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
Shop Talk with Bob Bair: Episode 144
For modelers who've ever stood in front of the aftermarket display with credit card in hand knowing they should walk away but simply can't, this episode is your support group. We welcome Bob "The Voice of Bob" Bair to the third chair, and immediately dive into his current Tamiya P-38 build—a project that's gradually transformed from a straightforward kit into a showcase of just about every aftermarket part available.
The conversation takes a sharp turn into the evolving world of online modeling communities. We examine how virtual build sessions emerged from pandemic necessity but now serve modelers in isolated locations who might otherwise lack community connections. While we celebrate these digital opportunities, we all agree there's something irreplaceable about in-person modeling sessions—the spontaneous sharing of techniques, the camaraderie, and even the simple joy of "throwing stuff at each other" as Bob puts it.
We tackle a thought-provoking question from Steve Anderson's modeling journal: what's one thing we wish we would have started five years ago? The answers range from practical (better organization) to technical (3D printing and figure painting skills). Mike's admission that he hasn't dedicated enough time to develop figure painting skills despite knowing how much they enhance armor models resonates as a universal modeling truth—we all have skills we wish we'd developed earlier.
Between updates on current projects and discussions of exciting new kit announcements (from Japanese artillery to the mysterious B-21 Raider), we explore the balance between modeling ambition and reality. Whether you're struggling with aftermarket addiction or wondering how to better connect with fellow modelers, this episode offers both commiseration and inspiration. And yes, we still find time to properly evaluate our modeling fluids, including Buffalo Trace bourbon that's ironically impossible to find just 20 miles from where it's made!
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Mike and Kentucky Dave thank each and everyone of you for participating on this journey with us.
Welcome to Plastic Model Mojo, a podcast dedicated to scale modeling, as well as the news and events around the hobby. Let's join Mike and Kentucky Dave as they strive to be informative, entertaining and help you keep your modeling mojo alive.
Kentucky Dave:All right, kentucky Dave, episode 144. Yep, I am looking forward to it. That would be a gross yes 12 square, or airliner scale, airliner scale, there you go.
Mike:Well, we've got somebody in third chair tonight and folks have heard a lot of him in Plastic Model Mojo. They just heard him. That's right, the voice of Bob, bob, bear, bob, how's things in Charlotte?
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Welcome to oh no, we already did that.
Kentucky Dave:That was good.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:They are really really hot, Physically really hot, I imagine. So yeah, there has been like two straight weeks of heat index over 100.
Kentucky Dave:The Piedmont heatmont heat yeah well, now that my pool's open, I'm happy for that I bet I bet you are.
Mike:Yeah felt good on the fourth of july. It did well, bob. Since you're in the third chair, we're just gonna start with you. Man, what is up in your model sphere?
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:yeah, my model sphere. Well, let's see. I got a few things working on the bench. I've got, of course, the never ending story of me building the P38J from Tamiya, and then I jumped over and started working on the Revell SR71, trying to get some of the wheel wells painted up a little bit and start assembling that here in a little bit. And I've been working on a an old ho steam engine.
Kentucky Dave:so there you go. Well, I mentioned to you, I think in a direct message though, on that sr71 go take a look at uh chris wallace model airplane makers, youtube on that, because he did a really excellent job on that black finish.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:What amazes me is that's black without using black Exactly. That's so cool. I love it. I can't wait to get to that. I'm going to definitely I'm going to try that because it just looks. It looks great.
Mike:He's also been working on some brass locomotive too. Yeah, yep. Nice, he's also been working on some brass locomotive too. Yeah, yep.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Nice, yeah, one of dad's old, uh old ones that just kind of gotten beaten up over the years. So, um, took it apart, cleaned it up and I meant Wallace.
Mike:Wallace has been working on oh has he? Oh he uh, he fixes stuff for the local shop up there on occasion and he sent me this picture of it's like a, an old traction locomotive, you know like a box cab kind of thing, and I don't know, it's some old Japanese brass thing. Wasn't working. It's working now. Well, good, Glad you're, glad you're getting bench. We'll get into those in the bench top after I'm important a little more detail. But, dave, what's up?
Kentucky Dave:Well, in my model sphere, the pool's open, it's hot.
Mike:It's not the model sphere, it's the backyard.
Kentucky Dave:Well, my model sphere has kind of been compromised by the fact that my 88-year-old mother took a fall recently and broke six ribs. So she was in the hospital five days and she's finishing up about 12 days of rehab and will go home tomorrow. But what that's done is, of course, family comes first, so that's kind of given my modeling and my model sphere a backseat. However, I have been anxiously looking forward to the Nationals at Hampton, been plotting what we're going to do, where we're going to do it and who we're going to do it with, and that's got my juices flowing. That's kind of kept me going through some tough times here lately and I've gotten a little modeling done, which we'll talk about at the Benchtop Halftime Report. But my model sphere is good. Your model sphere. Mike, calls for answers, answers, yes, mojo, listening. Public demands answers. They want to know why you, a modeling fluid connoisseur, were pictured at my pool on July 4th holding nay, drinking a Pabst, blue ribbon, red, white and blue can man, what do you have to say for yourself?
Mike:It was the 4th of July. I make no apologies. You know, into the 1970s it was the king of beer.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Yes it was yeah For beer bong.
Mike:For certain brewers in the St Louis area who had a bigger marketing department. They've promoted a lesser product to the masses. I'm not saying it's a great beer, but for sitting out in the sun on the 4th of July it'll do fine.
Kentucky Dave:Well, what's up in your, now that you've been thoroughly raked over the coals for your choice of modeling fluid? I'll do it again next year. There you go, we'll get a again next year. There you go, we'll get a picture next year, or maybe, maybe next year we'll get you a, a blats or affairs or a Schlitz. No, or a natty, a natty boat.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:And you're out of Schlitz, you're out of beer.
Kentucky Dave:Here you go.
Mike:You know you're out of money too.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Some iron city Maybe.
Kentucky Dave:There you. You know you're out of money too. Get to some Iron City, maybe. There you go, old frothing slosh. Ooh, that's the stuff, mike. What's up in your real model sphere?
Mike:You know this is kind of a double dip because we got some model railroad commentary.
Mike:We just finished up there with Bob and talking about Chris Wallace and over several episodes we've been talking about that book collection you went to see and then we've had a lot of stash reduction and estate planning banter.
Mike:Over the next episode and a couple other places I finally purged my furnace room of all the model railroad stuff that I had left Almost all of it, 90% of it, 99% of it probably Just on Facebook marketplace been selling it, sold a bunch there and then last weekend bought a table at the local show for one of the local train clubs. The doors to the public opened at 10. I went in at nine to set up, spread out my wares, sold a couple of things real quick to one of the club members and then a dude came by and was sizing up everything and he could tell what I was doing and he said how much for all of it and I gave him my number and he took it and I boxed it back up and fold up my tablecloth and still 10 minutes for the show open to the public. I went home and enjoyed the rest of my Saturday by going fishing Nice.
Kentucky Dave:With a fat wad in your pocket.
Mike:That's right, that's it's long gone now. It was earmarked, so that's the way we go. So that's my model sphere.
Kentucky Dave:Well, since we're recording, I'm assuming A you have modeling fluid and B it is not Pabst Blue Ribbon. So, mike, do you have a modeling fluid in front of?
Mike:you, I do. I am sipping on some more of that Old Forrester 1920 I had last time.
Kentucky Dave:Oh, good stuff. So that's what I meant you need to bring some of that to the dojo in Hampton. That's good stuff. Bob, do you have a modeling fluid? I do, oh, listen to that.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Knocked the bottom out of that glass Glug, glug, glug, glug, glug. A little Buffalo Trace for the evening.
Mike:Nice, so you can get that in Charlotte. You can't get it in my city, that's right.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:It helps if one of the guys you know has a daughter that works at the ABC store.
Kentucky Dave:Oh, that's great. That's right. North Carolina has ABC stores, don't they, mm-hmm?
Mike:Yeah, dave, what do you got?
Kentucky Dave:I've got a modeling fluid too. This is another one of the modeling fluids sent by listener Ken Schaefer. This is Two Roads Brewery's no Limits Hefeweizen. That one was good, yeah, yeah, I think I'm going to enjoy this. I think I'm going to. I hadn't had I know I gave you yours. I hadn't had this one from the group that he sent us, and so I figured tonight was the night and so far it's good, and I'll let you know at the end.
Mike:Well, we got plenty of listener mail, yeah Cool. So, bob, you'll get a chance to offer your comments on these as well, and we're just going to get started with the stuff that's come in through the email chain. Dave, all right Up first someone we haven't heard from in a while, from Saginaw, michigan, scott Stachowiak. You know he came by the dojo a time or two in the past and I guess one conversation we had with him in Madison yeah, madison, I can't remember if we saw him in Madison or in amps, but is it Madison?
