
kind of like to compare a TomiaZero and a Fine Mold Zero and

(01:19:20):
see if I do think there's beenengineering improvements.
Although I'll be honest withyou, I'm not sure how you would
improve the Tomia Zero kit.
There is not an engineeringfeature I can think of that
would make that kit better.

Well, the paradigm now, though, is to
try to model every littlerivet.
And I don't think that TomiaZero is riveted, is it?

No, no, it is not.

Mike (01:19:48):
There you go.
And you talk and you talk toBarry and Steve.

Yeah, I'm I don't know.
I don't know.

Mike (01:19:57):
You sound busy.

Yes, I'm busy, a little scattered, but busy.
And meanwhile, inch isdistracting me by giving me a
whole bunch of information onthe 14-meter Daihatsu Japanese
landing craft.

Jeff Groves "The Inch Hi (01:20:12):
You're always distracted by the
Dihatsu.
It's a go-to distraction.

I know.
It is a go-to distraction, butthere's so much you can do with
it.

Mike (01:20:22):
Except build it because there's no kit.
Yeah.

Because there's no kit.
Well, that's where I get afriend of mine who's really good
with a 3D printer and cad.
Yeah, something to print to cadthe whole thing up for me.
Not happening.

Well, you do you do have a three-view
drawing in that that that onebook.

Yes, I do.
Yes, I do.
But you heard him.
I can't talk him into it.

Well, the the design of that's got to
be time consuming.

Yes, yeah, I would think so.
Because of the it's it has veryunusual shapes in it.

Yeah, the it's got a dual bow
arrangement.
I don't think I've ever seenthat before.

Right.
Yeah, the catamaran stylebottom.

Yeah.

That's really, really unusual.
So, Mike, yeah.
What's your bench been like?

Mike (01:21:08):
Well, I've got most of the undercarriage and chassis subs
done for the Moose Roo rally carrace car thingy we're building.

Right.

Mike (01:21:16):
I gotta start painting that.
It's kind of like gonna be likean airplane.
I gotta build paint, buildpaint, build paint.
So car cars are kind of thatway.
Luckily, it's not a verycomplicated kit, so there's not
a lot of parts, and it's allgonna be paint and detail paint
and mask and paint.
And hopefully I'm gonna get tothat.
I I was really hoping to get toit this past weekend, but it

(01:21:39):
just didn't happen.
So hopefully coming up.
But uh, you know, I've I've gotwe were chatting the other
night and I I got most of it puttogether.
So that's good.
The chassis, not the entirecar.
Right.
For the KV85, I finally foundthe old on the mark photoet set
I was looking for.
Talk about organization.

Speaking of that's what I was gonna say,
speaking of organization.

Now it would have been in one of 38
my old model kit boxes in mystash prior to the
reorganization.
Is that where you found it?

Mike (01:22:12):
No, I I've never put aftermarket in the kit boxes.
Thank God.
That's how you end up sellingstuff and not realizing you did
it.
But I found it in buried deep,deep in my aftermarket boxes.

Yeah.

Mike (01:22:28):
So I I took that old photo edge set from 1987 and I've I
robbed it for two pieces.
And I got those formed up andfiled out and got the area
prepped on the model and they'reready to go on.
So wasted a lot of time therelooking for those things, but
ready to move forward on theKV85.

Have you got the radiators and screens?

Mike (01:22:50):
Screens aren't screens aren't done yet.
Radiators are in.
They're all the they're allmasked over and just waiting to
have the screens finished andpeel the masking tape off after
I paint the model and drop thescreens in.
So nope, that's on hold.
But trying to move forward.
I got some screen material.
I need to try to order off eBayfrom Asia to see if I can get

(01:23:11):
the right size this time.
But I'll get there.
It's just it's just slow tryingto find the right, the right
mesh I want to use.

Do you think you've got it nailed down now as
to what mesh you want to use?

Mike (01:23:23):
I think of the three sizes I'm going to order next, one of
them will be the right size.

And then you're you're going to end up with a
drawer full of mesh that youhaven't used.
Right.

Mike (01:23:34):
I'll have like six different one meter by I don't
know how wide sheets of stufffolded up into little squares,
but uh I'll be ready for thenext one, that's for sure.

There you go.

The Voice of Bob (Bair) (01:23:48):
Plastic Model Mojo is brought to you by
Squadron.
Head on over to squadron.comfor the latest in kits and
accessories, all at a greatprice and with great service.
Squadron, adding to the stashsince 1968.

