Why We Build: Friendship and Focus Episode 158

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
The Voice of Bob (Bair) (00:11):
Welcome to plastic model modules.
Dedicated to skill modeling.
Well is the news and eventsaround the hobby.
Join Mike and today is tryingto be informative and
entertaining.

Mike (00:47):
Yes, we are.
Well, welcome everybody.
Hope we got a good one tonight.

Kentucky Dave (00:51):
Well, that means that the year's one-sixth over
already.
Can you believe that?
It can be fast through thispart.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm with you.
I know exactly what you'regoing to say.

Mike (01:01):
Then you got to stand on the brakes.

I don't mind getting through January and
February when it's cold and darkand nasty.
And come March, things aregoing to get brighter and
better.
Oh, well, the days are gettinglonger.
Yes, they are.

Mike (01:16):
And uh, I don't know.
What's up in your model sphere?

Well, my model sphere is it doesn't look like
February's going to be muchbetter than January as far as
total bench time, which is alittle disappointing.
But I am remodeling slashupdating slash rearranging the
model bench and model room.

(01:41):
And as part of that, I've beenon a little bit of a spending
spree.
So the next broke year wallet'sgoing to be really interesting.
And uh my mojo's getting betterand better, man.

Mike (01:54):
I am to the point where well you're gonna have to get to
the bench and expend some ofit.

I know, I know, I know, but I am to the point now
where I am talking to ourfellow modelers ever nearly
every day, counting down thedays till HeritageCon.

Mike (02:11):
Oh yeah.
Well, I'm sure that's gonnacome up a time or two tonight.

Oh yeah.
So uh you're right.
The what I do need to do thoughis channel it into more and
better time at the bench.

Mike (02:23):
How about you?
I've been busy outside of herewith some things.
So my model sphere's been alittle light here in the last
couple of weeks.

You launch things into space, you know.

Mike (02:33):
We're trying.
We're trying to.

We're not trying.
You and you and NASA andeverybody else.

Mike (02:39):
We're trying to wait for them to get the bus started.

Yeah.

Mike (02:42):
It ain't looking good again.
So oh man, we'll see.

It'll work out.

Mike (02:47):
As long as we get paid, I guess.

That's right.

Mike (02:52):
Other than that, uh had a conference call with the web
guys, so our phase two we keepblabbing on about is uh a step
closer to reality.

So step one was just getting the website up and
and uh episodes posted on it.
Phase two is going to be thethe part where things really
get.

Mike (03:13):
Yeah, we can bring people more stuff.
So uh looking looking forwardto that.
Well, we had a little bit ofscare in our hair just gone
planning, but you've worked thatout.
So I think I'm gonna I need toget a car rented and forward
planning, man, with the show,trying to get stuff lined up for
uh model show spotlights andthe episodes for March, so
pretty close to getting thatdone.

(03:33):
So great.
Yep.
That's my model sphere.

Good.
We are doing an episode, and ofcourse, what would an episode
be without a modeling fluid?
Do you have a modeling fluid?

Mike (03:46):
I do have one.
I put some tape around the neckof that willet I cracked open
early.
So it's not that.
Thank you.
I'm trying to keep my sensesabout me, so I've not bought a
big old replacement bottle tohave on hand.
So I did get a couple littlebaby bottles of Willet Pot Steel
Reserve.

I like it.

Mike (04:04):
Which is the funky genie bottle, the pot steel bottle.

Yep.

Mike (04:08):
So that's what we're enjoying tonight.

Oh, that's a good one.
I've I've I've had that as amodeling fluid before.

Mike (04:14):
So I think I have too, but it was back in 2020, probably.
I know I haven't had any sincethen.

Yep.
So I know you'll enjoy that.

Mike (04:23):
Well, what do you got?
Oh, but back to a can.

This one's up from your neck of the woods.
It is West 6 Brewings HoptasticIndia Pale Ale, Chapter 14.
Because they keep releasing thesame thing, but they keep
fiddling with the formula, thebrew.
Yeah.
And so they'll they they titleit chapter one, chapter two,

(04:50):
chapter.
This is the 14th formulation.
So I haven't had this onebefore.
I have had some of the previousHoptastic chapters, so I'll be
interested to see what thisone's like.

Mike (05:03):
Well, we'll find out at the end, folks.
We will.
Well, this episode's gonna kindof turn into a de facto kind of
listener mail centric episodebecause I've got some normal
listener mail, and I've got ahandful of others that kind of
gonna go through during our mainsegment.

Wait a minute.
Do we get normal listener mail?

Mike (05:22):
Well, you know what I mean.

Oh, come on.

Mike (05:27):
The the uh not directed toward the uh the question we've
been asking folks for the lastmonth.
So let's get into some listenermail, Dave.
You got it.
First up from Croydon in theUK, John Bryan.
He's been a listener for awhile.
Mm-hmm.
Uh he says this might soundreally conceited, but he set up

(05:48):
a website as a giant gallery ofall his builds so he can look at
them whenever he wants to.
This is getting back to do weever look at our models again
kind of side conversation we hadafter Jim Bates was on.

No, I think that's a great idea.
I think that is a fantasticidea.

Mike (06:04):
Well, he says he's got 177 up there.
And uh he said, like Tim Nelsonwrote in his mail after that
episode, he can look back atsome of them and has forgotten
what he wanted them to be andjust enjoys them for what they
are now.
So uh when he's got time tokill, he gets on there and looks
at stuff.
And other than that, he's gotabout 90 builds on display in
the living room of his house.

(06:24):
So he's got an understandingfamily.

I was gonna say, that's that's an understanding
wife.

Mike (06:30):
Well, here's an idea.
I can't remember off the top ofmy head who it is, but I think
we have a listener in Australiathat runs a I want to say scale
aviation museum online.
It's got all his his builds onit.
So, John, if you wanted toshare, you could uh make that
link public or morph it into ablog or something and and get

(06:51):
some conversations going aroundsome of your builds.
Or if you just want to keep itto yourself, that's fine too.

It is, absolutely, but I do think that
it would I it would be great forall modelers to take photos of
their models, post them online,and post them in such a way,
whether Facebook or a website ora blog or whatever, where
they're available for others tosee.

(07:16):
Because now while we we enjoybuilding the model and maybe
completing the model, you'dcertainly bring joy to other
modelers who wouldn't have achance otherwise to see your
work.
That's one of the things youand I like about shows, yeah, is

(07:36):
it is a chance to see inperson, which is different than
online, let me tell you.
In person, other people'smodels.
And there isn't a model showthat I go to where I don't find
at least one model that I sitthere and spend 10 or 15 minutes

(07:57):
staring at, just admiring,maybe trying to find the
builder, maybe trying to talk tothem about their model.
It's very inspiring.
So I do think if all themodelers out there, if you're
inclined to build some sort ofdigital gallery of your models
and make it available so thatthe rest of us can see it.

Mike (08:19):
Yeah, if you got that many, that's a lot.

Yes, that is.

Mike (08:23):
Well, we'll see what he says.
Okay.
You know, it was Paul Buzzickwho wrote in about that after
Jim's episode.
He's written in again.
He says, This one's for you,Dave.
Okay.
I'm gonna read it so I don'tmiss anything.
All right.
In regards to your Hellcatmarkings, let me see if I've got
this straight.
Oh God.

(08:43):
Working under good lighting andprobably magnification, you're
not sure if you got them rightside up.
If that's the case, thencounselor, who are the decals
for if the builder can't evensee them?
He says he's just asking.

The answer to that question is yes, I can tell
which ones I put on upsidedown.
Uh not in time, though.
Yeah, no, not necessarily intime.
And yes, if you see this modelin person and you either have a
magnifying glass or you get downreally close to the model,

(09:18):
maybe a little uncomfortablyclose to the model, you can look
at those uh stencil markingsand you can actually read what
they say.
Again, my compliments toFerball Arrow design.
In 70 seconds scale, theyproduce these stencil decals
that are not just blobs, they'rereadable.

(09:39):
And so, yes, and yes, I putseveral on of them on upside
down.
And no, I didn't catch it intime, but there's no way I was
gonna go back and try andcorrect it.

Mike (09:53):
Reminds me of MASH from the North Koreans straight into
their galley tent.

Yeah.

Mike (09:59):
It's like hey, that's a funny ride.
Looking all the P's and R's arebackwards.

Yep.
Exactly.

Mike (10:08):
Well, Dave, if you're gonna get called out, that's
somebody good to get called out.

Yeah, that's right.
You know, if you're gonna getembarrassed, be embarrassed by
one of the one of one of thelegends of our our hobby.