Kentucky Dave:No yeah.
Mike:How to, how to handle the deluge of people and and have Mike and Dave not get kicked out of the hotel Wristbands. He's got something, he's got an idea and we'll have to talk about that offline, but you know, looking forward to that, yeah, I am too One way or the other.
Kentucky Dave:Yes, we're not exactly sure how that's going to work this year, given our arrangements, but we're we'll. We'll work something out, bob you gonna make it this year I am I was gonna say heck, it's a hop, skip and a jump for you this is.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:This is exciting for me because it will be the first one I've been able to drive to.
Kentucky Dave:Oh, that's great. That means you can bring a lot of models, and as long as you make sure that you don't bring a little sports car but you bring something big, it means you can fit a lot of purchases on the way back.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Yes, I will be bringing Marv. Marv, yes, what is Marv that's? Marv is short for Missile Acquisition Recovery Vehicle. Oh, it's an 88 Blazer that's been modified a bit.
Mike:Oh cool. Well, that's cool. Is Mrs coming with you this year?
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:She decided not to. Actually, the plan was that she was going to come along, but she has decided that she didn't want to go. So I actually had reserved some extra time at the beginning. So I'll cut some of that out and then just be there for the good stuff.
Kentucky Dave:Well, clearly she's a smart woman.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Yeah, I think so yeah.
Mike:Up next Joel Munson, and he says he just got back from two weeks in Japan. He lived there for two years in high school at the Yokosuka Naval Base and went to the Nile Sea Kinnick High School alma mater of Mark Hamill. Really he's known as Luke Skywalker. Yeah, and I know who Nile Kinnick High School alma mater of Mark Hamill. Really that's what it's known as Luke Skywalker.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, and I know who Niall Kinnick is.
Mike:Well, he wanted to vouch for some of the stuff that Harvey Lowe was talking about. Mm-hmm, he can confirm the existence of the how Do you Even have this? Kits over in the Akihabara section of Tokyo, and he wanted to add to Harvey's point about passports getting a discount. A lot of it is encouraging foreign shopping from tourists. It's basically removing their VAT, but it's still kind of odd that that happens up front. When I was other places I've traveled, that's usually not the case, right, if you want to get that back, you've got to go apply for it on your end.
Kentucky Dave:Right and that's the way it is in Canada is if you spend money and keep your receipts, there's a form you can fill out and you can get some money back on the back end.
Mike:Well, if you go to Japan, you're going to get that 8% back on food. Yeah, Interesting Bob you ever been to Japan?
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:I have not. That's one of those bucket list things.
Mike:I've been, but I didn't get to do this thing like Harvey did, as he's talked about in the last episode. That sounds like a fun time. Yes, jason Campbell from Middle Tennessee has written in again. Dave, okay, he went to the Chattanooga Model Con and had a great time. Wish we could have gone? Yeah, we did not. No, but I saw they're going to pick up their original date in January. Yes, so they're going to flip around and have another show in seven months.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, and we need to. Since January is usually dead time, you and I need to plan to go.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:We'll see what happens. Yeah, that one got moved because of weather, right?
Mike:Yes, I think it's weather that almost that barely happened in the end, but it was too late. Once you call it, you call it right. Yeah, kind of like schools in Charlotte when it gets grazed up in the wintertime.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Hey if there's.
Mike:If there's if there's one inch of snow out there that everything closes. Yeah, duns dunsville. Well, he had some conversations with some of the chattanooga club guys. Now he's not in chattanooga proper, but he decided to attend their july meeting, which is going to be july 21st, which is not too far off, and he's going to be presenting a meeting and talk about the gund community and Gundam modeling and all that, and he said it was met with enthusiastic support and they offered to lend assistance, which he only needed a TV and an HDMI cable. So, jason, we look forward to hearing about that. Yeah, maybe you can take that show on the road you could. Man has Nats had a Gundam or Mecha? I know somebody did a Machining Krieger one Right.
Kentucky Dave:I don't know if they've had a Gundam presentation, a seminar, but that certainly would be. I would not doubt we're going to see them in the future because we're getting expanded Gundam categories already.
Mike:Bob, your club got on that bandwagon.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:No, not yet. You find the home of NASCAR. A lot of cars, a lot of vehicles. Our club is pretty diverse, but you get outside the city and I've gone to a couple up, you know, just up the road in Statesville, and you know the contest has all these categories for cars. And then, oh, here's one for science fiction, here's one for tanks, here's one for planes.
Kentucky Dave:I understand.
Mike:Well, Arthur Garanazo from Brazil has written in again, oh great. And he had a question for us. He wants to know if we participate in modeling forums anymore these days, and in particular the written ones. He meant go ahead, Dave, because I know you were moderating.
Kentucky Dave:I still do moderate 72nd-scale aircraft forum. I still do moderate 72nd scale aircraft forum. I don't participate as much as I would like to, just simply because the Internet's like drinking from a fire hose man is because of the threaded nature of forums. Six months from now I can go back and I can find that really fantastic build that Petra Ola did on the W34 if I wanted to do something like it, and so I could actually, whereas if I saw something six months ago on a Facebook group, even if I could remember the group I saw it on, I'm not sure you'd ever find it.
Mike:Yeah, I find myself saving posts on Facebook.
Kentucky Dave:Yes, yeah, I do think that you have to do that more with Facebook is because you know you'll never find it again.
Mike:Yeah, I don't really there was in its heyday. That more with Facebook is because you know you'll never find it again. Yeah, I don't really there was in its heyday. At the front end of the internet there was track links and missing links for the Armour Guide. I was pretty heavy into both of those for a long time but, gosh, not anymore. It's almost all on social media.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:I've dabbled in Brit Modeler. I've found a lot of good stuff in that one, but that's a few.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, it's very eclectic. I like Brit modeler, I like the. I like the vibe at Brit modeler.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Yeah, it is, you're right, it is a very good. Everyone is very helpful. Yeah, yeah, it's a good forum.
Mike:Well, and then you know, the photo bucket fiasco.
Kentucky Dave:Oh God, yeah, that trashed a lot of stuff.
Mike:Trashed a lot of forums, yeah yeah, and you know it's like perfect storm. It wasn't long after that happened the social media stuff started ramping up.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Yep.
Mike:And that was kind of the end of that, though you know, those armor forums are still around. At least one of them is, I can't remember which one. I think it's. Missinglinks is still there, and Hyperscale is still around. Interesting question, but no, I don't do much of that anymore. It's just a sign of the times.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:He didn't say whether he was doing any of it.
Mike:He did. He mentioned one. Let me back up and find that again Modeler's Alliance, oh, modelers Alliance.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:I've never heard of that one. Okay.
Mike:And he mentions before he passed that Bob Letterman was pretty active in that forum, so that's the one he was in. Okay, from IPMS Silver Wings, drew Savage. He wanted to thank us for getting the word out on SilverCon 2025 in Sacramento back in May. More than happy to, he said. Last year they had 300 models entered and this year it was north of 400.
Kentucky Dave:That's fantastic.
Mike:And he wants to attribute at least some of that to us helping boost attendance by helping getting the word out.
Kentucky Dave:Listen any listener out there your clubs having a show, reach out, mike and I. I mean first of all post the flyer on the dojo, post pictures from the show on the dojo, but reach out to Mike or I and let us know we want to promote these shows Again. Mike and I are big believers in people going to shows, not for the competition unless that's your bag but just for the interaction that you get with fellow modelers.
Mike:Bob, I used to go to a bunch in North Carolina when I was living in Tennessee, still to front end my modeling career Over in the Asheville area maybe. We used to do the Asheville French broad chapter show. We used to go to Charlotte. We used to go to Salisbury. Is that club even still around? Arm air is what it was, I believe.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:I haven't heard them. I know we the last one that our club, the Charlotte scale modelersers, did to the show. We did it with gastonia. Yeah, I remember that. Yeah, they had, but you know they gastonia has seven members, um, so, but we're doing it again this year, so, but you know it's still out in november, so we'll we'll give you the information for that when it gets a little bit closer.
Mike:Well, last episode we mentioned new wear, kits, new wear models.
Kentucky Dave:And Mike Ida-Kavich, as predicted, wrote in, I think if you say new wear three times, fast, Mike Ida-Kavich appears in your bathroom. You know it's like Biggie Smalls. If you say Biggie Smalls into the mirror three times, Hi guy.
Mike:Well, he says New Wear kits, he recommends them. They have one of the best catalogs of real space-related resin kits in regards to both Well, not both, but in regards to diversity, quality and buildability, and he sent some photos of the ones that he's built. Yep, put those on a dojo.
Kentucky Dave:I've got a couple of those myself.