Gentlemen, I assume we've been buying model
and modeling related items.
Let's start with our guest,Jeff.
Have you bought anythinglately?
Have you broken your wallet?

Jeff Groves "The Inch High G (01:24:19):
My wallet's not broken, but I did
you bend it?
I bent it a little bit at theshow.
Uh the I did not get as muchtime to go through the vendor
room as I would have likedbecause I was vending myself,
but somehow I did manage to comehome with another six, eight,
ten books that I just had tohave.

(01:24:40):
Uh I I didn't didn't spurge onany kits, but I won a couple in
the raffle that are areinteresting kits.
I got a a Ravel F-89 Scorpion.

Yes, great kit.

It turned out to be a great kit.
I I it is I wasn't familiarwith it.
I opened it up, and the firstthing that jumps out at you is
it that was a huge airplane.

It was a huge airplane.
It's one of the few airplanesthat looks exactly like what
it's named for.
And there are I've got a ton ofmarkings for that aircraft in
Air Defense Command Gray withdifferent Air National Guard
units.

Well, there were certainly a lot of
colorful schemes on thataircraft, and it's a it's an
unusual, interesting plane, andI'm actually kind of looking
forward to putting that onetogether.

Yeah, and if you haven't been up to the Air Force
Museum lately, they have one,and it is impressively large.
Yeah.
And because the gear is so lowto the ground, I mean, as
opposed to walking up next to anF-105 where you're looking up
at the aircraft, you can walk upnext to the F-89 and you're

(01:25:53):
right there.

And it's it's a beautiful aircraft.
And it is.
Outside of that, I've got anorder that's kind of pending
from kit links, and I think Igot bit by the de minimis
controversy or confusion orwhatever you want to call it.
I think they had to ordersomething from overseas, and
they're not sure how to get itto finish my order off.

(01:26:15):
So they've been holding thatorder, and I'm I'm a little
frustrated with that because Ihad some figures in there that I
was going to put in thosetanks.
They're probably not going tobe here anytime soon now.

Yeah, well, I'm hoping that all clears up.

It will.
It will eventually.

I I see that I think it will too.

Jeff Groves "The Inch High Gu (01:26:32):
I I I take a very optimistic take
on that whole thing anyway.
I think it'll sort out andit'll be a good thing when it
does.
So that's just my two cents.

Mike (01:26:41):
Yeah.

What about you guys?

Mike (01:26:42):
Mike?
Well, I already mentioned it.
Brian, the proprietor of SkillReproductions, per your notice
to me, had stocked the uh AMPkit out of Ukraine of the
Northrop M2 F3 lifting body.
Expensive little kit.
Oh wow.

Yes.

Mike (01:27:01):
That kit's expensive.

Yeah, but nobody else is ever gonna do that.

Mike (01:27:06):
I mean Well, Anagrad did it.

It's your right, but I mean, this is your if you
want a modern kitchen.

Mike (01:27:13):
And it's a beautiful little kit, but wow, and you
know, I got it from Brian, itgave me a good deal, and it was
you it wasn't much well withshipping, it wasn't any cheaper
out of Ukraine.
So why not?
So looking forward to that one.
That was got a lot ofinteresting uh takes because it
would scratch the itch of mewanting to try one of these

(01:27:34):
blurred in-flight bases.

Right.

Jeff Groves "The Inch Hi (01:27:38):
That'd be a good subject for it too,
Mike.
That would look good.

Mike (01:27:41):
And it's a bare metal plane, if you can call it a
plane.
Um it's a bare metal liftingbody, it's a bare metal vehicle,
which is something else I wantto try.
It's highly polished baremetal, and it's got a lot of
different tones on it.
Yes.
So it's pretty cool.

It's it's a neat little kit, but you can get a
little video with a screen thatyou can set next to the
completed model playing theintro to the six million six
million dollar man.
That kit's about twenty dollarsa linear inch.
Yes.
Yeah.

Mike (01:28:17):
How are the decals in it?
They're nice.

Wow.

Mike (01:28:20):
You know, they're nice on the paper.
Don't know how they are, don'tknow how they are going down.

Well, that's a that's a tempting
subject.
That's a very interestingaircraft.
It is spacecraft, experimentalcraft, whatever you want to call
it.
It's an interesting subject.

Mike (01:28:36):
Yeah, well, it it's it was you know, precursor studies for
the eventual shuttle gliderkind of thing.

Right.

