Why We Build: Friendship and Focus Episode 158

When the days are short and the bench time is shorter, what keeps us building? We open the studio door on a fast, funny, and honest ride through the parts of scale modeling that actually matter: a workspace that invites you to sit down, a ritual that signals “now we create,” and a community that shows up when motivation dips. The mailbag sets the tone—digital galleries that make old builds new again, a legendary decal mishap that proves perfection isn’t required, and a smart question about the power of influencers. Do YouTube pros push products or possibilities? We separate inspiration from imitation and share how to borrow techniques without losing your voice.

Then we tackle fear targets with real tactics. A 1/32 resin Viggen in splinter camo? Treat the paint job as its own project, build clean first, and practice masks on a cheap mule. Wingnut Wings rigging anxiety? De‑risk the process with repeatable steps and scrap‑wing drills. Along the way, we rediscover why the hobby sticks: it’s Shangri‑La for busy minds, a hands‑on history lab, and the start of friendships that carry far beyond the bench. Listener stories echo our own—escapism, creativity, and shelves that chart the evolution from Wildcat to Bearcat.

On the bench, we move a Hellcat through oils, satin, and chips, and push the Roosevelt build with neat bare‑metal‑foil masking tricks for razor‑clean trim. In the stash‑temptation corner, we nerd out over new releases: Tamiya’s M24 Chaffee, BT upgrades and turrets, a 1/48 Vulcan with the wingspan of a stingray, and a 1/35 Me 323 that begs for a rolling cargo diorama. We wrap with the simple rule we live by: if you’re not enjoying it, change what you’re doing. Want more of this energy in your feed? Hit follow, rate us five stars, and share the show with a modeling friend who needs a spark.

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Transcript

Cold Months And Model Mojo

The Voice of Bob (Bair) 0:11

Welcome to plastic model modules. Dedicated to skill modeling. Well is the news and events around the hobby. Join Mike and today is trying to be informative and entertaining.

Mike 0:47

Yes, we are. Well, welcome everybody. Hope we got a good one tonight.

Kentucky Dave 0:51

Well, that means that the year's one-sixth over already. Can you believe that? It can be fast through this part. Yeah. Yeah. I'm with you. I know exactly what you're going to say.

Mike 1:01

Then you got to stand on the brakes.

Kentucky Dave 1:03

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

Mike 1:16

And uh, I don't know. What's up in your model sphere?

Kentucky Dave 1:19

Well, my model sphere is it doesn't look like February's going to be much better than January as far as total bench time, which is a little disappointing. But I am remodeling slash updating slash rearranging the model bench and model room. And as part of that, I've been on a little bit of a spending spree. So the next broke year wallet's going to be really interesting. And uh my mojo's getting better and better, man.

Mike 1:54

I am to the point where well you're gonna have to get to the bench and expend some of it.

Kentucky Dave 1:58

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

Mike 2:11

Oh yeah. Well, I'm sure that's gonna come up a time or two tonight.

Kentucky Dave 2:14

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

Mike 2:23

How about you? I've been busy outside of here with some things. So my model sphere's been a little light here in the last couple of weeks.

Kentucky Dave 2:31

You launch things into space, you know.

Mike 2:33

We're trying. We're trying to.

Kentucky Dave 2:36

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

Mike 2:39

We're trying to wait for them to get the bus started.

Kentucky Dave 2:41

Yeah.

Mike 2:42

It ain't looking good again. So oh man, we'll see.

Kentucky Dave 2:46

It'll work out.

Mike 2:47

As long as we get paid, I guess.

Kentucky Dave 2:49

That's right.

Mike 2:52

Other than that, uh had a conference call with the web guys, so our phase two we keep blabbing on about is uh a step closer to reality.

Kentucky Dave 3:01

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

Mike 3:13

Yeah, we can bring people more stuff. So uh looking looking forward to that. Well, we had a little bit of scare in our hair just gone planning, but you've worked that out. So I think I'm gonna I need to get a car rented and forward planning, man, with the show, trying to get stuff lined up for uh model show spotlights and the episodes for March, so pretty close to getting that done. So great. Yep. That's my model sphere.

Bench Upgrades And HeritageCon Plans

Kentucky Dave 3:36

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

Mike 3:46

I do have one. I put some tape around the neck of that willet I cracked open early. So it's not that. Thank you. I'm trying to keep my senses about me, so I've not bought a big old replacement bottle to have on hand. So I did get a couple little baby bottles of Willet Pot Steel Reserve.

