Talking Shop with Mike and Kentucky Dave: Episode 136

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 scalemodeling, as well 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 (00:41):
Folks, welcome to episode 136 of Plastic Model Mojo,
kentucky.
Dave, I've been looking forwardto this one all day, maybe even
all week.

Kentucky Dave (00:51):
Well, good, that's good to hear man.

Mike (00:54):
Man, I've had a hard work week.
Dude, we're going to call itbaskets, gaskets.

Do you all have a lunch coming up soon?

Mike (01:04):
We did, but maybe not now.

Oh, okay.

Mike (01:08):
But anyway, about a year ago I did a bunch of work and
solved a problem we were havingand created a job for myself.
So I've been cutting andcleaning and making gaskets and
flat qualifying these things andgetting ready to issue them to
the teams and, man, I've been onmy feet for five straight days.

Well, that sounds like you need some bench time.

Mike (01:30):
I do, man.
I'm looking forward to thatcoming up, maybe tonight, but
definitely tomorrow, definitelySunday.
You get your plumbing workedout, yes.

I did have a C note later.

Mike (01:44):
No five C notes later.

Yes, I'm sorry.
Half an M note yeah half an Mnote.
Five C notes later and myplumbing problem was solved.
I do a lot of plumbing myself.
Same same, you know.
Electrical I'll leave toexperts.
Because you screw up plumbing,all you get is wet.

(02:07):
You screw up electrical, allyou get is dead.
So I tend to leave theelectrical to the professionals,
and plumbing I'm pretty good at.
But this one was above my paygrade.
It didn't turn out to be as badas I thought.

Mike (02:24):
That's always good man.

But I got it resolved.

Mike (02:27):
Don't want to cut into the hobby budget too much.
Yeah, well, it hurt.
Well, maybe you learnedsomething.
Yes, I did, but all this banterreminds me about a little over
a year ago we got a negativefeedback.

Yeah, I remember that Over one negative feedback.

Mike (02:44):
Maybe two, but the other one's so far down the road.
I really don't let any of themget to me, and this one didn't
either, but it kind of gets towhat we're doing right now and
it was too much small talk.
Stick to the topic.
Well, firstly, last I looked,this was our podcast, so I'll be

(03:09):
the kentucky gentleman here,and just leave that right there.
Yeah, that's right.
Second, this show is a windowinto our world, dave, our
friendship, our journey and theoccasional it's going to include
the occasional quick hit onplumbing car troubles, what have
you?
Because the real Mike and thereal Kentucky Dave are dealing
with this stuff and it doesimpact our hobby time, just like

(03:30):
it impacts all yours, folks.
Yep, stuff gets in the way andwe're going to talk about it
just a little bit, not much.

Yeah, impacts both hobby time and hobby budget
.
That's right.
Five C-notes lighter means alittle bit of my Heritage Con
budget just flew out the window,so hopefully I'll find extra
special deals.

Mike (03:57):
That said, Dave, what is up in your model sphere?

Well, my model sphere is flying high because I
got to have lunch this afternoonwith our good friend Stephen
Lee.
All right, you didn't fly toDelaware to do that, did you?
No, I did not.
Stephen Lee, who people on hereknow runs the blog Spru Pie

(04:21):
with Fretz, Stephen's wife is intown for a week-long conference
.
He's in town for a week.
He came with her because heworks remote and was able to do
that.
And it turns out the hotel he'sin where the conference is is
literally a block and a halffrom where I work, my office

(04:45):
downtown.
So I'll go to Third Street andhave lunch Jumped over to Fourth
Street and had lunch at GordonBeer's, the micro brewery, and
I'll post a photo on the dojo.
But it was a great time.
You know, any time you can gettogether with a modeler

(05:05):
especially modelers that youdon't see that often and spend
time talking.
And, to be honest with you, itwas probably 20% modeling and
80% life and 80% life.

(05:29):
Now that'll probably changewhen, on Monday evening, I take
him over to scale reproductions.
I suspect there will be a lotmore modeling talk then, but
just generally talking aboutmodeling, but talking about
what's going on in his life,what's going on in our lives,
what's going on.
And he lives up in the DC area,so it was interesting to hear

(05:49):
from him about what's been goingon up there.
It's really nice and again, Iknow I say this like I sound
like a broken record, but I'mgoing to keep saying it and that
is, if all you're doing ismodeling in your basement and
nothing else never going toshows, never getting online and

(06:12):
interacting with differentmodeling communities I mean you
can do that to each his own, butin my opinion, if you're not
going to shows, if you're notmeeting other modelers online,
making those lifelongfriendships, you're missing out
on something really great, andStephen was at Amps with us in

(06:36):
2024.
And that's two, wasn't he?
Yes, and that's two, and wespent a little bit of time
reminiscing about that and thatwas kind of fun.
So, yeah, no, my model sphereis soaring and probably I'm only
going to get better when I getto take him to scale
reproductions and watch himspend money.

Mike (06:57):
We'll have to figure out a night.
If I can run into town and joinyou guys?
Yes, I vow to see him too,because we don't get these
opportunities too often.
No, and joining you guysbecause I vow to see them too,
because we don't get theseopportunities too often.

No, we don't this is a good one, yep.
So what's up in your modelsphere other than working too
hard?

Mike (07:13):
Nah, I'm not working too hard, I'm just working hard,
it's all good.
My model sphere really hits onthis community aspect, like you
alluded to there, dave, thatpart of the hobby.
I'm back on the roster forHeritageCon.

Yay.

Mike (07:28):
Which has me really excited.
You know I had to prepare youand the Ottawa gang for the
worst.

Yes.

Mike (07:33):
But I took the wait and see, don't give up hope,
attitude and crap.
Just kind of worked itself out,man.

Yeah.

Mike (07:40):
So I'm hoping our Minnesota friends can make it as
well, because we got a fun halfday planned in the greater
Detroit area involving,hopefully, a big hot breakfast
somewhere.

Oh yeah.

Mike (07:52):
And a trip up to Michigan Toy Soldier Company.

Yep.

Mike (07:56):
And that's going to be great and looking forward to
seeing our Canadian friends.
I got a big ass book to deliverto Evan and in general the
camaraderie will be high atHeritageCon.

Yes, yes, and Dr Vitkus is flying in from Salt
Lake City, and so we're going topick him up in Detroit and haul
him to HeritageCon.

Mike (08:17):
And a third Minnesotan from their club, steve Remy, is
coming in as well, and he may bejoining us for our Saturday
activities as well.
Well, good, it's going to be abig convergence of folks we
didn't know too many years ago.
Yeah.

Well and to be honest with you, you deserve
this break.
Karma has handed you since thefirst of the year.
Karma has handed you a seriesof tough breaks and you know,
it's kind of nice to see theworld balance out.

(08:54):
It is.

Mike (08:55):
The only exit's up man.

Yeah, Well and hey, and not only that, this
means I don't have to drive sixhours to Detroit by myself.
That's right.
I got to be honest with you.
I wasn't completely lookingforward to that.

Mike (09:11):
Yeah, I've done that drive .
It's not great, yeah, but thelast three hours we're going to
have a little extra company inthe car.
Yes, that'll be great.
Looking forward to that.
Yes, I'm pleased that thatfinally worked out.

Me too.
So I'm pleased that thatfinally worked out Me too.
So, mike, we're recording, andthat means modeling fluid.
What modeling fluid do you havein front of you, jack and Coke?
Oh my gosh.
Well, I'm not Listen, otherthan the fact that apparently

(09:49):
you've gone back to high schoolor college, depending on when
you started.
I'm not going to diss that.
Jack is a good liquor to make ahighball with, and sometimes
you just want a highball.

Mike (10:01):
Well, we'll save that till the end.
What do you have, my friend?

Well, I am repeating again, which, again, I
try and do rarely, but this onehas.
I'm repeating with a purpose.
As you know, I went up toColumbus to the show a couple of
weeks ago and I always make ita tradition to stop by
Hofbrauhaus and I took a coupleof growlers to Hofbrauhaus and
had them filled up and I havebeen waiting a couple of weeks

(10:34):
and I broke one open.
Tonight I'm having aHofbrauhaus Hefeweizen.

Mike (10:40):
Can't go wrong there I know you like it.

Yep, it's going to be good, I can guarantee it.

Mike (10:47):
Well, fantastic.
Well, we've got some listenermail.
Go for it, as always.

I think we got some good ones.

Mike (10:56):
We do.
I know, I know the.
I'm looking for the DMS thistime and don't don't go too fast
, cause there's some of thoseare worthy of some discussion,
all right, but that's good,because on my side we've had
several folks honoring the lastcall to action, which we'll get
to in a minute.
But well, of those up first isa repeat offender, mark Doremus
from the greater Seattle area.