Mike (01:28:43):
So it's just a really, really cool thing.
And man, I've been waiting onthat kit for to be released for
a long time.
I just didn't know it was gonnabe as expensive as it was
compared to the size it is.
Oh well, I've spent way more ona whole lot less than that.
I hear you.
Well, Brian brought that to theshow last weekend, and I also
picked up from Azure anotherLoire 130 flying boat or float

(01:29:05):
plane.
I've got one, but the thecanopy in mine looks like an
amber beer bottle.
Yeah.

The price was good enough that it was worth
picking up to make me Oh, yeah,that that thing was very, very
inexpensive compared to what itwas uh the uh list price when it
came out.
You got a great deal.

Mike (01:29:26):
Lots of modeling enjoyment for the dollar in that kit at
any price, though.
Yeah.
Uh we'll just say that.

But but when you're done, you have something
that you can put down on thetable and it will attract
people's eye just becausethey've never seen it.

Mike (01:29:42):
No, and you know, it was gonna go on a cruiser catapult
that some little outfit inFrance was doing.

I hope I hope that guy's enjoying my hundred
bucks.
Well, hopefully you'll comeacross a really good set of
plants for that uh catapult, andyou'll be able to catch.
Add it up yourself.
Well, maybe.

Mike (01:30:02):
Well, I bought one more thing at the at the at the show,
and it was another nostalgiathing.
I picked up a really old,probably the first boxing of
Airfix's 37th scale, old BillBus.
Oh wow.
Yes, I saw them.
I went back and bought it.
And it's a kit that's alwaysintrigued me.
You know, it's it's by modernstandards, it's a dog, right?
Right.

(01:30:22):
But the the figures in it areinteresting by the way they're
done.
And I think they would be apainting challenge, but could
look pretty good when you'redone.
And it's this gets strangebecause the the placards on the
side of the the bus are printedcardboard and they're like punch
outs.

(01:30:42):
And it's just a reallyinteresting and and it's another
one of those things that I'dlove to just build it as
intended, right out of the box,and uh see what you can come up
with.

Kind of see, I was gonna suggest that you look
around, start down the rabbithole, because I'm betting you
there's a whole ton, whole tonof really obscure aftermarket
stuff for that.

Mike (01:31:05):
And 30 seconds scale, probably not.
I bet there's I bet there'snot.
But anyway, that's that's whatI've bought.
That's what broke my wallet.

Uh unlike you all, I went to the MMCL show and
I sold.
I didn't buy.
I actually did not buy onesingle thing at the show.
Now, I will give you, I didorder this is a window into my
mental illness.

(01:31:33):
When I decided to start thatEdward kit from 2012, I went and
I knew right where it was.
I pulled it out of my stash,and I realized that's the only
Edward F6F that I have in thestash.
So I went ahead and ordered asecond one.

Mike (01:31:55):
Loving it that much, huh?

Well, okay, again, this is a window into my
mental illness.

Jeff Groves "The Inch High Gu (01:32:03):
I had decals on the bingo card,
just for the record.

I was gonna say two things.
One, I wanted a backup kit incase I needed to steal
something.
But B, if I finish the Hellcatand really, or yeah, the Hellcat
and really enjoy it and decideI want to build another one, I
don't have a kit mustache.
I'd have to go get one.
So why not just go ahead andorder it now?

(01:32:29):
And yes, none of that makessense, and yes, that is a window
into my particular littlemental illness.

Now, did you order a dash three or a
dash five?

I ordered a dash five.
So you because the kit uh thekit I'm building, and this is a
little secret I can tell you.
The kit I'm building is a dashthree, but in the in every
Edward Hellcat box is all theparts for a dash three, a dash
five, and a dash five N.

Yeah, yeah.

So all of the sprues have all of the parts on
them for any version that Edwardreleases.
It's just that so the boxingswhere it says dash three, dash
five, dash five N is justmarkings related and nothing

(01:33:24):
more.
Is that all you got?
No, well, okay, this one's kindof pre.
Uh at the show, our friendWarren Dickinson brought the IBG
black box Spitfire kit.
Yes, the Mark I and Mark IIthat has parts in there to build

(01:33:45):
literally any version of theearly Spitfires.
It's amazing.
Even comes with the two-bladedprop.
There were at least five propsin that box.
I know.
Yeah, this thing, guys, it's anew level of kit.
I mean, it really is.
But he also brought a companycalled ASK makes a 72nd scale 3D

(01:34:12):
printed engine and cow flapsfor the Tomia Zero.
Oh, yeah.
And this thing was amazing.
Flat out freaking amazing.

