Fear Targets and Finding Fun Shop Talk: Episode 157

Ever stalled on a “dream build” because you’re afraid to mess it up? We went straight at those fear targets—perfectionism, PE jitters, bare‑metal dread, and the myth that pros are “just fast”—and came back with practical fixes that make the bench fun again. Kicked off by a wave of listener mail, we connect the dots between honest expectations and real skill barriers, then show how to shrink both: build your favorite subject twice (one OOB as recon, one for the opus), keep something always in paint to protect your airbrush touch, and use smart crutches—canopy masks, 3D prints, and layered decals—so your craft effort lands where it matters.

Community kept shaping the journey. From clubs that outlive geography to vendor‑table conversations that compress months of trial and error, we heard how connection turns paralysis into progress. One modeler finally tackled a family B‑17 after years of hesitation and discovered the power of “a hundred little builds,” learning new techniques while honoring a story that mattered. Another shifted from failed journals to a public build log that doubles as a searchable memory. Along the way we swapped tips for taming CA, tested custom decals (plus an opacity workaround), and compared wet vs. dry color shifts on new AK Real Colors. Yes, we even found a French marine catapult and may have paid for it twice—worth it.

Bench reports? The Hellcat is decaled and heading into gloss, the long‑parked T‑33 is back on the rails, and Moosaroo is heating up with a vignette twist and custom markings from a boutique printer. If you’ve been avoiding your favorite subject, this is your permission slip to jump: make a plan that fits your time, turn one big build into guided sprints, and let technology erase the chores that steal your mojo. Hit play, then tell us: what’s the one fear you’re finally tackling this month? If this resonated, subscribe, share with a modeling friend, and leave a quick review so more builders find the show.

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Transcript

Thaw, Mojo, And Show Season Plans

The Voice of Bob (Bair) 0:11

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 and entertaining and help you keep your modeling mojo alive.

Mike 0:48

The thaw has commenced.

Kentucky Dave 0:50

It has indeed, although I still have a six-foot pile of snow out in my cul-de-sac, even though it's been in the 50s and 60s for the last four or five days, man.

Mike 1:03

Well, my front house facing is north, so uh we're getting there, but slowly.

unknown 1:09

Gotcha.

Mike 1:12

Well, other than the rather balmy temperatures by comparison, what is up in your model sphere, Dave?

Kentucky Dave 1:18

You know what? I am full of mojo. I haven't been modeling quite as much as I'd like to, but the mojo is high. There have been some modeling-related stuff, purchases, et cetera, we'll talk about later. And I am looking forward to the the contest season, show season is swinging into full swing. Uh next weekend is Columbus, and Skippy and I are going to try and get there. And we're only like a month and a half from Hamilton, from Heritage Gone. God, I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to that.

Website Phase Two And Forward Planning

Mike 1:54

How about you? Well, me too, on that. Uh well, interesting. We're not there yet, but we are close enough to phase two initiation on the website that I've emailed our design team for the the website changes and told them I want a meeting next week. And that's great. Get this on ice and we can get crap together here in another month or so. Uh we're going to pull the trigger on that. And uh it's gonna be good. So that's my model sphere is is making sure going back through everything I've talked to them about and getting ready for this uh conference call to uh get that going, man. Uh excited.

Kentucky Dave 2:33

We'll have to talk about that. I am excited too, because I mean, phase one was just getting the website out there. Phase two is where it really turns into something.

Mike 2:45

Yeah, so it's gonna be fun.

Kentucky Dave 2:47

I I am looking forward to it.

Mike 2:49

That's that's been my model sphere, other than I don't know, trying to get our our ship pointed the right direction. Got a lot of forward planning going on now. We've already getting the model show spotlights lined up pretty deep in the air at this point, so uh that's all been good. So yeah, appreciate folks reaching out on their own. Apparently they see the value in that, that there's value in it for them. And uh just makes me happy that it's it's it's it's uh helping people out.

Kentucky Dave 3:15

Yeah, we love promoting shows because again, Mike and I are huge fans of shows and contests, getting modelers together, because again, I enjoy sitting at the workbench, quiet time alone at night working, but the social, the socialization and the enjoyment that you get, meeting modelers face to face at a show is just you can't beat it. So I'm more than happy to promote upcoming shows.

Mike 3:46

And that might come up in the listener mail, too. So we'll get to that in a little bit.

Modeling Fluid: Bourbon Selections

Kentucky Dave 3:50

Well, Mike, we're recording a show, buddy. I'm I'm hoping that finally, yeah. Yeah, finally. Yeah, well, one of these days we're gonna have to do a behind the scenes and let people know some of the struggles we go through. But struggles can be made better with modeling fluid. Do you have modeling fluid?

Mike 4:10

Probably not a good recommendation, but uh I I do, Dave. I do have a modeling fluid.

Kentucky Dave 4:17

So what do you have?

Mike 4:18

I have the flagship original series from Bardstown Bourbon Company.

Kentucky Dave 4:23

Oh, yes, I have seen that.

Mike 4:25

Yeah, so uh more on this at the end, but that's what I got going on. And it's yeah, I'm enjoying it, but again, we'll get to the details later. What about what about you, man?

Kentucky Dave 4:35

I walked by their storefront last night on my way with my wife to a show. Barge Town Bourbon has a storefront in downtown Louisville.

Mike 4:45

Cool. We'll talk we'll talk about more about Bargetown Bourbon at the end, but what do you got going on?

Kentucky Dave 4:50

Well, I have not a beer, I have my ice ball, all right, and I have Elijah Craig's small batch 1789.

Mike 5:02

All right. What uh what gave you that wild hair, Dave?

Kentucky Dave 5:06

Well, David has an ability to get some bourbons for a significant discount off of what they would cost normally, and I was able to pick this up for a price that would shock you.

Mike 5:21

It's a barrister barter deal.

Kentucky Dave 5:24

It's well, no, it's uh I'm lucky my wife works at Trader Joe's.

Mike 5:28

Okay. I mean, if you just traded some probate information for Bottle of Bourbon, that'd be all right too, right?

Kentucky Dave 5:34

No, it it that that has happened in the past. Hopefully the IRS isn't listening to this. But yeah, I have no doubt I'm going to enjoy this, Elijah Craig. I think this is the first time I've ever had it, so we'll get to it at the end. But I'm pretty sure it'll get me through the episode.

Mike 5:53

Predict good things, folks.

Listener Mail: Motivation, Journaling, And Shows

Kentucky Dave 5:55

I predict good things too.

Mike 5:57

Well, I predicted good things after we recorded the last episode about our call to actions and stuff for listener mail, and uh, I was correct. This might take a little while, folks, but that's okay.

Kentucky Dave 6:09

Yeah, we want that.

Mike 6:10

I mean, obviously, so we got a lot of listener mail, man. That's good. I don't know how many DMs you got, but I got a stack here. I actually printed them this time because I've like pre-read them a couple times.

Kentucky Dave 6:22

Well, actually, we've got a number of DMs too, so it'll it'll be good. We we like this part of the show.

Mike 6:29

Well, we've got if listener mail from folks like Spencer Talmage again from Matthew in Massachusetts.

Kentucky Dave 6:36

Okay.

Mike 6:37

And he just wanted to send an email to respond to Jim Bates' appearance on the last episode, man.

Kentucky Dave 6:42

All right. We we've gotten a lot of feedback on Jim coming on.

Mike 6:47

So if you're listening, Jim, pony up and just listen for a little while. At least through we get through listener, man.

SPEAKER_03 6:53

That's right.

Mike 6:54

He wants to say that Jim's stories about his struggles and his the mental side of modeling and motivation really resonated with him. He he's felt a lot about a lot the same way about modeling, especially during especially during the last year. Fear targets, negative, negativity, perfection being the enemy of the good, all that felt like listening to a mirror version of himself talking about his own problems. Interesting, Dave.

Kentucky Dave 7:20

Well, that's listen, I I we all think that we struggle alone and nobody else has the struggles we do. You get people talking, and again, this is one of the reasons I like getting modelers together at shows that you're talking and interacting. Is you find out we all deal with the same stuff or much of the same stuff, you know?

Mike 7:44

I guess I know because this must be kind of cosmic. It's funny you said that because he closes with it's a relief to know that I'm not alone.

SPEAKER_02 7:50

Yep.

Mike 7:51

Yep. Thank you for doing the episode. It was motivating and mojo positive. P.S. closing. He's arranged his lodging for his first ever trip to Nats. So if we all make it, Spencer, come by the plastic model mojo table and say hello.

Kentucky Dave 8:07

Yes, please.

Mike 8:08

Glad that episode worked out for you.

Kentucky Dave 8:10

I really like meeting guys who go to their first nationals. So, Spencer, please come by the table and make a point of coming by and mentioning that it's your first one.

Mike 8:22

Well, this one actually came in ahead of that one, and I've already sent it to Jim. But this is from Paul Budzik, frequent guest on our show.

Kentucky Dave 8:31

Modeler extraordinaire.

Mike 8:33

He liked what Jim had to say about never spending time looking at old builds in the display case.

SPEAKER_03 8:39

Yeah.

Mike 8:40

Paul says if he didn't have models sitting on his shelves in his office or his hobby room, he'd never look at them again. And he says, even when he does, they're three to eight feet away. So what's the point about agonizing over every small detail unless it's what you really enjoy?

Kentucky Dave 8:57

I I I speculate that it's a majority of modelers who the building and finishing is the fun part. That the having it and looking at it, I suspect most modelers, I mean, you may get some satisfaction because it it brings memories back at the build, but I suspect that most modelers the once the model's finished and in the display case.

Mike 9:28

Yeah, you're on to something else.

Kentucky Dave 9:29

Yeah, exactly.

Mike 9:31

Well, it's interesting. He says a good question to ask the group how many people spend time scoping out and admiring their old bills? You know, and to your point, I I think you know, if I'm digging, I I I keep my projects underway when I'm taking a break and working on a different one in my display case.

SPEAKER_03 9:49

Yeah.

Mike 9:49

So I I go to mine probably more often than a lot of people do. And I pull one out every while and look at it, but not very often.

SPEAKER_03 9:58

Yeah.

Mike 9:59

And it that's a really interesting point.

Kentucky Dave 10:02

Yeah. And it's a good thing listeners out there. I'd love to have some email from people letting me know, do you look at your finished builds often or do you give them away when they're done? Or what's your interaction with, if any, with your finished, completed builds once the finish is done and you're going to put it away because you're on to the next thing?

Mike 10:26

And are you like uh Dr. Paul asks, how many of you guys just put them in a box, never be seen again?

Kentucky Dave 10:32

Seen again. Yeah.

Mike 10:34

He says he gets that's fine if you have the space, but even if he did, he's like, What's the point?

SPEAKER_03 10:40

Yep.

Mike 10:40

That's why he hangs them from the ceiling and mixes them in with his books and stuff on his shelves, because he'd rather have his shop lined with built models than a bunch of unbuilt kits that will that outlive him, essentially.

Kentucky Dave 10:50

Yep.

Mike 10:51

Says a little dust never hurts a model.

Kentucky Dave 10:53

True enough.

Mike 10:54

There you go, folks. What's next? I see these work so much better when I print these out, man. Next up from Medina, Ohio, Dave, Michael Garapik. Or Garapik, I'm not sure. I probably got that wrong. We often drop the names of Dr. Dave Gelmacher, Jim Bates, and John Vickus. Well, Michael resides in Northeast Ohio and knows these guys because he was part of the IPMS John Glenn and IPMS Fame Cities.