Kentucky Dave 4:03

I like it.

Mike 4:04

Which is the funky genie bottle, the pot steel bottle.

Kentucky Dave 4:07

Yep.

Mike 4:08

So that's what we're enjoying tonight.

Kentucky Dave 4:10

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

Mike 4:14

So I think I have too, but it was back in 2020, probably. I know I haven't had any since then.

Kentucky Dave 4:20

Yep. So I know you'll enjoy that.

Mike 4:23

Well, what do you got? Oh, but back to a can.

Kentucky Dave 4:27

This one's up from your neck of the woods. It is West 6 Brewings Hoptastic India Pale Ale, Chapter 14. Because they keep releasing the same thing, but they keep fiddling with the formula, the brew. Yeah. And so they'll they they title it chapter one, chapter two, chapter. This is the 14th formulation. So I haven't had this one before. I have had some of the previous Hoptastic chapters, so I'll be interested to see what this one's like.

Mike 5:03

Well, we'll find out at the end, folks. We will. Well, this episode's gonna kind of turn into a de facto kind of listener mail centric episode because I've got some normal listener mail, and I've got a handful of others that kind of gonna go through during our main segment.

Kentucky Dave 5:19

Wait a minute. Do we get normal listener mail?

Mike 5:22

Well, you know what I mean.

Kentucky Dave 5:25

Oh, come on.

Mike 5:27

The the uh not directed toward the uh the question we've been asking folks for the last month. So let's get into some listener mail, Dave. You got it. First up from Croydon in the UK, John Bryan. He's been a listener for a while. Mm-hmm. Uh he says this might sound really conceited, but he set up a website as a giant gallery of all his builds so he can look at them whenever he wants to. This is getting back to do we ever look at our models again kind of side conversation we had after Jim Bates was on.

Kentucky Dave 5:58

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

Mike 6:04

Well, he says he's got 177 up there. And uh he said, like Tim Nelson wrote in his mail after that episode, he can look back at some of them and has forgotten what he wanted them to be and just enjoys them for what they are now. So uh when he's got time to kill, he gets on there and looks at stuff. And other than that, he's got about 90 builds on display in the living room of his house. So he's got an understanding family.

Kentucky Dave 6:27

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

Modeling Fluids: Bourbon And IPA

Mike 6:30

Well, here's an idea. I can't remember off the top of my head who it is, but I think we have a listener in Australia that runs a I want to say scale aviation museum online. It's got all his his builds on it. So, John, if you wanted to share, you could uh make that link public or morph it into a blog or something and and get some conversations going around some of your builds. Or if you just want to keep it to yourself, that's fine too.

Kentucky Dave 6:55

It is, absolutely, but I do think that it would I it would be great for all modelers to take photos of their models, post them online, and post them in such a way, whether Facebook or a website or a blog or whatever, where they're available for others to see. Because now while we we enjoy building the model and maybe completing the model, you'd certainly bring joy to other modelers who wouldn't have a chance otherwise to see your work. That's one of the things you and I like about shows, yeah, is it is a chance to see in person, which is different than online, let me tell you. In person, other people's models. And there isn't a model show that I go to where I don't find at least one model that I sit there and spend 10 or 15 minutes staring at, just admiring, maybe trying to find the builder, maybe trying to talk to them about their model. It's very inspiring. So I do think if all the modelers out there, if you're inclined to build some sort of digital gallery of your models and make it available so that the rest of us can see it.

Mike 8:19

Yeah, if you got that many, that's a lot.

Kentucky Dave 8:21

Yes, that is.

Listener Mail: Digital Galleries And Decal Fumbles

Mike 8:23

Well, we'll see what he says. Okay. You know, it was Paul Buzzick who wrote in about that after Jim's episode. He's written in again. He says, This one's for you, Dave. Okay. I'm gonna read it so I don't miss anything. All right. In regards to your Hellcat markings, let me see if I've got this straight. Oh God. Working under good lighting and probably magnification, you're not sure if you got them right side up. If that's the case, then counselor, who are the decals for if the builder can't even see them? He says he's just asking.