Mike (01:34:29):
As in Dave Dave ordered Teno.

Well, Dave is in the process.
He is trying to locate themstateside because ordering them
directly from the manufacturerin Ukraine runs into the problem
that uh Jeff just recentlyreferenced.

At least for now.
At least for now.

At least for now.
So I am attempting to locate astateside supplier so that I can
acquire at least three, if notfour, of them that uh I'll put
away and utilize because thesethings, Jeff, you saw they're
beautiful.

Jeff Groves "The Inch H (01:35:11):
They're they're just little jewels,
they're works of art.

Exactly.
Right.
They are works of art.
And I don't know how it getsany better from that.
I mean, unless it comes with aback rub from a physical
therapist and, you know, maybe amanicure and a pedicure, I
don't know how how that that kitpart or that part gets made any

(01:35:38):
better, any more detailed, anymore realistic.
The the biggest challenge isit's going to be a painting
challenge just because it's sowell done.

Well, Edward is starting to
experiment with what they'recalling a hybrid kit now, where
many of the components areexactly what you're describing.
They are these superhigh-detail resin monopiece
inserts where you have not a40-piece cockpit anymore.
You have a one-piece cockpitthat is more detailed than

(01:36:08):
anything you could put together.

Right.
Which may or may not be apainting challenge.

Well, it's certainly a painting
challenge.
I don't know how popular that'sgoing to wind up being, but
it's an interesting concept.

And you notice Arma has done the same thing.

Yes.

Where they they are now selling separately
interiors for all their 72ndscale aircraft kits, 3D printed
interiors.

Yes.
Yes.

And just amazing stuff.

And that absolutely that may be the
way out of this de minimissituation where a manufacturer
develops the CAD files and thenlicenses the production in the
United States, sells theintellectual property, and the
actual production is indistribution, is all handled
within the borders of the U.S.

Right.
Because it's, let's face it,it's not a it's not like you're
having to set up a giant factorywith big machine tooling and
all of that.
You need a little warehousespace with a whole bunch of
high-end 3D printers.

Jeff Groves "The Inch (01:37:09):
Exactly.
Or you could even go the routethat Hobby 2000 goes and license
the molds, have them shippedover here, and then run your 500
or 1,000 short run of anexisting kit with masks and
decals and all that, and packagethat and distribute it,
distribute it just within theU.S.
Yep.
So no, I agree.

(01:37:30):
So that's anyway.

That is pre-broken my wallet.
I don't have them yet.
I haven't ordered them yet.
I am trying to locate them toorder them, but consider my
wallet fully pre-broken on thatone.
Okay, guys, we're at the end ofthe episode.

(01:37:53):
I can tell you my Arnold Palmerhas been, first of all, the ABV
is zero.
I can't tell you how much thehow many sugars there are in it.
Uh, I can tell you it's quitegood, quite refreshing, and it
got me through the episode,which is what a modeling fluid

(01:38:14):
needs to do.
So, Jeff, how was your bluemoon?

Uh, blue moon is every bit as good
as I remember.
It is 5.4%.
I just read on the label,alcohol by volume.
I I miss my blue moon.
I like my blue moon.
I would like to have anotherblue moon.
It was great.

Well, good.
Mike, I'm I'm sure that yourbullet, while not as good as
your Russell's, was still prettypretty good.

Mike (01:38:40):
That's good.
It's just different.
The the Russell's is a littlesweeter, and the the bullets a
little uh bullet's a lotspicier, but they're both good,
and I enjoyed it.
It's all gone now, so I'mdrinking water.

Well, that's what you should do when you get to
the end of your modeling fluid.
And gentlemen, we are now trulyat the end of the episode, and
this is where we do ourshout-outs.
Although in this particularepisode, I'm going to do a

(01:39:15):
recommendation rather than ashout-out.
So why don't we start with Jeffor Mike?
Give us your shout-out.
You got one, Jeff?

I've got two and I'll keep them
brief.
I want to shout out our friendthat we've already mentioned a
few times in this, WarrenDickinson, came came up to the
Louisville show.
He helped me man my table.
We got to hang out all day.
We got a good steak dinnerafterwards.
He showed off some variousthings that we all drooled over.
It was just good to catch upwith him in person and not have

(01:39:46):
to do it online like we do justabout every day.
Shout out to Warren.
I'd also like to shout out Mikeand Mark Harrison, who I
quizzed about how I couldimprove my vending.
And they gave me some goodpointers and some good advice
and some good honest feedback,and that is always appreciated.