Mike (10:20):
Up next, Eric Kenser again from Menlo Park, California.
And he's got a says a topic forfuture episode, motivation.
We can probably consider that.
A lot of the other shows havedone it.
I don't know if we've actuallytaken motiv we probably have.
I don't I don't know, but maybewe could revisit it.
Yeah.
But he's got a uh a discussiontopic, listener mail topic, and

(10:43):
he wants to know what we woulddo if we came into a bunch of
money and had a few milliondollars of disposable income to
play with.
What would we do?
And he says some examples mightbe start a cottage industry
design and producing scale modelkits for underserved subjects,
like shipboard catapults andpre-World War I flying machines,

(11:04):
modern construction equipment.
I start a cottage industrymaking 3D parts enhanced vintage
aircraft classics, or scalemodeling YouTube channel without
ads that draw from the best ofthe like the fine scale plasmo
night shift, again, Paul Budzik,with Go being a premier
destination for modelingknowledge.
He would open like a hobbymegastore and not worry about uh

(11:24):
rent and making money just tobe the place.

This this has been a topic of discussion.
I know you and I have donediscuss this on road trips.
I've discussed this with otherother modelers.
Jim Bates has one of the bestanswers to this question I've
ever heard.
He says if he gets that kind ofmoney, he would start his own

(11:49):
injection molded hobby kitbusiness.
And he names kits, things thathe wants that aren't available.
He names I my first kit wouldbe X, my second kit would be Y,
and my third kit would bebankruptcy.
Because he's manufacturingsubjects that probably don't

(12:13):
have a general demand, but havea place in his particular heart.
So I've always loved thatanswer at Jim.

Mike (12:21):
Well, you know, I I think if this is fantasy, so it's not
you have to invest in this andand make money doing it.
Right.
If you had enough millions ofdollars, you could build this
infrastructure, live off theinterest of what the money you
didn't spend, and just eat theloss having fun on whatever you
started here.
And that I think that's thefantasy.

Well, and that was I mean, apparent allegedly
with Peter Jackson and Wing NutWings, the investment was here's
the money to to start thisbusiness and do it.
Just don't lose money.
I don't care if you make money,just don't lose money.
Don't don't make it so I haveto keep pouring more and more
money into it.

Mike (13:02):
Now or whatever happened.

Now, my standard answer to this is that I would
drop ship a 40-foot containeroutside Hannett's in England,
and then I and any number of mymodeling friends would take a
private jet over to Englandwhere we would spend three weeks

(13:26):
or a month touring all themuseums, seeing all the sites.
Mr.
Copeland could direct us to allthe special places, attend
scale model world, and then goto Hannett's and just fill a
40-foot container full ofeverything I want and have it

(13:46):
shipped back to the U.S.

Mike (13:48):
I like the cottage industry.
I like the injection moldcompany and I like the shipboard
catapults idea.
Yes.
All the other stuff that'seither been made bad or hasn't
been made yet that I like.

I'm still not convinced you're not going to
end up making catapults in 3D.

Mike (14:05):
I don't know, man.
I think it's coming.
There's a lot to those rascals,man.
Yes, there is.
Yes, there is.
And it's hard to comprehendeverything going on there with
crappy draw or you know,incomplete drawings, or all the
stuff you need to see is alwaysin the shadows inside the truss
of the catapult.

So of course, if you get that kind of money,
you're up at the NationalArchives or the United States
Maritime Museum.

Mike (14:30):
Every every surviving ship that's got one, you're crawling
all over it.
Exactly.
Well, that's what I would do.
All were all worthysuggestions.
And from the Netherlands, Dave.
Okay.
Everett Zanbergen.
Okay.
He's gonna chime in on feartargets.
He's got them too.
I want to hear him.
He loves those Swedish andFrench fried French fried.

(14:52):
French fried.
He loves those Swedish andFrench fighters.
Yes.
Especially the vegan.
Yep.
And he bought Jet Mad's 30second skill, AJ 37.
That's pretty big.

Yes, it is.

Mike (15:05):
It's his ultimate subject to build because he loves the
plane.

And I I guarantee you he wants to do it in the
splinter camouflage, not the notthe overall gray.

Mike (15:17):
He didn't realize a lot of fear came in that box.
It's a full resin and 30-secondscale, so and in limited
production.
So he did not get two of them.
Oh wow.
So it has to be good.
Oh, that's like a this is likea double-edged sword, man.

Well, it's a tri I mean a triple-edged sword.

Mike (15:35):
You got an expensive kit and potentially unforgiving
medium.
Expensive limited run kit.

Yeah.
In an unforgiving medium.

Mike (15:45):
In an unforgiving medium that you want to put a
challenging camo on.
Channel challenging scheme on.
So hey, I would concentrate onthe build, and if I got it
built, it might sit for a yearor two.

While while you practice the camo on.

Mike (16:00):
Practice the camo or get the nerve to actually do it.

Get yourself a 30-second scale phantom and
practice putting that in inSwedish splinter camo.

Mike (16:09):
Crappy Ravel one from the 70s.

Exactly.

Mike (16:13):
That's not a bad idea.

No, it's just a mule at that point.

Mike (16:17):
Yeah, or their their big 30-second uh mirage.

Yes.
Um the mirage should be goodbecause that's similar in in
similar shape.
Yeah.

Mike (16:25):
That's actually a pretty good idea.
You can probably get that kitfor next to nothing.

Oh, yeah, I guarantee you you can.

Mike (16:31):
Yeah, practice.
But yeah, man, I would makesure the build was on spot on
there.
Yep.
Make sure you get that suckerbuilt.
It won't matter what kind ofscheme you put on it if you
don't get it together.

And that's the thing.
It's start with the build, dothe build, concentrate on it.
Don't don't even start thinkingor practicing about the camo
until you get the build done.
Then you almost view the camoas a separate model in a way.

Mike (17:00):
Yeah.
How many colors in that scheme?
Three, four?

Uh one, two, three, two greens and a brown.
I think there's four on thetop.

Mike (17:09):
Oh man.

Yeah.
I think it's four.
I'd have to go back and look.

Mike (17:15):
You know, in 30 seconds scale, you could maybe
conceivably come up with yourown mask.

Yes.

Mike (17:20):
Pretty big size to work in.

It is indeed.

Mike (17:23):
There, we've we've given all advice we can given our
inexperience with uh Swedishcamos.
Larry Donovan from NewBrighton, Minnesota.

Okay.

Mike (17:35):
I won't get into the article.
He sent me an article from TheGuardian, but it was about looks
and fashion.
It was uh mostly directed attoward women and and makeup and
colors and and all theseinfluencers online are telling
them what they need to do andthey're all doing it and to
varying degrees.
That sort of thing.
But he was just wondering whatis the influence of the quote

(17:57):
unquote influencers in our ownhobby?
What influence do they have onour way of doing the hobby?
Oh, I think let me finish here.
Is there a distinction betweenan instructional podcast or
YouTube video and a quoteunquote influencer?

I don't I think there's a distinction maybe from
the producer side.
Some people may go out with theidea of becoming a quote
unquote influencer.
And some people may just beinterested in making
informational videos orpodcasts, but on the receiving

(18:35):
side, it not necessarily thereceive the way that the that
the producer intends.
Because a lot of modelers whoproduce videos may produce them
because they want to beinstructional and helpful and
all, but the people who viewthem view what is produced and

(18:58):
are influenced by it and viewthe producer as an influencer,
as a guru in the hobby.

Mike (19:07):
Yeah, I don't and just know what's that influence look
like?
Is it picking a subject or isit, you know, they push in a
product?
Does it make you want to trysomething they're using?
Right.
So ha has have certain modelerswith YouTube channels
influenced me to buy somethingafter I saw them use it?
Absolutely.

Yep.

Mike (19:26):
Yeah, I think the VMS stuff from uh from Mr.
Kovacs there on night shift isuh is one example of that.
But then on the other side, youknow, another one, another
favorite of mine is is Greg'smodels out of the UK.
Right.
He's not influencing to buyanything because he uses a very
basic selection of tools and hasa very rudimentary approach to

(19:49):
the products he's using on hisbuilds, but he makes me want to
try things.

Right.
And he makes you want to buildold kits.

Mike (19:58):
Yeah, because he's he's he's providing a path over some
of the hurdles that some ofthose kits have just because
he's he's just really good aboutjust pushing through those
things and getting them done.
And then and they they turn outhis models are good.
And and I think influenced orit's inspired, maybe maybe
there's those are two differentthings.

Yeah.
Well, I would I would saythere's no doubt, especially in
the armor community, thatwhether he intends to be a quote
unquote influencer or not,Night Shift has definitely
influenced the way that asignificant segment of the armor
building community paints andweathers their models.

(20:40):
I think he has he's created astyle that a lot of people, just
like uh Renaissance artists,might have a particular style,
and then people come along andwant to imitate that style.
And I think that there's noquestion that Night Shift has
had that effect on a segment ofthe armor community and their

(21:04):
plasmo when he does aircraftbuilds.
Same thing.

Mike (21:08):
Yeah.
I'm always afraid he's gonnacut his fingers off.

Me too.
Well, it's just like watchingMartin Kovac take a model with
uh photo etch and everything onit and stick it under a faucet
to rinse it off.