Mike:Thomas, the man behind New Wear and its founder, is a really great guy and Mike has known him since the late 90s and he joined a few of the real space modelers at the IPMS National Convention in Orlando to take in a shuttle launch. Oh wow, so that was probably fun, yeah, yeah. Oh wow, so that was probably fun, yeah, yeah. And Mike says when given a choice to pick up a real space kit, he tends to select the new wear version when there's overlap. So there you go New wear, expect a big order. New wear from David Goldfinch that's right.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Yeah, no kidding. If they're going to be at the Nationals, I would definitely be spending cash there.
Mike:Yeah, I don't know. I checked the vendor list if they're there or not.
Kentucky Dave:That reminds me I need to go sell some blood.
Mike:Well, Dave, that's all I got from the email side of things. Have things been coming in via Facebook Messenger?
Kentucky Dave:Yes, they have First up is Agent 003, brandon Jacob. Brandon had previously communicated with us where he had dipped his toe into buying collections and then liquidating them and he's bought another collection, sent me some photographs, a lot of classic Airfix and Frog and Matchbox in the old-style boxings, which led to a couple of conversations. One is Brandon's discovery that there's a whole other group of modelers guys out there. You might find them on Facebook. They build alone. They don't interact on modeling Facebook groups, facebook groups, they're just people who like to model Quietly. He says you get everything from folks just gluing parts together to full-blown, top-quality modelers. And he said that was kind of eye-opening to him that there was this whole other subculture and that led to the discussion of the subculture of folks who collect models not to build but they actually collect models, older models, and want particular boxings with particular box art or particular styles of box and said it just it's. This foray into buying and liquidating collections has led him to a much expanded view of the hobby.
Mike:Because we interviewed a guy here locally that's got a pretty big Vanity Skid business.
Kentucky Dave:Speaking of which, I need you to put me in touch with him. That's on my list. I need to do that.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Stuff you want to buy Dave.
Kentucky Dave:No, he has a whole bunch of decals that he needs help organizing. That's true, and I can't resist decals, and I can't resist decals. Oh, speaking of which, Brandon sent in a wheel question and I will forward that wheel question to you. It was a really good one, and so I'll send it to you so you can add it to the list. Brandon's great man he is. He's living the life man he's just living the life.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Him and I kind of bonded in Texas. We spent a lot of hours sitting at the bar drinking.
Kentucky Dave:No no.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Believe it or not. Yeah, there was some kind of fluid involved. Yeah, we really had a good time together. That was good.
Kentucky Dave:Martin Hulse reached out. That was good. Martin Hulse reached out. He had gotten one of the early Arma Hawk 75 kits the French markings and it's a kit that I'm very much interested in. He got it for a test build, slash, review, build and it's still technically under wraps. But he was kind enough to reach out and tell me what he encountered about the kit because obviously I'm very interested in it. So, overall, very nice kit. Like any model kit there are things you need to pay attention to. That was very kind of him to help me with my curiosity.
Kentucky Dave:Terry Wilkinson reached out to us to make sure we're going to be at the Nats because he's tired of carrying around modeling fluid that he's got for us and he's not the only one.
Kentucky Dave:Several people have reached out to confirm that we definitely truly to seeing all of you and we'll receive whatever modeling fluid happens to come our way.
Kentucky Dave:Scott Daniel, a listener in the UK, reached out because he travels to Cincinnati three to four times a year for business. Cincinnati three to four times a year for business. I don't know what business he's in or who he works for, but it causes him to travel to Cincinnati three to four times a year and he actually reached out to recommend some beers from local Cincinnati microbrews, a place called Dingle House, and he recommended a couple of beers. That led to the conversation to expanding, talking about Hofbrauhaus, talking about the museum in Dayton, the Newport Aquarium, jungle Gyms, and we just had a nice wide-ranging conversation. And I'll say again what I told him in the DMs, which is, if ever on any of these trips to Cincinnati he gets a day where he can take a ride for about an hour and 20 minutes down the road, he can go to Scale Reprodu reproductions and I'll meet him there and give him the personally guided scale reproductions tour.
Mike:Well, cincinnati is kind of like Nashville man. They're want for a good local hobby.
Kentucky Dave:Yes, they are yeah, which is surprising. Yep, I am surprised. The next DM is from one of our fellow podcasters. Robert Adams, with the Insanity podcast, reached out because you know they have, just like we have, the dojo, they have a group and suddenly they had in their group one of these AI chatbots generating posts and interacting and being a pain in the butt that nobody asked for and he had remembered my dealing with it an episode or two back and he reached out because he wanted to kill it and he couldn't figure out how to kill it. So I basically walked through with him killing this thing and, man, I just wish facebook would stop doing stuff like this. It's a pain in the butt, but we were happy to help out our friends over at insanity. What'd it take to kill it? Stake in the butt, but we were happy to help out our friends over at Insanity.
Mike:What did it take to kill? It Stake in the heart A couple of silver bullets.
Kentucky Dave:As you would expect, what they do is they hide it as far deep down into menus as they can possibly do, because they don't want you to kill it, and so they make it as tough as possible to dig down into the menus to find the right place where you can turn off all the settings. I managed to walk him through it. He managed to kill it. I'm happy for him, and Zuckerberg, please stop doing stuff like that. Two more One our friend, john McAvoy, reached out and sent four wheel questions and I will pass those on to you, mike, and they were all really good questions. So this is the moment I'm going to take to thank everybody who's sending wheel questions. We need to repopulate the wheel. You can DM them to me, but the best way to make sure that they get to where they need to go is email Mike at plasticmodelmojo at gmailcom and send him your wheel questions, because we're looking forward to doing another wheel episode.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Yeah, that's fun, I love that.
Mike:Well, let's have you back for a wheel.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Yeah, that's right, I'd love it.
Kentucky Dave:For a wheel yeah.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:I'd love that. That'd be great.
Kentucky Dave:Finally, listener Dave Waples, who we've heard from before. Dave was in the Shenandoah National Forest which, by the way, is as close to heaven as you ever get on Earth and he was at an establishment and he saw, saw, on the beer menu, gumball Head. Having been a loyal listener for a long time, he knew what Gumball Head was. He ordered it and he was very pleased with it, said it was an excellent beer. So he reached out to let us know and I'm happy to convert another person to Gumball Head because it's a really, really good beer. So how much do you get from them? Nothing, and we should get something from them. Mike and I even made a pilgrimage to the brewery last year and in fact, mike, I need to talk to you about whether we're going to do that again this year, because I would like to do that again this year.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:I mean at least a six-pack a month would be, you know. Yeah, really Right.
Kentucky Dave:Or send us a pony keg, you know, oh yeah.
Mike:I like that. That'd last a day or two. Yeah, that'd be good.
Kentucky Dave:So that's it from the DM side, Mike.
Mike:All right. So, folks, if you want to get in contact with us, you can do so. Like Dave just said, you can email me at plasticmodelmojo at gmailcom, or send a direct message via the Facebook messenger system that goes to Dave, or you can send it through the web feedback link in the show notes of this and each and every episode. So let's hear from you folks.
Kentucky Dave:As always when you're done listening to this episode, if you would rate the podcast on whatever ratings app you use, whatever listening app you use, give us five stars or thumbs up or whatever it helps drive people to the podcast. If we don't continue to grow, we'll die, and we don't want to die, so we want to continue to grow. Help us grow. The other way you can help us grow is if you know of a modeling friend who doesn't listen to modeling podcasts or doesn't listen to Plastic Model Mojo, please recommend us to them. Help them if they need help technologically with downloading podcasts and subscribing.
Mike:We appreciate it. You can also rate the podcast through the ratings web link and also in the show notes of each and every episode and once you've done that you can check out the other podcasts. We'd love you to do that. You can do that by going to wwwmodelpodcastcom. That's model podcast plural. It's a consortium website set up from our good friend Stuart Clark at the Scale Model Podcast up in London, ontario, and there you can find an aggregate of all the banner links to all the other podcasts in the model sphere.
Mike:In addition to podcasts, there's a lot of other content out there you need to take in. We have a lot of blog and YouTube friends in the model sphere Evan McCallum, panzermeister36. He's got a great armor-centric YouTube channel, does a little model railroading every now and then. Chris Wallace, who we've mentioned, model Airplane Maker. He's got a great blog and YouTube channel, especially if you like 48-scale aircraft. If you're into 72nd scale, we've got a couple of recommendations. We've got Stephen Lee Spreep Eye with Frets. He's got a lot of 72nd scale projects going on and just a lot of long and short form blogs about just general model sphere kind of stuff. And the InShotGuy in 72nd scale, the InShotGuy blog, our friend, jeff Groves, up in Indiana, has got a great blog and man, what was he building recently?
Kentucky Dave:Dave he was building something that you would be happy with, which was F9F, cougars and Panthers.
Mike:Ah, that's right.
Kentucky Dave:A4. He's kind of on a jet naval air kick. So he even had an F8 sitting out on the table. I think that was to shame me.