SPEAKER_02 11:25

Yep.

Mike 11:26

And uh he knows these guys, so he just was enjoying hearing their names again and glad they're get they're coming up in conversation.

Kentucky Dave 11:34

Well, it's amazing. That tight group of modelers started up in the Cleveland area, and today they are still in contact on the regular, as just as if they still all belong to the same club in the same location, yet they're scattered from the Pacific Northwest to the Deep South to the Rocky Mountains. It's a it's an amazing thing. And it again, it goes to show you not only are we fans of shows, we're fans of clubs, because getting together with like-minded modelers on the regular, you form friendships, and those friendships last even when the club, members of the club, go their separate ways because of families, because of jobs, because of whatever, especially in this day and age with, you know, DMs and texts and video chats and all. You can maintain that friendship. That wasn't possible back when Mike and I were coming up in the 80s. I mean, a guy left your club.

Mike 12:43

And they were gone.

Kentucky Dave 12:44

Yeah, and they were gone. You know, you might get a letter or a postcard.

Mike 12:49

Or they'll drop in when club meeting is they're back in town visiting their in-laws or something.

Kentucky Dave 12:54

Exactly. Exactly.

Mike 12:55

Oh, yeah, that's true.

Kentucky Dave 12:57

Of course, back then people don't realize how much a long distance call cost. Or the concept of long distance.

Mike 13:05

That's right. Jim had to pay for it extra.

Kentucky Dave 13:08

Exactly.

Mike 13:10

We're not done with Jim Bates.

Kentucky Dave 13:11

All right.

Mike 13:12

Lee Edmonds, just a note to say how pleased he was to hear that Jim Bates is back. He wondered where he'd gone and now he knows.

Kentucky Dave 13:20

Yes. And it was our bad for taking so long to get Jim back on.

Mike 13:25

Well, I think he might mean, not in the context of our podcast, but a scale Canadian TV and all the other stuff.

SPEAKER_02 13:32

So uh Yeah, that too.

Mike 13:35

Lee says in their club or his modeling community, they call what happened to Jim a state of gaffia. Getting away from it all.

SPEAKER_03 13:43

Oh. Okay.

Mike 13:46

Periods of loss of interest is considered a natural but perhaps sad part of the hobby. Some come back from gaffe and others do not.

unknown 13:52

Yeah.

Mike 13:53

He's pleased that Jim has.

Kentucky Dave 13:55

So am I.

Mike 13:56

And he's also thinks it's great that uh Jim has taken time to think about why he participates in the hobby to begin with.

Kentucky Dave 14:02

Yep. I do think that re-examination from time to time is not a bad idea, especially if you're at a point where you're struggling.

Mike 14:10

Uh, another point he brings up is the topic of what am I doing to get better? Uh-huh. He says at his age is more of a matter of what am I doing to prevent getting under?

Kentucky Dave 14:20

Yeah. Hey, I feel you, man. That that's a great way to describe my struggles.

Mike 14:29

Says it's not a matter for him of uh learning a new skill or technique, but keeping his hands in the ones he's already got because it seems to lessen if he doesn't. And that's true. It is don't give up, Lee. There's always room, man. If you can hold the line, you can you can learn something new.

Kentucky Dave 14:46

Yep. Yep. And it's absolutely true. I'm particularly like with airbrushing. That is something that if you don't do regularly, you you lose the touch. And it then you have to spend some time getting it back. So it's one reason to have one model constantly in the paint process.

Mike 15:09

Well, he also is interested in Jim's comments about writing and keeping journals, etc. Writing notes and that sort of thing. He he spends most of his day writing, so it's one of the reasons that getting to the modeling bench in the evening uh gets him away from the keyboard. He says he's tried to keep a journal, you know, written types of things up before, but you know, just so you can remember what color of paint he used on the last step he built or last model he built. I I run into that all the time where I just flip and forget and then got to go reinvent the wheel again.

Kentucky Dave 15:40

Well, and I I feel for him because I'm in the exact same boat. I'm an attorney by trade. So I spend a ton of time writing. And one of the things that the model bench for me is is an escape from the keyboard where I can't, and I'm doing things that they're not manual labor, but they're manual labor for the soft-handed professional. So so that I can come down and work on a model, and it's engaging things different from what I do in my work.

Mike 16:20

Yeah, I think that's the the kind of the the thread he's on here. He he he's tried it by hand and on computer, you know, in a formal notes kind of taking kind of thing, and just fails every time. For him, his solution was he set up a Facebook page, which is Park Street Scale Modeling, which he posts updates of his builds, puts his paint and finish notes in the captions of photos or in those in his posts. And he thinks he he's he says that's work for him. So interesting take. Yeah, and absolutely keep keeping some kind of journal or notes is even if it's just a cup a quick dash on some post-it notes, but you know, I'm I feel his pain because uh handwriting is not my forte either. So if you can do it in a way you don't have to decipher your own crappy handwriting a month later, that's a big advantage.

Kentucky Dave 17:10

Yeah, well, many years ago, that's one of the reasons I started the blog, was simply to act kind of as a memory bank where you know I could write something, post photos or something, or research or whatever, so that I knew that it was there in that blog somewhere, and I could go back and find it.

Mike 17:33

Good idea, man.

Kentucky Dave 17:34

Yep.

Mike 17:35

Up next, Brandon Probert from Carson City, Nevada. Now that's a cool place.

Kentucky Dave 17:41

Yes, it is.

Mike 17:42

Used to be a mint there.

Kentucky Dave 17:44

Yep. CC.

Mike 17:46

That's right. So they moved it out west further than that. Ah, he wants to thank us for pulling him back in the hobby after 20 years. He stopped at about age 13. Now he's 35 and he's been listening to the show. For our namesake, he's he's got some mojo now.

Kentucky Dave 18:00

You know what? Those are the stories that warm my heart. Somebody says, I got I started listening to you and I it pulled me back in the hobby, or I got back in the hobby and I started listening to you, and it encouraged me. That is one of the big goals of what Mike and I are doing here.

Mike 18:20

And it's not just our podcast. I think it's it's it's all the podcasts, and it's the hobby in general, which gets to his kind of closing remark in this paragraph. This gives him a bit of escape when life gets a little bit too loud.

Kentucky Dave 18:34

And that's what a hobby should be: an escape. Do not let your hobby become a job. It is an escape from life.

Mike 18:43

All right, Dave. Next is uh Will Woods from York to Saskatchewan, home of the snowbirds from the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Kentucky Dave 18:52

Indeed.

Mike 18:54

You got a kit suggestion. Okay. Gee, wonder what it's gonna be. Go go ahead. In 70 seconds scale, a CT 114 Tudor. Yes, there was one.

Kentucky Dave 19:07

I have the Hobbycraft kit.

Mike 19:10

Does it like really, really suck?

Kentucky Dave 19:12

It doesn't suck as bad as some other hobbycraft kits, but in no way would you consider it a a modern kit. It has more in common with kits in the 70s and 80s than it does. Heck, I think it probably came out in the 80s or 90s. The Canadian Air Force manages to keep those things alive. And at this point, I'm not sure how they're doing it. But uh a brand new kit in 72nd scale of a 114 would be a great, great choice.

Mike 19:50

Well, he says he's on the waiting list for kinetics 148 snowbridge.

Kentucky Dave 19:54

Yeah, as is every Canadian modeler, period.

Mike 20:00

Yeah, and hoping for March 2026 as promised. Is this the one we talked about?

Kentucky Dave 20:07

Yes, two years ago at HeritageCon.

Mike 20:10

No, no, no, it wasn't. No, but we talked to Kinetic at San Marcos.

Kentucky Dave 20:15

I think we did, yeah.

Mike 20:16

And this this was was this the one? I have to go back and listen.

Kentucky Dave 20:20

I don't know, but uh, I'm pretty sure it was.

Mike 20:22

Hopefully they get it out the door because got a bunch of our Canadian friends gonna want that.

Kentucky Dave 20:27

Oh, yeah.

Mike 20:28

Up next, Dave is Louis Toledo.

Kentucky Dave 20:30

That's a great name.

Mike 20:32

He wanted to share his thoughts about a couple of things. After listening to a few of our fellow podcasters talk about uh quote unquote uniqueness of a model, he realized some of us take the hobby more seriously than others.

Kentucky Dave 20:45

Yes. Yep, yeah. I don't I I I don't want to venture into that pool, but yes, absolutely.

Mike 20:53

And like he says, there's nothing wrong with that. But sometimes we make uh comparisons that aren't realistic.

SPEAKER_02 20:59

Yep.

Mike 20:59

Typically we're we look at something and then you know it maybe it's by a professional or modeler. And uh we look at their work and the wow factor of that model and forget that that's what they do for a living. So when a professional modeler kicks out a build in two weeks, we say, Oh wow, it only took two weeks. We don't realize that that's 80 hours of work because that's all they do.

SPEAKER_03 21:19

Exactly.

Mike 21:21

So he says to ask ourselves specifically if you're just a hobbyist, when was the last time you put 80 hours into your model in a two-week period? Well, that would be never. Never. I probably haven't put 80 hours into modeling. What would be the shortest span of time I've put 80 hours into a model? Oh I I was I would have had to have been single. Yeah and and in between dating opportunities. And it was probably uh 80 hours, maybe over three months, yeah. At my high tide of productivity.

Kentucky Dave 21:56

I meant to mention this back in the model sphere up at the top. But I had mentioned in a previous episode that one of the things I was doing to keep myself accountable was tracking the time I'm actually at the bench and building, not fiddling around, not cleaning up, not anything else, but actually at the bench building to figure out how much time I was spending in a week or a month. In this case, I was tracking for a full month. Do you know how many how much time I spent at the bench actually building in the month of January? What would be your guess?

Mike 22:38

Four hours.

Kentucky Dave 22:39

Actually, a little more than that, but not much. But you're in you're in the ballpark. Six hours 19 minutes.

Mike 22:50

Single digit.

Kentucky Dave 22:52

Single digits in a month. That's right. Six hours in a month. And when you keep track of that, it does make you realize, okay, yeah, I'm not finishing a model every two weeks, and there's a reason for that. I don't have that time to build. But it also is motivating to me to find ways to get more time to the get more time at the bench.

Mike 23:20

Well, some of my projects, I'm not even finished in in two years. So talk about that another time.

SPEAKER_03 23:26

Yes.

Mike 23:27

So in the end, he advises hobby is not to do that. You have a choice of how much time you're willing to put into this wonderful hobby.

SPEAKER_03 23:34

Yep.

Mike 23:34

And just treat it as just a hobby. And we've all heard this before. He says if you're not having fun, you're doing you're doing it wrong.

Kentucky Dave 23:42

Exactly. Well, we've more than heard that. We've said that. In many, on many, many occasions.

Mike 23:49

So learn to appreciate a modeler's effort instead of his or her results because that's what matters. Well, it it matters. It it results matter to some people, like the people you're talking about who are professional modelers, but uh, you know, uh I agree. For for a lot of us, it's more about the journey than the finish. Yep. And we all have to figure that out them for them for ourselves.

Kentucky Dave 24:10

Yep. And it for me it boils down. Are you having fun?

Mike 24:14

Yeah, you're having fun or not.

Kentucky Dave 24:16

Exactly. And if you're having fun, you're doing the hobby right.

Mike 24:20

I'm all for having fun.

Kentucky Dave 24:22

Yep.

Mike 24:23

Well, we hear from the voice of Bob fairly regularly.