Mike (21:22):
It's like uh he wants to know if is this a driver for few
or many in the hobby?
I would say quite a few peopleare watching this stuff.
Yeah.
I don't know how much of adriver it is for them.
For the ones that watch it,probably a lot, but I think
ultimately there's probably morepeople who don't watch that
stuff than do.

Oh yeah, I know I I from a population standpoint.

Mike (21:40):
That's probably true.
So I don't know how quite howto cut that or how granular you
want to get with it.
And then probably the big onethough is can holding up our
work in comparison to thoseinfluencers lead to better
results of frustration?
Well, I think both.
It's gonna depend on the personviewing it.
If you're an impatient bynature, I can see that getting
Leading to a lot of frustration.

Right.

Mike (22:03):
But if you're if you're patient and willing to learn and
try, try, try to you getsomething you like, uh it can
move you forward.

Yep.
I think both those things aretrue.

Mike (22:13):
All right.
Well, other than that, Larry'sdone with the Minnesota weather,
even though he's from there.

You and me both, brother.
You and me both.
I'm done with the Kentuckyweather.

Mike (22:24):
Well, our friend Steve Ruey's written in.
Okay.
Uh some things he liked inepisode 57.
He said there's just so manygood points, but uh the big one
he wants to talk about is feartargets.

Uh-huh.

Mike (22:37):
He can relate to that.
He's got four wingnut wingskits on his shelf, and he's just
fretting the rigging on thesethings.

Yep.
Yeah, I can see that becoming abig that and wood grain.
Yeah.
And you're working with kitsthat are no longer available.
So you have that limited,limited availability thing
again, which I think probablyheightens any model builder's
fear when they are working on akit that they know if I mess

(23:06):
this up bad enough, I can't justgo out and get another kit.

Mike (23:11):
I don't think this is probably this is probably not as
bad as that resin.

No dig in.
No.
Because you know there are atleast ones in plastic if you
want to pay a high enough price.

Mike (23:21):
But still Well, I also think that uh given the
complexity of these these kitsthat uh I think we've quoted on
the podcast before that was itwas somebody saw some industry
news that like like 10 to 12percent of the kits that are
manufactured actually get built.

Get built, yes.

Mike (23:38):
I I think for wing nut wings it's probably it's
probably half that.

I would wonder.
There's part of me that thinksthat wing nut wings might
actually get built more.
I don't know.

Mike (23:47):
You still see a lot of stacks of them at shows.

That's that is true.
That is true.
I don't know.
That'd be a that would be agreat I don't know how you would
uh survey that accurately, butthat's a great question.

Mike (24:02):
And I mentioned Aviation Megastore when I was talking
about the catapult I bought.

Mm-hmm.

Mike (24:07):
And he says, yes, it's a real place just outside
Amsterdam.
Now Steve's a a Delta captainand he flies European routes, so
he's been going to aviationmegastore since 2009.

Well, geez, he could have picked up that
catapult for you.

Mike (24:21):
Yeah, that crossed my mind after he sent this email in.
Actually, I was chatting withhim texting earlier in the week
and uh or late last week, and uhit did that crossed my mind.
He said, Imagine Costco for themodeler.
That's what the place is.

Oh, really?
God, now okay.
When when I get that lotterymoney and we make to England,
we're gonna have to hop acrossthe channel.

Mike (24:45):
Well, he uh said it he was there a few months ago and ran
into four Canadians who werethere on a model quest and had
been they had been toHeritageCon, they knew Chris
Wallace.

So Oh, okay.

Mike (24:54):
There you go.

See, Chris, you're famous or infamous one or
the other.

Mike (25:00):
And like us, he's looking forward to HeritageCon, and
we'll be hanging out with himthen.
So thanks for the listenermail, Steve.
Appreciate it.
And my last quote unquoteregular email.

Okay.

Mike (25:11):
It's from Lee Edmonds, and he'd written in last time too,
but he's the one who said he wasmore worried about forgetting
skills that he already hadversus learning new ones.
I don't remember that.

Yeah, and again, I think that that's a real
thing.

Mike (25:27):
And then he he well he he also did some writing and he was
went back and read something hewrote 15, 20 years ago and
discovered he was using atechnique back then that he'd
forgotten about when somethingnew came along.
He's like, Are these thingscyclic?
And he said, Didn't I readsomewhere that dry brushing is
back in favor?
It's coming back, yeah.

(25:47):
Or maybe it never never wentout.
Yeah, and and he's looking atthe wrong YouTube.

Well, it it went out.
There's no question.
Could Mike live through the itwent out?

Mike (25:57):
Yeah, I lived through the it going out phase.
Which uh I'd mentioned before,I the the I thought it was
ironic that some of these drybrush paints started hitting the
market.

Yeah.

Mike (26:07):
Especially from some folks that maybe I've got the Mandela
effect, but I could swear Iremember reading some pretty Oh,
they were scathing a scathingthings about how unrealistic it
was.
Yep.
And and I went looking, becauseone of them that I want to
remember was Meg I Menez.

Yep.

Mike (26:24):
And I went cover to cover on his FAQ book and I found a
little blurb in the in the drybrushing section of that book,
which by the way is only aboutbarely a page long.
Yeah.
Which he says, you know, it wasused to highlight details on
models, even though it wasn'tvery realistic and tanks really
didn't look like that.

Yeah.

Mike (26:45):
But he repurposes the technique for other things.
So I think that's kind of whereit's coming from.
I don't think the old paintwash dry brush formula it may
never totally go away.

Right.

Mike (26:55):
But I seriously don't see that coming back as a
resurgence.

I think we have moved past it with better
techniques, which doesn't meanthat it's completely useless and
can be resigned to the dustbinof history.
I mean, it still has it stillhas its uses.

Mike (27:14):
Yep.
Well, that's it on my side forthe listener mail.
Do we get into our primarysegment?

Yeah.
Well, I've had a a few DMs.
One Bill Moore, who wementioned in our show Spotlight
mini, mini episode, had DM'd into talk about the fact that you
know he runs the World of Tankson Facebook.
And you and I are both luckyenough to have a World of Tanks

(27:43):
t-shirt that he gifted us.
Yep.
And he's doing new ones.
And I don't know if heredesigned the logo or if he's
doing the same shirt.
He's doing a different shirt.
He's doing a different shirt.
I do know that.
I don't know if he's changedhis logo or what, but it's going
to be different than the one wehave.
So I'm looking forward toseeing that.

(28:03):
And maybe we'll get another onebecause it's nice to have
those.
I wear that.
I wear that one modeling allthe time at the bench.
And has a has a few uh stainsto prove.

Mike (28:16):
Yeah, a few paint stains.

Yeah.
Uh second, I want to mention wegot a DM from Warren Dickinson
that frankly I it completelymade my day, week, month, and
year.
As listeners may remember,Warren lost his longtime spouse
fairly suddenly toward the endof last year.

(28:40):
And you can imagine thedevastation of losing a life
partner, a spouse, and nowyou're rattling around an empty
house, and just you're theperson you're used to always
being there isn't.
Yeah.
I mean, how devastating a lossthat is.
Well, Warren reached out to sayto thank Mike and I, because

(29:03):
he's kind of unmoored at thispoint because of the loss, and
was talking about how thelistening to the podcast was
helping him reconnect slash stayconnected to the hobby and to
keep him company and and allfilling filling a need for him

(29:24):
particularly.
And it was just wonderful.
It really, really made me feelgood about doing the podcast.
If for no other reason, if ifwe're bringing that to someone
who needs it in that situation,I'm I'm thrilled beyond belief.
So I want to thank Warren.

(29:46):
That was very nice of him toreach out and say that.

Mike (29:49):
Yeah, I saw that one too.

Our friend over in England, Michael Grisabian,
was very kind enough to I'dmentioned previously he had DM'd
me about using the cameo to cutplastic and giving me a pointer
to a Facebook page and a videoon on the subject.
He's he recently I hadmentioned my interest in

(30:12):
Japanese and Near East Asia orNear East Indies, uh Dutch Near
East Indies, early World War IIin the Pacific interest.
And he sent me a link to awebsite called, I think it's
called Emma's Planes.
And I'll put I'll uh we'll puta link in the show notes, and

(30:33):
just has a ton of material,including Japanese aircraft
manuals and other stuff, andjust really, really a great
resource.
And it was very I never wouldhave found that on my own.
So it was very kind of him toto We'll have to link that.
We we will.
I'll send you the link andwe'll link that.
William Christman DM'd in andhe was doing a build of the

(31:00):
Tomia McLaren Senna McLaren kit.
Okay.
And he was posting his progressbuilds on the doja.
And unlike other Tamiya kits,he was having some challenges
with this one.
And he did a post and it didn'tappear, and he was worried that
it didn't appear because he wasbeing critical of Tamiya kit

(31:24):
and pointing out its flaws anderrors and all.
And I reassured him, no, we'renot holding that we don't filter
for that stuff.
You are free to express youropinion about any model you're
building or any product you use.
And we're we're not we're notin the gatekeeping business,

(31:44):
we're not in the currying favorwith manufacturers or producers
or any of that.
So what happened was, ofcourse, it ended up in Facebook
jail because Facebook has somesort of weird algorithm that
we're still trying to figure outwhy it selects certain posts
and says, no, we're not gonnapost that one.