Mike:And finally, scale model workshop from Dr Paul Budzik. You're going to want to get on Patreon or YouTube to check that out and see what Dr Paul's got going on.
Kentucky Dave:Finally, if you are not a member of IPMS USA, ipms Canada or your national IPMS chapter, please consider joining Great organizations, volunteers, helping people out. In fact, I've got an e-board meeting this weekend so I'm going to take an hour, hour and a half of my modeling time and devote it to trying to make the hobby of scale modeling a little bit better. If you are an armor or post-1900 figures modeler, consider joining the Armor Modeling and Preservation Society. Great group of guys really are dedicated to the art of armor modeling. Their national show is back in South Bend, indiana, next year. Mike and I are intending to attend again and I cannot recommend them enough. They're a great group of modelers.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Plastic Model Mojo is brought to you by Model Paint Solutions, your source for harder and steam-backed airbrushes, david Union power tools and laboratory-grade mixing, measuring and storage tools for use with all your model paints, be they acrylic, enamels or lacquers. Check them out at wwwmodelpaintsolutionscom.
Mike:Well, guys, as it has become customary in our I don't know most of this year, I guess one of our feature episodes every month has been the shop talk thing we've been doing and folks have been enjoying it. And, bob, that's what we brought you in for. It's a lot more fun when we've got somebody in the third chair for these and we even let you pick some of the topics this time. How about that?
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, isn't that scary, that's right.
Mike:I like that. Fresh ideas, fresh blood. Well, topic number one is aftermarket. Somebody make me stop buying it. Who's going first? Bob, I guess you're going first. Yeah, let's let Bob go first. You got a little aftermarket problem.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:I do. I mean, you know, I get get so excited, especially when I go to nationals and I start digging through the edwards area and I'm like, oh, that would be cool, oh that, oh yeah, let's do that. So I mean, and that's I, I did that with this p38 I'm working on, so I'm oh yeah well, I need both engines right and I need the flaps, and I need the cockpit and I need the preach brother.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:And it's just. Yeah, I just so. I even even with this SR 71, I'm trying to control myself and just get a few things that really are necessary, but I just. But if I see something, you know it's, it's a shiny object.
Kentucky Dave:Oh God. Well, and here's where a my name's David. I'm an addict too, bob. If you look over when you're going through that Edward or CMK stuff, you'll probably see me standing next to you. I have the same problem, and in addition to two additional things about it. One, yes, I buy a lot of this stuff, but I rarely use it. And two, sometimes, when I use it, it sabotages large and small to use the aftermarket sometimes, and then you may find that, having done that, it makes the build much more difficult, and so I think that's part of why I end up buying way more of this stuff than I actually use. Now, bob, be honest with me On that P38, did you use both aftermarket engines?
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Yeah, both. Yeah, oh wow, I know. Well, you know, I almost consider one of them as a test and then, hopefully, I can get the other one to be even better, and then that will be the one that I expose.
Kentucky Dave:Okay, so wait a minute. Are you telling me you're going to have an aftermarket engine in this model that is going to be covered up engine?
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:in this model that is going to be covered up. That that's possible. That is definitely possible. We'll see when I get there.
Kentucky Dave:I love it. You make me feel so much better about myself, bob, thank you.
Mike:Oh, I was thinking there for a minute. You need them to make it match, but they're in lines, aren't they? Yes, it's not like you got a cylinder bank. You can see from the front of the cowl, that's right. Then it would make sense to replace them both, because the plastic one's just not going to look as good as the other one you replaced if you don't replace them both.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:But there is so much of this piping that is required for each one of them. It's really a kit in each one, including the gun bay as well. That I did. Yeah, it's just incredible how much work goes into that little little engine. I can't stop it. I look at the stuff and I'm like, oh man, that's going to look so cool. I can't stop it. I look at the stuff and I'm like, oh man, that's going to look so cool.
Kentucky Dave:Okay, I have to ask on your P38, quick count off the top of your head how many pieces don't count? Decals, how many pieces of aftermarket are going to be on this model? So we're counting each engine, yeah count each engine separately, count each wheel separately.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Oh, that's right. The wheels and the landing gear yeah, that too, yeah, so it's going to be the gun bay, which also includes the parts of the fuselage that cover it too, and then both the engines. I've got the flaps. I decided to purchase flaps as well. Landing gear, weighted wheels, cockpits yeah, and that Gumby. That should be about it.
Kentucky Dave:That's going to be a lot of aftermarket man.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:And it's so much butchering of the model. There is no model I've ever had before where I had to use a saw.
Kentucky Dave:There you go. Does it hurt your soul a little bit to cut into that fine Tamiya plastic with that beautiful molding on it? Does it? Does it kind of hurt you when you cut into it? It?
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:hurts a lot. I mean it just because I know there's just okay, here it goes. No going back now.
Kentucky Dave:No going back now, oh, that's awesome, mike, do you well, you've got an aftermarket addiction, maybe not a huge one I do.
Mike:It's not as bad as it used to be. I've got a lot of obsolete aftermarket back there. I think I've joked about starting the Jurassic aftermarket exhibit at the aftermarket museum of history.
Kentucky Dave:There you go.
Mike:Yeah, I got some real junk back there, which is something worth mentioning. It's like there's still some bad stuff out there, but generally the base quality of most aftermarket nowadays is way better than it used to be.
Kentucky Dave:Yes, and with 3D printing it's getting better and better.
Mike:My problem is the way I model. I would pick and choose, so I'd buy. You know there are several projects that I know. I've bought three or four photo-it sets for the same subject, for the same kit and I've picked and chosen out of that. So I've got a big stack of frets in my spares area that's just picked over and cherry picked. Photo etch sheets, yeah, or or more more intensive detail sets I had resin and photo etch and I've just picked out you know the best of the best and and use that. So I don't know it. It it can get expensive, yes yeah, you don't want to know what, what a model costs?
Mike:yeah, I've been, I've been. I still buy, not not like I used to. I still buy quite a bit.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, I do too, and if you threw decals into here as well, we'd be off the charts on a whole other planet, because that's a whole separate type of aftermarket that I'm just. I have no willpower at all.
Mike:Well, I'm trying to think of what's the most recent thing I bought, and when I bought it it's probably mail order or eBay. It was some resin bits for a Soviet T-70 light tank. It's probably the last thing I bought. That was aftermarket. No, that's not true. No, there are ABRA parts for my KV-85 products which I'll get into in the Benchtop Halftime Report. That's probably the last thing I bought to in the Benchtop Halftime Report. That's probably the last thing I bought. We've not had the what Broke your Wallet segment in the podcast now for probably gosh going on four months.
Kentucky Dave:It hadn't been that long.
Mike:I think it has Well, save it for after.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Nationals? Oh yeah right, it'd be plenty of opportunity there.
Mike:It's been three months because the last time we did it was after HeritageCon.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, probably true. Yeah, well, that'll be the special Dave declares bankruptcy episode.
Mike:So I've not looked at the national convention to see what aftermarket folks. Oh, we know Edward's going to be there. Oh yeah, I don't know if there's any Gosh. There's so many now.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, I'll be interested to see what new 3D print companies show up, people you've never heard of before.
Mike:Or digging through the junk boxes.
Kentucky Dave:Well, that too. That's how you end up with the Jurassic aftermarket collection.
Mike:Most of that I bought when it was new.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Yeah, a lot of it's in those boxes box you ever dig through those boxes, bob, I have it, it's, it's another, it's almost like another hobby searching through the bargain.
Kentucky Dave:It's like panning it's like panning for gold, you, you you look through that is you look through a lot of dirt and every, every once in a while, you get a fine molds KI-43 for $15. From Harvey Lowe. From Harvey Lowe, as a matter of fact, yes.
Mike:Wrong scale for him. Anything else on aftermarket.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:No other than God saved me from it yeah, I'm gonna try me too, trying this beast, beast. I'm trying to be smarter about it. But you know I've got some other projects in the, in the in the wings here that that I want to look at and and you know I'm already looking at. Oh, what can I buy extra for it?
Kentucky Dave:hey, bob, you and I may need to get matching shock collars for the nationals and just walk with each other and every time you reach out to touch some aftermarket.
Mike:Well, bob, I got a question for you because you've built some sci-fi stuff. That's an aftermarket genre I'm not familiar with, so I know there's like companies making Starfleet decals and stuff like that. But is there folks making physical, 3d, three-dimensional aftermarket parts, photo etch and stuff for, I don't know, star Wars or Star Trek or whatever your fancy is?
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:There is a good bit of that out there. There's more of the photo etch kind of stuff for that just to kind of, you know, bring up the details than just the, you know, the regular 3D or resin type pieces. But yeah, there's quite a bit out there that also teases me in that way. Luckily, a lot of that, you know the real space. There's not a lot of regular plastic kits. So when you buy some of these you know from resin makers or some of these specialty places, you know it's already pretty good. Maybe I should. Ooh, that might be a way for me to stop doing it.