(11:18):
Yes, and he's given us aquestion for the Wheel of
Accidental Wisdom which iscoming up in the next episode.
So we're not going to talkabout that right now With Mr
Barrett, that's right, mr EdBarrett, and shop organization,
because he says plenty of finebenches showing up on the dojo
which we talked about a littlebit in the 12-Minute Model

(11:39):
Sphere.
How do you guys organize Paintkits, decals, tools and this is
a pretty big topic and we canhit on a couple of these real
quick here for listener mail,paint kits, decals, tools, so
paints for me, very littleorganization actually.
I've got some Sterilite,shallow containers about 18 by

(12:03):
12 inches and my Tamiya paintsare in there lids up.
I've got several other smallboxes with the other paints in
them.
I don't keep a lot of paintsNow.
The only ones I really haveorganized are my Vallejo dropper
bottles and I got some EdTackett's 3D printed racks when
he was doing those and I gotthose up on my workbench with

(12:24):
those kind of just facing me butdon't do a lot with paints.
Kits are in the furnace room onshelves.
They are sort of stacked by kitbox size.
It kind of gets messed up whenI go back there and rummage
around.
My decals are in a photoarchive box because I don't have

(12:45):
a lot of decals languishing,unlike you, and you know I've
got a lot of typical toolorganization.
I've got one of my work benchdrawers has got like silverware
trays in it that rubber mademakes some modular ones that you
can click together and changethe size of of them and I've got
a bunch of tools in there.
But I tell you it's in a reallysad shape, big state of

(13:09):
disarray.
I really need to pull thatdrawer, take everything out of
it, throw a bunch of crap awayand just redo it.
So I'm organized-ish most ofthe time and I suspect Dave.

Organization.
What's that?
You've been working on it?
Yes, I have.
Now it's been mostly in mymodel storage, my stash storage
closet, which is a big, longwalk-in closet that's attached
to my model room.
I am terribly disorganized andit is one of the big reasons I

(13:46):
don't get more done.
Projects scatter across the bed.
I've got a 13-freaking-footbench and sometimes I find
myself modeling in an areasmaller than an 8.5 by 11-inch
piece of paper, because I've gotjunk scattered everywhere, and

(14:09):
a lot of this is my own fault.
I don't.
When I use a tool or apaintbrush, I don't put it back
each time, so then when I needit again, I find myself spending
minutes, precious minutes,rummaging around my bench trying
to find out where I put it mypaint.
Now I've got too much and Ineed to throw a bunch away.

(14:33):
One of my many vows is to thinout a lot of that stuff, but I
have an old tester's paint rackin my model room and I've got
paint in the paint rack.
I also have a 10-drawer Ikearolling cart and the top four
drawers are model paints.

(14:55):
You know Tamiya, white, ensignModels, old Model Master paint,
alclad.
So I do have some organizationon paint, but I've still got too
much of my paint scattered outon my bench, and that's one
thing I need, one of the manythings I need to cure.

(15:16):
I'm going to try and thin downto the number of different paint
brands I have, just becausethere's no use in it.
You know I picked them up hereand there over the years, and I
know you do.
I know you do too.
Yeah, I've got paint that's 25years old.

Mike (15:36):
I have paint that's older than 25.

Well, I was being gentle.
Some of that's neat and some ofit is obsolete.
Even if the paint is still good, it's obsolete.
So that's part of my vow is toorganize better.
But of course I've beenconcentrating on the mousserous
so I haven't done as much in theorganizing as I need to.

Mike (16:04):
Well, again, that could be a whole topic and we probably
talked about it quite a bit, butI think Mark was inspired by
all the benches on the dojo.
I was too Fair question and, ifanything, we can't give you all
the details in the listenermail segment.
But yeah, it's been a headscratcher and certainly makes me
rethink a thing or two on myown bench, some of the stuff

(16:26):
folks shared.

Yep, me too.
I've looked at some of thoseand I've gotten three or four
ideas just looking and going.
Oh, that's clever.

Mike (16:35):
Well, up next is Kit Hedley, and he's also from the
Seattle area.
I wonder if they know eachother and Jim and all those
other folks out there.

I'm sure they do.

Mike (16:45):
Well, he's the one who sent us the photos of the
kilometer posts and he wroteback in to kind of flesh out
where that came from.
He's a professional model makerworking for Microsoft in
Seattle, and he was in Germanyon a work trip Carbon Germany
and on his daily walk from thetrain platform to the shop for

(17:05):
the week he'd walk by a coupleof these things and he says, hey
, those are those kilometermarkers that mike was talking
about, and were it not for theshow, he'd never thought twice
about him.
He thanked us for theaccidental education, kind of
like wheel of accidental wisdom.
Well, right, kit, they oftensay more is caught than taught.
So I guess maybe our ramblingabout that is giving you a

(17:27):
little insight and you justhappen to notice them.
So that's kind of cool.

Yep, and you know several modelers have sent us
pictures where you know you'vegiven away some of those things
over the years and we've hadseveral modelers send us
photographs of tanks.
They built on a base and theyused the kilometer post on the

(17:51):
base and I think it looks reallygood.

Mike (17:54):
I still want somebody to get one published in a magazine.

There you go.
Yeah, that's right, we'll makeyou a special agent if you
manage that feat.

Mike (18:03):
Unless you're, ah, nevermind.

Stop it.

Mike (18:10):
And next is David Mason, who was our guest for the I
can't remember what month it wasfor the model show Spotlight
for MidMichigan.

Model Makers Right, and I think that was
December, december or JanuaryJanuary because their
show'sMichigan model makersRight, and I think that was
December, december or JanuaryJanuary, because their show's
first week of February.

Mike (18:29):
Right.
He sent us a big thank you forhelping promote that show
because he had a lot of feedbacksince the show and at the show,
the show on our on plasticmodel.
Mojo and also quite a fewmembers from their club who
don't normally do podcastlistened and even heard on an
automotive youtube channel thatthe video producer on the

(18:52):
channel said he'd heard aboutthe show from the podcast.
So that's kind of cool yes,that's way cool well, they ended
up with 512 models from 98entrants, which nice for a a one
dayer in our region is prettystinking big.

Yeah Well, a one dayer in early, early, early,
early February, that is amazing.

Mike (19:14):
Well, he's extended his invitation again to us and you
know their their show next yearis February 7th, so it's a
little later.
So you know, maybe we'll get upthere, man, I don't know.
We appreciate the invite andI'm glad it all worked out for
you.
He says the show Spotlight is agreat service to the hobby and
he thinks it works out foreverybody.
You know we get some listenersand people get to know about the

(19:36):
shows and he's going back towork on his Heritage Con entry.

So, dave, yes, come by and see us, we'll be
there.
Yeah, absolutely Listen, we'rehappy to do it.
We are happy to promote showsbecause, again, I'm a big
believer in shows.
It's the place for people tointeract.

Mike (19:59):
Well, I'm going to double up here.
We've got Eddie Turner fromsomewhere in the south of
England and we've got a longtimelistener from the Windy City,
hector Colon.
Both have sent in a couple ofreally good questions for the
Wheel of Accidental Wisdom.
We appreciate that Good andthose will definitely go on.
Those are going to be fun, so Ihope they come up.

(20:20):
David Haddiken, and he's a Britliving in Canberra, australia,
oh wow, he's taking our adviceabout attempting to build
outside our normal genre tolearn new stuff, yep.
And he's built a Tamiya 35thscale Tiger II and is working on

(20:41):
a bunch of pine trees and somefigures to go into an Arden
diorama.
There you go.
He sent some pictures.
It's coming along pretty good.
He's got some work to do yet,but keep plucking along at it,
man, and it's going to come outgood.

I guarantee, at the end of the project, no
matter what, you'll have comeaway having learned something
new and probably something thatyou can apply to your regular
modeling genre.

Mike (21:09):
Well, he's got some nice things to say about the show and
we appreciate that.
Glad to have you to listen toher man and good luck on your
your Arden diorama, david Pyefrom the North Somerset Modeler
Society in the UK.
They have put our our bannerlink on their club website.

Oh well, that's nice.

Mike (21:27):
That is nice.
So thank you for that and muchappreciated.
Yes, well, my last one, dave,from the listener mail side of
things, is one I sent you alittle earlier in the week.
I hope you thought about it.
Uh-huh, I did Well go ahead andread it Well this is from Rick
Baker, aka the model outlier,and it's titled Scale Wars and

(21:52):
back at the end of January heblasted out to all the podcasts.
He's got a lot here Looks likeall of them, I don't know.
I have to go through and parsethem off and check them out just
to make sure everybody's there,but it sure looks like about
everybody's there.
He has created a fictionalscenario in which he's hired us
as consultants to his new brandof scale model of manufacturing.

(22:16):
He's wanting to shake up theinjection mold industry and
relying on our knowledge andexpertise.
And he wants to know, based onthat scenario, with time and
money not being a consideration,that's a big point.
It is a big point which he says,is the most fictional part of
all.
Yes, one, we must eliminate astandard or popular scalar genre

(22:40):
of our choosing and justify ourchoice.
And two, we got to replace itwith something else.
And he says uh, in thisscenario we are a pool of
consultants competing with eachother and have to pitch what
we're doing here.
So bring your A game.
So I've thought about this.

I came up with an answer surprisingly quickly.
I was I kind of did too.

Mike (23:04):
So you want to go first?
No, I want to hear what you'repitching.
Okay For number one toeliminate a standard or popular
scale.
And now let me tell you the way, as a caveat, how I thought
about this.
This is not change something.
And the other one bleeds outand goes away.
Right, this is Infinity Wars.

(23:24):
Thanos snaps his fingers andit's gone.

Right.

Mike (23:28):
Okay.

