Ready to watch text turn into tiny people you can actually paint? We kick off March with big plans, bigger shows, and a hands-on look at a workflow that converts AI prompts into resin-ready 3D figures for your next diorama. It started with a listener asking how to crowd a Union Pacific Big Boy display, and it grew into a full pipeline: prompt, generate, refine, export, print, and paint.
Beyond the bench, we mention HeritageCon plans and flag open registration for the US nationals. Our lineup continues with a shop talk episode focused on motivation—what keeps us building when time is short—and show spotlights for April, including Roscoe Turner in Indianapolis and the Wine Country Model Expo in California. The Dojo on Facebook just cleared 5,700 members, and daily posts now deliver show reports, 3D previews, and jaw-dropping builds that make you want to prime something tonight.
If you love scale modeling, resin printing, or just the thrill of learning a new trick, press play and join us. Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s eyeing a new printer, and leave a review telling us what figure you want to generate next.
Email us at plasticmodelmojo@gmail.com
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SQUADRON
Adding to the stash since 1968
Model Podcasts
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KitMasx
Custom Canopy Masks for the Scale Modeler
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Episode Transcript
Kev, tell everyone why you started Kit
Mask.
Kevin (KITMASX) (00:02):
Well, manually masking canopies sucks, and
somebody had to step in to savethose countless kits from the
shelf of Doom.
Janelle (KitMasx) (00:09):
And now we've got over 400 sets and counting.
We've got old kits, new kits,forgotten kits, you name it.
Kevin (KITMASX) (00:14):
Yeah.
And if we don't have it, justask.
Janelle (KitMasx) (00:16):
Yeah, people don't realize we take custom
requests and we even have aservice that gets you canopy
masks for free.
Kevin (KITMASX) (00:21):
We do.
Janelle (KitMasx) (00:22):
Our masks are precision cut, they fit well,
they're easy to apply.
Kevin cuts and tests every set.
Kevin (KITMASX) (00:29):
Several times.
Janelle (KitMasx) (00:29):
Yeah.
Precision is kind of his thing.
Kevin (KITMASX) (00:31):
And Janelle, she does everything else.
She cares about each customerand is the heart of our
business.
Janelle (KitMasx) (00:37):
If you ever reach out, you're talking
directly to us.
Real people, real modelers.
Kevin (KITMASX) (00:41):
And if you don't love your masks, we'll
refund or replace them.
No questions asked.
Janelle (KitMasx) (00:46):
Visit kitmask.com, join the mailing
list, and treat yourself toeasier, cleaner masking.
Kevin (KITMASX) (00:51):
Kitmask, made by a modeler for modelers.
Janelle (KitMasx) (00:54):
Hey, what about me?
Kevin (KITMASX) (00:55):
You're not a modeler.
Mike (01:11):
Well, folks, welcome to the March edition of the
12-minute model sphere.
Dave, how you doing?
Mike, I'm doing good.
How about you?
Uh, we got the in like a lionpart down here.
Well, man, do we?
Weather wise, I hope it's outlike a lamb, but I hope the
podcast goes out like a liontoo.
There you go.
We're getting a good start.
Yep.
And uh we got some good stuffcoming up in March, too.
Kentucky Dave (01:34):
Yes, we do.
God, can you believe it'salready March?
Mike (01:37):
No, it is.
It's already March, man.
Kentucky Dave (01:40):
Unfortunately, we still haven't made it anywhere.
No, we haven't.
I was hoping to get to Columbus,but unfortunately, some family
stuff and some weather stuffcombined, and just I wasn't able
to make it.
But the good news is we gotHeritageCon coming up.
Mike (02:00):
That's right.
We're gonna be at HeritageCon onSunday, March 29th at the
Canadian Warplane HeritageMuseum in Hamilton, Ontario,
Canada.
And we bam, we're lookingforward to this.
Kentucky Dave (02:10):
I gotta tell you, my anticipation of this show is
second only to the nationals.
It's a great show in a greatlocation with great vendors and
great models.