Mike:Buy real space kits. Buy real space kits there you go. Buy real space kits. Buy real space kits there you go. Another question from you, Bob what do you think of online locations for get-togethers and builds? That's kind of something that kind of morphed out of COVID lockdowns. Yeah, the advancement of technology. I'll start this one. We've got a group, our Canadian friends. We get together. It's about time to do it again.
Mike:We kind of got a little irregular this summer and well, this entire year. So far we haven't done it too many times, but usually on a weekend we'll get together and just turn on the cameras and sit there and build and shoot the breeze. It's funny, though, because this has gotten pretty big with a lot of. I know some of the other pods do it a lot.
Mike:We don't really do it through the podcast like they do, but they're a lot of people using discord for this right but I think what I think interesting about it is in 2020, when this kind of started getting legs because of all the lockdowns, everybody was lamenting that they had to do it this way.
Kentucky Dave:It did allow, when you know you couldn't get together because of COVID. It did allow clubs to continue to get together and kind of kept the cohesion going. I know our club, the Military Modelers Club of Louisville, did it quite frequently and it really did serve to hold them together. Now I will tell you, I don't think it's as good as in-person get-togethers, like the Saturday morning model sessions that we have here in Louisville.
Kentucky Dave:But if you're a modeler in Yellowknife, canada, or Provo, utah, or someplace where you might not have a lot of other modelers to get together with, to build or to interact, I think that this is really a great way for people who are kind of in isolated positions or with only a couple modelers near them to be able to get together with a wider audience. It's a good. Again, I don't think it replaces regular in-person model meetings and I don't think it replaces going to model contests, which you know. I mean there are virtual model contests and that's all fine and good, but you just don't get the same interaction that you get going to an actual place and meeting face to face with actual people. I don't think human interaction is going to be replaced by virtual interaction anytime soon.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Yeah, I agree with that. I mean, there's nothing better than sitting around with a bunch of buddies and and building, you know, right, right there, you know, throw stuff at each other and so forth, but we just don't. I don't have that locally, right. Um, so it it just that's kind of a replacement for me to to kind of get in there and just instead of me, you know, just sitting there in silence or music or you know whatever else is going on, I can just see hey, what are you doing? Hey, or just a question how do I do this? What else can I do that kind of thing? Yeah, what else can I do that kind of thing? It's nice to just be able to just pick your head up and say, hey, you know what, what do you think, instead of having to type something in or look for it or something like that yeah.
Mike:Well, if you've got a regular, a regular one you participate in.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:I do jump into the insanity discord when I can when I see people in there. Yeah, I try and jump in there at times.
Kentucky Dave:Have you tried? Have you gotten involved in squadrons get togethers? I think they're on Wednesday, Wednesday nights. Yeah, I have not done that yet? No, I haven't either but I want to take a look at doing that.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Yeah, they've got that little live session that they do on Wednesdays.
Mike:Yeah, that's not really not like a build group, though.
Kentucky Dave:No, no, it isn't.
Mike:It's just a live stream, but yeah, I've, we've got hours and we should probably do it more. And Dave and I, we, we, uh, we do it probably on a more regular basis than we do with with, with the rest of our gang and then our Minnesota friends.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah.
Mike:We're trying to get that one going too, but everybody's been busy of late apparently.
Kentucky Dave:Absolutely it has been. We're not the only ones going through these life things.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Yeah, yeah, so annoying.
Mike:Yeah, it is Discord. I've poked around in there a little bit. I remember I was trying to set one up for something else and it was when it was fairly new, and maybe it was an artifact of it being new or that I was on the mobile version on my phone or I'm just turning into my dad, but I found it rather unintuitive and a little disorganized. You know the different groups and stuff. I probably check into that again. That could just be me being an idiot, I don't know.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:You know you've got, you know, along with the live stream portion of it. Yeah, discord will often have. They'll set up all these separate rooms and you know how many different, how granular do you need to get to. I just, I just want to go in and and see what people are doing, instead of saying, you know, having to search through a bunch of different, you know different types of rooms, I'd rather just go in there, look for what I want and then I'm going to go live stream, just jump in there.
Mike:But you know I've jumped in on the. I didn't do do it this this past one, but the year before the, the 48 and 48 group build. Yeah, that was fun. Um, yeah, but you know I can't do everything. That's that one's gotten some legs and that one comes around every year and and, uh, it's certainly been popular.
Mike:I know folks like it, folks like uh, like doing this, and I'd be curious if what's kind of the ratio of the ones that are more public to the ones that are more? You know, just a tight-knit group, just a few friends. So, you know, like the Insanities, I assume it's pretty much open to anybody who comes through the link, right, yeah, so it can probably stack up with a lot of people on a weekend when folks aren't too busy doing other stuff. And as a counter to that, with our Canadian friends it's just four or five of us Five would be high tide probably and just different things. One can be a little more intimate. The other one just is a big gang of people. That'd be more like our club in Louisville on Saturday morning. Yeah, well, folks, we've got these. I'd like to hear what other people think about the online locations for get-togethers and do you as a listener?
Kentucky Dave:do you have a regular group that you get together with, not in person, but online Video builds, or however you do it, we'd be interested in knowing.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Yeah, and invite us. Yeah, invite us.
Kentucky Dave:We're not above showing up.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:No.
Mike:Well, this last topic comes from Steve Anderson's A Guided Journal for Modelers, and he is asking in five years, what is one thing you wish you would have started doing regarding modeling?
Kentucky Dave:You're going to hate my answer, Mike.
Mike:It's going to be foreshadowing regret here.
Kentucky Dave:No organization I know five years from now. Well, I shouldn't say that I want to be more organized. I want to get more organized because I'm convinced that if I'm more organized I will get better and more output. I just keep letting life get in the way, and even when life doesn't get in the way, I procrastinate way too much. So I can see myself in five years looking back and going. I wish I would have started being more organized five years ago, because I'd have a lot more models done and I'd be a lot happier about my hobby, bob it probably would be something like 3D printing, although that's, it's a scary thing because it looks to me like a whole additional hobby.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Yeah, and, and I, I, but I can see where that just you can see where that has really brought something new to the, the whole world of model building. I think, and it, it and I like to be on that cutting edge at times, but you know, I'm always afraid of I'm going to buy this 3D printer and then next week there's a better one and then I'm going to oh, yeah, the next big.
Kentucky Dave:thing.
Mike:Yeah, yeah, or just the next iteration. I know there's modelers I follow and I'm friends with, and I know more than one who've, just in the time this podcast thing's been around you know, 2019, 2020, has they've already had three, three different printers?
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, now on the plus side, printers are getting cheaper. That churn is not going to hurt quite as much, as each generation not only gets better, but cheaper.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:But it's not just the fact that you're buying. You know, maybe you're replacing your printer. It's getting it past the wife. Why are you buying another 3D printer and why are you keeping the old one?
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:well, you know you've got to have a backup um, yeah, then you've got to have a backup for the backup yeah, it's it just it becomes just a never-ending story of of, uh, more and more printers and more and more hardware and less and less space. Yeah, it's, that's always been a fear to me of. It's why I've kept away from it, I've decided I'm not gonna do it, I'm gonna wait until, you know they, they come up with actual stuff like on star trek. You know, we just, you know, ask for it and just it appears I think for me on this one, it's it.
Mike:well, the one thing that comes to mind is starting to develop my figure painting.
Mike:Hmm, because the way I model my slow progress and the way my projects are usually fairly well defined from the start, I just don't get an opportunity to incorporate much of this into those builds, so I don't get a lot of practice, I don't get a lot of replication and repetition to develop that skill and I just I haven't got to the point yet in my desire to do this. Maybe in five years. I wish I had the desire to do it Right. Maybe in five years I wish I had the desire to do it right. Uh, if for me to do that I would have to just work on it as practice with and I would think that it my fear is it'd be unrelated to anything, any project I had going on at the time. It'd be this extracurricular activity of learning to be a better figure painter, and that's a. That is a block of time I've just have yet to be willing to parse out out of my hobby time to go just do that but.
Kentucky Dave:But I've got to say I would recommend that you do, I would encourage you to do that because I do think, unlike aircraft or ships or cars even, I think a figure with a piece of armor adds context and dimension in ways that you don't see it or need it in the other genres. And so I do think that you know, having a really well, you can have a really really nicely done piece of armor on a base of armor, on a base and I think, as long as you do the figure well, as long as you know it's to the same level of quality that adding at least a single figure or half figure adds to a piece of armor modeling in ways that isn't true across any other genre.
