Plastic Model Mojo
Plastic Model Mojo, a podcast dedicated to scale modeling, as well as the news and events around the hobby
Plastic Model Mojo
PMM Twelve Minute Modelsphere: July 2025
Tired of the frustration that comes with masking canopies? You're not alone. This episode kicks off with an introduction to Kit Masx, a company born from the simple truth that "manually masking canopies sucks." Founded by Kevin and Janelle, this modeling business now offers over 400 precision-cut mask sets, with Kevin personally testing each one multiple times to ensure perfect fits. The best part? If you reach out, you're talking directly to the owners—real modelers who understand your challenges and will replace or refund your purchase if you're not completely satisfied.
We then dive into recent modeling events, particularly Wonderfest held at the end of May. The quality of models continues to amaze, with expanded Gundam displays and increasingly sophisticated builds featuring lighting and motorization. A standout piece was a gorgeously lit recreation of the Victorian-style spacecraft from "The Black Hole." For those looking ahead, IPMS Nationals is just five weeks away, with pre-registration now closed and excitement building among the community.
The modeling community continues to thrive online as well. Our Facebook "dojo" is approaching 5,400 members with over 20 posts daily showcasing works-in-progress and completed builds. We've managed to squash Facebook's intrusive AI-generated content in our group, keeping the focus on real modelers sharing their genuine work. Looking forward, we tease upcoming episodes featuring interviews with Harvey Low and Bob Bair, plus additional vendor spotlights. Whether you're a seasoned modeler or just starting out, join our growing community... and don't forget to take advantage of Kit Masx MOJO15 discount code for 15% off your first order—your canopies will thank you!
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Mike and Kentucky Dave thank each and everyone of you for participating on this journey with us.
Kev, tell everyone why you started Kit Mask.
Kevin (KitMasx):Well, manually masking canopies sucks, and somebody had to step in to save those countless kits from the shelf of doom.
Janelle (KitMasx):And now we've got over 400 sets and counting. We've got old kits, new kits, forgotten kits, you name it.
Kevin (KitMasx):Yeah, and if we don't have it, just ask.
Janelle (KitMasx):Yeah, people don't realize. We take custom requests and we even have a service that gets you canopy masks for free.
Kevin (KitMasx):We do.
Janelle (KitMasx):Our masks are precision cut. They fit well, they're easy to apply. Kevin cuts and tests every set.
Kevin (KitMasx):Several times.
Janelle (KitMasx):Yeah, precision is kind of his thing.
Kevin (KitMasx):And Janelle. She does everything else. She cares about each customer and is the heart of our business.
Janelle (KitMasx):If you ever reach out, you're talking directly to us.
Kevin (KitMasx):Real people, real modelers, and if you don't love your masks, we'll refund or replace them. No questions asked.
Janelle (KitMasx):Visit kitmaskcom, join the mailing list and treat yourself to easier, cleaner masking.
Kevin (KitMasx):Kit Mask made by a modeler for modelers.
Janelle (KitMasx):Hey what about me?
Kevin (KitMasx):You're not a modeler.
Mike:It's July Kentucky day.
Kentucky Dave:Yes, it is. How the heck did that happen?
Mike:I don't know, but it causes a log jam at Plastic Model Mojo.
Kentucky Dave:Yes, it did, yes, it did, yes, it did. But like we said, life happens.
Mike:Life goes on.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, yeah.
Mike:Well, again, we got to thank Kevin and Janelle at Kitmas for sponsoring 12 Minute Model Sphere. And don't forget folks, there's discount code MOJO15 for 15% off your first order. Take advantage of that, folks. They're good people.
Kentucky Dave:They are.
Mike:So good that it got mentioned in one of our upcoming episodes by our guest. Yes, it did. We'll get to that in a minute, but until then, dave, where have we been and where are we going? Well, I've not been anywhere, really, you have.
Kentucky Dave:I have. Wonderfest was right at the end of May, beginning of June and I managed to make it out there for a couple of hours, so a lot of our listeners got to see John Figueroa, who is on the IPMS board and he's also spearheading the 2026 Fort Wayne Convention heading the 2026 Fort Wayne Convention and got to see Mark Cable and John Dietrich some of our old friends from Military Modelers Club. Yeah, it was amazing. Every time I think the models can't get better. You just walk into that room and you start walking up and down those tables and you're like wow.
Mike:You're probably also getting an eye for the genres now.
Kentucky Dave:Yes, that is true. I'm probably becoming a little bit more sophisticated in some of that stuff. I did notice that Gundam had expanded significantly. Gosh, just all of the folks who are doing things with lighting and with small electrical motors and things like that. It's just wild.
Mike:Hopefully I can make it next year, yeah.
Kentucky Dave:One model in particular. You remember last year the Foundation ship. Yes, Caught both of our eyes. This year, you remember the movie the Black Hole yeah, Okay, Do you remember the ship? It was a very Victorian-looking ship.
Mike:Vaguely. Yes, I can't remember what it was called, though.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, somebody did that and lit the whole thing. That's cool, it was gorgeous, it was freaking gorgeous and got to see the folks at round two they're releasing. They announced a new mold release of I believe it's one of the vehicles from the Thunderbirds the Jerry Anderson marionette show marionette show.
Mike:I was. I believe it's one of the vehicles from the.