But my real anticipation is weget to see a whole lot of our
close friends, and the thesocial aspect is every bit as
(02:34):
much fun, if not more, than theshow itself.
Mike (02:38):
So, folks, if you can make that show, if it's in your
possibilities, you might give itsome strong consideration and
remember the onlineregistration.
Looking forward to it.
Kentucky Dave (02:46):
Speaking of online registration, the
registration has opened up forthe U.S.
nationals as well.
Oh, yeah.
In fact, uh probably in the nextday or two, I gotta knock
registration for both thoseshows out.
Well, I'll be right behind you.
Mike (03:22):
Well, folks, we got two episodes coming up in March.
We've got episode 159 and 160.
Uh, 159 is gonna be reallyinteresting, I think.
It's gonna be going from AI to3D print with our friend Jake
McKee from Austin.
Kentucky Dave (03:37):
This is real interesting.
Why don't you give people alittle preview of how this came
about?
Mike (03:44):
Well, it's a culmination of a few things.
We got an email some time ago.
It was from Eric Kenser, who wementioned in listener mail in
the last episode, was wonderingif this was possible.
He had uh been to some railroadfunction and bought the revell
static model of the UP Big Boyand was trying to get some
figures to build a basically alittle small diorama of the
thing on display with all thesepeople around it.
(04:05):
He was wondering if he could useAI prompts to generate these
figures without any indicationthat he'd actually tried it yet.
Well then not long after that, Igot online, I gave it a a quick
consideration, a little quickinvestigation, and uh just with
some really basic knockingaround with some AI prompts, I
got some things that wereprobably 75, 80 percent there.
(04:28):
Maybe not quite that much, 60%,70% maybe.
But given the amount of the timeI'd put into it, it was pretty
impressive how far the firstpass actually went.
Fast forward to now, we were Iwas talking to Jake not too long
ago and talking about one of hisprojects, and he's got something
going on now, and he's just oneof the most tech forward
(04:50):
modelers I've had any kind ofreal substantive interaction
with.
He's put a lot of things intopractice.
He's doing some laser cutting,he's doing 3D print in a couple
different forms, and now he'sdoing this.
And it looks like Jake isactually pulling this off, and I
think 35th scale.
And we're gonna go into how he'sdoing this and the tools he's
using and then you know thescope of the results he's
(05:12):
getting.
And uh just really curious aboutthis.
Kentucky Dave (05:16):
Yeah, this is fascinating to me.
When you and I started talkingabout this behind the scenes, I
was all for getting him on, andand I want to hear about this.
I think there's a lot of 3Dprint stuff coming down the
pike, and that's weird to say,considering how much has already
come down the pike, but I thinkit's nothing compared to what's
(05:38):
coming.
Mike (05:39):
Well, this is not the print aspect of it.
He's going from from right froma a human form from from
nothing, essentially.
Yep, to an STL file that he canprint and paint.
Kentucky Dave (05:48):
Yep.
I can't wait to hear.
Mike (05:50):
All right.
Well, episode after that isgonna be 160, and it's gonna be
a shop talk episode.
Most of the topics are to bedetermined, but uh, we had a
listener uh suggest we talkabout our motivations again.
Maybe they hadn't heard us talkabout them before, maybe they're
a newer listener, but I thinkthat will be one of the three is
we're gonna get into get a freshtake on what's motivating us in
(06:11):
in current day here.
Kentucky Dave (06:13):
Well, we've had a couple of suggestions from
listeners, so I'm sure we'llhave plenty to talk about on
that one.
Mike (06:19):
In addition to that, we've already got the model show
spotlight for the April showslined up.
We're gonna be talking to folksfrom the Roscoe Turner show in
Indianapolis, which is one nearand dear to our heart.
Had a little schedule shift thatputs it really close after
HeritageCon.
So maybe they get blizzarded inup in Canada, we can uh have a
shot at India again, or maybethat's somebody's date will
(06:39):
move.
Who knows?
But uh looking forward tohearing what they got in store
this year.