Mike:Yeah, I think that's true to an extent, and it's just, you know, like the KV project, there's going to be two or three that need to get done for that. So maybe this is my opportunity, I don't know.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:And you know, actually, my, that's a great one, honestly. Uh, figure painting, I agree, that's a great one, honestly. Figure painting, I agree, that's, that is. That is a that is a great thing to to try to get into. It seems like when, when people are doing that, they can just sit down, paint and they just, you know, all right, I'll just stop and walk away. It seems like it's easier than you know having a stopping point wherever you're going. But yeah, I'm I, that is something that I would. I am just afraid to even try. I just I'm afraid of much, like you said, dave, where it enhances the overall look of your tank plane, whatever it might be, but I'm afraid of it taking away from it because it looks so bad.
Kentucky Dave:And the old joke about how you get to Carnegie Hall Practice, practice, practice.
Mike:So I need more bench time.
Kentucky Dave:Yes, you need to burn through 100 figures.
Mike:I'm about to where I won't be helping with homework and crap anymore.
Kentucky Dave:There you go yeah.
Mike:Maybe I'm going to cash in my time chips here, yeah.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:We'll see, we'll find someplace to put it.
Kentucky Dave:I'll hope for you, okay.
Mike:And I'll wish in the other hand. There, you go Anything else, guys? On that one, no, you know there's probably some scratch-pill projects. I wish I would have started, but didn't. I don't know that one's a little far-fetched probably. But yeah, figure painting is one that's always been kind of like. Yeah, I know what I need to do. I just don't seem to want to give up the time to work it in.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:It's just like all the other things that we do, even just the airbrushing or testing things we've all discussed. Well, you've got to have a test mule and I sort of have one, but do I really use it all the time? No, not even close. Sometimes I just go paint. They're just things that I feel like, yeah, it'll be five years or have gone by and I'll go. Man, why didn't I just focus a little bit more on this? Bases by Bill is back with quality display bases that enhance any model, from US and Japanese wooden carrier decks to custom-sized cherry hardwood bases. Bases by Bill display bases are available for any type of model and for any size. Oh, and have you heard? Bases by Bill is now a US reseller for one-man army high-definition paint masks. These masks bring amazing detail to your model, even maintenance stencils. They have to be seen to be believed, and all one-man Army products include free shipping. Check BasesByBillcom to see the products Bases by Bill for all your model display needs.
Mike:Well, there's always something new at Bases by Bill and Christian Gurney wrote us a little message here and could even be a new ad read.
Kentucky Dave:Yep, they're rolling out two styles of Soviet airfield bases.
Mike:Well, that's not what this one is. Oh, what's that one? This is the US Navy CVN carry deck display bases.
Kentucky Dave:I was going to say that's the other thing they're rolling out is a modern US Navy CVN carrier deck display bases. I was going to say that's the other thing they're rolling out is a modern US carrier deck.
Mike:Crafted for the scale aircraft enthusiasts seeking affordable realism. They're available in 72nd, 48th and 32nd scales. Each base features accurately engraved anti-slip textures, the five-spoke pad eyes and weld seams molded right after a real carrier deck. And, for added convenience, there's paint masks provided for the pad eyes with every base. That's a good feature, and you can choose from the standard base or upgrade to a cherry hardwood holder. These bases are now in stock and ready to ship, starting at $9.99 plus shipping. Visit basesbybillcom to learn more or place your order. So he sent some photographs and we encouraged him to put those on the dojo as well, and it looks pretty darn good it looks awesome.
Kentucky Dave:He has posted a couple and man, the Soviet airfield bases and the modern carrier deck are just awesome.
Mike:Well, this is the Benchtop Halftime Report and, bob, you're going to repeat a few things or give us a little more detail. We know you're working on a P38 with enough aftermarket to choke a horse.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Yeah.
Mike:What else. Or get into that a little bit. Tell us a little bit more about it.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Well, I've finished one engine which includes some, you know, some of the fuselage you know covering around it.
Kentucky Dave:Right.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Um, and I've, I've built up, at least started the, the second. I was at at a for a time I was trying to do them parallel, but that, just that just became too much. But that just became too much. So I've set that one engine aside and I've got the other one on the I considered a minimum of aftermarket and replaced the wheel wells and the engine nozzles, the burner cans. Yeah, I've gotten some of that primed, so I'm ready to start painting on that. Man, I'm loving these AK markers, that kind of that is. Those are great for that kind of stuff. Really. Oh man, I'm, I'm just, I am, I am, actually I'm really loving it. For for that little little detail stuff you know especially, you know you're, you handle it, you paint it to try and get everything in place before you put on the extra stuff on the outside, and you're obviously you kind of mark up a little bit or nix some stuff, and then I just pull out a pen and just wipe, wipe, and then it's right back to the way it was before.
Kentucky Dave:I love that stuff. You'll have to post some of that, some of that on the dojo. Capture a little bit of that and post it on the dojo. Let me ask you a question the P-38, why? In other words, what inspired you to say A, I want to build this? Was it a particular aircraft you wanted to build? What was it that you just saw the kit and thought, man, that is the latest and greatest and I want to try my hand at it? And then what inspired you to go whole aftermarket hog on it?
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Well, I've been since grade school. I've been a World war two aircraft guy. I've expanded that a lot since then but I've always loved those aircraft and I built the Revell 148 P 38 eons ago.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, my deep sympathy.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:P-38 eons ago. Yeah, my deep sympathy. And yeah, and it was, you know, richard Bong's plane and I just I've always loved that aircraft. I love the. You know I guess the Pacific Theater is a focus for me. Even just recently I've just read a couple of more books on different things going on in the Pacific theater and the and the P38 has just been a special, special plane for me. So that's why I believe that I bought all that stuff because I want this to be, I just want it to be so cool, I just want it to have all this stuff, wanted to have all this stuff, I want it's, it's my favorite, and I bought all this aftermarket to make it look, hopefully great, and so it's just, really just the love of the plane well, I'm proud of you for actually starting it with.
Kentucky Dave:A lot of times, a lot of modelers, and myself included, will have this thing that they've always wanted to do, but they never get around to doing it, for whatever reason. Oh, I need to get better, or whatever, and I admire the fact that you leapt in with both feet and said I really like this, this I want to have, and therefore I'm going to go build it.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Yeah, yeah, I, I've really just it's, it's been a, it's always been a one of my favorite planes. I love this, the look of it. You know it's Kelly Johnson. You know I'm a big fan there. You know books on that, uh, skunk works and so forth. You know the the Cadillac tail fins were modeled after the P38. There is just so much history that you know, just not even associated with the warfare part of it that ties in with that P38. And it's just a special plane and I I just, uh, I love it.
Mike:I understand Any other projects on the bench besides the P-38?.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Well, the SR-71 that I'm working on too, and then that I've just started.
Mike:What did you just finish? I was thinking there was a science fiction, something you were doing.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Well, I finished both of the ornithopters from Dune. Yeah, because I am just an absolute huge Dune fan. I've read all eight books of the main stuff and then some of the others. I've always been a huge Dune fan.
Kentucky Dave:So what did you think of the movies, the current, the?
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:last one, I love them, I really do. The current, the last one, I I love them. I I really do. I think they did a great job. You know, depicting you, the, what goes on with the, the characters, yeah, um, I it's. These movies are are unique from some of the others. They're they're not focusing on some of the other things like the spacers guild and and so forth. They, they're focusing more on the characters and I'm good with that. I enjoy that and I think the visuals on it are just amazing. So, yeah, that's why I had to get those. I had to have those Ornithopters. So, as soon as I pre-ordered those, both the Atreides and the Harkonnen and you'll definitely see the Harkonnen one in nationals and I'm hoping, if I can get some replacement clear pieces that I buggered up, that I'll bring the Atreides one as well.
Kentucky Dave:Well good, I'm looking forward to seeing those in person.
Mike:Dave, what have you been doing?
Kentucky Dave:Well caring for my aged mother mostly, which I'm not complaining about at all. A woman deserves every bit of my attention. But I have been getting the modeling done. We're coming up on the nationals and I have a group build part of a group build project for the Nationals. So I am laser focused when I get modeling time on those.
Kentucky Dave:Those are two F8F Bearcats. I have a third one, that's a French one, that I kind of threw in as well, but my F8Fs are in glossy blue. My F8Fs are in glossy blue and I anticipate decaling this weekend and being done with decaling this weekend, and if so, then it looks like I'm going to make it. These things might be off-gassing as we're riding in the car to Hampton, but they're going to be done. There's no reason, as close as I am, for them not to be done. And that's pretty much all the modeling I've been doing because I've been, like I said, I haven't had a ton of time given life events, but the time I've been doing is laser focused on getting these done. And, by the way, mike, you were worried about whether one small bottle of Mr Color Glossy Blue would paint all three of these Bearcats. The answer is yes, with plenty to spare. Oh good.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:So, I like the Bearcats.
Mike:I like I was counting on you screwing up. Thank, you.