That's the way I approached it.

Mike (23:31):
Heads or tails, I don't care and this may surprise you,
being that I'm primarily anarmor modeler either 35th scale
or 32nd scale goes away, one ofthe two.
And for part two, well, no, letme.
Let me, let me justify that one.
Yes 35th scale came aboutbecause Mr Toomey, back in the

(23:54):
sixties, created a model of theGerman Panther tank with no
regard to scale.
It was just about going to bethis big.
Well, when they got it done,well, what scale is it?
Well, they measured it and itwas one 35th scale.
Well, it would make more senseacross all of scale modeling If

(24:17):
it was either 32nd scale, rightand aligned with all that, or
all the aircraft was 35th scale,which border models is doing
Right and aligned with all that,or all the aircraft was 35th
scale, which Border Models isdoing Right and aligned with the
armor genre.
And 32nd scale really goes backto the 54 millimeter figure
Right Genre.
I think Maybe there's someother scale connections to, you

(24:40):
know, the size up from 72nd and40.
I don't know, maybe, maybe not,but that's just the way I see
it.
So I'm going to eliminate 35thor 32nd and I'm going to replace
it with the other.
So everything's either 35th oreverything's either 32nd.
Now, that's not quite what heasked.
He said going to create a newscale, and what is it and why?

Well, he didn't exactly say new scale, yes, he
did A new.

Mike (25:08):
you shall replace the eliminated scale by adding a new
scale for the Zarn.
So, if I replace 35th okay,everything.
The new scale for armor is 32nd.
If I replace 32nd with 35th,the new scale for aircraft is
35th.
You could see it that way,right, but I went a step further
and I'm I am creating a newscale.

(25:28):
This may be a flop, becauseit's kind of it gets into
modeling adjacent.

Yeah.

Mike (25:34):
And there's only been one kit, a tank, a vehicle released
in the scale.
But if there were true scalemodels with true scale model
detailing that were one sixthscale to match the one sixth
scale action figures, like fromdragon, which some folks are out

(25:55):
there doing some freaking crazyrepaints and dioramas with yep
that might be kind of cool.
Yeah, maybe I don't know, Iprobably wouldn't buy it.
But yeah, they could have somebig old tanks to put their
battling barbies on.
Yep, that's what I got.
What do you?

you got Well amazingly enough, my thought was
not in the aircraft genre.
My thought was in like you,armor, I'm going to put on the
glove with all the infinitystones and I'm going to snap my
finger and I'm going todisappear.
16th scale.

(26:35):
Okay, now that may becontroversial, because 16th is
becoming very popular and youknow, thanks to Andy's Hobby
Headquarters and some companiesout there, 16th is becoming
popular.
But I would disappear itbecause of two things.

(26:55):
One, it's too big.
Other than the little tankettes, most 16th scale models you
can't build.
You know, unless you have aMcMansion, you can't build many
of them and have room for themanywhere.

Mike (27:15):
Many of them and have room for them anywhere.
Well, one further I don't.
I've not been to a show or ahobby shop since this thing's
kind of kind of started gettinglegs that people are giving the
shelf space to it yes, that'strue, cause it burns up a lot of
that too.
So go ahead.

Yep, no, that's true too.
And also, as you and I havecommented, because of the size
of the scale, it isexponentially harder to make it
not have a toy-like appearance,just simply because everything's

(27:52):
so large, the palette's solarge.
So I've snapped my fingers and16th scale armor has gone away.
And what have I replaced itwith and this may be real
controversial 24th scalemilitary vehicles.

Mike (28:13):
Okay, you didn't move much , but you did Actually.
No, you did.
That's a pretty for 24 scale.

There are a ton of.
You know.
24th is one of the two popularauto scales.
Yeah, there are a ton of carsacross all time periods that you

(28:52):
could work in to armor,dioramas or armor.
It would be a good companion toit would be a good companion to
the car kits.
You'd also get a blending ofthose genres so you get the
armor modelers and theautomotive modelers starting to

(29:15):
interact with each other, learnfrom each other, bring the scale
and there are actually some notmany of them, but some 24th
scale aircraft kits.
So I would bring, I wouldThanos snapped my fingers.
16th scale goes away and isreplaced by 24th scale armor.

Mike (29:39):
All right, man, I hope we satisfied the criteria for
Rick's scenario.
That was interesting.
It was.
I've listened to a coupleothers on a couple of other pods
.
Yeah, I don't know.
It's interesting what Border'sdoing with the 35th scale
aircraft.

Yes.

Mike (29:58):
Is it a sea change?
I don't know, probably not, buteverybody's already entrenched,
right, right, and you suggestedthat as an advantage.
Personally, I don't know howmuch cross-pollination there is.
Honestly, unless you want totalscale congruency across your
collection, I mean it makessense then, but there's not many

(30:20):
diorama scenarios where, like,you're really gonna have a world
war ii fighter and world war iitank on the same stinking right
, square feet right, it's justnot not something that happened
very much.
so I don't, I don't know if knowif that's a real reason to do
it, but for scale continuity itkind of makes sense.

(30:43):
It's probably too late now.

Well, you know, I'm a scale purist.
That's why pretty mucheverything I own is 72nd scale.

Mike (30:54):
You didn't want to get rid of 76th scale.

No, I don't rid of 76th scale.
No, I I you know, I don't thinkabout 76 scale.
Nobody is real.
I mean, 76 scale is a creatureof the past.
No need, no need to snap it outof existence.
It's going the way of the Dodo.

Mike (31:17):
Well, I think you know, like Airfix was one right.

Mm-hmm.

Mike (31:21):
And I think you could find those Airfix armor kits labeled
both 72nd and 76th.

They did.

Mike (31:28):
Depending on what era they were reissued in Yep.
They did do that Well, dave.
That's it from the email sideof things.
What's going on on Facebookdirect message.

We had a lot of DMs.
I mean so many that I am and Idon't know if you well to
feature because there'ssomething interesting or there's

(32:03):
a new listener or first timecommunicator or something like
that.
So this isn't all the DMs, it'sjust a selection.

Mike (32:13):
And some of those are conversations that are ongoing
with somebody.

Yes.

Mike (32:17):
They're not going to get featured every week or two weeks
, but there were some good onesthis time.

Yes, there were In no particular order.
Our friend and special agent003, brandon Jacobs, reached out
and asked if we were going tobe at the indie show, because
Brandon, who apparently is likethe quokka and shows up at shows
all over, is actually going tobe in indie and he's actually

(32:47):
going to be vending because heand a friend have apparently
purchased a collection up thereup near there, of about 1,700
kits and so he's going to comebuy some of them.
Yeah, he's going to come up andgo up, get the kits and then

(33:07):
immediately go to Indy and tryand sell as many of them as he
possibly can.
Now he does mention that asignificant portion not all, but
a significant portion of thecollection is older kits.
It almost has to be Rightexactly.

(33:28):
So if there's anybody who isthinking about going to Indy and
is looking for that vintage kitthe Airfix or Matchbox or Frog
or whatever vintage kit he'slikely to have it.
Now he didn't say it waslimited to aircraft or armor or

(33:53):
anything like that.
So I suspect with 1,700 kitsthere's going to be a wide
variety.
But he's going to be up thereand our friends from Minnesota
are going to be up there, and soI don't know if you and I are
going to make it, given thescheduling, but we're sure as
heck going to make a try.

(34:13):
We are had a listener, dutchVosburgh, who's up in
Massachusetts.
I keep talking about how muchjoy the podcast and the
community has brought to me andthis is a perfect example of it.
Mr Vosburgh, up inMassachusetts.

(34:36):
He's thinning out somereference material and he had
some old small Air Forcesobserver magazines, which was a
small self-published magazine bya guy out in California,
california, and really great,really great little magazine as

(34:58):
far as obscure information onobscure little air forces, and
because he listened to thepodcast, he just reached out and
DMed me and said, hey, I've gotthese magazines, do you want
them?
And you know it was very kind.
Well, as a matter of fact, Ihappen to have a complete

(35:20):
collection of small air forcesobservers and communicated with
Mr Vosburgh about that and aboutsome other stuff.
But it was just a kindness, Imean just an absolute kindness.
A modeler thinking of you know,sitting there going through his
stuff, doing some cleaning,doing some organizing, some

(35:44):
getting rid of, and he thinks,hey, you might want this.
And he reached out.
And, man, I can't tell you howwonderful that was.
Just the simple act of reachingout, making that offer, it
tells you what I have saidrepeatedly In general modelers

(36:05):
are really, really great people.
And, mr Vosburgh, I've gotsomething coming in the mail for
you and thank you very much forreaching out, making that offer
cool.
Next I'm going to combine abunch.
We have heard from so manypeople about heritage con.

(36:27):
Are you coming?
I'm coming.
This is my first time, I meanshould I go yeah?
should I go?
The Kit masks is going to bethere, and so they're actually.
Not only are they coming, notonly are they bringing their
inventory, they're going to giveaway a harder and steam back

(36:50):
airbrush.
They're going to have a drawingthat you can enter at the show
for a hard-earned steam bikeairbrush.
So I mean, it's just so manypeople have reached out and
interacted with us aboutHeritage Con and I've got to say
I can't tell you how happy I amthat your schedule changed so

(37:12):
that you could go, because youknow as much as I look forward
to HeritageCon and as much as Iwould have gone without you, I
can't.
I've got to say I'm reallypleased you're going.
And we're going to be able to dothat.
We're going to be able to seeall our friends.
That's assuming the Canadians.