(32:04):
So anytime that happens, guys,please reach out to me, DM me,
and I'll go in and I'll find itand I'll get it published.

Mike (32:15):
Yeah, it's usually the cross-post problem.

Yes.

Mike (32:17):
That is that seems to be a common thread amongst most of
them.

That is the single sing, although it's not
always, because we have somethat aren't cross-posted, get
help.
But the single biggestindicator is cross-posting.
A post that's been postedsomewhere else on Facebook and
then is being cross-posted intothis to the dojo.
So, but like I said, if it everhappens to you, please reach

(32:45):
out.
We we try and police thatregularly, but sometimes we
don't always catch them rightaway.
So uh if you encounter that,please reach out and we'll fix
it.
Next, I just want to mentionOliver Krebs from Germany, and
he had a suggestion for a futureshow topic.

Mike (33:05):
And Mike, we'll We'll discuss this one, yeah.
Because it kind of meshessomething, it meshes with
something that I've already gotplanned.
So it was rather timely.

Yes, I and I think it it is something timely,
and I think it's a greatsuggestion.
So I just want to thank Oliverfor reaching out and making the
suggestion.
And want to encourage all ofour listeners, if you have a
suggestion for the podcast,either a topic or how we do
something, something we ought todo, something we're doing that

(33:36):
you don't like, please tell usbecause the only way we can make
this podcast more enjoyable foryou, which is our goal, is
having you let us know what youlike and don't like or suggest
ways for us to improve.

Mike (33:54):
All we can do is agree or not.
Yep.
And uh take everything intoconsideration, at least.

Yep.
And even if we disagree, westill appreciate it.
That's right.
Next is Don Bruger, who is downin Florida in the Tampa area,
and he wanted to let us knowthat the Tampa IPMS chapter down
there is holding Pelicon onMarch 14th, 2026.

(34:21):
So about three weeks from now.
And I'll post a copy of TheFlyer in the Dojo if he hasn't
done that already.
I'll post it and encouragefolks in the Florida area to go
down and check out the show.
Mike and I are fans.
And if you go, please takepictures and post pictures and a

(34:41):
report in the dojo.

Mike (34:43):
I want to think that's the one we covered in the spotlight
last year.
I think we did.
The name is familiar.

Yep.
Well, I think there might betwo pelicons, one in in Florida
and one in Louisiana.

Mike (34:56):
Maybe.

So I'm not sure.
In any event, go to the show,enjoy.
Finally, listener Greg Edmondswrote in with a with an
interesting question.
It was related to we were thelast episode, we were talking
about how your completed models,do you display them?
Do you go back and look atthem?

(35:18):
They in display cases, do youget rid of them?
Whatever.
And he had a comment on thatwith where he takes and he has
display cases and he'll displaythem, and he'll display awards
that the model might have wonwith the model.
And he asked what I did with myold awards.

(35:41):
And I was there are three thatI actually do have out, my two
national IPMS National Awardsand the one from the last
Canadian national back in the90s.
But I'm kind of sheepishlyadmitting to him that the rest
of them are in a giantrubber-made container next to my

(36:03):
water heater in my utilityroom.
And occasionally, if I need abase, I'll go in and I'll pull
out an old award that has aplaque style and pry the the
fate the plate off of it and usethat as the base.
So most of mine are notdisplayed in a model case with

(36:25):
the models.
They're just they're in autility room, and that's where
they're they'll probably staytill I die, and my children
throw them out into the trash.

Mike (36:37):
They probably will, Dave.

Yes, they probably will.
So that's all I've got from thefrom the DM side.

Mike (36:44):
All right, folks.
We like the listener mail.
It's our favorite segment ofthe show, and we'd like to get
some more.
We got a bunch this time.
We're gonna make a good use ofthem, I hope.

Yep.

Mike (36:53):
You can write to the show via email at plasticmodelmojo at
gmail.com, or you can send adirect message via the Facebook
messenger system.
And usually Dave handles those.
I take the emails unlessthere's some crosstalk that we
can cover one or the other ifit's uh to our own uh expertise.
In addition, there's a feedbackweb link on the website at uh
plasticmodelmojo.com, andthere's you can also send us a

(37:16):
message there as well.
And we've been getting quite afew of those through that avenue
as well, so we reallyappreciate it.
Well, that's it for listenermail, Dave.

All right.

Mike (37:52):
Not entirely, but to to some degree.
And we'll probably pivot tosome more technical topics in
the coming month for sure.
But we've been solicitingemails from our listenership for
uh the answers to what do weget out of this hobby or why we
do it, kind of things on on thatvein.
So uh I can start with one ofthe emails to kind of kick this
off and and get us going backand forth a little bit.

(38:13):
I've got about five of these.

I've got an interesting answer to this
question.

Mike (38:18):
Okay.
Well, I've had this one sinceearlier in the month.
It's from longtime listenerTerry Wilkinson.
Okay.
And as to what we get out ashobby, he believes we live
vicariously through every build,be it a tank, plane, or
whatever, uh, as though weparticipated, drove, or flew
flew this whatever this saidproject is.

(38:38):
Including stuff you've jumpedout of, because he mentioned
that one time too.
He's a former formerparatrooper.
So uh interesting take.
I think there's some truththere for sure.

I think there is.

Mike (38:48):
Certainly it gives us uh at least a miniaturized version
of the real thing.
That's the whole goal, right?
Right.
And you spend a lot of timelearning about stuff, making it
look like the way you want tolook, hopefully.
And yeah, I can I can see that.
It might be uh a car you'llyou're you'll you you owned in
the past or maybe you'll neverown because it's some kind of
supercar and you're like aregular roller like us.

Yeah.

Mike (39:11):
Something like that, maybe.

Unless you hit that big lottery we were talking
about earlier.

Mike (39:16):
That's right.
You can buy a supercar andstart a hobby business.

There you go.

Mike (39:20):
So I I think that's a good answer.
Yeah, I didn't really thinkabout it that way, but we are
kind of living vicariouslythrough through the models.

Yeah, I think we are.
I don't think there's any doubtthat there's that there's some
truth in that.
Well, what's your answer?
You're thinking you got.
What do I get from this hobby?
I a lot of things.
So there are actually a lot ofanswers to this question.
But one of the main things Iget from it, I'll be honest with

(39:49):
you, wasn't apparent to me atfirst.
But upon reflection, one of themain things I get out of this
hobby is friendships.
Yeah.
I literally all of my very closefriends, the people that I talk
to and text and DM and emailand video chat with are all

(40:13):
other models.
And while our initialconnection is the hobby, okay,
that's how we came to know eachother.
In all of those cases, I'd saya majority of our communication
is on topics that aren't thehobby.

(40:35):
Other things we have commoninterests in, other experiences
we've been through together orin parallel that we share and
and that forms part of the bond.
Yeah.
One of the big things I get outof this hobby is friends and
good friends and people that Ienjoy talking to, even if it's

(41:01):
utterly unrelated to anythingabout the hobby.
Now we talk a lot about thehobby as well, but the non
non-hobby related conversationsare every bit as good as the
hobby-related ones.

Mike (41:13):
Well, I mean, think about it.
We we keep talking aboutHeritageCon.
We're about to rent a car anddrive up to Hamilton, Ontario,
and hang out with by the timewe're all there, about nine
people for most of the time thatwe didn't even know when we
started the podcast.

Yep.
Well, that's why I was sayingto my wife not too long ago that
it's really, really odd for meto say this, but three of my
best friends, or four of my uhfour very good friends of mine,
live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Yeah.

(41:48):
I mean, that's just unusual.
And it's a combination of thishobby and technology.

Mike (41:57):
That's right.
It is.
Yep.
Been hard to do with pen pals.
It would have been.
Especially that many.
I don't know what I would doit.
Well, I I think uh Scott Huberfrom uh State College,
Pennsylvania has got a take thatI think is gonna resonate with
a lot of people.

Okay.

Mike (42:16):
Uh including myself.
Like you, he's an attorney.
And he started modeling at agefive and never had a dark time
like a lot of people.
So he kind of carried it onfrom childhood all the way
through.
That's kind of like me.
I never really quit completelywholesale as I was growing up.
In law school, he does hisairbrush at home on breaks, but

(42:36):
he had a tackle box withmodeling supplies at school.
So he's working on stuff uhwhile he was in school.
Did you do that?

That I came back to the hobby.
I got away from the hobby inlate high school and all through
on almost all through college.
And I came back to the hobby atthe end of college, the
beginning of law school.
And in fact, my second year oflaw school was the year that I

(43:05):
attended my first nationalconvention, IPMS national
convention in 1985.
And I built a model for it.

Mike (43:13):
Well, he says it's always been his creative place, the
Fraser for his history bug, andjust a fundamental part of what
he does and who he is.
So I think the history part ofthat for me, that really
resonates because it's it's sucha tangible extension to to a
hit to an interest in history.