Kentucky Dave 24:27

Yes, we do.

Mike 24:28

We probably four times in this episode we'll hear from Voice of Bob. That's true, too. Maybe five. I need to take stock. But he's written in as a average Joe modeler this time. And again, it's about Jim's episode. Mm-hmm. This has to be the most relatable episode ever to him. Oh, wow. Listening and nodding his head. Yes, exactly, exactly. Again, he says it's great to hear from Jim. He liked how Jim talks about what building what he likes instead of you know how that's contradictory to what he actually builds, what he likes versus what he builds. He likes this finish and learn approach. He thinks that this being afraid of screwing it up so you don't do anything. For him, it's airbrush avoidance, and it was one of his hang-ups. And he he says Dr. Miller, Dr. Strange Brush has uh alleviated some of that for him. But you know, why aren't you building your favorite aircraft yet? Right. That's the problem he's had. And he's he's he loves the P-38 and he's building one, but it's taken over a year to get where he's at, and he's not quite done yet. So there's a paralysis creeping in.

SPEAKER_03 25:34

And that happens.

Mike 25:35

He feels like he should buy another kit of the P-38 and build it out of box. Because that's not what he's doing with this one, if you're just build it, paint it done. I think it's not a bad idea, Bob.

Kentucky Dave 25:46

I do too. And in fact, I think if you've got a favorite aircraft or a favorite piece of armor or favorite whatever, don't keep putting it off because you want to get better before you do it, because you love that item and you want to build that item. Grab the kit, build it out of the box, just straight out of the box, as a learning experience. Then once you've built one and completed it and found where the maybe the catches are, the things that you need to pay more attention to or whatever. Once you finish the first one, then you can go and get all the aftermarket and open up panels or do whatever you're gonna do. And then you'll have two models of your favorite aircraft or piece of armor or whatever.

Mike 26:40

Well, he wants to quit suffering over the add-ons he's foolishly purchased because it's his favorite World War II aircraft.

Kentucky Dave 26:46

Yep. And that though those add-ons can can take away from your enjoyment. Sometimes they can add to it, but they can also take away from it.

Mike 26:56

And he says this is why he added a second build table just to work on something else.

Kentucky Dave 27:03

Yep. I am a huge advocate of having two items going at once.

Mike 27:08

Yeah, but two benches.

Kentucky Dave 27:12

Who am I? I've got a 13-foot bench and I'm building on the on a bench space the size of a piece of eight and a half by 11-inch paper. Who am I to judge?

Mike 27:23

You could have four or five things going on if you clean up.

Kentucky Dave 27:26

I absolutely could if I cleaned up.

Mike 27:28

Well, Bob wants to warm up the finishing his SR71, which I think he has this weekend because he posted on a dojo.

Kentucky Dave 27:35

Yes, it's beautiful.

Mike 27:36

But it's too big for his paint booth, so yeah.

Kentucky Dave 27:39

Well, that that's okay. You can paint it, you know, stick one end in, stick the other end in. It'll work it out.

Mike 27:46

Modeling fluid and paint fumes might be an interesting conversation.

Kentucky Dave 27:51

Well, that's two of our modeling friends have built SR 71s in the last year or two. That's a very, very popular model.

Mike 27:59

Up next is Bruce McCrae.

Kentucky Dave 28:02

Oh, how's he doing?

Community, Clubs, And Keeping Connections

Mike 28:03

He's good. He says in 1983 he got a tour of Industrial Light and Magic. They had just finished Return of the Jedi, and the movie had just opened that week, and he spent most of his time in their modeling shop.

Kentucky Dave 28:15

I'm sure that would be that would that would have been an experience.

Mike 28:19

He says Bill George was the only modeler there, and they talked a lot about the models made for the movies. And he asked him what color they use for the TIE Fighters. And he reached behind him and pulled out a spray can from the rack. Number two 008 Patra Patra Authentic International Colors, Stormy Sea. Which is a dark blue-gray color.

SPEAKER_03 28:42

Yes.

Mike 28:43

Which gets washed out in the movie. Yeah, they look like light gray on the screen, right?

Kentucky Dave 28:48

Yes, they do.

Mike 28:50

He's still got the can, which he sent a photograph of. You know what this makes me want to do?

SPEAKER_03 28:54

What?

Mike 28:55

Yeah, way back we interviewed the gentleman here in Lexington that runs the and the uh old model kit business.

SPEAKER_03 29:01

Right.

Mike 29:02

And I remember I went over to his house.

SPEAKER_03 29:04

Yep.

Mike 29:04

And he had like a crap ton of decals and paints and supplies that came with a lot of these collections.

SPEAKER_03 29:10

Yep.

Mike 29:11

And there were a bunch of burgundy top paint bottles in there, man, of that old pactor stuff. I wonder if he's got any of that color. I'd like to have one.

Kentucky Dave 29:18

If nothing else, you ought to be able to paint match it.

Mike 29:21

It'd be really easy to paint match if you've actually had it.

Kentucky Dave 29:24

Yeah.

Mike 29:28

Up next is Leo Posner from the City of Brotherly Love, Dave, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Kentucky Dave 29:33

Philadelphia.

Mike 29:34

He hadn't written in in a while. He always wants to touch base with a quick status of his current projects. And you know, he's written in several times before, and he's a a one-to-one forty-fourth airline guy.

Kentucky Dave 29:47

Yeah. Which I I I one of my ambitions is to to build an airliner or two.

Mike 29:54

Which have a people can object to this and write in and tell me I'm wrong, but uh I th I think airliners have maybe more in common with automotive subjects than like combat aircraft.

Kentucky Dave 30:09

Yep, I agree with you.

Mike 30:11

It's really all about the finish and the livery.

Kentucky Dave 30:14

Yep.

Mike 30:14

And not so much the detail. I mean, come on, you put decals on for the windows.

Kentucky Dave 30:19

Yes. Well, sometimes.

Mike 30:22

I'd say most of the time.

Kentucky Dave 30:23

Most of the time.

Mike 30:24

But Leo's wanted to get better or expand his horizons anyway, experience some new things. So Photoetch was one of those.

SPEAKER_03 30:33

Yeah.

Mike 30:33

And he's added some photoets to some of his airliners. And he's again, it's about the the the airframe and the scheme, delivery.

SPEAKER_03 30:42

Yep.

Mike 30:43

So little minuscule photoets on an airliner get kind of lost in the noise. So you're not really you're not gaining a lot when you add it. He he says that pretty much in the email.

SPEAKER_03 30:54

Yeah.

Mike 30:55

So he's gone on and he he's built like Ravel's bucket wheel excavator.

SPEAKER_03 31:00

Yep.

Mike 31:01

Saturn V rocket.

SPEAKER_03 31:03

Yep.

Mike 31:03

And the North Cormont offshore rig. Another big kit. These are his winter builds each year. He picked a larger kit to pass the long cold uh Philly winters and dark nights.

Kentucky Dave 31:15

And it is, it does get cold and wintery up there.

Mike 31:19

Wanting to get better at PE for, I guess not so much for his airliners, but for these other things he's in trying, you know, just trying to get his skill set up, right? Sure. Learn something. He's building Ravel's uh one 400 scale Queen Mary 2 Platinum Edition.

Kentucky Dave 31:35

I I have seen the posts on the on the dojo on that, and it's it's pretty amazing.

Mike 31:42

So between the laser cut wood deck and the heap and helping a photo etch, which would probably make Jim Bates run to a Mariner's game. See, Jim, everybody loves you, man.

SPEAKER_03 31:54

That's right.

Mike 31:55

Well, always gets his his goal of uh getting better at photo etch parts. So it's working out because he's doing something different.

Kentucky Dave 32:03

You want to know my hot take?

Mike 32:06

What's your hot take, Dave?

Kentucky Dave 32:08

Airliners have a lot in common with model railroads.

Mike 32:12

More than automotive?

Kentucky Dave 32:14

More, well, no, maybe not more than automotive, but in the same way as automotive. Where you're building for the livery. Yeah, sometimes. Mo most many model railroaders, they're they're building particular lines and particular markings on particular cars, and that's the focus of of what they're doing, and that is very much like airliners. So that's my hot take.

Mike 32:49

There you go, folks.

Kentucky Dave 32:50

There you go.

Mike 32:51

All right, this next one comes from a long way away.

Kentucky Dave 32:54

Where?

Mike 32:55

Follows Greece. From Panangiotas Mavriotis. Hope I got that right.

Kentucky Dave 33:01

It's probably better than I could do.

Mike 33:03

Hey, at least he he wrote it in Roman alphabet instead of uh in the Greek Alpha alphabet, which is looks like Cyrillic to me.

Kentucky Dave 33:13

Yep, but it's not.

Mike 33:16

It's not, you're right. He's been listening for the last year, and it's been a turning point in his scale model life, so we appreciate that.

Kentucky Dave 33:25

Well, that's fantastic. I hope his modeling fluid is uzo.

Mike 33:32

He likes our approach to scale modeling, Dave.

Kentucky Dave 33:34

Well, I appreciate that, and I love hearing from people who listen to us in other countries. I really do.

Mike 33:44

Mostly models at 70 second scale. Yay! He's sent a bunch of photos. It's a a lot of jets, including uh Helenet Corsair 2.

Kentucky Dave 33:54

The Greek Greek modern Greek aircraft are some of the coolest because they have a lot of interesting schemes and a lot of weathering. Greek F4s, A7s are just some of the most awesome models.

Mike 34:13

Well, he's expanding his modeling subject into real space to sci-fi. Well, he's always wanted to, so yeah, the time's now. Go do it, man. Your aircraft look you're great. You're you're ready to go do something different, too.

Kentucky Dave 34:25

Yeah. Mike Guy Dekavage approves.

Mike 34:28

Yes, he turned 53 months ago and he's turned by still trying to sort out and organize his most valuable resource. You know what it is?

Kentucky Dave 34:35

Modeling fluid?

Mike 34:36

Time.

Kentucky Dave 34:37

Oh, okay. Yes, I sympathize with that.

Mike 34:40

Well, he's got a suggestion for a future topic, and we'll take that into consideration. But uh thank you for writing in from Greece, and your models look great.

Kentucky Dave 34:49

Um and thank you for the suggestions. We love it when listeners reach out and and tell us what they like, what they don't like, and give us suggestions for things to do.

Expectations, Fun, And Getting Better

Mike 35:03

Well, he's been at this a long time, so glad you enjoy the podcast. I'm glad you're enjoying the hobby because uh that's that is paramount.

Kentucky Dave 35:11

Absolutely.

Mike 35:12

Steve Anderson from Motto Mead I Minnesota up in the Minnesota Twins country.

Kentucky Dave 35:18

Yep.

Mike 35:19

You know, getting back to shows and stuff, he went to the Hope It Doesn't Snow show again in Rochester.

Kentucky Dave 35:26

Yep. Steve did as well. So did Mark Copeland.

Mike 35:29

This was the second year he went and had a vendor table. He says Rick, the vendor guy from the show was awesome. And he says that you, Dave, are right about the great people you meet at shows, and Rick is one of them.

Kentucky Dave 35:41

Yep, it's true, man.

Mike 35:43

So here's the hook. Coming back for the second time was better than the first.

SPEAKER_02 35:48

Yep.

Mike 35:49

He got to talk to new people, and some of the modelers he talked to the year before came back and he got to talk some more. And he realized he met a lot more people when he had a vendor table.

Kentucky Dave 35:58

Yes.

Mike 35:59

And then when he didn't.