(37:33):
Let us across the border.

Mike (37:36):
And it doesn't snow across the northern Midwest.

Yes, that too.
Let's keep fingers crossed.
Mike Halliday, our Midwesterncorrespondent, reached out.
He was considering getting anair booth and he knew, because I
had mentioned it on the podcastseveral times, that I've got

(38:01):
one of the first pace paintbooths and I bought it at the
cincinnati show many, many yearsago, many, many, many years ago
.
So many years ago that I washauling it home in a Toyota
Tercel hatchback and I was likehow the heck do I get this thing
in this car?

(38:22):
It barely fit, because I gotthe biggest one they had, and I
highly recommend paint booths.
You can find them online, topquality, mine has lasted forever
and just a great addition toyour model room.

(38:44):
And especially if you have aspouse who is sensitive to odors
, modeling odors, flatulenceWell, that too, but she married
you, so she's kind of used tothat anyway.
But it absolutely does afantastic job of taking all of

(39:07):
the odor out of the air so youcan airbrush and not disturb
your spouse or kill yourselfWell, that too.
Or kill yourself because,because, ladies and gentlemen,
you don't want to be airbrushingwithout using a paint booth and
a respirator.
Okay, it's just not a good idea.
Next, jamie Adamson reached outand asked us if we would mind

(39:34):
mentioning that IPMS Houston ishaving a show May 3rd in Houston
, of course, and I asked him ifhe would consider coming on and
being a show spotlight in April.
So I haven't heard back fromhim yet, but again, we love

(39:54):
promoting the shows and Jim mayhave a special interest in this
show because their theme isJames Bond 007.
All right, so, I'll beinterested to see what that
produces.
So Jim may fly all the way fromSeattle to Houston, because

(40:30):
Jim's a huge James Bond fancompany called SS Models who is
doing a 3D print of the catapultand rear section of the FUSO.
That's right, I couldn'tremember what.

Mike (40:48):
Japanese and they've got a battleship turret one and
they've got a tower-mounted one.
They got three that areinteresting.

Yes, and our friend David Waples reached out
and basically said that you knowhis experience on the quality

(41:19):
of the items and kind ofsuggested that maybe if you did
it you were taking a crapshootand it's a fair amount of money.
So it was awfully nice of himto reach out and provide his
experience to at least informyou before you made any sort of

(41:44):
decision.

Mike (41:45):
I appreciate that too, and I also think that El Presidente
or the geeks may have boughtone of those catapults and had
something not so nice to sayabout it.

Oh really.

Mike (41:56):
I think we had that conversation at HeritageCon last
year.
I think he ended up withsomething shaped more like a
banana than a catapult.

Oh.

Mike (42:04):
And with that crap there ain't no running under hot water
and straightening it Right.
It's a bend toss probably.

Right.

Mike (42:13):
Well, I appreciate that, and golly, it's just so hard man
.

Now, if you could get the files from them, yeah,
would you buy the.
If it was possible, would youbuy the files from them on the
thought that I can clean this upand make it right?
Yes, okay, absolutely All right.
Yes, okay, absolutely All right.

Mike (42:38):
Well, I probably couldn't clean up the models themselves,
but I could print in anorientation or whatever.
That would be advantageous andall that stuff, the post-process
, and actually manufacture thething I could control.
So yeah, I'd absolutely takethat chance because that would
in theory be a lot less cointhan buying the models already

(43:01):
done.

So you heard it here SS Models.
If you want to sell your STLfiles, mike's willing to
purchase them.
I am.

Mike (43:12):
Or if you're willing to replace parts that get broken or
arrive broken, maybe I'll buyone.

Yeah, anything else, dave, I'll buy one, yeah,
anything else, dave.

Mike (43:20):
That's it, mike.
Well, dave, we're done withlistener mail.
Yes, we want to encourage morefolks.
If you want to write into theshow, please do so.
We love it.
You can do so by emailing us atplasticmodelmojo at gmailcom,
or you can send a direct messagevia Facebook's messenger system
.
We love it.
We appreciate it.

(43:41):
It's the favorite segment ofthe night.

And we've got the next episode with Ed Barath
coming up for the Wheel ofAccidental Wisdom.
You all have been doing a goodjob, sending in suggestions,
questions for the wheel.
Please keep those coming.
We need to load up that wheelso that we have a lot of good

(44:05):
questions to choose from for Ed.

Mike (44:07):
It's going to be fun, because Ed's been at this longer
than us, dave.
Yes, yep, so we may get someaccidental wisdom ourselves.

There we go.
I'm always looking forward tothat.
Folks, when you're donelistening to this episode,

(44:40):
please go to whatever podcastingapp you use and rate the
podcast.
We'd appreciate if yousubscribe and you give the
podcast the highest rating onwhatever app you're using.
It helps drive the visibilityof the podcast.
In addition, if you knowanother modeler who doesn't

(45:02):
listen to the podcast, would youplease recommend us to them?
I can't tell you how manycommunications we've gotten from
listeners who said you know, myfriend so-and-so turned me on
to the podcast.
So it's the thing that helpsthe podcast grow best.

(45:23):
So please continue to do that.

Mike (45:26):
And once you've done that, please check out the other
podcasts out there in the modelsphere, and you can do that by
going to wwwmodelpodcastcom.
That's model podcast plural.
It's a consortium website setup with the help of Stuart Clark
from the scale model podcast upin Canada, who we're going to
see in a couple of weeks.
Yes, we are always going to seethose guys.
Stu took it upon himself toaggregate all the banner links

(45:49):
to all the podcasts in the modelsphere and you can go there for
a one-stop shop and check thoseall out.
We got a lot of blog andYouTube friends.
Some of those guys are going tosee up in Canada too.

Dave, we're going to see some of those guys, we
don't have to wait to Canada tosee.

Mike (46:05):
That's right.
We got Chris Wallace, modelairplane maker, got a great blog
and YouTube channel up andcoming.
There Keeps getting better.
We're going to see Chris.
He's our primary host in Canada.

Yes.

Mike (46:17):
Evan McCallum, panzermeister 36.
I got to make a delivery tothat kid, but he's got a great
YouTube channel.
You're going to want to checkthat out.
Inch High Guy Jeff Groves.
The Inch High Guy blog allthings 72nd scale and he's
burning through all his 72ndscale projects and if you like
the scale, that's a good placeto go.

Absolutely.

Mike (46:38):
And if that's not enough, you can go see who you just
mentioned earlier, dave StevenLee SpruPi, with frets,
primarily 72nd scale, as well,and he's always got some good
blog content on there and hisprojects always under under
works.
So good stuff, man.
And finally, dr Paul Buzik,scale Model Workshop, either for

(46:59):
the philosophy or for thecraftsmanship.
You're going to get somethingthere, I promise you.
So check out Scale ModelWorkshop on Patreon and YouTube.

Take a little bit of a different look at what
you're doing.
If you are not a member of yournational IPMS organization IPMS
USA, ipms Canada, whatevercountry you happen to live in
please consider joining.
As a matter of fact, one of theconversations Stephen Lee and I
had this afternoon wasregarding some of the benefits

(47:33):
that IPMS USA supplies to localclubs.
That is kind of invisible tothe general membership, and so
these organizations are run byvolunteers who give up some of
their modeling time to try andmake modeling as a hobby better

(47:55):
for everybody.
Additionally, if you're anarmor modeler or post-1900s
figure modeler, the ArmorModeling and Preservation
Society is a great organizationfull of modelers dedicated to
that particular genre and thehobby.
And again, another conversationSteve and I had because you,

(48:19):
steve, and I were at the AMPshow in South Bend, talking
about what a great show it wasand why AMPS is such a really
good organization.

So if you're not a member, consider
joining AMPS if you're not amember, or lacquers, check them

(49:01):
out at wwwmodelpaintsolutionscom.

Mike (49:03):
Well, dave, our special segment tonight is Shop Talk
with Mike and Kentucky.
Dave, this just keeps getting alittle more popular and we keep
putting a little more effortinto it and it keeps getting,
hopefully, a little bit betterfor everybody.

Yes, yep, I think we've got some good ones
tonight.

Mike (49:21):
We do.
You ready to get into it?
I am Well, Dave.
Our first topic tonight wassubmitted by our Finnish
listener, Phile Jervainen, andhe's hearkening back to our
mantra what's our plan forgetting better and specifically

(49:42):
in 2025.
So a powerful question comingright out of the chute from
Philae, and it's probably hightime, given it's March, that we
actually put a little meat onthe bone for this one.

Yes, on the bone for this one.
Yes, I'm embarrassed to saythat I don't have or haven't had
a plan, just simply because2025 arrived so quickly and then
being involved in trying to getthis Moosaroo item closed out,

(50:16):
unfortunately, I haven't put thetime in that I should.
In thinking about what's myplan for getting better 2024,
the thing I focused on wasrescribing and engraving, and
I've got to say that actuallyworked.
I do feel like I gained in thatskill area, but the downside

(50:42):
was I only finished one kit andwhile I don't think finishing is
the end all and be all ofmodeling, I do think finishing
is important for motivationalreasons is important for
motivational reasons, and so Iwill tell you part of my plan,

(51:10):
part of my answer to thisquestion in 2025 is finishing
more kits, and by finishing Imean not 90% finishing but going
all the way, because that'swhat happens to a lot of my
projects.
I get 90% done.