I don't think I've ever met a modeler who
wasn't at least somewhatinterested in history.

Mike (43:40):
Yeah, I've well for for the traditional genres, I think
that's true.
You know, there's a lot ofstuff out there now.
I mean, you could be a sci-fimodeler and not be interested.
You could be interested in inmovie history, maybe, I guess.
So maybe I'm wrong.
Maybe it could it could stillmanifest this way just a little
bit different.
But yeah, and this thiscreative place.
You know, we get into that withwith Paul Budzik just about

(44:03):
every time he's on.
That this just like this youjust get in this zone and it's
it's this creative outlet andyou can just tune everything
else out.
So b both those resonate withme, the creative place and the
and the history bug.

Yep.
Me too.
I agree.

Mike (44:18):
The history bug, m my military collecting is kind of
touching that one as well.
Probably even harder than thescale modeling, but uh the stuff
I model primarily won't fit inmy basement.
So if I if I had them inone-to-one scale, and they'd be
hundreds of thousands ofdollars.

So or unobtainable completely.
Like the like like a rabe ofbotan.

Mike (44:38):
There's one and a half.

One and a half.
Yeah.
Well, I doubt you're gonnaprime out of the hands of the p
of the the people who have them,you know.
Right.

Mike (44:49):
To to go on about that a little bit.
You know, it we've talked aboutthe hobby being fun.
If you're not having fun,you're doing it wrong.
You say that quite a bit.
I think that for me, andprobably for most people, it is
just a chance to get away from abunch of crap.

Yeah.

Mike (45:07):
I don't read for entertainment.
I know you do some.
I I just don't.
I've I've never I don't that'ssomething I don't have the
patience for.
I can do an audio book andlisten to that while I drive,
but holding a bound stack ofpaper and reading through that
does not doesn't do much for me.
Man, my wife does it and she'sgot some shows she watches on
TV.
This hobby for me re itreplaces all that.

Yeah.

Mike (45:29):
I just don't get into that stuff much, but but I can be
down here for a long timeamongst all my stuff.
So the king among hispossessions.
That's right.
The king among his possessions.
So I really think it's the thethe creative outlet and and the
escapism is is probably I won'tsay overlooked, but the actual

(45:52):
building is is why we do it.
A lot of this stuff is we getthings out of it.
Right.
That are kind of we kind oftake the the actual aspect or
the actual doing of the hobbykind of for granted sometimes
when we talk about these otherthings, but it fundamentally
boils down to to some some kindof escapism and creativity.

I do think that's absolutely true.
I think that that escapism,creativity, and stress release.
Because if you there are amongmodelers, you know, you talked
about uh uh writer mentioningthat he was an attorney as well.
Attorneys are overrepresentedin this hobby.

(46:36):
And I think that at least partof that is due to the fact that
being an attorney is arelatively high stress job and a
mentally high stress job.
And so the hobby provides a astress-free haven where you can

(46:58):
relax and you're not having todeal with those high pressure,
high mental, mentally drainingthe high pressure, high mentally
draining work.
Yeah.
And I suspect that likeengineers, physicians, we know
uh quite a number of physicianswho are modelers.

(47:20):
I think the same thing isprobably true of them as well.

Mike (47:24):
I think so, but I think in my current job, I've sent you a
few pictures that you can'ttell whether I'm at home or it's
true.
Got my knives and my cuttingmats and my sand and sticks and
all that stuff.

So it is kind of nice that there is bleed over
between your two jobs.

Mike (47:41):
Yeah, I really appreciate it.

Or your job and your hobby.

Mike (47:45):
That's why I pursued it.

Yep.
And you were smart, one of thewisest decisions you ever made.

Mike (47:50):
It is.
Ken Schaefer from Stratford,Connecticut.
Okay.
His response to the questionabout what he gets out of the
hobby, the answer is Shangri-La.
Ah, okay.
So that's what we're talkingabout here, right?

Yep, exactly.

Mike (48:04):
He's a senior manager at work, and uh he's got to
constantly be on while running abusiness, managing employees
and making decisions at amoment's notice.
And at home, like most of us,he's got responsibilities of
being a husband, a father, agrandfather, homeowner, and all
that stuff.
He is an empty nester, whichaffords him the luxury of having
some free time.
Right.
He's found a modeling to be amuch better uh use of his free

(48:26):
time other than being a couchpotato and doom scrolling on his
phone.

Right.

Mike (48:30):
Going to the bench, he can mentally turn down the outside
world, forget hisresponsibilities at least for a
little while, put on one of hisfavorite podcasts or an audio
book, and uh just retreat to hishappy place to work on one or
more of his multiple ongoingprojects.

Yep.
That's exactly what I wastalking about.
You walk into the hobby room,you close the door behind you,
and for as long as you're inthere, you're not thinking
about, okay, what do I have todo tomorrow at work, or what
what project needs to get donearound the house, or or what
bills do I have to pay tomorrow,etc.

(49:06):
That it just all it literallyin when I close my hobby room
door, the outside worlddisappear.
For a while.
Yeah, for a while.
Not permanently, no.
That's it's called a hobby.

Mike (49:23):
I know, I know.
Yeah, you know, these people doit for a living.
I I don't see how they do it.

Well, I I don't either.
And I'm not I don't I questionwhether I I question whether I
would enjoy it if I did it as mysource of income, as my job.
But I'd kind of like to havethe opportunity to know.
That would be an interestingthing to experience in the short

(49:52):
term just to see.

Mike (49:53):
Uh from Medina, Ohio again, Mike Garapick, and he
says I did get his first namepronounced correctly the first
time.
Good.
So that worked out.
Well, he's approached this onemore from the motivational
standpoint.
Okay.
Um, but it kind of gets it itgets around to what's he what he
gets from the hobby.
It's multifaceted.
He's always loved aviation,particularly military subjects

(50:14):
from World War II to currentday.
He had an uncle that when hewas younger, when Michael was
younger, that worked for uhCleveland Pneumatics, which made
landing gear parts.
Mm-hmm.
Remember, he was from theCleveland area, knew all our
friends from that area.
Yep.
His uncle gave him promotionalflyers of the kind of stuff he
was working on.
And he'd take trips to theCleveland Air Show, and then he

(50:35):
was just hooked on aviation, andyou know, he was never able to
find himself find his way intothe cockpit.
So building these small scalereplicas was the best and only
option he had.

Mm-hmm.

Mike (50:46):
And he's 65 years young, and this was the video games of
his age, and he returns a hobbyin the 90s, now that he's
retired.
It's taking a whole new meaningjust because uh it occupies so
much of his time and uhinterest.
So it sounds like he's gettingenjoyment out of the hobby,
which is great.

Yeah, because no, no matter what you get out of
this hobby, it does ultimatelyhave to be enjoyable.
If it isn't enjoyable, you'reyou're long term, you're not
gonna continue the hobby.

Mike (51:18):
No.
And I got a final one from uhJoshua Abbey from Colorado
Springs, Colorado.

He's a we have friends, we have friends out
there too.
We do.

Mike (51:26):
He's aerospace engineer, an RC pilot, full-scale glider
pilot, and he says amateuraircraft modeler.
So am I.
And he wanted to also addressthe topic of uh viewing
completed models.
Mm-hmm.
And he says, Why would you everbuild a model and not look at
it?
He says, Of course I look at myold builds.
I put a lot of effort intothem.

(51:47):
And he says, as an aviationenthusiast, the point of the
model build is to see it on hisdisplay shelf.
I'm sure he enjoys the process,the painting, the building, the
weathering, and all that.
And but he builds his A4s, hisP-47s, his AN2, was it an
Antonov 2?

Yeah, Antonov 2.
That's the big radial enginebiplane that the Soviets use to
this day.
I'm sorry, Russians.
We don't say Soviets anymore.

Mike (52:15):
He loves these aircraft and wants to look at them on a
shelf so he can admire theiraerodynamics and the performance
considerations.
Uh he appreciates the aircraftevolution, you know, wildcat,
hellcat, bear cat, tiger catthat a display can offer.
And he can ruminate on thehistorical significance and
related pilot stories andexperiences.
And he builds a lot in 32ndskill and 48th skill, so he's

(52:35):
got some bigger planes to lookat, and it brings him joy in the
cold, dark Colorado winterswhen he can't fly himself.
Yeah, I think these are allvalid, but I would make one
thing.
He says as an aviationenthusiast, as an aviation
enthusiast, the point ofbuilding the models is to see
them.
Well, that's a point.
A point, his point.

Right.

Mike (52:54):
And I guess I talked a little bit about well, I I said,
you know, I keep my unbuilt ormy in-progress stuff when I know
it's going to be off the benchfor a significant amount of
time, it goes in my displaycase.
So I do go over there and Ilook.
I was reminded when John Bryanfrom the from Croydon, the UK,
there, we did one of the firstlistener mails we rattled off
tonight about his website.