Kentucky Dave:Thank you, mike. These Hobby Boss kits you know they're the simplified kits and yes, they're simplified but they're not bad. If you want to build a markings model, a model that you're not worried about putting all the piping in the gear, well, and super detailing a cockpit and opening up the canopy and all of that stuff, if you just want to build a Bearcat and put markings on it and have it look like a Bearcat, these are good models and they're relatively inexpensive and they're easy to build, which I clearly need. So I'm happy with them. That's it for me, mike. How about?
Mike:you. It's been still a lot of work on the KV85s.
Kentucky Dave:So where are we on the 85?
Mike:I've been working on the toe points on the front and back. Now I mentioned some aftermarket Abra toe shackles. That's what I'd bought and I was griping to you. We were online one night and I couldn't find the things. Well, I finally found them, decided I didn't like them. That's another aftermarket problem. The extensions on the front of the hull seem to scale out pretty right for the width but they won't fit between the toe shackles, the Abra cast brass toe shackles. So I was like I just didn't want to get into making them thinner because there was holes behind them where you put the tab in the hole in the front of the hole. If you made them narrower, all that was going to show you had to fill all that. So I reverted back to the kit toe shackles, but they're not on the model yet.
Mike:The points are the extensions. Now on the front, I've gone back and used some styrene rod to do the weld seams around those and that was really straightforward on the front because it was a flat plate that they were welded to, but on the rear it's a curved plate they're welded to and they put the bases for the extensions. They molded those into the rear plate instead of having them part of the extensions, like they are on the front, and it took me a while but I figured out a way to do that. The problem was there wasn't a way to put the styrene rod weld seam down because there was really no corner to put it in and there was no clean way to really no corner to put it in and there was no clean way to describe a groove to put it in, because it was a fairly shallow thing you were dealing with.
Mike:So what I did was I kept putting liquid cement on those factory or kit molded weld seams and then, once I got them pretty soft, I just went back with a dull exacto and textured those out a little better to make them match the ones I'd done on the front a little bit better. But luckily, when it goes on the scenic base it's climbing the berm of the railroad tracks and so the back end's kind of sinking down. You're not going to have a lot of visibility to them is what I'm getting at. The fronts are going to be obvious, they're going to be almost pointing in the air, but the ones on the back are kind of going to be in the shadow of the overhang of the rear plate of the armor.
Kentucky Dave:Don't overstress on something that nobody's ever going to see.
Mike:I'm trying to think what's next. I'm turning around and looking at it. How close are you to primer? I'm still a ways away yet I I did the spare tracks. There's a little bit of photo etched on the spare tracks the little cleats that those mount to right got those done. I didn't talk about those last time. So I've got the spare tracks done. So I'm working my way down the fenders. The next thing I have to do is the. There was four fuel cells, two on each side, cylind cylindrical ones on these KV-85s, and I want to have like three of them empty, with just the straps flapping loose on them Right, and then one that's actually on there. So I've got some 3D print files for those that are pretty nice. I'm going to print those again and see if I want to actually use those. But quite a ways back I actually filed all the kit detail off those areas of the fenders to do something different, so I got to do it one way or the other. Yeah, that shouldn't be too bad.
Kentucky Dave:You don't want this build to last four years, right?
Mike:It already has.
Kentucky Dave:Well, okay, I mean, why not?
Mike:make it eight, another four years? That's a good question. How much longer has it got before it's ready for primer? Not the front part of the hull's done. It's not that much. I've still kind of got a hurdle to get over for the intakes on the top of the engine deck.
Kentucky Dave:Oh, you still haven't found the right mesh.
Mike:Now that I understand the sizing of the mesh I was ordering off eBay. There's a batch of three sizes I'm going to order and one of those ought to be the right one. I still don't know if it's going to be the larger or the smaller, or the one in the middle. Pull the trigger, man, order it. It's not much money, just haven't done it yet. Other than that, that's the only thing I've been working on, trying to push that one down the road. Man. Yep, let's get it done.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Yeah, Be ready for nationals right.
Kentucky Dave:That's right Next year.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Classic Model Mojo is brought to you by Squadron. Head on over to squadroncom for the latest in kits and accessories, all at a great price and with great service. Are you a modeler on the go? Check out the Squadron mobile app for your Apple or Android device for easy shopping from just about anywhere. Squadron adding to the stash since 1968.
Kentucky Dave:Well, they're still releasing new models, hoping to see some of these things at the Nationals available for purchase. What have you seen announced lately that is a favor or a yawn for you, and I'm going kind of weird this episode. So be prepared, be prepared.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Kind of weird.
Kentucky Dave:Kind of weird.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Like being sort of pregnant.
Kentucky Dave:Like sort of well, nah, probably not like sort of pregnant. I'm going outside the box, I'm shaking things up. So, mike, give me your first favorite yawn.
Mike:Well, this one's from a company that we ordered something from a long time ago.
Kentucky Dave:Okay, chino Model in Japan, mm-hmm, remember, we bought those TKS tracksuits yes, that I sent on to Evan because there's no way I was going to build those.
Mike:They have a new kit. They've been doing a lot of stuff of late and this is an Imperial Japanese Army Type 89 15-centimeter cannon.
Kentucky Dave:Oh nice, I love the Japanese artillery.
Mike:I've seen pictures of these with the battles they fought with the Soviet Union in Manchuria and they're out in the far eastern part of Russia and Soviet Union. And this one's kind of cool because I've got several pictures of one of these and it whets my whistle because it's an interesting subject and I've got a figure of a Soviet soldier looking over a captured German rifle and somebody just released a figure of a Soviet officer looking over a samurai sword. I was thinking about a vignette with a gun. I've already got a smaller like a 75 millimeter gun Right Kind of from this same period. That's an older pit road kit. It's a plastic kit.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, I know the kit.
Mike:This one's interesting. I could see me getting this one. I'm going to have to look into it. Remember this one you had to order it through that broker, through that other website, the way they sold the stuff we got them, but it was kind of weird.
Kentucky Dave:Yes, it was a weird way to purchase.
Mike:So that's my first fave. That's what I got, Bob what do you have?
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:I noticed that they've announced model collect. I've never bought anything from them that B21.
Kentucky Dave:Yes, they have.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:I I'm really interested in it, but I'm wondering how accurate it will be.
Kentucky Dave:Right, since it could only possibly be based on the first prototype that we've seen.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Right, and I don't think anyone has seen or at least nothing public looking from the back end of it, Right, it seems like we've all seen the front of it and the top of it and we haven't really seen what additional things they've done to those engines to make them a little bit more stealthy. And it's kind of like that kit that you picked up for someone recently, the original Stealth Fighter.
Kentucky Dave:Oh, yeah, that I got for Wallace. Yeah, to my everlasting shame.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:It's, you know, like it ended up being nothing close, Right, but this is obviously going to be much closer. But I just I'm interested in it. I'm waiting to see what it's. I would love to see one in person to have a good idea on it.
Kentucky Dave:I have the same feelings you do. Well, my first one is going to be the non-odd item. A company called Temp Models T-E-M-P-M-O-D-E-L-S, which I've never heard of before, has announced in 72nd scale an SU-34. This is the SU-27 derivative with the side-by-side seating that is used as a fighter bomber and has been used very heavily in Ukraine and a fair number of them have been destroyed by different methods by the Ukrainians, and there's not really a great SU-34 kit out there. So I like Soviet slash Russian 72nd scale and a model of a kit that there isn't really a good model of already checks all the boxes. If I see one of these, I will pick it up almost assuredly, mike next.
Mike:I won't be getting this one, but somebody's finally done it. They have kitted the infamous Tsar Tank. Oh yes, kitted the infamous Tsar.
Kentucky Dave:Tank.
Mike:Oh yes, v&k Productions. The ad from ScaleMates read truly massive, half a meter long, so it's the big tricycle.
Kentucky Dave:Right.
Mike:The huge Ferris wheel looking spoked wheels on the front and the gun sponsons and like holy moly man. So if it's a half a meter long it's got to be a third of a meter tall, just about you would think. So it's a big model, yeah, and spindly Well. The spokes look a little heavy on it, so yeah, they'd almost have to be. It's the product code's F3D prefix, so I assume it's a 3D print. Right, there's a pretty cool little one in 72nd scale that's got photo-etched spoked wheels that I've seen built before.
Kentucky Dave:Oh really, I have never seen that.
Mike:It's a really interesting thing, really bizarre, but finally somebody did it in 35th scale. If ever one was wanted, they've got it now.
Kentucky Dave:I want to see one of those built and on a table.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Man so many spokes.
Kentucky Dave:Yes, oh, yeah, all right, bob next.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Another fave Edwards P40s.