Kentucky Dave 36:00

Yep. I had that experience in Murfreesboro last fall because you weren't able to make it. I had the table down there and I had it just me. And it really was a way to interact with the entire crowd. And I really enjoyed that.

Mike 36:18

He says the highlight was getting to meet and talk to some fellow uh Macross and Robotech builders. So that's interesting.

Kentucky Dave 36:24

Oh wow.

Mike 36:24

That's unusual genre.

Kentucky Dave 36:26

Yep.

Mike 36:27

Well, I guess it's not unusual.

Kentucky Dave 36:29

It's just No, it's becoming more and more popular.

Mike 36:32

Well, but it's it's always been, I guess, lesser well populated at the shows than you know the traditional stuff. But uh glad somebody's building it. Any you know, I bought a bunch of Robotech kits from I bought a bunch of Robotech kits of the Nationals and uh just I finally got those in my buddy John's hands uh a couple weeks ago.

Kentucky Dave 36:50

So I remember that.

Mike 36:52

That that was good. But all this leads to his question, Dave.

Kentucky Dave 36:56

Okay.

Mike 36:56

What is a favorite memory we have either running our own table or talking to a vendor at a table at a show?

Kentucky Dave 37:04

Keep in mind I've been to twenty nine nationals.

Mike 37:10

But you set up tables that are way more than just nationals.

Kentucky Dave 37:13

Yeah, I do I God, there's so many of them. Okay, I'll tell you one. And this has happened several times, so it's not just one, it's several. This is happening less and less often simply because time marches on. But particularly back in the 90s and early 2000s, at model shows, you would encounter veterans, World War II veterans, yeah, and they'd stop by your table, and you know, they'd see a particular aircraft or piece of armor or whatever, and they would, I recognize that because I did this or that. Looking back, I wish I'd had a recorder and taped those conversations because those were just some of the most interesting conversations. A lot of these guys didn't talk about this stuff on the regular, but once something triggered the memories, particularly in an environment like a model show where it was kind of the the focus of the of the event, they were much more comfortable talking and just had some of the greatest conversations with guys who were ground servicemen, ground servicing aircraft in the Pacific, or guys who served in the mud infantry in Italy. They were fantastic, and I really wish I could go back and recapture those.

Mike 38:56

Oh, for me, man, I don't know. It's I think it's gotten kind of polluted by since we started doing the podcast.

SPEAKER_03 39:03

Yeah.

Mike 39:04

Because now we sit by a table at the at a show, be it a invitational level, local show or a regional or the national convention or amps or whatever. We've just met some amazing people who've become some good friends and some of them become regular personalities on the show.

Kentucky Dave 39:22

Yeah.

Mike 39:22

Uh it's just you just don't know what you're gonna get.

Kentucky Dave 39:26

I I'll tell you one. Do you remember where we first met the Quaka?

Mike 39:31

At HeritageCon.

Kentucky Dave 39:32

No, at Indy.

Mike 39:34

Really?

Kentucky Dave 39:35

Yes. He was at Indy. And that's where we first met him. And that's a guy who we communicate with on the regular, who is one of not only the finest modelers, but the finest people I know.

Mike 39:54

Paul Gloster for those.

Kentucky Dave 39:55

Yeah, Paul Gloster from Australia. And last year you and I spent five days in an Airbnb with Gloster and some other folks, and just the time of my life.

Mike 40:08

We're about to do it again.

Kentucky Dave 40:09

I could not, I could not be this lucky again.

Mike 40:14

We only get one chance, so that's a good thing.

Kentucky Dave 40:16

That's right, baby.

Mike 40:18

Well, next is Tim Nelson. Just right, Tim. Just right, Tim. Just listening to episode 156, and he feels compelled to comment on getting better versus having fun. Okay. He says he sure hopes those things aren't mutually exclusive.

Kentucky Dave 40:35

They shouldn't be.

Mike 40:36

And I don't think they are.

Kentucky Dave 40:37

I don't think they are.

Mike 40:39

I think one's a priority over the other. Uh and he says my inclination was correct that the what's your plan for getting better did originate as a snarky response to the excessive hand-wringing, pearl clutching we all see that keeps folks building beloved subjects.

SPEAKER_03 40:54

Yep.

Mike 40:55

And he says facing those fears and peeling back the mystery, his hope is that there's a pathway opens up for us that leads us to more fun and joy in the hobby.

SPEAKER_03 41:04

I agree.

Mike 41:05

The goal can be whatever motivates you. Improvement improvements in our builds, improvements in personal growth, satisfaction at the at building a meaningful subject, success in competition, even, or whatever. He says if you want to spend a few hours of Zen just assembling out, assembling a quick build just to get it out and get it junk done for the enjoyment of hands-on activity, it's all good. Paramount is just to seek bliss.

Kentucky Dave 41:31

I completely agree. Are you having fun?

Mike 41:35

He's turning into a skill model Buddha, man.

Kentucky Dave 41:38

Yeah.

Mike 41:39

Regarding being our own worst critics, which is absolutely true in modeling or any other quote unquote art, he believes our negativity comes from uh the mismatch between what we visual visualize for our project completion compared to the actual results.

SPEAKER_03 41:54

Yep. I'd say that's true.

Mike 41:56

He says other viewers never had that pre-visualization, so they see the model as it is. Yep. And the passage of time causes the visualization visualization to fade, and we start to see our own models as is, generally pretty darn decent. Good point. So uh Tim's uh hitting it again, man. Good points. And that is it for the email side of things, Dave. Other than, before I hand it off to you, we've got a couple, three more, three more.

SPEAKER_03 42:25

Okay.

Mike 42:25

One of them will be covered in our special topic, and the other two from Terry Wilkinson and Scott Hubert were from the call to action in the 12-minute model sphere, and they're gonna go and be addressed in episode 158. So let me say real quick, episode 158, the topic is what do you get from this hobby? Why do you model? What do you get from it? I'd like to see some more emails on that. We're gonna cover those other points and opinions in the in episode 158 in our feature up feature uh segment. Thanks for those guys for getting on the stick and uh getting those to me. But uh a few more would be great. So keep them coming in, and we'll tackle this other one in our uh special episode tonight, Dave, from uh Jeff Adanitz. So there you go. All right. So, what is happening on the direct message side of the world?

Kentucky Dave 43:16

Well, we uh the direct messages have been active too. Our friend Michael Grisbin DM'd me, heard me talking about one of the things I wanted to do was to use the the cameo cutter that I got that I've only used on one project and I want to get better at it. And he reached out because there was a post on Facebook about using the cutter to cut plastic up to 20 thal plastic. And so he was kind enough to say, hey, I don't know if you saw this and sent it to me, and which was great because I would have never seen it. Otherwise. And I it just redoubles my desire to make that a focus in 2026 of getting better.

Mike 44:12

Well, I can tell you on that topic, you mentioned Paul Gloster.

SPEAKER_02 44:16

Yes.

Mike 44:17

And I talked about phase two of the website. He's he's mentioned maybe talking about the the uh silhouette and cricket cutters a little bit more and in a written format. So maybe we get to put this together ourselves.

Kentucky Dave 44:29

Yep, I'm looking forward to it. Kevin Hedrick of Kiss Kit Masks contacted me to let me let me know that unfortunately they're not going to be able to make it to HeritageCon after all. They've had some developments that require them to devote time, energy, and money where they are, and they have to sacrifice the trip to Hamilton, which they were really looking forward to. I've already reached out to him and said, listen, if you've got material you want us to distribute, send it to us. We will, because again, Mike and I are huge fans of Kevin and Janelle, and they do a great job, and we get nothing but positive feedback from our listeners who've interacted with them. Now, I'm of course disappointed that we're not going to see Janelle at the net at Hamilton. Kevin, too, I guess. But I am encouraged that uh all is well and they're focusing on what they need to focus on right now. Looking forward to seeing them. Maybe they'll get to the nationals. Who knows?

Mike 45:50

On a personal level, that is disappointing, but they can't help it. So we understand.

Kentucky Dave 45:55

We completely do. William Christman reached out to comment and just tell us that he enjoys our podcast and the outlook and attitude that we have toward modeling, and that like us, he wants it to be a drama-free experience. And he really appreciates that that that we keep it that way in the podcast. And I appreciate hearing that because you and I really do make an effort to do that. Martin Piada to send me a picture of a bourbon bottle.

Mike 46:33

Yeah, I saw that one.

Kentucky Dave 46:35

Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Chicken Cock is the name of the bourbon. I have I've seen this, I think it like total line. I've never had it. I don't know what distiller is distilling it, if it's an independent or one of the big ones.

Mike 46:55

No, I don't remember. Remind me, did he send a picture of it on a store shelf or is it like in his hand in his house?

Kentucky Dave 47:01

Is it in his hand in his house? So he said a friend got it for him for his birthday. And he says they still freeze? He thinks the friend got it mostly for the name, but it turns out to actually taste pretty good. So maybe I'll have to look out for that one.

Mike 47:21

Maybe that will be a featured on a future episode of Blessing Mala Mojo. Chicken cock.

Kentucky Dave 47:26

Chicken cock.

Mike 47:27

All right.

Kentucky Dave 47:28

And finally, on the DM side, one of our listeners who who had interacted previously, Clement Pudenson, and God, I know I'm butchering that, and I apologize. He and I have had some really wonderful interactions. And like I said, he had first contacted me regarding using Tamiyawax on his canopies. But we've had plenty of lovely interactions since then. And he and I had an interaction that will come up later in the What Broke Your Wallet segment. So I just wanted to mention to him that he broke my wallet and he'll hear about it in a little bit. That's all I've got from the DM side.

Mike 48:18

Folks, again, we got a few more we're going to save till till next episode. So if you'd like to reach out to us, you can do so through a couple of ways. You can email us at plasticmodelmojo at gmail.com, or you can send us a direct message through the Facebook Messenger system, or you can use the feedback web link on the website, or which uh you can get to at the website or through the show notes of each and every episode. So man, we had a lot this time, but it was a lot of fun, Dave.

Kentucky Dave 48:45

It was. This is my favorite segment without question.

Mike 49:09

Dave, our main segment tonight is gonna pick back up Fear Targets topic that we kind of glossed over it with Jim. We kind of got off the rails and but it was all fine. It all ended up okay. But I just thought maybe this was worth talking a little bit about more.

Kentucky Dave 49:25

All right.

Mike 49:26

A little bit more about, maybe.

Kentucky Dave 49:28

Define your terms.

Mike 49:30

Fear targets would be anything that gets us off the rails as modelers or even keeps us from starting as modelers. Things that basically that that scare us, that keep us uh maybe that's a hard thing to admit sometimes, but right. It can c cause procrastination at the base level, I guess.

Kentucky Dave 49:47

And I can think of some.

Mike 49:49

Well, I've got one I'm gonna lead off with this list from Ellie cut off from Jeff Adanich. And it gets into that kind of vein that Tim Nelson was talking about, the uh the our our pre-project visualization versus what it actually ends up. And sometimes that pre-visualization might be in our minds beyond our current skills. So we don't start it. And for him, he had a family member that was a a B-17 ground crewman during during the war with the Eighth Air Force. So he's got a family significance around this particular subject. Uh he's heard stories about the planes, the crews, the work at the airbase, you know, on and on and on. And his dad would take him to air shows to see one of the you know the few flying B-17s that are out there. And other things, he'd go to the Dayton Air Force Museum and see the one there. So he's gonna decide that uh he would never leave the gift shop without a model kit. But he's had an Academy B-17F in his stash for years. He didn't want to start it because, as he quotes, I can't screw up the family airplane. And he took a long look at the kit he's built over the years, and all the great builds people are doing on the dojo, and he finally got to the point he's like, let's do this and see what happens. So that would be one fear target is basically the fear of failure from the start.