(53:15):
Well, on my PC at work, I'vegot a bunch of my builds on my
screensaver rotating a slide.
So I look at those quite a bitbecause they're coming around.
Yeah.
My computer goes into sleepmode.
So I I do do it.
I think we all want to get itdone, but I just think for some
people the the the journey andthe creative aspect of the thing

(53:35):
and the problem solving is ismore significant to them uh than
actually, you know, just takinga gander at the finished
product.

There are modelers I know, okay, good
modelers that I know, who whenthey finish a project, they give
it away.
Yeah.
They they don't keep any oftheir completed models.
Because to them, once they'redone, they're done.
I mean, for them, the goal wasaccomplishing the build to its

(54:08):
completion, but they haveliterally no interest in ever
going back and looking at thatcompleted build.
So the the spectrum is verywide on that.
I think a lot of people, mostpeople, probably do keep builds
around and probably do go backand look at them.

(54:31):
But I don't think that that'suniversal.

Mike (54:35):
No, I don't think so.
And uh you know, how much doyou look?
I don't think anyone I'd besurprised if anyone out there is
actually making a consciouseffort to not go look at them.
Yeah.
I don't think that's what we'resaying.
Right.
I just think to some of them tovery diminishing degrees just
don't go back and look becausethey're on to the next thing.

To be honest with you, my completed builds are in
display cases, but they're inthe display cases that are in
the bar in my basement.

Mike (55:04):
In a different room.

In a different room that I go into very rarely.

Mike (55:09):
Yeah.

So I I mean, I do see them and I do go
occasionally look at them, butit's rare that I go down there
with the purpose.
Hey, I'm gonna go look at myold build.

Mike (55:20):
Well, Joshua, thanks for the your perspective on that.
You know, that's you mentioneda lot of things here that do
ring true.
I think uh a lot of this thesepoints about all these
considerations about theaircraft's history and evolution
and stuff, uh I actually get alot of that during the build
process.

I bet you you could tell me more about the
Paul than I know about the pole.
And I have an in deep interestin Japanese aircraft.

Mike (55:43):
Yeah, I don't know that too many people know much about
that airplane at all.
That's true.
It's a little enigmatic, butyeah.

Well, you got anything else you want to say on
this topic, Dave?
No, other than I don't thinkultimately it matters what you
get out of the hobby, as long asyou get something out of the
hobby that makes you happy, thatthat brings you enjoyment and
relaxation.
Whatever it happens to be,whether you're a construction

(56:16):
guy, whether you're a finishedmodel person, whether you're
whatever, you're a history buff,you're uh uh uh a technique
guy, whatever it is.
The only thing, and I've saidthis, you you mentioned before
that I say this, if you're notenjoying it, you're doing it
wrong.
Okay.
If you're not getting enjoymentout of the hobby, and it

(56:39):
doesn't really matter what whyyou get that enjoyment out of
the hobby, but you really doneed to enjoy something out of
it in order for it to be ahobby.

Mike (56:52):
I agree with that.
Yeah.
I just think there's there's somuch, especially since we
started the podcast.
We we had a lot of fun beforethis was ever an idea.
Yes.
A lot of the early clubworkshop days, and all that it
all gets back into the to thefriendship side of things.
Yes.
All the old road trips.

Or sitting around sitting around over Mexican
food, just talking hobby stuff.
God, you we we'd meet for lunchand we had no specific idea
what we'd be talking about.

Mike (57:20):
Well, and I've mentioned to you when the days get a
little longer and the weathergets a little more stable, I'm
probably gonna start attendingour own club meetings again.

Yep.

Mike (57:27):
Because I need another outlet.
I hear you.
So hopefully I can talk youinto it too.

Oh yeah, absolutely.
I I I don't make them asregularly as I used to, but I
still make them occasionally,and I do want to to to make them
more and more.

Mike (57:43):
We got several trips planned and uh could be seeing a
lot of people this year.

So this is gonna be a big year.

Mike (57:48):
The friends side of it is is fantastic, but all that stuff
aside, just getting to thebench and actually gluing stuff
together and and sculpting ormodifying or cutting, sanding,
whatever you're doing.
There's just so much value inthe creative process and all
that and the tactile exercisesyou're doing there that can

(58:11):
really put you in a good spotmentally and tune out a bunch of
crap.
So pretty well-founded stuff onthe mental health side.

Yep.

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Mike (59:22):
Well, Dave, it's the bench top halftime report.
Yep.
How's it been going?
You said you haven't got to thebench much.
Have you gotten anything done?
I saw a picture of something.
Go ahead.

Yes, I have I've been getting to the bench, just
not as much as I want, or and ornor accomplishing as much as I
want.
But the Hellcat decals aredone.
The overcoat is done.
I have begun the oilweathering.
I'm about halfway through thatprocess.

(59:54):
Then once that's done, I willapply a satin coat and I'll go
to chipping.
And then from there, it's bitsand bobs, and it's still on
track to be done for HeritageConso that I can take it to
HeritageCon.
And in addition to that, thatold T33 project that I pulled

(01:00:17):
out to because it fills it fillsthe niche for the Septemberists
uh build for the nationals.
It took some time for me toreacquaint myself with, okay,
here's where you were when youstopped.

Mike (01:00:31):
Yeah, you talked about that last time.

Kentucky Dave (01:00:33):
Yeah.
So I managed to do that, and Iknow where I am.
And so I have started to, itgot an initial coat of primer on
it.
And now I'm going back, andthat's where I had stopped after
the initial coat, and now I'mgoing back and filling seams and

(01:00:54):
flaws and re-engraving,correcting previous
re-engravements.
Remember, this was six or sevenyears ago before I concentrated
on rescribing as an area that Iwanted to get better at.
So this is one that comes fromthe before time.

(01:01:15):
So I have to then take theskills that I have learned since
and go reapply them to thatmodel.
But yeah, I again, not as muchprogress as I want, but making
progress, staying on target.
And I'm enjoying, you know,again, the important thing is

(01:01:36):
are you enjoying it?
And heck yes, I am enjoying it.
And as I mentioned, I'm alsokind of redoing my hobby room.
So I'm hoping that one of theresults of redoing my hobby room
will it will become I willbecome much more, it will be a
much better climate to build in,so that I will want to be at

(01:01:57):
the bench more.
And when I'm at the bench, I'llbe more efficient.
All in all, good, good.
My my bench top is happy and ishumming.
Maybe not as much as I want itto hum, but it's humming.
How about you?

Mike (01:02:12):
I'm running out of margin on my Moose Roosevelt project,
man.
I gotta get this sucker done.
What have I got?
About a week and a half.
Two weeks, maybe.
Oh, yeah, that's right.

Because you got to send pictures in like two
weeks early.
I keep forgetting about that.
I was thinking, well, what areyou talking about?
You got like five weeks, butno, that's to actually take the
finished model to Hamilton, notto submit the pictures.

Mike (01:02:38):
Exactly.
Yeah.
So I've been using some baremetal foil to mask the the
weather stripping around the thefront windshield frame and then
the around the convertible, youknow, tops of the doors and
around the back of the deck andall that stuff.

So you didn't have you didn't have any trouble
getting new bare metal foil,right?

Mike (01:02:59):
No, I had to get new bare metal foil.
Right.
You had run out of well, I'dgot a little bit done and and
then it was man, I probably hadthat sheet for Right, 20 years.
20 years.
So the little patch that wasleft had been creased and bent a
couple times, so it had sometears in it, and it was just not
holding together.
So I went and got some more.

(01:03:20):
And again, Burbank's House ofHobbies came through on that.

So we need to hit them up for a sponsorship.
Because we both we both orderfrom there fairly regularly.

Mike (01:03:33):
Well, then I posted on the dojo, it's like I've I just
bought some more of this stuffand been using it, but I've
never used it for its primarypurpose.
Right.
I've only ever used it for amasking medium.

Right.

Mike (01:03:44):
Which is a pretty good one, actually, if you got some
some dimensionality you need tocross and and uh it can just get
get a lot tighter than likemost masking tapes.
So once you learn to to handleit and use it a little bit, it's
really not that bad.

Now you're using it for the chrome trim on the
vehicle.

Mike (01:04:01):
No, no.
All the weather stripping waspainted black.

Mm-hmm.

Mike (01:04:05):
And I went back with bare metal foil and masked that off
and trimmed it.

So Oh, okay.
So you are using it as amasking.

Mike (01:04:12):
Just a mask, yeah.

Okay.

Mike (01:04:14):
So once I get the car primary color painted It all
gets stripped off.
It all gets stripped off.
So be looking forward to that.
Which just made me think ofsomething that's gonna make
things interesting.
The car is gonna have to beglossed.

Right.

Mike (01:04:31):
And I don't know how many layers of paint it's gonna take.
And then some gloss.
Do I take off the mask and justgloss the weather stripping
too, or it just won't lookright?

I think you leave it on.
I don't think that that you'llhave a significant enough
buildup for it to matter.
Maybe not.
Just don't spray into the mask,spray away from the mask.