Kentucky Dave:Thunderbirds. The Jerry Anderson marionette show. Yeah, marionette show. I was searching for the word Puppet show doesn't sound right Marionette yes, they were marionettes, so had a great time. I wish you'd been there. Hopefully you'll be able to be there next year and maybe I've got some long-range plans that didn't come off this year. That.
Mike:I'm thinking you and me both.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, I know Thinking about for next year. So we'll see. I'll hold that close to the vest for right now, but we'll see what happens and, of course, where we're going in five weeks.
Mike:Something like that.
Kentucky Dave:Five weeks is the nationals.
Mike:Yep and we've already helped squadron promote one of their big announcements and they just had the other one last Wednesday.
Kentucky Dave:Yep and, in addition, registration. Has it officially closed?
Mike:now pre-registration I think last week was the last week wasn't it?
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, I think so.
Mike:And it is past week.
Kentucky Dave:Right, if you're listening to this, you may have already missed the cutoff for pre-registration, so hopefully everybody out there going to the show has has pre-registered and I know Mike got his done and I got mine done and I'm really looking forward to this this year.
Mike:Me too, man, I know.
Kentucky Dave:I know, and a lot of our friends are going to be there.
Mike:It's going to be a gathering well how many episodes we're gonna have in july day. See if you can't get it figured out for June or May. Really, Folks are probably wondering what the heck happened to episode 143.
Kentucky Dave:Yes.
Mike:Well, folks, it's in the works. Still. We've got the interview recorded and plans to finish that out what we want to do. Last month we kind of wanted to sneak in a vendor spotlight in there and we ended up getting a hold of Brandon at squadron and had him on, and we went a little longer than I wouldn't say longer than planned, but I guess longer that that longer than I had envisioned and the show ended up performing well for us, as much so as a feature episode, and then a bunch of life kept getting in the way and it just it's become the episode that could not be recorded.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah Well we're getting there because the interview with Harvey is really great, yeah, and hopefully you and I have cleared off enough life out of our way that we'll get it knocked out and get it dropped soon.
Mike:Yeah, then we got episode 144, which is going to be a shop talk, and if our plans hold on, that one, bob Bear, the voice of Bob, is going to come on. He's helped the show out a lot and he's a really great modeler too and he does some interesting subjects and it'll be nice to have him on for a shop talk segment.
Kentucky Dave:It will be. It'll give me a chance to put the arm on him to get him to come back up to Wonderfest.
Mike:Or our show, yeah, or our show, yeah, or our show. Oh, that's true too. And again, we may sneak another vendor spotlight in there. I think we're going to. I won't reveal what that one's going to be, but it's a new one.
Kentucky Dave:Right.
Mike:And then I don't know, after that it'll be gravy. Yeah, we'll see what we can do. If we get the TMM, a vendor spotlight and two episodes in July, we'll be doing good and we'll head on into August and take it from there, man.
Kentucky Dave:You're all along for the ride with us on this, guys. Thanks for being patient. Yes, exactly.
Mike:Dave, I've been putting in some dojo posts as I work through my KV85 and it's kind of been hopping a little bit again. It's always fun.
Kentucky Dave:Yes, we are up to, I think, 53. We are very close to 5,400 members. Things have slowed down ever so slightly, so any of you current listeners out there go through your Facebook contacts, find modelers that you are friends with who aren't on the dojo and invite them to the dojo. We like the community that we've grown and we want to grow it further, so the more the merrier. And I'll tell you what. The folks have been extremely active. You can tell that show season is upon us. There have been a lot of show posts, a lot of in-progress stuff, some absolutely amazing finished builds yeah, a couple of them that a couple of people posted F8F Bearcats and I don't know if they're trying to shame me or what, but yeah, I'm feeling bad, but my F8Fs are moving along. So we're getting it. You're getting close. We're to the point where we're seeing 20 plus posts a day on the dojo, which, with the way Facebook works and the way Facebook's groups work, you really have to scroll back so that you don't miss something.
Mike:Yeah, it's kind of the annoying part of it all it is. That's just the way it's structured.
Kentucky Dave:It's the way they set it up and there's nothing we can do about it. We did get the annoying AI-enabled posts where we killed that bot. Ai-enabled posts we killed that bot. What had happened was Facebook had, without telling any group owners in advance, had basically dropped an AI chatbot into every group on Facebook and it started using AI to generate posts, I guess in an attempt to stimulate activity in the different groups. But it was annoying and with the help of Evan McCallum, I was able to squash it. Squash it dead.
Mike:Yeah, till the next one comes.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, it's going to say it's dead until they turn it back on without telling us.
Mike:Well, the prosciutto slice separator plastic post was a good one.
Kentucky Dave:I like that. I like that idea.
Mike:I'm still trying to figure out how to find that stuff.
Kentucky Dave:Well, I know, if you go to Costco you can get it.
Mike:No, I want to buy the plastic on a roll or something that's already been thin.
Kentucky Dave:The prosciutto is great man.
Mike:You got to wash it just to pain the butt.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, I know, but somebody, yeah, if they're making that for an industrial purpose, you know that there is some supplier out there who is supplying that to the companies who are doing the packaging, the prosciutto.
Mike:So folks keep it coming on the dojo and hang out with us in July and hopefully bring you some more good content.
Kentucky Dave:Yes, absolutely.
Mike:All right, dave, as we always say so many kids, so little time, man Bye.