Kentucky Dave:Oh yes.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Man, they have got some great stuff that has just recently come out the whole plethora, the different p40s, and they all look amazing. And that's another plane that I really like a lot. Yeah, another one I built when I was a kid. Yeah, that I I might have to. Oh gosh, yeah, I'm gonna be in it. If anyone's looking for me at nationals, I'll be in the Ed Ward area.
Kentucky Dave:Behind a stack of P40s.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Yes, looking for the Overtree stuff and the White Box there you go.
Kentucky Dave:I feel you, brother, I completely understand. I completely understand. Well, my next one. Now, again, this isn't one I personally am going to buy, but it's one that I think is cool and I'm happy for our friends the car modelers. There's a company called Mini Retro that is doing an MG Midget in 24 scale. That's cool. I've got a huge soft spot for the little sports cars of the 60s and 70s the mgs, the shelby cobras, the you know the little, you know those little Fiat Roadsters, triumph, spitfire, triumph Spitfire.
Mike:Bug-Eye Sprite.
Kentucky Dave:Exactly the original minis. Even the Karmann Ghia convertible, all of those, and it's something that I think is cool. I like it. I really like the genre, the model. If I was going to build a car model, this might be the one that I would end up building.
Mike:So, mike, I've got. This is my last one and it's another fave. The yawns were probably all the white noise of 3D printed accessories coming out in 35th Scale. Amen, as usual, gecko Models has announced a Mark I, Matilda I in 35th scale which will obsolete my Vargas 3D printed kit that I paid a lot of money for. It had a warped front on it, so warped after I bought it, but still not easy to fix Now. I don't have to Now you don't have to.
Kentucky Dave:Still not easy to fix Now I don't have to.
Mike:Now you don't have to. I'd be real curious. I think we hashed this out with Evan offline a while back. The Gecko is kind of the phoenix from the ashes of Bronco, right? Something like that. Yeah, so I don't know, I don't have a Gecko models. I don't think I'll have to check the stats. Yes you do. Oh yeah, I bought one at Heritage Con last year. Yes, you do.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, another.
Mike:British tank, An A11. So I guess, depending on how closely they subscribe to the Bronco design paradigm, this kit could have more parts than the real tank it's possible. It's possible.
Kentucky Dave:But I'm happy to see it. That's a good one.
Mike:Yeah, this is a good one. I'll I'll definitely I'll get this one.
Kentucky Dave:Even though I've got the 3d print, I'll still buy this yeah, so you gotta, you got a last one, bob, I've got a yawn.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Okay, we, we, we welcome those coming out with an F4E from the Turkish Air Force.
Kentucky Dave:Okay.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:F4s. That's like the tiger of airplanes, right, and I am probably going to get massacred for this, but I am not a big F4 fan. I've always believed that all the angles and things that you had to add on to it means that you didn't design it right to begin with. So I just like oh, here's another. You know, all you're doing basically is taking the same kit and putting Turkish decals in it, basically, and that's. I mean, how many F-4s do we really need? What?
Mike:scale, is it?
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:It's 148th.
Mike:I believe Okay.
Kentucky Dave:Well, I mean, you remember the F-4 was America's proof that if you strapped powerful enough engines to it, you could make a brick fly, brick fly, yep, yep. Now I've got a soft spot my heart for the f4, but that's neither here or there. I understand your feelings. This is another one, my final one. It's it's weird, and I'm not saying I'm buying it.
Mike:I'm just it's not with them. Big-eyed anime, girly things.
Kentucky Dave:No, it is not, but it's adjacent.
Mike:It's a Pokemon.
Kentucky Dave:No, aoshima has announced and it doesn't say the scale, winnie the Pooh and Piglet figures and piglet figures. And you know we were talking with Harvey Lowe about Japan and the fact that it is truly, really different. And I think nothing illustrates that more than a company like Aoshima deciding to get poo and piglet.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Does it come with a hundred acre wood?
Kentucky Dave:You know it apparently does not, but you can't have everything.
Mike:So like I got to ask are are these the Disney basements or are they the sketch art from the? The original manuscripts.
Kentucky Dave:They look kind of like the Disney Okay. I mean they don't look as much as like the AA Milne books, the illustrations in the AA Milne books they look more like the Disney poo and piglet. Hmm. So A little bother, yeah, if that bothers you, then don't get it. So A little bother, yeah, if that bothers you, then don't get it. But I'm just bringing to your attention that there are Winnie the Pooh and Piglet figures being released in Japan as we speak.
Mike:There you go, folks.
Kentucky Dave:Gentlemen, we are at the end of the episode and neither of you all's modeling fluids are going to be any surprise. Well, it might be a surprise if either one of you tells me I drank it and I hated it. But other than that, how was the modeling?
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:fluid, bob, well, the bottle's empty. Oh God, it was just a little bit.
Kentucky Dave:It wasn't full when we started, right? No?
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:no, it was. It was not, but that's okay, I have another bottle in the cabinet. It was of course it was. It was great, and yeah, what else can you say? It's Buffalo Trace.
Mike:I have to go down to Frankfurt and get me some.
Kentucky Dave:I was going to say they make it 20 miles from where Mike lives and he can't find it anywhere.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Maybe that's what we need to bring to the dojo is Buffalo Trace.
Kentucky Dave:If you show up with a bottle of Buffalo Trace, you get automatic entry to the dojo.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Wow.
Kentucky Dave:Boom, I'm here to guarantee it, I'm trying to think.
Mike:Somebody gave us a big bottle last year.
Kentucky Dave:Yes, they did.
Mike:Was it Belsheim? Did he give us that I?
Kentucky Dave:don't remember, and that's a shame on me. Maybe he did. I think it was. I think it was.
Mike:The Old Forrester 1920 is my favorite out of their whiskey row line. It can be a little hot on the front end but once you get past it it's got a lot of flavor.
Kentucky Dave:Now it does kick like a Kentucky mule. You do not want to accidentally over imbibe on it, because it will hit you.
Mike:Yeah, you know, have a full stomach or a little ice there you go there, you go have a full stomach or a little ice? There you go, there you go. Well, how was yours? I've had it so.
Kentucky Dave:I was going to say I don't know about you, I really enjoyed it Very good. It's got a little more body for a Hefeweizen than I would have otherwise thought, and I think that's probably because it's got both a little bit of rye and a touch of spelt in it, so that gives it a little more body. It's 5% alcohol, so as far as the you know, it's just a classic beer, middle of the road, alcohol wise, great taste, eminently drinkable.
Mike:I enjoyed the heck out of it now we're really at the end of the episode and, uh, mike, do you have a shout out? I'm gonna give the customary shout out to all the folks who've elected to support plastic model mojo through their generosity. We've been on a little uptick with that lately and we really appreciate it. And again, we're still working on that second phase of the website. So everything folks can do to help us out there is greatly appreciated and we're still working on it. But we've had several come up through Patreon and folks. Thank you very much. It's most appreciated, bob oh definitely.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Thank you very much. It's most appreciated, bob. Oh, definitely, I've got one. Okay, to Kentucky, dave and Mike, it's, it's. You know you, you guys, every week, or every every, you know, two weeks, you, you guys appreciate the people that listen and the people that that help you with it. I, you, people that listen and the people that help you with it, you guys rock. You guys are doing such a great job and you know, I think I speak for all of the rest of the listeners saying thank you, you guys rock Well much appreciated and everybody's welcome and no end in sight.
Mike:Still, we're going to keep going until we can't go anymore.
Kentucky Dave:Well, you kind of stole my thunder because my shout out was to the voice of Bob. He has been a great friend of the show, everything from doing our ad reads and our announcements and bumps and all of that.
Kentucky Dave:And hosting the podcast roundtables at Nats when we did that, I was going to mention that and responsible for one of the things that I treasure the most from a Nationals, which is the caricatures that he had done for all the podcasts and mine. Bob, if you'll come back to Wonderfest again, you can come over to my house again and hang out by my pool and I will be happy to show you where that original print is framed in my house. It has a place of honor. So thank you to Bob Bear, the voice of Bob, for all that you've done for us.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Thank you, Thank you guys. Yeah, that was the biggest kick, for me too, was getting those done.
Kentucky Dave:It was such a great surprise, I mean, and just awesome. And I got to learn that I apparently podcast with Christian Slater.
Mike:Well, bob, thanks for joining us tonight, my pleasure.
Kentucky Dave:We need to not wait quite so long to get you on again. This was really fun, this was a joy.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Well, you guys have always got you know great guests. Really, you know not me, but I mean so many of the others. You know Dr Strangebrush man. He is just so amazing. Every time, like you've said many times before, every time you have him on, you learn something.
Kentucky Dave:I learned something new.
"The Voice of Bob" Bair:Yeah, and that's the same way I have always felt about it too, and then everyone else that you get on there. It's always a great conversation, so just my little part of it, I love it.
Mike:Well, thank you very much, Bob All right, Dave, as we always say so many kids, so little time We'll catch you guys soon.