Kentucky Dave (06:42):
Yeah.
Mike (06:43):
And then we got uh the Wine Country Model Expo out in
California, who are doing somereally innovative things given
the current state of affairs ofmost model shows.
So we're really looking forwardto that one too.
Kentucky Dave (06:55):
You know, I really do like hearing from
shows out on the West Coastbecause I mean, given our
geography, we're not getting toshows out there, hope to
eventually, once I hit the superlottery, and you know, you and I
can take the private plasticmodel mojo jet out to out to a
(07:16):
show in California.
But until that time, we kind ofhave to live vicariously.
So I'm I really enjoy hearingabout shows in the places you
and I don't normally get to.
Mike (07:29):
And finally, on content for March, we're hoping to sneak
in on an update from one of ourfavorite sponsors.
So uh stay tuned for all this,folks, and uh watch it roll out
in March.
Kentucky Dave (07:45):
Mike, the dojo is hopping, man.
Mike (07:48):
It has.
It seems like in the last, Idon't know, six, seven months.
Yep.
I don't know if we've likeleveled up or something, but it
seems to a lot of people are areposting a lot of really cool
stuff.
Kentucky Dave (07:59):
Well, that's one of the things I was still
mentioned.
First of all, we're now over5,700 members.
Right now it's 5,707 as of thetime of this recording.
The thing that really that younoticed and mentioned, and
that's one of the things that Imonitor is the number of posts
(08:19):
per day.
And we're getting somewherebetween 22 and 30 posts per day.
I remember it was not that longago where you and I were in the
car, and I was going, now if wecan just get 10 posts a day, we
can get some synergy going.
(08:40):
We can really get it as a aplace to come and check out
regularly because there'll beenough content.
And so to be somewhere between22 and 30 every day in the last
month is just awesome.
And not only is it content, it'sgood content.
We got people previewing 3Dproducts, which we've asked
(09:04):
them, you know, because there'sso many manufacturers out there
and so much stuff.
We've got builds.
Some of the builds are justabsolutely stunning.
We got show reports.
Mike (09:17):
We do.
I've been watching Winter Blitzlike crazy, man.
That is a good show.
Kentucky Dave (09:22):
That was a good show that you and I have talking
about trying to find a way toget down there.
Old Dominion Open, the Columbus.
I mean, lots of good showreports.
So when we can't make a show, weend up getting to at least
experience a little bit of it byseeing what members post.
(09:45):
And I really appreciate that.
Mike (09:47):
Ricardo Salome from the Hamilton group up in Ottawa has
been posting a lot ofinformation uh to get folks
registered and all theinformation for HeritageCon.
So if you got a show, throw itup there.
It's all good with us.
Kentucky Dave (09:59):
Yes, it is.
As much as the posting, I'mthrilled with the interactions.
People are asking questions andthey're getting their questions
answered.
People are are talkingtechnique, and every time I go
on there, I see something newand interesting.
So I'm just thrilled.
Mike (10:18):
All right, folks.
So if you're not part of thePlastic Model Dojo on Facebook,
you might want to cruise on overthere and send your uh join
request.
Kentucky Dave (10:26):
Absolutely.
Please do.
Mike (10:32):
Any closing comments for March, Dave?
Kentucky Dave (10:34):
I'm just jazzed.
I really am.
Between Hamilton, betweengetting a little more time to
model the the dojo hopping andall of that stuff.
I'm I'm really thrilled.
I I think 2026 is gonna be agood year.
Mike (10:51):
Well, if we have three more quarters like the first
one, we'll be doing pretty good.
Kentucky Dave (10:54):
Yes, we will.
Mike (10:56):
Well, folks, I'm gonna close by saying please keep the
listener mail coming.
You can do that by sending it toplasticmodelmojo at gmail.com or
through Facebook's instantmessaging system.
So uh look forward to thoseemails.
Keep them coming, folks.
Kentucky Dave (11:09):
Please do.
It's the heart of the show.
All right.
We'll see you in March, Dave.
Let's go model, Mike.
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