Mike (01:04:54):
Well, the yeah.
I we'll cross the bridge whenwe get to it, but uh, you know,
it's it's real close.
Uh just before we startedrecording tonight, I actually
shot the the black I use for theweather stripping is just Mr.
Surfacer 1500 black primer.
Yeah.
Because it's kind of got adull, it's not quite matte, but
it's not quite satin either.

It's a good black finish.

Mike (01:05:14):
It is.
So I I went and hit uh after Itrimmed all the the bare metal
foil down to just what needed tobe left on for the mask, I went
back and hit those cut lineswith the black again just to
make sure.
If I had a scratch that didn'tget filled up with the the car
color, it was gonna be black andnot uh the the gray primer
that's under everything, whichif I had to do over, I'd just

(01:05:36):
prime the whole car in black.
I don't know why I didn't thinkof that ahead of time, but it
was primed in gray first andthen Well, considering your
final color, I think grayprobably is a better unprimer.
Yeah, maybe.
I don't know.
It's it's gonna have some blackaround the cockpit and window
windshield that's not gonna getsprayed gray again.
So we'll see.

(01:05:57):
But uh other than that, man, mybench has been Slow.
I've been you've been launchingthings into space, you know.
No, we haven't.

But I've worked terrible.
Getting getting ready to launchthings into space.

Mike (01:06:10):
No, the KV-85 is just still on hold.
I was I you know last time wetalked, I think I was doing some
stuff on the turret, but butnow it's like completely just
sitting there.

Right.
You've got to you've got to getthe loosery.

Mike (01:06:20):
I gotta get this done and then I'll get back to it.
Because it won't take me toolong to get that one to a near
state of completion either.
So looking forward to gettingback on it.
But that's my bench top, man.
That's all I got.

All right.

The Voice of Bob (Bair) (01:06:34):
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I remember the old days where the in the 90s
where there were so many fewercompanies and so many less kits
announced.

Mike (01:07:01):
You had to read about it in a magazine.

Right, exactly.
And you didn't have thisstream, never-ending stream of
the modeling news or scalematesor whatever, everyday new stuff.
And then, of course, alongcomes the 3D print companies,
and it just anybody can be amanufacturer, and the whole
thing just blows up.
So I've seen some things I'minterested in announced lately.

(01:07:26):
Have you?
I have.
So let's give some faves andyawns.

Mike (01:07:32):
My first fave, and hopefully I didn't mention.
I've I've mentioned this on thepodcast before.
I don't think it was a favesand yawns segment.

That's okay.

Mike (01:07:38):
To me, his new M24 Chaffee.

Yes, that's a neat tank.

Mike (01:07:43):
That's a good one.
You you there was the old Italyone.
Right.
That had the wrong tracks, hadhad post-war tracks and probably
some other post-war features.
And then remember formationscame out with that resin thing
that was absolutely beautifulfor its time.
Gorgeous.

Yeah.

Mike (01:07:58):
Uh then it was a Bronco one, and they got the turret
shape wrong and then reissued aturret you could get separately
to fix the problem with theturret.
And now there's probably not awhole lot wrong with a Tamiya
kit.
The only thing with Tomia isthe, you know, some some detail
shortcuts so they can mold it.
So I don't know if I don't knowif it's one I will get, but uh
I'm sure that one's gonna bereally, really popular.

I I think so too, especially given not only its
World War II use, but its use inthe Korean War, in all of the
it got every every SouthAmerican country ended up with
some of those things, no matterthe size.
Yeah, South Vietnam had a tonof.

(01:08:41):
Just, I mean, it wasubiquitous.
And so I am sure that will beextremely popular in a lot of
countries.

Mike (01:08:51):
Well, it's they're not related, but the M24 and the M26
pursing.
Yeah.
They represent a kind of a seachange in American tank design.
It was the first time they wentto torsion bar suspensions.
And then the you know the thethe pursing lineage goes all the
way up to the the last of theM60 series, really.

Yep.

Mike (01:09:13):
So they got a lot of miles out of those designs.
That they did.
And I think it'll be a reallypopular kit, and I'm sure we'll
see some freaky Korean War oneswith the crazy fronts painted on
them and all that.
So that's my first fave.
What do you got?

In addition to aircraft, I have an interest in
missiles, particularlyanti-aircraft missiles.
And in 72nd scale, there's beena real hole.
We don't have a really good MIM23, which is the Hawk, the US

(01:09:50):
uh ground-based anti-aircraftmissile.
A country or a company out ofUkraine by the name of Spala, S
P A-L-A-H, has announced a 72ndscale Hawk launcher.
And that's definitely one thatwhen I when it comes out, when I

(01:10:12):
see it, I will pick it up,because I want to build a whole
series of anti-aircraftmissiles.
And a whole bunch of theRussian ones.
And of course, the Americansdon't rely on anti-air
ground-based anti-aircraftmissiles quite as much.
And so there isn't as muchvariety from American and NATO

(01:10:36):
countries, but there are some.
And I'm just happy to have theHawk available now.
How about you?
Got another fave, a yawn, or Igot a couple faves here.

Mike (01:10:46):
I'm gonna group together.
And this one's kind ofinteresting because Evan McAl on
Panzermeister 36 has beenworking around a BT.

Yes.

Mike (01:10:56):
Working on a BT five, I think.

Yeah.

Mike (01:10:58):
Well he's it's in the kind of in the at the front end of
that project.

Right.

Mike (01:11:03):
So we've been talking about BTs a lot off offline.
But you know that the turretfor my KV85 is from a Russian
company called A Resin.

Right.

Mike (01:11:12):
And A Resin's got a bunch of different BT wheel sets
coming out.

So early and late drive options for BT5s and BT7s
and uh was there was therecommonality among the wheels
between the BT2, the BT5, andthe BT7?

Mike (01:11:29):
Yeah, from like the late BT2 all the way up through the
BT7, it's one or two differentwheels.

Gotcha.

Mike (01:11:36):
The early BT2s had a spoked looking wheel.
Okay.
Actually had some hollows init.
But I think they got three orfour wheel sets, and then it was
on scalemates, and it was funnybecause it was a kit that Evan
had been talking about fromDemon Barber Designs.

Mm-hmm.

Mike (01:11:52):
They've got uh an early BT5 turret coming out and a
couple other things, that sometrack sets, and he was showing
that off on his Facebook pagejust yesterday or today, I
think.
And uh we were talking aboutthat this afternoon before we
started recording, and all thatstuff looks pretty good.
Now, of course, the A-Res andstuff coming from Russia is

(01:12:12):
gonna be impossible to get.
Right.
Maybe, I don't know.
The demon borrowers out ofEurope, I can't remember exactly
where, but uh all looks alllooks really nice.

Well, good.
I I can't wait.
I can't wait to you you andEvan both get 90% done with a
BT5 project so that Tamiyaannounces their BT5.

Mike (01:12:34):
Well, I think with the right Hobby Boss base, it's
really not too tough.
So I don't think that would beuh that wouldn't be too big a
gotcha project.
Yeah.
Even if they came out with it,what they're gonna come out with
is probably not gonna be thatmuch better than what you you
can cobble together withconversions and the hobby boss
haul.

So gotcha.

Mike (01:12:51):
Wouldn't worry about that one too much.

But you're probably right.
Well, my next one's also afave.
The 109 aficionados that youand I know are gaga over the
fact that the Edward 109K, thefinal evolution of the 109, the
109Ks, are coming out very, verysoon.

(01:13:16):
We've seen screenshots, we'veseen instruction sheets,
renders, etc.
And so it is the 109K iseminent from Edward and 72nd
scale.
And a company who makes a lotof products that I really like
called Ames, that used to be outof the UK, but it's now out of

(01:13:40):
somewhere in Central Europe, andI forget where, Czech,
Slovakia, Croatia, somewhere inthere.
Actually run by an Anglicanminister who has a deep interest
in World War II Germanaircraft, particularly the
JU-88.
He produces decals as well asconversions and other stuff.

(01:14:04):
And he has a set of decals forthe 109K to go to go with that
Edward release.
And God, they're beautiful.
Um I know decals.
Like I I need another decal,like I need a hole in the head.
But as soon as these thingscome out, I'm gonna buy them.

(01:14:25):
He's shooting a fish in abarrel at this point.
I will be getting those, eventhough German aircraft aren't my
favorite.
They're just beautiful decals,beautiful markings.
The kit's gonna be gorgeous.
And you know, having seen Barryand Steve building those and
and how how thrilled they werewith those models, I can't

(01:14:50):
resist.
Okay, you and me both.
This is this is that is exactlywhat I'm gonna say about my
last one.

Mike (01:15:01):
And I got a suspicion we're gonna out b try to outbig
each other.

Yes, we are.

Mike (01:15:07):
Trumpeter announced a 48-scale Avro Vulcan this week
or so.
Get out of my head.
Man, that thing's gonna be thesize of like an adult stingray.
Yes, it is.
That's a lot of airplanes.

Quite literally, where the heck do you put that
when you're finished with it?