(01:40:06):
And that's one reason I likemodelers as a species.
Good, honest guys with not alot of ulterior motives, and you
can count on them to help youout if you ask them.
So shout out to those guys.

Those are all great.

Mike (01:40:20):
Mike?
Well, I always want to shoutout our contributors, the folks
who have uh chosen to supportPlastic Model Mojo through their
generosity.
You can do that several ways.
You could uh offer us arecurring contribution through
Patreon, or you can uh give us aone-time contribution or manage
your own recurring contributionthrough through PayPal.
And we also have Buy Me aCoffee or Buy Me a Beer.

(01:40:42):
It's it's mentioned a couple ofdifferent ways, depending on
where you find it, but you canfind a link to all these avenues
in the show notes of thisepisode or the support the show
link on the Plastic Model Mojarwebsite.
So uh folks, we reallyappreciate it.
It helps keep the train rollingdown the tracks.
And do you have another shoutout?
I do.
I want to shout out all theclubs and their representatives

(01:41:04):
who have been reaching out to uhappear on the uh model show
spotlight.
It's been uh it's been fun.
We've had a lot coming in, anduh I'm juggling a lot of those
right now.
We've got uh several we'regonna line up for this month,
but appreciate it.
And we'll remind uh clubs ifyou want to be featured on the
model show spotlight, give us asmuch advance warning as you can

(01:41:24):
because we can we only have anumber a limited number of spots
uh we can do that and keep itkind of manageable.
So uh we like to pick andchoose, try to spread out the uh
geographies, and uh but we'reglad to do it.
It's a lot of fun for us, anduh that's kind of our uh mantra
is supporting local shows.
So uh keep it coming, folks.

Agreed.
Now, mine instead of ashout-out, is a recommendation.
Have either of you ever seenthe movie Cleopatra?

Yes, I have not.

Okay, Elizabeth Taylor.

Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, oh yes,
the from the 50s.

From the well, it's actually the early 60s.
It was a famous production, itwas the first production to
really just have a runawaybudget.
I mean, there was a story whichisn't true that it actually
took the studio down, and it's amess of a movie, and there's

(01:42:28):
some reasons for that, but it'salso very compelling.
I will tell you that when I'mflipping through the channels,
if I run into it, it's one ofthose movies I have to stop and
watch at least a little bit ofit.
The movie was directed by a Ithink it was was it Joel
Mankowitz, one of the Mankowitz.

(01:42:50):
There are a number of people inHollywood that related the
Mankowitz family.
And the name may be familiar toyou because TCM, if you ever
watch TCM, Ben Mankowitz hostsis one of the hosts on TCM.
Well, of course, this movie andthis story has a lot of family

(01:43:15):
connection because it was hisuncle that directed the movie
and caught a lot of the blamefor the failures of the the
perceived failures of the movie.
Now, all that to say, there isa podcast called The Plot
Thickens that is put out by TCMevery year.

(01:43:37):
The season six is the making ofCleopatra, where Ben Mankowitz
talks about and interviews manyof his family members about
their Uncle Joe, who was who haddied, who was the director on

(01:43:57):
the movie, who was also anAcademy Award-winning director
and writer.
It's a really it's let's see,six, seven, eight episodes long,
and but it is well worth yourtime to give you a picture into
uh what movie making was like atoday, but b in the 60s, uh and

(01:44:24):
how things were and how thatit's just a compelling story.
You might not think that youwould be interested in it, but I
recommend you give it a chance.
The plot thickens by TCM.
It's a podcast, it's like sixor eight 50-minute episodes, and
is well worth your time.

(01:44:45):
So David recommends you listento that.

Mike (01:44:49):
Okay.
All right.
Well, guys, Jeff, thanks forjoining us this episode.
We appreciate it.

Hey, I appreciate being on.
It's always a fun time.

Jeff, I'm glad you came on, and I'm looking
forward to seeing you atCincinnati, man.

Likewise.

Had such a good time in Louisville.
I'm looking forward to it.

We'll do it again under the wings of
a B-25.

That sounds great.

Mike (01:45:12):
Well, Dave, as we always say, so many kids.
So little time, Dave.
And uh, Jeff, thanks again.
Well, hopefully I'll see you inCincinnati, but I don't know.
So have fun with Dave coming upthere.

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