Kentucky Dave 51:18

And I think this is a very common one, and I know it is for me. In fact, we talked about a little bit earlier in this episode. Your favorite item, in his case, a B17 because of the family connection, but from whatever it is, this is this is the airplane that I really love, or the tank that I really love, or the car that I really, really love.

Mike 51:44

Yeah, like Jim not building hurricanes.

Kentucky Dave 51:47

Like Jim not building Jim knows more about hurricanes. Jim has forgotten more about hurricanes than I'll ever know. And it's clearly something that he is invested in. And I think he actually suffers from that in that he he runs into this challenge of, oh, I I'm not good enough yet. And I do think one of the solutions to that is what I suggested earlier. Go buy two or three of the kits and build one out of the box, and and say to yourself, this isn't gonna be the masterpiece. All I'm doing here is putting it together out of the box, learning the kit assembly sequence, learning where there might be things that I need to do different from what the instructions say, and finish it. And when you get it done, because you've said to yourself, this isn't the masterpiece, this isn't my my absolute opus build. The fact that you built a kit of your favorite item, got it completed, I think will help kill that fear, or at least diminish it.

Mike 53:12

Well, he's got a kind of interesting take here.

Kentucky Dave 53:15

Okay.

Mike 53:15

You know, we all say just, you know, get going on it, right? Right. You know, and maybe honestly, probably is easier said than done for a lot of folks.

SPEAKER_03 53:23

Yeah.

Mike 53:24

But that's okay. Finally got to the point, again, let's do this and see what happens. Over the last several months, he's had the most fun he's ever had working on a kit. This B-17 has been the largest kit he's ever built. It's the most scratch building he's ever done. It's the longest build duration he's ever endured. And he's used every skill he has in the process and adding to it to get to the end. Which uh he says that the model paint solutions needle point scriber has been a great addition to the tool kit. So shout out to John Miller. So there you go, John. This this one's this point is, and we've talked about this before, Dave. He says this kit was or is a hundred little builds from getting the paint to look right to problem solving about fit and shape issues, getting all ten of the flight crew figures into the plane in the right pose, how to build the radio room, because it now has to have a figure in it and you can't leave him out, and all these little stinking brass baching barrels. And sometimes you just gotta jump, man.

Kentucky Dave 54:33

No, I think that's absolutely true. Sometimes you just have to jump.

Mike 54:40

So his fear target was screwing up the family build. And he's embraced it. And then you know, you're right. If it doesn't work out, he can take all that he learned and build another one and get past fast forward past all those hurdles.

Kentucky Dave 54:55

Yep.

Mike 54:56

Because he knows.

Kentucky Dave 54:57

And and having built one, I think that takes a lot of fear away because one of the big fears is, oh, I'm gonna screw this up. Well, if you built the kit once, that fear is screwing up, is now you you know what you're facing rather rather than when you initially open the box, cut open the plastic, the cellophane or whatever, sprue covers or whatever, you don't know what you're facing. And when you don't know, fear creeps in.

Mike 55:31

Well, two things.

Kentucky Dave 55:33

I forgot one of them. That's okay, it'll come to you.

Mike 55:37

Well, your third Plieste B-24 ought to be really damn good, man.

Kentucky Dave 55:41

That's exactly right. That is absolutely exactly correct.

Mike 55:47

The other point was he may get through this one and it may be fine. Yep. He may, you know, man, I learned a lot. I think it looks good enough. That's the family airplane. I'm gonna go do something else.

SPEAKER_02 55:58

Yep.

Mike 55:59

So, you know, you don't have to use it as a test bed. No, but the point is, just do it. It is a test bed by default. When you get to the end, you either like it or you don't. If you don't, you can do it again. If you do, you're done. Yep.

Kentucky Dave 56:14

Absolutely.

Mike 56:15

Well, you got any fear targets?

Kentucky Dave 56:17

No, well, though that's one. There is a nut there are a number of aircraft that I want to do, and I want to do the perfect job on them, and I've built none of them.

Mike 56:28

Is there is there a technique or something besides a subject?

Kentucky Dave 56:32

Well, there I was going to say, in addition to all of those subjects, and that's one fear, the fear of screwing up an airplane I really like, I have shied away from bare metal aircraft because of the fact that bare metal is very difficult to do. And I don't think it's as difficult as I think it is. Our friend Chris Wallace did a really excellent video, not uh gosh, awful long ago, on bare metal finish on his 104. I do think that because I fear the bare metal finish, that has me shying away from certain subjects or certain subjects in certain markings. And that is one of the things that is a fear for me, and I need to conquer it. And I I've got an upcoming build where it's I can finish it needs to be finished in bare metal, and I'm gonna confront that fear. Worst thing that happens is I screw the model up, it goes in the trash, and I go out and get another one.

Mike 57:40

That's always true, but it's the hardest hard to hard to swallow. Once you swallow it, it's good.

Kentucky Dave 57:47

But uh Yeah, I was gonna say, once you accept it, uh, you know, it's the scene, the scene in Dune with uh fear is the mind killer.

Mike 57:56

Well, another one that comes to mind was uh Jim brought it up about even the little piece of photo etch is like a can stomp the brakes for him.

SPEAKER_03 58:05

Yes.

Mike 58:06

And for me, I I've I was kind of there too.

SPEAKER_02 58:10

Yeah.

Mike 58:11

But I think really getting into a technique that you don't understand and learn as much about it as you can before you try it, it's not gonna guarantee success, but I think it's gonna get you to success faster than if you just started throwing bricks at the wall.

Kentucky Dave 58:30

Well, and that is one of the things that Steve Fustad has emphasized to both you and I, which is experimenting. You know, if you're going to do something like photo etch, go ahead and get yourself a piece of photo etch and practice with it and get comfortable with it. And the fact that you have done it and maybe even screwed it up and learned why you screwed it up and then did it again and and learned better this time, that just confronting doing something does in and of itself take away a lot of the fear because the fear is just in the mind.

Mike 59:16

It's in the mind, but it's also there are also some aspects that are in the technique that are this thing's not behaving like I want it to, or or if it would do this instead of what it's doing, it'd be a lot easier to work with. Right. And I think for this for me, because I had this photoetrophia for a long time as well, partly because of CA adhesives. You know, we talked to about Paul Budzik in the in the listener mail segment. It was a conversation I I was having with him, and I was joking, but for me, CA CA adhesives are both uh sentient and clairvoyant.

SPEAKER_03 59:58

Yes.

Mike 59:59

They know when you want it to dry or cure instantly, right? And they don't.

Kentucky Dave 1:00:06

And then they know when you need a little time.

Mike 1:00:09

And they don't.

Kentucky Dave 1:00:10

And they don't and they do.

Mike 1:00:13

Or they do cure. Yeah. So that struggling with that part of CA made me think, okay, how do I want this to work? Well, I'd like to work like I was just gluing a piece of plastic onto a piece of plastic.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:30

Right.

Mike 1:00:30

So what did I do? I took Evergreen 5000th styrene, and now you can even go to Aldi and get this two and a half thousandth styrene, or you can get the Tamiya uh plastic paper in the same kind of thicknesses. Right.

Kentucky Dave 1:00:46

And enjoy and enjoy some some very nice prosciutto.

Mike 1:00:50

You can take your piece of photo etch that you're worried about getting the placement right on.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:55

Yep.

Mike 1:00:56

Glue it to this scrap of this really thin styrene, which is easy because you don't have to place it precisely.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:03

Right.

Mike 1:01:04

Trim all the extra off, which is really easy because you have this the photo etch part is the the trim line.

Kentucky Dave 1:01:10

Right.

Mike 1:01:11

And then glue it to your model with liquid cement.

Kentucky Dave 1:01:14

Yep. And it's so thin that it don't matter. That that it either doesn't matter or it disappears.

Mike 1:01:21

Or it disappears, yeah.

Kentucky Dave 1:01:23

It melts the the plastic.

Mike 1:01:25

Now that won't work for everything, but for some of them it will.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:30

Yep.

Mike 1:01:31

And if you can if you can find solutions that suit your skill set then you can you can you can use this new thing.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:40

Yeah.

Mike 1:01:40

Even doing that, you're still having to glue the PE to the styrene with with CA adhesive.

Kentucky Dave 1:01:46

Right.

Mike 1:01:47

So you're learning you're learning something there.

Kentucky Dave 1:01:50

But you have a wider margin for error.

Mike 1:01:53

Right. But because you're doing it now with that, you're learning how the CA behaves, you're learning how the PE behaves, and at some point you may get past the the the that intermediate step.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:04

Yeah.

Mike 1:02:05

Or you may never, because it may be the you think that's the greatest way to do it, which kind of is where I'm at for some parts.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:10

Yeah.

Mike 1:02:11

Still after probably 18 years of doing it that way. But uh yeah, you can find a worker. That's that's another approach to some of this, these problems. So what else, man? What else is another fear target?

Kentucky Dave 1:02:24

Airbrushing when I've been away from it for a while. And my solution to this has been to try and keep something constantly in the paint booth. Because, and you wouldn't think it's like this. You would think that airbrushing is like riding a bicycle. Once you've done it and once you've mastered it, you can walk away from it for six months. Come back, get on that bicycle, and start. You haven't forgotten how to pedal, you know how to ride a bike. You would think it's like that, but it's not. It is a specific skill set and it is more akin to shooting free throws, where if you shoot free throws and get good shooting free throws, and then you don't do it for six months and you come back, you have to you have to get good again. Whereas if you're like a professional basketball player and every day of your life since you were 13 years old, you went out on the court every day and shot, you know, 200 free throws, because you do it every day, day in, day out, without exception, you get to that high skill level and you maintain that high skill level. And I think airbrushing is like that. I think that if you are away from it for some significant period of time, and I suspect it varies person to person, but if you're away from it and come back to it after not having done it, I do think it is something that you end up having to relearn. You end up having to practice and regain your touch before you move forward.

Mike 1:04:25

Yeah, I think all these things probably fall into two buckets, the misappropriated expectations, and then the the skill barrier. Yeah. And for for me, I I guess this the skill barrier uh well, let me back up. The expectation one somehow I've learned to manage that one. And I I think it gets into being able to shed the dare to compare kind of thing.

Kentucky Dave 1:04:57

Yeah.

Mike 1:04:58

You know, comparison is what did they say? Something like that.

Kentucky Dave 1:05:01

Yeah, well, the perfect is the enemy of the good.

Mike 1:05:04

Well, there's that, and it but uh compare equals despair.

Kentucky Dave 1:05:08

Right.

Mike 1:05:08

I think once I got out of that mode of trying to achieve it, contests and stuff, that uh that one kind of got muted. And once that happens, you can I think you get a better assessment of your own skills. And and you you can know you have a better ability to predict what your finished model is gonna look like than what you want it to look like.

Kentucky Dave 1:05:32

I was gonna say, technology may provide you a solution to many of your some of your skills based fear targets.

Mike 1:05:42

Might.

Kentucky Dave 1:05:44

Let me tell you what happened. One of the biggest fear targets for me was canopy masking. Having to, this is all before pre cut mask came along. And you would have to. Use little pieces of tape or bare metal foil or whatever, and you try. There were 20 or 30 different techniques, and none of them seemed to work really well.