Mike (01:15:24):
I don't know.
I mean So there you go, folks.

I can't imagine a case that that would fit in.
You have to build it.
Yeah.
Well, mine is actually a comboof that kit, Trumpeter's 48th
Falcon, with Trumpeter'sannouncement just the last day
or so that they are doing in35th scale, not 32nd, 35th

(01:15:49):
scale, an ME 232 Gigant or 323Gigant.
It's an ME 323 Gigant, which isthe powered version of the big
glider.

Mike (01:16:02):
Yeah.
The big clamshell front on it.

Clamshell front doors.
This is the thing that gotslaughtered in North Africa and
the Tunisian campaign.
It's an easy target.
Easy target, yes.
It was used heavily on theEastern Front.
And I I think it's brilliantfrom the idea that in 35th
scale, you're gonna open upthose clamshell doors, and you

(01:16:27):
will take your 35th scale Germansoft skins or armored cars or
whatever, and you'll be able todisplay the thing with the
cargo, you know, on the rampscoming out or going in or
whatever.
But in 35th scale, this thingis going to be huge.

(01:16:48):
Our friend Barry Numeric buildsalmost exclusively 109s.
The other thing that he buildsand has a a number of kits of is
the 70 second scale Etalary323.
And that thing is huge in 70second scale.

(01:17:08):
It's nearly the span of my armsin 70 second scale.
I cannot imagine the wing spanon this thing in 35th scale.
Heck, I'm not sure how youengineer it so that the wings
don't droop and fall off or falloff.

Mike (01:17:27):
Touch the ground.

Right, or split the model in half.
I mean, I cannot imagine.
So the same guy who's gonnabuild the 48-scale Vulcan is
gonna also buy and build theJagon, and I am here for it.
I can't wait for the picture ofthose two models filling an
entire room in his house.

Mike (01:17:48):
Oh man.

Well, that's all I got.

That's all I got, too.

Plastic Model Mojo is brought to you by
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Dear listeners, if you're listening to this
podcast and you haven't alreadydone so, please, when you're
done listening, go rate us onwhatever podcast app you're
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Please give us five starsbecause it helps drive our show
to be recommended to people whoare just browsing.

(01:18:38):
And also, if you have amodeling friend who isn't
listening to our podcast, wewould appreciate you
recommending the podcast tothem.
Mike and I are amazed at howmany listeners we have.
We are amazed that it continuesto grow.

(01:18:59):
But the best way for us tocontinue to grow is for current
listeners to recommend us totheir modeling friends.
And every one of you listeningnow has one modeling friend you
know of that isn't listening toour podcast.
Please go to that friend andrecommend us.

(01:19:20):
Mike and I would appreciate it.

Mike (01:19:22):
And we'd appreciate you going to www.modelpodcast.com.
That's a consortium website setup with our friend Stuart Clark
from the Scale Model Podcast,where he's aggregated all the
banner links to all the otherpodcasts out in the model
sphere.
And you can go check them allout.
We've also got a lot of blogand YouTube friends out in the
model sphere.
We mentioned Panzermeister 36,Mr.
Evan McCallum.

(01:19:43):
You want to check out hisarmor-centric Facebook page.
We've mentioned Chris Wallace.
He's got a blog page and aYouTube channel, mostly 48 skill
aircraft.
You're going to want to checkhim out as well because he does
great work.
And he's been doing some reallygood stuff lately.
That's right.
Paul Budzik's come up numeroustimes in this episode.
Check out his skill modelworkshop on YouTube and Patreon.

(01:20:03):
Stephen Lee, Sprue Pie withFrets, a great long and short
form blog, 70 seconds, 70 secondscale modeling and some HO
model railroading.
You can check out his stuffthere.
Uh Steve's always been a goodfriend of the podcast and uh
like what he's doing there.
Yes, I do too.
And Jeff Groves, Inch I guy.
If you really like 70 secondsscale, you're gonna want to go
there as well.

(01:20:24):
The master of the batch build.

He's he's on Soviet subjects right now, World
War II Soviet.
And it's just really, reallyneat to see him producing those.
You don't you don't see as manyof those things built as you
do, say, German, Japanese,American, British, etc.

(01:20:47):
But it's really fascinating tosee them.
If you are not a member ofIPMesh USA, please consider
joining.
It is a really great group thatis run by a bunch of volunteers
who give up their time, some oftheir modeling time to help
make the hobby in the UnitedStates better.

(01:21:08):
Even if you're outside theU.S., you can join and become a
member of IPMes USA, and pleaseconsider doing so.
If you're an armor or post-1900figures modeler, please
consider joining AMPS, the ArmorModeling and Preservation
Society.
They're a really dedicatedgroup of modelers who are really

(01:21:31):
interested in advancing the artof armor modeling.
Great group of guys, highlyrecommend it.
If you're anywhere around SouthBend, Indiana this year, they
have their national show.
I think it's in April.
Yeah.
In April in South Bend.
You would do well to get thereand go to their show.

(01:21:55):
Mike, we're almost at the end.
And I'm almost at the end of mybeer.
You're, I'm sure, almost at theend of your willet.
I am.
And I I already know it's gonnabe great.
So go ahead.

Mike (01:22:13):
The Willet's cool because it's in a a bottle that's shaped
like a a pot still.
Right.
It kind of looks like I dream Idream a genie bottle.
Right.
But it's shaped like a actuallydistiller's pot still.
That said, it's it's uh alittle spicy, some cinnamon
notes because it's got a prettyhigh rye content in it.

Yeah.

Mike (01:22:34):
Not unlike bullet, though I think it's a little better.
But it's not one I buy veryoften.
But uh I thought I'd trysomething new.
Try something differenttonight.

Yep, it's it's a little bit more expensive.
Yeah.
So now it's interesting that youthink uh I think I'd prefer
Bullet over Willet a little bit,but uh that's probably just
utterly personal taste becausethey're they're they're both
very quality bourbons.
Yeah.
Uh at a very reasonable price.

(01:23:05):
And I guess it just, I mean,you know, it depends on what
spice level that and whatparticular notes that you like
or don't like.
It's not better enough for meto switch.

Mike (01:23:17):
Right.
No, I don't do a lot of bulletanymore either.
Yeah.
That was a staple a long timeuntil I found the Russell's
10-year.

I was gonna say Russell's 10 year is your go-to.
Well, how's your IPA?
It's you know, if you had toldme 15 years ago that I would
regularly be drinking IPAs andactually seeking them out to
drink, I'd have told you youwere crazy.
It is amazing how my tasteshave changed.

(01:23:46):
This is good.
It is an IPA, it is hoppy.
It has a little bit of citrusnote, which are, I'll be honest
with you, the kind of IPAs thatI like.
I like the ones that have uh alittle bit of a citrus or
fruitish flavor.
But it's it's excellent.
Now, it's an IPA, it's hoppy,so if you don't like that,

(01:24:09):
you're not going to enjoy it.
But it's about 7.5% alcohol byvolume, so it's mid-high on the
on the range for for beers offthe shelf.
I continue to enjoy whatthey're doing.

Mike (01:24:23):
Well, they're about a block away from work, so well a
little further than that, butnot not too far.

I've got to find a court case to come to in
Lexington so you and I can go tolunch at at Jalapenos and then
maybe head over.
Get some beers.
Get some beers, yeah.
We are now truly at the end ofthe episode, and it's time for
our shout-outs.

Mike (01:24:47):
Well, I always want to shout out the folks who have
chosen to help Plastic ModelMojo through their generosity.
It's greatly appreciated.
Putting a lot of that to useright now, getting this website
expansion squared away.
So uh been a big help, and wejust really appreciate it.
Yeah, it's just it just amazesme how folks have have stepped
up and helped us over the years.
And uh just thank you so much.

(01:25:07):
We really appreciate it.

We do.

Mike (01:25:09):
You got a shout-out, Dave?

Yes, in addition to that shout out, which I full
wholeheartedly endorse, I'mgoing to pre-shout out somebody.
Normally, this shout-out comesin April, but I can pre-shout
out because I know that the guysin Hamilton are some of the
nicest, most hospitable modelersever to put on a show.

(01:25:32):
Canadian nice is a real thing.
They go out of their way tomake us feel welcome.
And they don't have to do it.
We're coming anyway.
Uh, we love the show anyway,but they really do go out of
their way to make us feelwelcome, to include us in their

(01:25:54):
activities, and to just makesure that we have everything we
need to do what we do when we'redoing podcasting or recording
or whatever.
And I know they'll do it againthis year, and I thank them for
it.
I want them to know that it'snot something that that is taken

(01:26:16):
for granted by us.

Mike (01:26:17):
All right.
Looking forward to it.

You and me both, brother.

Mike (01:26:20):
Got any more?
Because I do not.
That's it.
I'm done.
Well, folks, until next time,Dave, as we always say, so many
kits, so little time, and we'llsee at the 12 minute monster in
March.
You got it.

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Why We Build: Friendship and Focus Episode 158

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