Mike (51:20):
You're piling up a few man .
We got to clean your palate off.

I know, hey, you finished one too, so I'm proud
of you.
So my plan for getting betterin 2025 is finishing closing the
deal, always be closing, alwaysfinishing closing the deal,
always be closing.
And I'm dedicated to making2025 the year of the model
finish.
So how about you?

Mike (51:45):
Well, we're not going to jump to me just yet.
We got to chew on what you justsaid a little bit.
Hopefully not chew on you likea coyote with his leg in a trap
That'd be appropriate, it mightbe and and not to not to gig you

(52:08):
too much, but you got to watchit, man, cause you've got a
couple of things going on thatare looking like uh, unfinished
build stacks, uh, stack ups.
Oh yeah, build stack ups, ohyeah.
So we talked the last timeabout our September's friends
and your obligation to thenational build for that, for the
national convention On offyears, for Moose Roo.

(52:29):
That's probably not that, Idon't know, not as big a deal.
I'm going to say it's not a bigdeal because I think it
probably is, because I think youand I are both alike in not
liking those timed builds.

Yes, that is right.

Mike (52:43):
But the Moose Roof certainly has added a wrinkle to
that.
So those two things, once youget past the Nationals, whether
you get either one or both done,your time horizon is going to
expand a little bit yes, it will.
And I think you ought to goback and finish your Crusader

(53:05):
and definitely get your Japanesething done, the SAM yeah.

The SAM may well be done before the Nationals.
It's not going to be done intime for Heritage Con, but it
may well be done in time for theNationals.

Mike (53:21):
But you got to get that Crusader done.
Yes, I know You're right, yougot to get it done, man.

I know, and it's not the only one.

Mike (53:30):
Well, that and the SAM, I think what else you got?
It's not done Well.

I've got the BT-7 .
That's right, I've got the BT-7.
That's right, I've got the BT-7.
I've got the SAM.
I've got the F-8.
I got the B-52, all of whichdeserve to be finished this year
.
So I'm not sure that all will,but all of them do, in addition
to the other stuff.
So I would like to set a record.

(53:55):
This year We'll see, but I'dlike to set a record this year.
We'll see, but I'd like to seta record.

Mike (53:58):
I'd like you to set a record too.
I think the B-52 is a write-off, but that's my opinion.

No, I can finish that out.
I'd like you to set a recordfor 2025 too.
That's a low bar for me.
I was going to say what would arecord for you be?
Three maybe?
Okay, just I'm getting you backa little.

Mike (54:24):
You should, that's right.
My plan for 2025 is to actuallyput in the time.
Life's full of lots ofdistractions and I'm already
slow, so skill developments comeslowly, especially on the paint
and weathering phase of things.
So I want to make a morededicated effort to actually put

(54:48):
in the time and I've I've beenbetter about that over the last
year, but I think still I havemy moments where I look up and
it's been, you know, 10 days,two weeks, 18 days that I've not
done a whole lot.

Yeah.

Mike (55:01):
And you know that's my life, that's my life.
But I really, I really need tolook into that hard and search
for what's the real issue thereand whether some of it is just
mental lapse and I don't feellike it because of X, y and Z.
So how do I, how do I let X, yand Z happen and still and still

(55:24):
feel like putting in a littletime.
I'm getting there?
Yeah, in addition to that, Ineed to at least get something
to paint phase before I do this,but I want to.
I want to kick off anotheraircraft kit.
I got a lot out of the E-16build in terms of skill and
techniques and I want tocapitalize that sooner, not

(55:46):
later.
So I want to get the next onein the pipe and going Got three
or four candidates for that.

Because these skills are perishable.
They really are.
A lot of them are?
You're right?
If you don't do, I mean if youdon't touch an airbrush in six
months it's not like you don'tlose some skill, yeah.

Mike (56:12):
There's a little bit of reset there.
Yep, it's going to differbetween people, but for me
certainly there's a little bitof reset there.
Yep, it's going to differbetween people, but for me
certainly there's a little bitof uh, you got to get that
finger action feeling back andknow where you're at with that.
So that's true, dave.

Yep.

Mike (56:29):
I want to pay better attention to detail, and what I
mean by that is not detail andadd more detail to the model
sense, but the fit and finishand the craftsmanship detail.
Yeah, does that make sense?

Yep, no, I know exactly what you're talking
about, I think, honoring what'sthere.

Mike (56:49):
Honoring what's there that's a great way to put it and
making the best of what's there.

Exactly.

Mike (56:55):
Before I try to change it.

Exactly Before I try to change it Exactly.

Mike (57:00):
And finally, I think I want to keep up the habit of
experimentation.
If there's one thing that ourrecurring guest, steve Hustad,
has bestowed upon us, is thatexperimentation is a good thing,
man, it is just solid advice.
Yes, absolutely.
We're always tempted to forgeahead with something, but

(57:23):
working through a technique or asolution offline on something
else can spare you, as we say,negative modeling and
unsatisfactory results.

Yes, and unsatisfactory results and it

(57:59):
can also make you more bold thatyou feel confident if you have
experimented on a paint mule or,you know, a model mule of some
sort, with whatever techniqueyou're talking about, whether it
be attaching tricky smallpieces of photo, etch or
whatever soldering.
In fact, steve recentlysoldered for the first time ever
, soldered brass and basicallywent out, watched a couple of
videos, got the materials andpracticed.
Watched a couple of videos, gotthe materials and practiced and
because he practiced, then whenhe went to use it on his model,

(58:23):
it came out great.
It's amazing.
Yes, we'll have to get him onto talk about that, because I
thought that was reallyinteresting.

Mike (58:34):
Yeah, we'll talk to him about that in a couple weeks,
hopefully, yep Over.

Yep Over a steak.

Mike (58:40):
Anything else in 2020 for getting better Dave?
Nope, all right man.
Well, our next topic, davecomes from listener John McAvoy,
and it is crappy kits or not?
And what's our rationale forour position?

Oh, mine is easy and it comes from the fact that
you and I are different modelers.
You're a modeler, I'm a kitassembler.
Did you get my outline?

Mike (59:12):
Yes, I mean the one I've made for myself.

No, oh no, I haven't seen your notes.
Your wife isn't sending mepictures.
I'm a kit assembler, you're amodeler, and as a kit assembler
now I may add resin bits, I mayadd 3D parts, I may add, you
know, aftermarket details orsome photo etch or whatever.

(59:37):
But I don't get any enjoymentfrom fundamentally tearing a
model kit apart and remaking itin its entirety as a completely
new and different kit.
I just want to build the modelthat the model company has given

(01:00:01):
me to the best of my ability toget the best looking finished
job that I can.
So for me, what I get out ofmodeling is that.
So for me, crappy kits are notbecause of the amount of extra

(01:00:23):
work required.
They just don't bring me thepleasure that a well-done,
modern kit does.
I've raved endlessly about theTamiya 72nd scale Z-Rose.

Mike (01:00:40):
And that kit gets some age on it now.

Kentucky Dave (01:00:43):
Yeah, it is.
It actually is about 10, 12years old, but I can tell you I
built three of them and I cantell you every one was a
complete joy to build.
I can tell you, everyone was acomplete joy to build.

Mike (01:01:22):
Probably the most enjoyment I've gone sable stash
acquire beyond life expectancy.
And yeah, let that go, man thatdoes.
I can completelycompartmentalize the stash
versus my build rate.

It just doesn't matter but I I go into the stash
and I look at it and I'm like Iknow what I want to do with
that model.
I know what I want to buildwith that one.
I know what markings I'd liketo get to some of them.
That's fair enough.
Fair enough, get to more ofthem.
Yes, I'm not going to buildthem all.

(01:01:51):
When I die, evan McCallum'sgoing to get a big box with all
of my unbuilt kits.

Mike (01:01:58):
The big box is going to have wheels on it.
Yes, exactly, and a motor.

And a motor.
But I want to build as many ofthem as I can and to do that I'm
not going to build older kits,even if it's something I want.
Like I desperately want aprivateer, a 72nd scale
privateer.
The only kit out there is theancient matchbox kit and I've

(01:02:27):
seen some beautiful builds of it.
I mean just fantastic.
But there are enough othergreat kits that I haven't built
yet that I can build those, andthe odds are that by the time I
build all those, somebody'sgoing to come out with a new
privateer kit.
So why inflict that pain onmyself when if I'm a little bit

(01:02:52):
patient and I build all theother great kits that I want to
get to, I'll probably get thatkit as?

Mike (01:02:59):
well, you might.
I hope you do, man, becausethat matchbox kit is
categorically awful.

It is indeed so.
Now I know you're a different,a completely different modeler
than me, so I would suspect youranswer to that.