Mike 1:06:10

And all of them had the uh potential to scratch your canopy with an air in exactave knife swipe.

Kentucky Dave 1:06:18

Exactly. And so you shy away from complex canopy masks, greenhouses, things like that. You know, World War II bombers that had these just incredibly glazed canopies. And I never conquered that fear, but technology conquered it for me. And now, canopies, while still tough, because again, I think that in aircraft modeling, one of the things that separates really good models from average model is canopies, but it's much easier now to get a good canopy because of canopy masks. And I think 3D printing is going to at least to some extent do that to resin and photoatch.

The Voice of Bob (Bair) 1:07:12

Yeah.

Kentucky Dave 1:07:14

So technology may come along and solve your problem for you, which is great. I love that. We're living in the golden age of modeling. It's only gonna get better from here.

Mike 1:07:27

It does, you know, but I I've always got that craftsman kind of mindset.

Kentucky Dave 1:07:32

So I know you're an engineer. You want you like building things.

Mike 1:07:37

But I I won't say I shy away from all that stuff. No, but in your case, an engineer knows when the when a better solution is at hand than the one you have.

Kentucky Dave 1:07:50

Well, but in your case, you may end up creating the 3D print yourself. Whereas I'm ne I'm never going to do that. But you may end up, and that may, again, it provides you a technological solution where instead of trying to represent something with photo etch that where photo etch really isn't suited to it, you can go into CAD, create it yourself, print it yourself, etc. And use that different set of skills to overcome the photo etch problem and not only overcome it, but replace it with something that's better.

Mike 1:08:35

It's pretty good take, man.

Kentucky Dave 1:08:37

Hey, I come up with them once in a while. And you know what? Elijah Craig may have something to do with that.

Mike 1:08:45

He may. Well, I I think we've distilled the fear targets down to two buckets.

Kentucky Dave 1:08:52

Yep, I think we have, and I think we've found solutions for them.

Mike 1:08:56

In the past, how's this affected your modeling, either good or bad? What do you think?

Kentucky Dave 1:09:01

Oh, it's prevented me from building kits that I want to build. I mean, it it absolutely has lessened my enjoyment of modeling. And so conquering those through the techno techniques we've discussed, I think provides you a solution that will increase your enjoyment of modeling. And again, it kind of has become a through line on this episode, but enjoying your hobby is what this is all about. And anything that makes you enjoy your hobby more is great. Anything that makes you enjoy your hobby less is something that you need to look at and say, okay, how do I fix this?

Mike 1:09:50

Yeah, I agree. I just wonder where I fall on this spectrum. I earlier in my in my modeling life that this was a bigger deal. But I think uh for me personally, and this, you know, everybody's gonna be different, so this may not apply to anybody else. But I think I have a little bit different mindset on a lot of the problem solving than maybe a lot of modelers do. And it doesn't I've gotten over how long it takes me to get a project done. Yeah, I've gotten oh, you know, the the ribbon doesn't bother me. I you know, I'm just I'm doing it the way I want to do it. So there's joy in that, but I you know, I can lay in bed three nights in a row and ruminate over the same modeling problem I've got and eventually come out of it with a solution. Those stinking uh fuel retainer, fuel drum straps on the KV805 project were one of them. Yeah, and I finally pieced together a solution that would work. And you know, I I didn't I do that at the bench a little bit. Did I do it laying in bed at night? Yeah, a little bit. It's uh it's it's it's just interesting. I think uh we all approach this thing a little bit differently, but uh thinking things through in kind of concert with just it in some instances thinking things through and taking your time to figure out a solution or or maybe more appropriate for some problems. And the other ones is just just flat starting the de the model and doing it and pushing through. Because uh a a basic aircraft or a basic armor project that you just don't want to mess up, maybe completely removed from some minuscule detail you're trying to get right, right? Right. So there's kind of two different things there. You know, we we've had it in the list or mail tonight. Just open the box and get started and see what happens.

Kentucky Dave 1:11:44

And in most cases, if you screw something up, you can go out and get another one.

Mike 1:11:49

All right, man. You got anything else on this one?

Kentucky Dave 1:11:52

No, I think we've touched on it.

The Voice of Bob (Bair) 1:11:56

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Mike 1:12:21

All right, folks, it's the bench top halftime report.

Kentucky Dave 1:12:25

Have we been modeling?

Mike 1:12:26

We have, Dave.

Kentucky Dave 1:12:27

Yes, we have.

Mike 1:12:28

Well, lay it on me, brother. What do you got going on?

Kentucky Dave 1:12:31

The Hellcat has all of her decals on her.

Mike 1:12:35

All right.

Kentucky Dave 1:12:36

I got them all on, and man, there were a lot of them, but uh, I'll again say that Furball's decals are beautiful and they go down really well, and their stencil decals are well printed. And don't look at the model too closely because you can actually, with a magnifying glass, read the stencils, and I know I put at least three of them on upside down, but nobody else is going to know them. I have cleaned the model, and this is something that I do that Steve Hustad had said he does as well. After I've got the model done, all the decals on, I'll go back with a damp, lightly damp brush and brush over the whole model to remove any excess decal setting film, microsol or micro set or whatever, just so that I've got a really clean surface. Now it's at the point where it's ready for the gloss coat over top of the decals. And from there it's then simply weathering, adding the detail parts, wheels, landing gear, etc., and removing the canopy masks. So it is 99% sure that this thing is going to make a trip to Canada with us.

Mike 1:14:03

Ah, see, there you went. You ruined it.

Kentucky Dave 1:14:06

No, no. I I'm not I'm not jinxing it. Very well, who knows? I could break a leg or something like that, break an arm.

Mike 1:14:14

But it's certain the Japanese plane is at that point and has been there for a long time.

Kentucky Dave 1:14:21

About five months, yes. I know. And and believe me, the SAM is following this one up very quickly.

Mike 1:14:29

But we gotta they're they're gonna be at the same place, and you're gonna not have one in the paint sticker in the build stage.

Kentucky Dave 1:14:35

Yeah, well, I do have I reactivated a build that I know is at least six and more likely eight or nine years old, the Platz T33.

Mike 1:14:49

Oh, yeah, we talked about that last time.

Kentucky Dave 1:14:51

Yeah, I'm building it for the Indiana Air National Guard build that uh the Septembers are doing, but it is still in the build stage. It's in the late build stage, but it's in the build stage.

Mike 1:15:03

All right, all right.

Kentucky Dave 1:15:04

And so I have been working on it. And when you walk away from a model for six or eight years, coming back to it and figuring out, okay, where am I? What needs to be done? It's a little hard. It was a challenge. I was gonna say, it was very much a challenge. And I did spend one whole bench evening at the bench removing some masking I had put over the the cockpit and the uh landing gear wells, and looking at the instructions and looking at the sprues and figuring out okay, where am I? Where exactly am I, and what do I need to do to go forward? And I got that. In fact, uh I did a lot a lot of that when Skippy was over on Super Bowl Sunday.

Mike 1:16:00

A lot, a lot of why did I do the last thing I did to this thing?

Kentucky Dave 1:16:04

Exactly, exactly. And what was the last thing I did to this thing? And having Skippy over where I could interact with him while I was sitting here and looking at this thing and and figuring all this out really did help. But so Hellcat, it's tonight after we record, getting the the top gloss coat. The T33 is back in production, it's in the build stage, the late build stage, and things are moving along. So I feel good. I wish I had more bench time. I again, six hours, 19 minutes in all of January is you can do better than that. I can do better than that. I know I can do better than that. And now keep in mind, January had some challenges weather, weather family, otherwise. I'm hoping February is better, but we'll see.

Mike 1:17:08

It's almost the middle of the month.

Kentucky Dave 1:17:10

I understand, but I've got some time in at the bench already in front of the year. We're getting there. Now, how about you?

Mike 1:17:18

Oh man, it's been moosuru all the time.

Kentucky Dave 1:17:21

Yes, sir. You've been sending me pictures. I can't wait.

Mike 1:17:24

I've turned up the heat on that about three weeks ago.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:28

Mm-hmm.

Mike 1:17:29

And gotten a lot done. The subassemblies are nearly done. Of the subassemblies, the one I don't have done yet is the the perimeter tending on the windshield.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:40

Yep.

Bench Top Halftime: Hellcat, T-33, And Moosuru

Mike 1:17:41

Which I gotta get that masked off and spray that with a tummy of smoke. Right. That'll be the kind of the last of the subassemblies to get done. I'm building a little vignette with this, so the car is the primary element of the vignette. The secondary vignette element is done and weathered and looks beautiful. Which we will not divulge what is. No.

Kentucky Dave 1:18:04

But it was 3D printed.

Mike 1:18:06

It was. The color selection for the car involved me purchasing, which we'll get into later, several real color aka real color blue paints.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:16

Yep.

Mike 1:18:17

That was interesting. Because they're the new ones in the dropper bottles.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:22

Right.

Mike 1:18:23

I tell you, for a paint that I've used recently, meaning since we started the podcast, so six years. Right. Those paints have the biggest difference between wet and dry color of any paints I've ever used.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:39

Yep.

Mike 1:18:40

So you better let them dry before you just determine if that's the color you want or not. The color you want to do. The wet ain't it.

Kentucky Dave 1:18:49

That's right. The wet color is not the color. It is a dry. And some of them don't shift hardly at all. Some of them shift a lot. Others shift a lot. What I'm most thrilled about and can't wait for you to be able to talk about is custom decals.

Mike 1:19:06

Well, we're gonna talk about it. Well, talk about it. These decals are in hand. I've got them, Dave.

Kentucky Dave 1:19:13

And they were made by a custom decal company. Where?

Mike 1:19:17

This custom decal company is called Hobbyist Decals, and they're out of India. I think they are in Mumbai. And these were a reference to us from Adam Coleman, longtime listener.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:30

Yes.

Mike 1:19:31

Who's been on the show a few times, who's the Liang Models North American distributor, by the way.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:36

Yep.

Mike 1:19:37

And Adam had used these on a few of his builds. They're a custom decal producer, and they're small, small volume. So I used to do custom decals in my model railroading life, and you you had to have like 50 to 100 sets printed. So you better have a market identified to get the decals you want for your own stuff because uh you have to buy a bunch of them. Not so much with hobbyist decals. I designed these up myself for this project and had them printed, and pricing was really reasonable. And I I got them in hand.

Kentucky Dave 1:20:12

And well, let me stop you there. How was the interaction back and forth with the artwork?

Mike 1:20:19

Uh I mean was really good, actually. Uh okay. They I sent them the artwork, they saw they identified some things that might be a challenge for them and asked me for some improvement if I could.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:32

Right.

Mike 1:20:33

And I did. I sent them back the improvement. I said, This is probably the best I can do, but this is probably as good as I need. And they said, Okay, this this looks this looks fine for us. So that part was good. And then when they got to the final part, they're like, Here it is. Is there anything else that needs to be adjusted here, or do you want to approve this for print? I asked them a couple questions to make sure we weren't assuming some things.

Kentucky Dave 1:21:01

Right. And that's particularly true when you're dealing now. With anybody right, with anybody. But now English is of course their their their national language due to being a colony of the United Kingdom. But again, even if you're interacting in English, you still need to make sure that you're all speaking the same English. And that that you're you're clear on what they're saying and they're clear on what you're saying.

Mike 1:21:33

And it was basic things, like I'd used a really washed out light blue to represent the decal paper. And I, you know, I wanted to make sure that they knew that, hey, this this color is the generic decal paper. This is not to be printed on the on the on the decal film. And you know, it was maybe I was a little overconcerned, but better safe to be. Don't ask, you don't get, yeah.

Kentucky Dave 1:21:58

Right.

Mike 1:21:59

So we want to make sure that that worked out. So the communication was really, really good.

Kentucky Dave 1:22:05

Now, how okay, they were then produced. How long did it take to get back to to the US?

Mike 1:22:11

I think uh when I approved them when I received it in the mail was about 14 days.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:17

Dang, that's amazing.

Mike 1:22:19

They're using a a um an inkjet plotter, so it's print on demand. Right. So most of it was shipping and customs and all that.

Kentucky Dave 1:22:29

Right. So that's that's pretty good, darn good service.

Mike 1:22:33

Pretty good service. And then when I get them, I only only got one sheet in a specific metric size. So I, you know, I'd replicated a lot of the markings that I want for the Moose Root project on there. So I could probably actually letter about two or three models with what I got, but I wanted to make sure I had enough in case some bad stuff happened or they were difficult to work with. Right. I've not put them on the model yet, but I've done a little, given I've got a lot of extras, some cursory work with trying to see if they're how they're gonna behave. Right. Testing. Testing, yeah. So in a nutshell, like the whites, they could be a little more opaque. They're not they're not opaque enough, so I'm probably gonna back those up with some white trim film, put down first, and put the decals over that to get that saturation good so the so the underlying color of the car doesn't show through the decal film. Uh the decals seem to react fine with like the micro scale solutions. So that's good.

Kentucky Dave 1:23:35

Now, is the decal carrier film it's not a continuous sheet, it's actually around each decal?

Mike 1:23:43

Uh no, but okay. It's a really interesting question. The decals are printed on a edge-to-edge clear film.

Kentucky Dave 1:23:52

Gotcha.

Mike 1:23:54

But because these are done on a plotter type device, they have a blade on the plotter head.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:01

Uh-huh.

Mike 1:24:02

So it is scribing just through the clear film a little bit outside of each decal color boundary.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:09

Oh, wow.

Mike 1:24:10

So I got this sheet, and it's got like this rough feel to it. I'm like, oh crap, what's that all about? Then I put on my optivizor to look at it. Well, yeah, they've scribed around every shape with a blade. So when you soak these in film, it separates where the scribe line was.

Kentucky Dave 1:24:27

Nice.

Mike 1:24:28

So we'll see. I I think that's a plus, unless when they cut it, it put a lip, you know, a put a burr on the edge of the film, which can happen if you use like use an exacto knife sometimes on a continuous film decal. You can raise a burr on the on the film and makes it a little hard to hide. We'll see. But I I tested these decals on a a plastic placard we got from somebody, I can't remember who it was. It was our first indie show, gave me a stack of these things. They were injection molded test plaques for uh finished texture on a surface out of an injection mold.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:07

Yeah.

Mike 1:25:07

So it's got a this it's got like a two-inch square patch of uh of a texture. So it's it's not smooth. So the decals with the microscale solution seems to be performing pretty well against that. So I I'm I'm pretty pleased with what I got so far. You know, I gotta cut some white trim film to go under some of the decals, but that shouldn't be too bad. And given I'm pretty accustomed to stacking trim film to get a you know multicolor thing with like you did like you did on the paw. Yeah, like I did on the safety striping on the paw. So, you know, it's not gonna be that big a deal. But it they could have been a little more opaque, but that's probably a limit limitation of their printing process. Sure. Uh other than that, man, the KV85 is on hold until I get a little further on this. Um I did a little work on the turret. I've I've put a few more parts on the turret. I've I've got the the rear turret MG installed. So uh a little work there, but not much. It's it's back.

Kentucky Dave 1:26:10

Well, that turret that turret ought to be almost done.

Mike 1:26:13

It's almost done. I I think uh I took an assessment last week and it's like, wow, there's a lot of little popcorn things I've I need to do on this thing before I can prime it. So I've been knocking those out, but not a lot worth mentioning. I'll I'll I'll get into the KV85 in the next episode, probably. Good. So that's where I'm at, man. You got anything else? That's it.

The Voice of Bob (Bair) 1:26:37

Plastic Model Mojo is brought to you by Squadron. Head on over to squadron.com for the latest in kits and accessories, all at a great price and with great service. Squadron, adding to the stash since 1968.

Kentucky Dave 1:26:54

Mike, have you been spending some money lately?

Mike 1:26:57

Uh yeah, I did, Dave.

Kentucky Dave 1:26:59

I did too. So let's get into what broke your wallet.

Mike 1:27:04

Well, the first thing that broke my wallet was I bought the four different blue paints from AK Interactive, and I bought those through Burbank House Hobby.

Kentucky Dave 1:27:13

They are they are really good. They, man, I'll tell you, you go on their website, they they have what's in stock, what's out of stock. Shipping, when you do it not on eBay, but directly through their website, is very reasonable. And boy, are they quick.

Mike 1:27:33

They are fast. And uh, you know, again, I guess back to the the dry color versus the wet color. So uh those for the Moosuru car. Luckily, I don't I'm not gonna have to mix. I'm gonna use one of these right out of the bottle.

Kentucky Dave 1:27:48

So uh I can't wait to see it.

Mike 1:27:50

That's good. So I I did that. What else I get for them? I got uh the brass machine gun barrel for that I put on the back of the KV 85, which looks fantastic. They look pretty good. Those are from Aver, and they turned out pretty good. That's what I got from Burbank. In addition to that, and I mentioned maybe this a little bit in passing in one of the other episodes, but I got a new catapult, Dave.

Kentucky Dave 1:28:15

Yes, I know. You only paid for it twice.

Mike 1:28:19

I only paid for it twice.

Kentucky Dave 1:28:20

What what catapult did we get?

Mike 1:28:23

Well, it's a French marine catapult, Dave.

Kentucky Dave 1:28:25

Yes.

Mike 1:28:26

If I can find my glasses.

Kentucky Dave 1:28:28

Have you been have you been watching Inch High's blog on the Loire 130?

Mike 1:28:33

Well, the only reason he posted that is because I asked him for information.

Kentucky Dave 1:28:37

I know, I know that. But I mean, it's amazing the photographs that he came up with, many of which include the catapult and details of the catapult.

Mike 1:28:49

Well, this is from a defunct company, AJP Maquettes out of France.

Kentucky Dave 1:28:56

Although they still may take your money.

Mike 1:28:58

They may take your money. Well, I think their website's finally down. Oh, okay. They made this thing at one time in both 48th scale and 72nd scale.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:07

Yep.

Mike 1:29:08

And I had ordered one. I'd more than ordered one. I had a conversation with the proprietor of the business. And uh I ordered one. And about you know, with a cottage industry like this, you're gonna be a little bit lenient, right? Right. So about three or four months later, I was like, okay, what's going on? He's like, it's all cool. I just need to get the photo S sheets made again. And that was it. Yeah, there was nothing after that. Then his website went down. So he got my money. I did not get my model. And then a listener sent us a listener mail about a month ago. Said, hey, I was looking for another model kit, but I found this. This looks like right up your alley. I thought you might be interested in it. And it was this catapult.

Kentucky Dave 1:29:57

On the website of a third-party retailer.

Mike 1:30:00

Yeah, it was not the website for this company. It was a it was a it was a god, what's the name of the place? It's uh they all they sell is aviation models out of and they're out of Europe. Aviation Megastore.

Kentucky Dave 1:30:13

Okay, yes, I know who they are.

Mike 1:30:14

I think they're out of Holland.

Kentucky Dave 1:30:16

They they're out of Holland or Belgium, but yes. Right.

Mike 1:30:20

It was listed on their website. So I emailed them and said, Hey, do you really have this? Like, yeah, we've got one in stock. Like, I want it, hold it, I'm sending the money as soon as I can get it to you. So I sent them the payment for it. It was a little bit uplifted versus the price I had paid for the one I never got, so I paid for it twice plus. Then it was shipped uh from a tariffed country. So I got that little joy. So I probably paid for this thing probably close to 3x at this point.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:54

Yep.

Mike 1:30:56

But I have it.

Kentucky Dave 1:30:57

And how does it look?

Mike 1:30:59

The photo looks very reasonable, very buildable. It comes with the the tower and the turntable.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:07

Uh-huh.

Mike 1:31:08

And the tower is like three inches in diameter, and you can hold it at arm's length until it's not round. So that's gonna be a 3D print job, but that's really, really easy because it's just a cylinder. Right. You know, there's some of the finer details like the control panel and the some of the plumbing and stuff that's in photoets, and I'm like, eh. I might try to redo that in 3D print and improve it a little bit. But the the actual gantry, the the the catapult is really pretty nice and it looks really buildable. So looking forward to starting this one. I think this one moves, maybe moves to the front of my airplane list, Dave.

Kentucky Dave 1:31:45

I don't blame you, and I would encourage that, because that's been that's been something that's been something of a white whale for you.

Mike 1:31:54

And well, just getting it's been the white whale. I hope building it's not the white whale.

Kentucky Dave 1:31:59

But I I mean, I'm happy to see you have it after all this time.

Mike 1:32:06

I just wonder that Azure Loire 130 is gonna be how good a build that's gonna be.

Kentucky Dave 1:32:11

It's gonna be a challenge, I can tell you.

Mike 1:32:14

But you know what?

Kentucky Dave 1:32:15

What?

Mike 1:32:15

It's not a rigged plane.

Kentucky Dave 1:32:17

No, it is not.

Mike 1:32:18

So that's that that that's a plus.

Kentucky Dave 1:32:21

Although the strut configuration is pretty interesting.

Mike 1:32:27

Uh, it's gonna be fun.

Kentucky Dave 1:32:28

So yes, it is, and I've got a little present for you that's in regard to that.

Mike 1:32:36

So, all that said, the email was sent by Mr. Eric Kenser of Menlo Park, California. And because he thought of me, because he helped me connect with something I've been looking for that had a lot of bad mojo because I didn't get it the first time. Eric, you are now special agent 006.

Kentucky Dave 1:32:58

There you go. Well deserved.

Mike 1:33:01

Well deserved. So, man, I hope this builds up at all, really.

Kentucky Dave 1:33:07

Well, and I I will tell you, I love the fact that our listeners not only listen to this episode, but they hear things that we talk about and keep us in mind. Yeah, you know, say, oh, wait a minute, Mike or Dave talked about this. Let me shoot them a DM or an email or whatever. And man, that has that worked out. That worked out. I mean, that's it.

Mike 1:33:40

It did. But Eric, thank you for the email. The key was the link to a website other than the manufacturer, and it just all worked out from there. So I got it in hand. I'm happy with it. I appreciate you thinking of us. And man, I don't know what else to say, but you're uh 006.

Kentucky Dave 1:33:59

Congratulations, well deserved.

Mike 1:34:02

Well, that's me, Dave. What broke your wallet?

What Broke Your Wallet: Paints, Decals, And A Catapult

Kentucky Dave 1:34:04

Similarly, I mentioned Mr. Pluton's son. Again, I apologize. I know I'm butchering your last name. It's but we we've he we've had wonderful back and forth exchanges, and I really appreciate it. I I really have enjoyed them. Well, he sent me a photo uh of a very beautiful MiG-21 in bare metal that he's doing, and in the photo, the MiG-21, which is not yet finished, is being held by a really interesting vice. And it caused me to ask him, hey, what is that? And it turns out it's a display vice. And I really, from from the pictures he sent and from his descriptions, it sounded very, very interesting. And so I popped on to uh uh Amazon and found one for a very reasonable price, and I now have that particular vice in hand. And in fact, I've got a it's gonna be I'm gonna post on the dojo tonight after we're done recording a photograph that will include that item in it. And I appreciate him helping me spend my money in what I think is actually a productive way.