Mike (01:03:28):
Well, I know your answer is going to be different,
because you built an Allen kit.
I make a lot of notes and andclearly you've thought about
some things, but it gets back tothe very front end of this
episode and our friendship andand our, our co journey.
And you know, we are youmentioned just now we we have
completely different buildphilosophies, yep, and I think

(01:03:55):
that that plays well to thepodcast because I think a lot of
folks have, you know, a lot offolks have told us they they
appreciate that and and it makesit kind of makes it kind of
interesting.
You know, along that line ofcompletely different build
philosophies, I'm certainly lessabout the finish and more about
the journey and the creationthan maybe you are.

Yeah.

Mike (01:04:08):
I think you maybe have you'd like to see this
collection in your display caseto admire them in that format.

Yep.

Mike (01:04:16):
But you got to build them to get there.
So that's kind of the hurdle,right, right.
Rarely do I seek out a bad kitjust to slay a dragon.
Okay, I've said this many timesbefore For me a kit is a box of
parts that might be useful tobuild a model of quote unquote X

(01:04:41):
.
Whatever X is Right, sometimesit's the only game in town.
Sometimes the parts breakdownof that quote unquote crappy kit
might lend itself better to thebuild sequence and methodology
I have in mind that I've got inmy head.
I really can't explain it.
It's really nuanced, but it'sjust the way I think about

(01:05:04):
things and the way I process aproblem that makes that maybe
that crappy kit's a better wayin my mind to get there, because
I don't have to take a bunch ofstuff off to get it to where I
want it.

Right, an engineer's mindset.
Well, here are my raw materials.

Mike (01:05:21):
It's, it's that, but I think it's.
It's beyond that, it's.
It's.
It's really.
You open up a box, you open upa kit and you're like, okay, you
only look at the top sprue,that that than that.
Maybe I do that, maybe I don't,but it's, maybe you're right.
It's just really hard for me toarticulate, but it's just.

(01:05:46):
Again, it's this box of partsthat might be useful because I
have.
I want a model of X and brand Ymay make it, but it's going to
have things I don't like aboutit, and maybe go into this
ancient kit because of the waythe thing goes together makes
more sense to me to build itthat way and add it all back.
Or pick parts from all theseother kits and add it to that

(01:06:07):
one is a more straightforwardand clear path to what I want in
the end than just building thisnewest version of whatever
right.
Maybe that doesn't make anysense to anybody, but that's the
way I think.

Well, you're clearly not the only person like
that.
I mean, take a look at PaulBudzig.
I think one of the reasons thathe speaks to you so eloquently
is clearly you and he have asimilar philosophy when it comes
to making a model.

Mike (01:06:42):
Maybe, if that's true, I'm flattered because of what he's
meant to me in my modelingjourney.
But I'm not going to sit hereand say, oh, me and Paul Bezik
are exactly alike, because we'renot.
But yes, I get a lot from whathe he does and I understand what
you're saying there.
Again, you know that's noteasily explained for me and

(01:07:03):
sometimes it is to slay thedragon.
Yeah, you know these nostalgiabuilds to do what I could not do
as a kid on a specific kit.
That's to me is a challenge.
It's kind of fun and that thatBofors thing from Airfix was one
I've got.
I'm trying to decide on my nextone man, I've got a couple in

(01:07:24):
mind, I don't know.
And and I've got a suggestionfor you in that regard- and
another thing you said that youknow I'm going to kind of
counter a little bit.
I don't really like the modelerversus assembler comparison.
I think that's kind of become ameme.
Yeah, even a good kit requiresskill and craftsmanship.

Oh yeah, no absolutely.

Mike (01:07:49):
I mean it may get applied differently, it may get applied
in different aspects of thebuild or finish, as opposed to
just getting a decent model, adecent looking model, out of it.
I mean, if you're gonna youknow the quote-unquote modeler
side of this you're gonna take acrappy kit and you're gonna
make this silk purse out of asalser.
Yeah, that's one way to do it,but the other way is you're

(01:08:15):
you're doing your best along theway and at some point the
craftsmanship does get appliedand in the end, with a modern
kit, often the uniqueness is inthe finished build, is the paint
and finish side of it.

Yes, and I think as kits have gotten better.
You and I have discussed thisbefore, but I think as kits have
gotten better.
You and I have discussed thisbefore, but I think as kits have
gotten better.
One of the reasons we're seeingso much effort going into
weathering and painting anddecaling and finishing and
techniques, pin washes, filters,all of that stuff I think

(01:08:52):
you're seeing more of thatbecoming much more to the
forefront in modeling because ofthe fact that the kits have
gotten better.

Mike (01:09:02):
Well, another aspect of that that I made a note here of
is you know I say that theuniqueness is in the finished
build, or particularly the paintand finish side of it.
But another aspect is thedisplay context.
Yes, you know you're going tobuild this scene, this diorama.
You're a dioramist, right, withthe better kits you don't quite

(01:09:25):
have to put in the effort toget the convincing model to put
into the overall scene that youmight have had to in the past.
I think you get a betterproduct in the end and you, you
can focus more on the overallcontext of the diorama or the
display, and there's there'sless work involved in getting

(01:09:48):
just the you know, the the mainactor in the thing up to a level
that's acceptable.
Yeah, because out of the box itis yeah, so that's, that's
another way to look at it.
So you know, you and I are we.
We come at this from differentangles and the bottom line is
man, we're, we're both enjoyingthe heck out of the hobby and it
in the end, to each his own.

(01:10:08):
It doesn't really matter.

No, absolutely, as long as you're enjoying the
hobby.
If, if your level of enjoymentis increased by getting the
latest Edward 109 kit which aregorgeous, by the way and
building it out of the box, goodon you.

(01:10:32):
If your idea A fun build is togo get an old Airfix or Matchbox
76 scale kit that you built asa kid and you want to build it
again this time and apply all ofthe skills that you've acquired
over the years and you getenjoyment out of that.

(01:10:55):
More power to you Either way.
There's no wrong way to mom.

Mike (01:11:04):
Well, Dave, you're going to like this one.

I love this one.
I could go on way too long onthis one.

Mike (01:11:11):
So this final topic, dave, comes to us from Steve
Anderson's book, a guidedjournal for modelers.
He mentioned, or he talkedabout, this book in a past
episode and it's gotten a lot oftraction.
Yes, and we vowed to take thisas a topic for these Shop Talk
episodes going forward, andthey're a lot of fun.
So what are the top threeresource books in your genre and

(01:11:35):
what would it take to use itmore?

I'm going to cheat a little bit and say the
first one is not a single book,but a series.

Mike (01:11:44):
That's fine.
That's fine, it's a resource.
It's a resource.
Yeah, I don't think it'sactually books, but it's a
resource Modeling resource thedetail and scale series.

Oh yeah, I know that if there is a detail and
scale available for what my nextproject is, that is a must-have
item, even if I'm not planningon tricking out the model, even
if it's a brand-new modern kitout the model, even if it's a

(01:12:17):
brand new modern kit say theP51D by Edward or the P51B by
Arma and even if I'm notplanning on adding anything or
changing anything or doing that,if there's a detail and scale
available, I'm going to havethat, because I know that as I'm

(01:12:37):
building, I may have some verysimple questions what does this
look like?
What color was this particularpart?
You know, was the inside of thegear door metallic or was it
painted, the underside color?
Whatever Things like that?
Or what did the general wiringlook like in the wheel wells?

(01:12:59):
I know that if I have a detailand scale on that topic, I can
pull it up.
I'm going to be able to leafthrough it or, better yet, pick
up my tablet and scroll throughit and blow the picture up, and
scroll through it and blow thepicture up, and I'm going to
have the answer to 95% of myquestions.

(01:13:19):
So my number one resource inthat regard again, not a single
book, but a book series would bethe detail and scales.
Number two okay, I build a lotof Japanese aircraft and there
is a book by Robert Makishcalled Japanese Aircraft
Interiors and all it is isphotographs of Japanese aircraft

(01:13:47):
interiors exactly what itdescribes.

Mike (01:13:50):
Imagine that.

Fighters again, even if I'm building the kit out
of the box, I can go to thatresource, open it to the proper
page and I will have six to 10photographs of the interior, and
maybe more if it's amulti-engine aircraft six to 10
photographs of the interior andthat will give me enough

(01:14:19):
information to pick out thedetails, to add any details, to
use the way I paint the interiorto suggest details that aren't
there.
Which, by the way, particularlyin 72nd scale modeling, that
aren't there.
Which, by the way, particularlyin 72nd scale modeling, is

(01:14:41):
important the smaller scale thatyou build in, the more you use
painting techniques to suggestdetail that doesn't actually
exist.
So that book is it's still gotits dust jacket on it, but the
dust jacket has become worn andI reach for it constantly.

(01:15:04):
The third one I'm going to sayis and this one's I don't want
to say controversial becauseit's not controversial there are
a lot of modeling techniquebooks out there.
They range from anywhere.
Here's me building a bunch ofpretty models to.

(01:15:25):
Here are detailed, step-by-stepinstructions of how I do this
particular technique or thatparticular technique.
I do this particular techniqueor that particular technique and
a number of years ago, authornamed Diego Quiano I think

(01:15:47):
that's how you pronounce it, I'mnot sure did a series of books
on.
It's called the Encyclopedia ofAircraft Modeling and it's like
a five book series and they'reall softback.
You know, each one's probably80 pages, 90 pages long, of

(01:16:10):
different of modeling techniques.
Now, he comes from the Spanishschool and so he does the the
really I don't want to sayexaggerated, because that's
almost pejorative, but thereally highlighted detail.
I mean you know the sharpcontrasts, the really stark

(01:16:31):
contrasty builds that are knownas the Spanish school, which I'm
not particularly a fan of that,but by the same token, the
techniques that he.
I've read these books a numberof times and I go back and I

(01:16:52):
probably read them at least oncea year, and on every single
page there is something that Ilearned about how to do this or
how to do that to make anaircraft model look better.
And, like I said, even if youdon't engage in the high

(01:17:13):
contrast Spanish school, look,even if you don't engage in the
high contrast Spanish school,look, 95% of it is still
applicable.
And they're just, they'rewonderful books and they're not
cheap, let me tell you.
But I don't regret for a minutespending the money that I spent

(01:17:34):
on them.

Mike (01:17:35):
So how are you going to use them more?

I don't.
I'm not sure that I could usethem any more than I do, but I
am definitely.
It's been almost a year sinceI've read through the series, so
I can pretty much guarantee you.
In fact, I was talking withanother modeler about the fact
that I'm not reading enough.
I've fallen victim to the phoneand the screen and the TV and

(01:18:05):
all of that, and I need to getback to reading more, both
generally and hobby related, andI am definitely going to take
that.
In fact, I'm moving my books aspart of my reorganization of my
model room.
I'm moving some of mybookshelves and I just took

(01:18:27):
those books out to move thatparticular bookshelf that they
were on and I'm going to gothrough them again.
So how about you?

Mike (01:18:36):
Man.
I bought a lot of books in 2024.
I might have bought more booksthan kits.

Oh, I think you did Heck at the Nationals alone.

Mike (01:18:46):
Well, and then at Chicago I bought a book, and then at
Amstow I bought a book, and Ibought books via the mail.

Yeah, a big book.

Mike (01:18:56):
Well, yeah, the big book, the biggest, I don't know, Well,
there's a bigger one that's intwo parts.
Yeah, I bought a lot of books.
Okay, so if I got to pick threetoday and this list would ebb
and flow for anybody, right?
Sure, exactly, but today themost substantial books, I guess,

(01:19:20):
per the question, it would beKV, technical History and
Variance from Jochen Fuller,published by Tango Grad
Publishing.
He's the owner of thatpublishing house, right?
Oh my God, this is-.

The seminal work on the subject.

Mike (01:19:38):
It is and the the Neil Stokes book prior was the
seminal work and I bought itlast year.
Right Finally bought it andthey're both great.
But this case, this tanko gradbook is, is huge.
It's it's it's an eight poundbook.
It's an eight-pound book.
It absolutely is an eight-poundbook Full of I mean there's

(01:20:02):
scores of unpublishedphotographs in it.
Yeah, because he scours, like me, he's buying photographs off
probably German eBay and justbuying all these KV photographs
because he's putting them in thebooks.
He must own them.
There's no way he could publishthe photos like scalping them

(01:20:24):
off eBay.
So he's buying these.
So he's got a pretty goodvested interest in this.
But the book is absolutelymind-blowing.
If you're into KV tank, I meanit's a quintessential tank from
World War II, a big hulkingthing with the Absolutely mind
blowing.
If you're into KV tank, I meanit's quintessential tank from
world war two, a big hulkingthing with the proportions and
all that.
It's just it's thequintessential tank.
And this book is substantial,it's in depth, it's

(01:20:49):
comprehensive, it's the seminalwork, as you said on the subject
right now today.
And man, there's a couple otherSoviet tank series that I hope
he is planning on doing the samekind of work with, but that
book is incredible.
Tanko Grad Publishing.
It's not cheap.
It may already be sold out, Idon't know, but I pre-ordered a

(01:21:15):
copy.
I pre-ordered two.
I got one for me, one for Evan.
It's the real deal, man.

Yeah, now all we got to do is smuggle it across
the border.

Mike (01:21:25):
Not too many months prior to that purchase, I picked up
Son of Sherman 2.
Yeah, I got both of these booksthrough David Doyle Right, but
this one is from Pat Stanzelfrom Military Models in Review.
Fame that magazine, defunctMagazine, Great magazine.

(01:21:47):
Top quality.
That's a shame.
For sure it's published by M4Publishing.
That's not a coincidence.
But it's E-M-F-O-U-R.
M4 Publishing.
That's not a coincidence.
But it's E-M-F-O-U-R.
M4 Publishing, delray Beach,florida.
So that's self-published,because that's where Pat is.

Well, and that's the thing that makes that book.
You know, I talked about thedetail and scale on the tablet
and you blow it up.
This is another thing wheretechnology has made something
possible that wasn't possiblebefore, because I think those
are now printed on demand.

Mike (01:22:26):
These are hard bound, two volume set in a cardboard over
box.
This is pretty impressive If hedid this himself.
Yep, I mean it's, it's a realbook.

Yeah, oh God, yeah, oh, absolutely it,
absolutely it is.
It is exactly like the original.

Mike (01:22:41):
And it is for a guy who's not very Sherman savvy.
It's almost intimidating.

Yeah.

Mike (01:22:51):
It's a big bunch of information.

Overload of information.
You know you think of theSherman as all being the same,
yeah they're not.
Because, they all kind of lookthe same.

Mike (01:23:04):
Yeah.

And no the amount of.

Mike (01:23:06):
So do butterflies right?
Yes, exactly.

That's a great example.

Mike (01:23:15):
So, yeah, son of sherman too, even if you're like not
quite into sherman's or right orkind of maybe think you might
be right, yeah, I would.
If it's available, I would buythat book before it's gone.
Yep, because for it to getsurpassed is probably not likely
.
Yeah, yeah, I agree.

(01:23:35):
Third's a little older.
It's got some years on it now.
It's Sturmgeschütz III fromPeter Mueller and Wolfgang
Zimmerman, published by theHistory Facts, which may again
be their own publishing.
There's two volumes.
One involves the development,production and deployment of the

(01:23:57):
Sturmgeschütz.
The second volume is thedetails of all the Ausf, from A
or even before that, up throughthe late war, versions G and all
the G sub variants A.
Really kind of eye opening andit's just a really useful
reference.
It really helps you understandwhy a company like Dragon would

(01:24:22):
issue a Stug G from some monthin 1943 and then another one
from some month in 1944 and etcetera, right.
What's funny is our friend Evanhas actually made a couple
observations and has fed back tothese guys and shared some
things that they didn't quiterealize.

(01:24:43):
Yeah, so Sturmgeschütz 3 bookagain, I don't know if that was
in print or not, but if you'reinto Stug 3 and don't have that
one.
You're missing out.

Yes, you're missing out.
Yes, and let's face it, theStug 3 is because the assault
gun basically got invented inthe Stug series.
Yeah, and that almost makes it.
It makes it a I don't want tosay unique, because it's not
unique, but it makes itsomething historical, because

(01:25:17):
that series was the first ofthat idea.

Mike (01:25:22):
And they made a lot of them.

Yes, they did.

Mike (01:25:26):
Well, that's my three, and I would say that using them
more is pretty simple.
I think You've got to buildmore.
You've just got to pick someprojects within the scope of
these references, so the K ofthese references.
So the KV is easy, the Stug'seasy.

The Sherman for me is I don't know, You've
already got a project in mind.
Man, I do, but you know you can.

Mike (01:25:51):
I bought this book not so much for modeling projects in
mind, but for the quality of thereference.

Yeah.

Mike (01:26:00):
And knew it was a must have inclusion in my library.

The Voice of Bob (Bair) (01:26:03):
Yeah.

Mike (01:26:05):
So if you haven't got son of Sherman, the current one, see
if, see if David Doyle's stillgot a few, and throw the coin
down and get it.
I would get any of these If Ihad any interest in any of these
KVs.
Shermans Sturmgeschütz 3, youcan't go wrong.

Right.

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Mike (01:27:13):
Well, Dave, it's the Benchtop Halftime Report.
I hope you've been busy.
My Benchtop Halftime.

Report.
I hope you've been busy.
My Benchtop Halftime Report isgoing to be very short.
Moosaroo, moosaroo, moosaroo.
I can't talk about it.
You'll see pictures of it inseven days from the date we're
recording this.
Oh man, it's that close.
It's that close.

(01:27:38):
I'm sorry, man.
No, I'm okay.
I probably should be a littlemore panicked than I am, but I'm
okay and I'm working on it andI'll have tons to say on it once
it's done and submitted.
But that's all I have beendoing when I've been to the

(01:28:00):
bench, and I've been to thebench pretty much at least an
hour or two every night for thepast week.

Mike (01:28:09):
Oh, man.
So I don't know whether tocommend you or what man I know,
Because that Sam's got to getdone.
Yes, it does.

And as soon as the Moose and the Moose-roo's in
the way, right as soon as theMoose-roo's done, the Sam, which
is right at the finish line,gets wrapped up.

Mike (01:28:29):
When he's starting the Bearcats.

Those will start immediately after Heritage gone.

Mike (01:28:34):
Okay, you have a plan.

Yes, I do.