Mike 1:35:36

Well, we joked earlier. I gotta ask you here. Is it gonna make you faster or more organized?

Kentucky Dave 1:35:41

We're we're gonna find out. I will report back. It has potential for both. We'll see.

Mike 1:35:49

All right.

Kentucky Dave 1:35:49

But that's not all, that's not all I've bought. And I'm gonna need a I'm gonna need a ruling here. Can I count the fact that I spent sixty-four dollars and 95 cents plus tip on getting the fact that I had getting Popalock to open my car door because I had locked the keys inside because I'd been thinking about modeling projects, and I got out of my darn car with the keys still in the ignition and locked the door. Does that count as mod uh uh a modeling expense? I'm gonna need a ruling.

Mike 1:36:34

I I've gotta think, because my wife has the same car.

Kentucky Dave 1:36:37

I I it's possible to lock the keys in that car. Let me tell you.

Mike 1:36:41

I'm I don't know if it is or not.

Kentucky Dave 1:36:45

I did it today. Did it this morning?

Mike 1:36:48

Uh I don't know. Uh at a high level, yes, but I I gotta I gotta go back and think about that one.

Kentucky Dave 1:36:55

All right. Well, you think about that. In the meantime, I also bought a pair of tweezers. I have managed in probably the last three weeks to drop two pairs of very fine tweezers.

Mike 1:37:13

Yeah.

Kentucky Dave 1:37:13

And you and I, you and I have had this discussion before.

Mike 1:37:16

And now they're not very fine pairs of tweezers anymore.

Kentucky Dave 1:37:19

The fact that don't buy cheap tweezers where the the the the they don't close correctly or they're from the get-go.

Mike 1:37:27

I mean, if you drop a good pair, you're well that's the problem.

Kentucky Dave 1:37:32

I so you and I are the same philosophy, so I buy really nice tweezers. And in the last three weeks, I have managed to drop two very fine pairs of tweezers and have both of them just get utterly wrecked at the tips. Yeah.

Mike 1:37:53

And so I'm sorry, man.

Kentucky Dave 1:37:56

It happens, you know. Again, but don't try and bend them back into shape, don't limp along, throw them away and go get them because new tweezers, really good new tweezers, are not that expensive.

Mike 1:38:09

Not anymore, they're not.

Kentucky Dave 1:38:10

Not anymore.

Mike 1:38:12

Yeah, they they used to be.

Kentucky Dave 1:38:13

While I was on Amazon buying the display uh device, I went ahead and bought a couple of tweezers to replace the ones I'd racked up. And while I was there, I also bought some AK Gen 3 acrylic paints.

Mike 1:38:30

Because you're trying to collect the whole set.

Kentucky Dave 1:38:31

Yeah, I eventually am. In fact, I've been on AK's website pricing the big box. And you can buy the big box for like$269, and I am still not sure I'm not gonna pull the trigger on that at some point.

Mike 1:38:48

I think you should, Dave.

Kentucky Dave 1:38:50

I thank you. I appreciate that.

Mike 1:38:52

Simeon, everybody until they have to pull the trigger.

Kentucky Dave 1:38:55

Yeah, thank you guys. But so I I bought a four set of AK Gen 3 that I should have in a few days, and I may use on the Hellcat in some detail stuff.

SPEAKER_05 1:39:12

All right.

Kentucky Dave 1:39:13

So I think that's all the money that I've spent since our last broke your wallet segment. But uh pretty good. I've been on a I've been on a roll.

The Voice of Bob (Bair) 1:39:30

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Kentucky Dave 1:40:28

This is the point in the podcast where we ask you to rate the podcast. It helps us grow the podcast, and that's what we're doing. We're continuing to grow, and we appreciate your doing that. In addition, the best way for a podcast to grow is a recommendation from a current listener to somebody who isn't currently listening. So every one of our listeners out there knows one modeler who isn't listening to the podcast, may not even be aware of what a podcast is. Please do us a favor. Find that one modeler in your modeling friend group and recommend us. You help them find how to listen to the podcast, encourage them to listen, let them know what you enjoy about it, and help us continue to grow the podcast.

Mike 1:41:28

In addition to that, you can also check out all the other podcasts and blogs in the model sphere by going to www.modelpodcasts.com. That's model podcastplural. It's a consortium website set with our help with our friend Stuart Clark of the Scale Model Podcast. He's aggregated all the banner links to all the other shows out there in the model sphere. It's a one-stop shop. You can go there and find all the other podcasts. So please do that. In addition, please check out our other content creator friends. We got a lot of podcast friends, blog friends, YouTube friends, folks like Stephen Lee at Sprue with Fretz. He's got a 72nd scale and H O Mile Railroading centric blog. He's got a lot of short form and long form content there.

Kentucky Dave 1:42:11

He dropped some really nice long-form content recently.

Mike 1:42:15

He does. So check that out. In addition, check out my Lair Playmaker, our friend Chris Wallace. He's got a great blog and a great YouTube channel. If you like aircraft 48 scale, he's got you covered. Got a lot of great content there. Evan McCallum, Panzermeister 36. If you like uh armor and model railroading, you can check out his YouTube channel. He's got a lot of great stuff going on. You can learn some great techniques and uh see what he's up to at his uh his YouTube channel there. If you like 70 seconds scale, you're gonna want to check out the Inch I guide, Mr. Jeff Groves, a good friend of the show, has always got something going on there. A lot of uh bats builds along with some historical information on different things like uh the Little R130.

Kentucky Dave 1:42:59

And Jim Bates has reactivated a scale Canadian. It is his blog where he posts interesting, usually historical articles regarding aviation subjects, although armor as well, many with a Canadian focus, but he doesn't limit himself. And we are very happy that he has reactivated this plot.

Mike 1:43:26

Is that historical or hysterical? Both. And finally, Paul Bedzik Skill Model Workshop. He's put out a few here recently that are really good. So we always like seeing what Paul's up to and check them all out.

Kentucky Dave 1:43:40

If you are not a member of IPMS USA, please consider joining the national organization, even if you're outside the United States. IPMS USA is a great organization, and they have not only national memberships but international memberships. In addition, if you are an armor modeler or post-1900 figures modeler, take a look at joining the Armor Modeling and Preservation Society. They are a group of modelers who is focused laser-like on the advancement of the armor modeling hobby. Mike, we are almost at the end of the episode. So how was the Bargetown bourbon?

Mike 1:44:28

Uh the Bargetown bourbon was really, really good. Now, this is their kind of foundational distill. Their flagship distilled flagship, the original series. It's the least ex least expensive. It's about it's less than$40. It's less than$40.

Kentucky Dave 1:44:47

Okay. What's the ABV? Is it a classic 80 or$85?

Mike 1:44:52

96 proof they.

Kentucky Dave 1:44:53

Oh wow. Okay.

Mike 1:44:55

It's a little hot on the front end.

Kentucky Dave 1:44:57

Yeah, you would expect that with something.

Mike 1:45:00

Uh I tell you, this is good. And what I like about it, the oak is really forward in this.

Kentucky Dave 1:45:06

Interesting.

Mike 1:45:07

So you don't get that a lot. Yeah. Not to the degree that this one is. Right. It's it's good. I really like it. And I tell you what, it's a square cross-section bottle.

SPEAKER_02 1:45:19

Yep.

Mike 1:45:20

Really robust. If I was in a bar fight, I would I would grab this one.

Kentucky Dave 1:45:27

Oh, yeah. See, ladies and gentlemen, that's why you listen to plastic model mojo to know what bottle to grab off the bar in a bar fight.

Mike 1:45:36

Just enough neck on it to get your pinky might have coffee in, but you can you can get your hand around the neck. And this thing, I think if y'all drop this from about two feet, three feet, it would not break. Yeah. So uh yeah. There you go. Good stuff. Good stuff.

Kentucky Dave 1:45:52

That's my that's my kind of review.

Mike 1:45:54

Good oaky, good oaky bourbon.

Kentucky Dave 1:45:57

Well, I have finished my Elijah Craig. It is 94-proof, so 47% alcohol by volume.

Mike 1:46:05

It's it's the same as mine.

Kentucky Dave 1:46:08

Well, yours is 96, I think.

Mike 1:46:11

Yeah, a little bit more, not much.

Kentucky Dave 1:46:12

Mine's not mine's 94. The Elijah Craig, very good, and very good for the price point, because this bottle, now I got a little bit of a deal, but this bottle, even at full boat retail, was like$28. It was not that expensive. And it is good. Now I drank it with an ice ball, and boy, that was the way to drink it. Because again, being something at the 47% alcohol, if you drink it straight without the ice ball, neat, it's a little hot. If you drink it with the ice ball or over rocks or whatever, the hot goes away. And the the most forward of the tastes is kind of a vanilla. I don't want to say cinnamon note because that makes people think it's fireball, and it's not. There's a vanilla note with just the yeah, just the ever so mild spice that reminds me of cinnamon, but it is it's not like fireball or anything like that. It's just a note at the end after the vanilla has passed by where you go, oh, there's a spice. And it was it's really good. I mean, I we we've done a long episode and it was absolutely enjoyable every minute of the episode. Mike, this is the true end of the episode. So do you have any shout-outs?

Mike 1:48:07

I do, Dave. I want to shout out all the folks who've chosen to contribute to Plastic Model Mojo through their generosity. We've talked about our website, and we want to keep that going. And we've had a lot of activity from folks on that vein, and we really, really appreciate it. Hopefully that's gonna help us get this done sooner, not later.

SPEAKER_02 1:48:27

Yep.

Mike 1:48:28

And folks, we're not quite there yet, but if that's something you think you might want to do, we'd appreciate it. You do that through several uh avenues, and those are all spelled out on the website and in the show notes of each and every episode. So if it's something you want to do, we appreciate it. We don't expect it, we don't demand it, and we certainly don't charge people for anything, but uh we appreciate the contributions that folks have been willing to support the show with. So thank you very much.

Kentucky Dave 1:48:55

Yes, I want to echo that and thank everybody. It really means a lot to Mike and I. And Mike and I are really excited about this phase two, which which will take the website to a whole nother level. And if you want to support that, we appreciate anything you do to help us get plastic model mojo expanded. I'm I'm super appreciative. I'd like to shout out our friend Jim Bates. Jim is a great guy, he's a good modeler, and I don't think he sometimes realizes that he has really important things to say in regard to the hobby that many other people appreciate hearing. And I think that the reaction we've gotten since the previous episode has proved that. And so I want to shout out to Jim and give him some encouragement and Encourage him to take from this a positive and use it to further further his own modeling mojo. You got another shout out?

Mike 1:50:14

I do not.

Kentucky Dave 1:50:16

Okay, well then we are definitely at the end of the episode, and I am definitely at the end of my uh glass of Elijah Craig.

Mike 1:50:24

Well, Dave, then as we always say, so many kids. So little time, Dave, and I will see you soon. I need to come to Louis and uh Yes, you do.

Kentucky Dave 1:50:34

We need to sit down and talk, man, face to face.

Mike 1:50:37

We do. We'll do it soon, bro.

Kentucky Dave 1:50:40

You got it.