Mike (01:28:38):
I don't know how good it is, but you've got a plan.

These Bearcats are simple kits.

Mike (01:28:45):
You've still got to build them and paint them, though.
Yeah, we'll get there.
They're not going to buildthemselves.

Well, you never know, who knows, we'll see.
So what have you been doing,bench-wise?

Mike (01:28:57):
I've been trying to get some work done on this KV man
I've.
I talked about last time thatthe the fenders are all jacked
up Right and I've been preppingthe fenders.
I've been.
They've got a bunch of raisedejection pin marks on them on
the bottom side, so I've beenshaved.
I shaved all those off and Ihit them with the mr surfacer

(01:29:20):
500.
Let's see which one port sidethe left side is that right yep
port is left got them all filled, got them all sanded out.
There's some details on them.
I took off because I've gotsome 3d print files to fix those
later and the problem was theway they fit on.
They've got this friction fitunder the blisters on the hull

(01:29:46):
for the turret ring expansion onthe KV-85.

Yeah.

Mike (01:29:50):
And it was making the thing twist and I finally got
into it and I took the skippymethod man, the scott king
method, just sand a little test.

Fit sand a little test sand fit, sand fit sand
fit.
Yeah, that's skippy.

Mike (01:30:06):
And that got me to a point .
It's like that's not gonna getme there.
So I made some mods to thefront fenders.
I extended them the thevertical sides on them a little
bit with some styrene, got allthat sanded out and it's like,
okay, I think this will work now.
So I put the left one on, Iglued everything forward of the

(01:30:27):
turret ring, hard glued it,glued it under the turret
blister and I let all that set,because that's when it went to
crap, man.
After that, as you go towardthe back of the tank, it just
starts twisting to the outside.
Prior to putting them on, I'dput a metal ruler under that
turret blister.
I'd scribed a line, ahorizontal line, where the top

(01:30:49):
of the fender was going to beinto the plastic.
That's my guide.
So I went to the very end ofthe fender.
The very last turned down mudflap.
I got it where it's supposed tobe.
I put the extra thin on thereand I glued it and I set it and
I let it sit, put some tape onit, actually, bent it down a
little more than it was supposedto be because I knew it was

(01:31:11):
going to spring back.

Right.

Mike (01:31:14):
Took the tape off.
Looks great.
Back right, took the tape off,looks great.
Now I gotta go back and andfinish gluing that guy on with
probably some like zappa gap,some medium or thick super glue
right to make sure it doesn'tpop off, and then or doesn't
twist over time yeah, and takethat knowledge and go do the
other side now.

So well, I've got to say I'm proud of you for not
taking the cheap way out, whichwas simply ripping the fenders
off the model.

Mike (01:31:40):
Could have done that, but I'm doing a particular vehicle
before it was captured by theGermans, so it ought to be in a
little bit better shape than itwas when the Germans got it
Right.
So that's where we're at, soit's moving forward Good, and
other than that I'm not doing awhole lot.
So my bench is moving, butmoving a little bit slow.

(01:32:02):
That's okay, as long as it'smoving.

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Well, Mike, speaking of Squadron, what broke
your wallet?

Mike (01:32:38):
You know, I only left this segment in because I was hoping
you would have bought something.

I actually have, but not much.
You're husbanding yourresources for Heritage Con right
you?

Mike (01:32:49):
could say that, but honestly, there's not anything
that I've wanted to buy that Ihaven't, so I'm going to have a
lot of money to go to HeritageCon, relatively speaking.

Unless you have a plumbing problem.

Mike (01:33:02):
Or a car problem.
Or a tax problem, or whateverman, yeah, unless life hits me
fast.

Yeah, I know, but then karma came around and let
you go to Heritage Con, so I'llgo up there and spend a bunch of
money and I'll come home andsomething will hit me, that's
right, that's right.

Mike (01:33:22):
So no, I've not spent much at all.
I don't think I spent anythinglast time we did this segment.

Well, I haven't spent much.
What I have done because it'sMoosaroo is I went to scale
reproductions and I purchasedtwo modeling groundwork,
modeling projects or products,because, as you know, this

(01:33:50):
year's Moosaroo includes therequirement that the item appear
as a vignette, which means itat least has to have a base.
In theory it should tell astory I don't know exactly how
much story that mine will convey, but it's going to have a
finished groundwork base.

(01:34:12):
And that required me to go toscale reproductions and get
those products.
And I did.
And that is the only modelingrelated expenses I've had in the
last, probably the last fourweeks.
And the reason is I'm A I'mpaying a plumber five Cs, but B

(01:34:35):
because I too am husbandingresources for HeritageCon.
I want to go up to HeritageCon,I want to take advantage of
those low Canadian dollars andenjoy myself.
So I haven't spent much otherthan what I needed to get the

(01:34:56):
Moosaroo done.

Mike (01:34:58):
Well, next episode where this comes up should be a lot
better.
Yes, it should be a lot better.

Well, it's going to be a ton better because we'll
be back from Heritage Con.
So, Mike, how was your tripback to your college years and
your Jack and Coke?

Mike (01:35:20):
Oh man, I feel like I'm at an SEC football game.

There you go.
Well, tennessee had a good yearSEC-wise, you can't complain it
could have been better.

Mike (01:35:30):
It could have been better.
Hopefully this year is going tobe even better.
We'll see.
We'll see, yeah.

This year's going to be even better?

Mike (01:35:36):
We'll see, we'll see.
Yeah, the monetization ofcollege football is, let's just
say it's changed things?

Yes, it has, and I'll be honest with you.
I think there's going to haveto be some adjustments.

Mike (01:35:48):
So we'll see what those are.
They went a little too far, yes.
Well, anyway, the Jack and Cokeis Jack and Coke.
It'll get you through a coupleof quarters of football.

Exactly, or recording a podcast.
Yes, that's right.
Same thing.
Well, my Hofbrauhaus Hefeweizendid not disappoint, drinking it
in my Hofbrauhaus mug and I'mdown to the last few sipsips,

(01:36:21):
and it's been excellent.
Is that a liter mug?
It's the small, it's the halfman.
No, I'm, I wouldn't be, Iwouldn't be awake at the end of
this thing if we, if I, had thebig one.
So, in any event, really,really good, never disappoints,
especially fresh from a growlerthat comes fresh from the
brewery.
So no, complaints.

Mike (01:36:44):
So if you've got a Hofbrauhaus in your geography,
yes, and there's not many, no.

Check it out.
Yep, definitely, mike.
Do you have?

Mike (01:37:00):
a shout out.
I got a couple.
One of them might be whatyou're going to do, maybe.

I don't know.

Mike (01:37:05):
We'll see when we get there.
But first off is all oursupporters, dave, always Folks.
It means a lot when we pump outthis podcast and folks think
enough about it to support uswith their wallet.
A couple of the latest havebeen Mr Chris Miller and Mr
Bruce Binkson and man, it's ahard one to say because it's

(01:37:26):
Binkson, binkson, it's notBinkstun the T's before the S,
so I hope I said that right.
Those guys have helped us outrecently and if you'd like to do
so, you can.
You can do that by going towwwplasticmodelmojocom and
there's a support, the show linkon the menu and you can find

(01:37:46):
all the avenues to support theshow, and we really appreciate
it.
It's very humbling and it'sgoing to help us hopefully, in
the not too distant future,bring you even more content
outside this audio format.

So yes, there you go, we have plans.

Mike (01:38:01):
We have plans.

And you all are making our big part of making
that even possible.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
My shout out is to Jeff in ChiGroves, to Jeff in Chi groves.

(01:38:23):
I got to see Jeff at Columbusand Jeff got some really good
news recently.
And because it's good news forhim, it's good news for me and
for the modeling community atlarge and just want to say I
appreciate Inch, I appreciatehis modeling and, even more

(01:38:43):
importantly, I appreciate hisfriendship and good news.
You can't be upset with it.
So I'm glad you got good news,jeff.

Mike (01:38:54):
Well, my other one is our guest from episode 135, mr Mark
Copeland.
An incredibly well-receivedepisode it was, and we're never
really sure when we do amodeling adjacent one how it's
going to go, but Mark did agreat job.
Yes, he's got a great thinggoing on, a great gig, and we

(01:39:16):
got a lot of good feedback fromthat.
So, mark, we appreciate it andhope you guys get to make it to
HeritageCon and we get to meetyou in Detroit and have a great
Saturday.

Yes, and Mark is one of those people who has
never met anyone who wasn'timmediately his friend, and that
comes across in his personality, that came across in the
interview and yeah, absolutely.

Mike (01:39:45):
Well, Dave, we're at the bloody end of this thing, man.

Yes, we are.
Yes, we are, but I had a greattime, I enjoyed doing it, and
you know that's every time weget to the end of a recording.
I'm amazed at how quickly itwent by, Cause it's basically
you and I talking the way we wehave for 30 plus years.

Mike (01:40:10):
That's right, man.
And also in 30 plus years.
We've always said so many kids,Dave, so little time, Mike.
Take it easy, man, Take it easy.
Hopefully we'll see you andStephen Lee in Louisville.

Yes, you will.

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Talking Shop with Mike and Kentucky Dave: Episode 136

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Talking Shop with Mike and Kentucky Dave: Episode 136

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