Kentucky Dave 8:58

The answer to that question is yes, I can tell which ones I put on upside down. Uh not in time, though. Yeah, no, not necessarily in time. And yes, if you see this model in person and you either have a magnifying glass or you get down really close to the model, maybe a little uncomfortably close to the model, you can look at those uh stencil markings and you can actually read what they say. Again, my compliments to Ferball Arrow design. In 70 seconds scale, they produce these stencil decals that are not just blobs, they're readable. And so, yes, and yes, I put several on of them on upside down. And no, I didn't catch it in time, but there's no way I was gonna go back and try and correct it.

Mike 9:53

Reminds me of MASH from the North Koreans straight into their galley tent.

Kentucky Dave 9:57

Yeah.

Mike 9:59

It's like hey, that's a funny ride. Looking all the P's and R's are backwards.

Kentucky Dave 10:04

Yep. Exactly.

Mike 10:08

Well, Dave, if you're gonna get called out, that's somebody good to get called out.

Kentucky Dave 10:12

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

Mike 10:20

Up next, Eric Kenser again from Menlo Park, California. And he's got a says a topic for future episode, motivation. We can probably consider that. A lot of the other shows have done it. I don't know if we've actually taken motiv we probably have. I don't I don't know, but maybe we could revisit it. Yeah. But he's got a uh a discussion topic, listener mail topic, and he wants to know what we would do if we came into a bunch of money and had a few million dollars of disposable income to play with. What would we do? And he says some examples might be start a cottage industry design and producing scale model kits for underserved subjects, like shipboard catapults and pre-World War I flying machines, modern construction equipment. I start a cottage industry making 3D parts enhanced vintage aircraft classics, or scale modeling YouTube channel without ads that draw from the best of the like the fine scale plasmo night shift, again, Paul Budzik, with Go being a premier destination for modeling knowledge. He would open like a hobby megastore and not worry about uh rent and making money just to be the place.

Kentucky Dave 11:28

This this has been a topic of discussion. I know you and I have done discuss this on road trips. I've discussed this with other other modelers. Jim Bates has one of the best answers to this question I've ever heard. He says if he gets that kind of money, he would start his own injection molded hobby kit business. And he names kits, things that he wants that aren't available. He names I my first kit would be X, my second kit would be Y, and my third kit would be bankruptcy. Because he's manufacturing subjects that probably don't have a general demand, but have a place in his particular heart. So I've always loved that answer at Jim.

Mike 12:21

Well, you know, I I think if this is fantasy, so it's not you have to invest in this and and make money doing it. Right. If you had enough millions of dollars, you could build this infrastructure, live off the interest of what the money you didn't spend, and just eat the loss having fun on whatever you started here. And that I think that's the fantasy.

Kentucky Dave 12:40

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

Mike 13:02

Now or whatever happened.

Kentucky Dave 13:05

Now, my standard answer to this is that I would drop ship a 40-foot container outside Hannett's in England, and then I and any number of my modeling friends would take a private jet over to England where we would spend three weeks or a month touring all the museums, seeing all the sites. Mr. Copeland could direct us to all the special places, attend scale model world, and then go to Hannett's and just fill a 40-foot container full of everything I want and have it shipped back to the U.S.

Mike 13:48

I like the cottage industry. I like the injection mold company and I like the shipboard catapults idea. Yes. All the other stuff that's either been made bad or hasn't been made yet that I like.

Kentucky Dave 14:00

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

Influencers, Inspiration, And Buying Tools

Mike 14:05

I don't know, man. I think it's coming. There's a lot to those rascals, man. Yes, there is. Yes, there is. And it's hard to comprehend everything going on there with crappy draw or you know, incomplete drawings, or all the stuff you need to see is always in the shadows inside the truss of the catapult.

Kentucky Dave 14:23

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

Mike 14:30

Every every surviving ship that's got one, you're crawling all over it. Exactly. Well, that's what I would do. All were all worthy suggestions. And from the Netherlands, Dave. Okay. Everett Zanbergen. Okay. He's gonna chime in on fear targets. He's got them too. I want to hear him. He loves those Swedish and French fried French fried. French fried. He loves those Swedish and French fighters. Yes. Especially the vegan. Yep. And he bought Jet Mad's 30 second skill, AJ 37. That's pretty big.

Kentucky Dave 15:04

Yes, it is.

Mike 15:05

It's his ultimate subject to build because he loves the plane.

Kentucky Dave 15:09

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

Mike 15:17

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

Kentucky Dave 15:31

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

Mike 15:35

You got an expensive kit and potentially unforgiving medium. Expensive limited run kit.

Kentucky Dave 15:43

Yeah. In an unforgiving medium.

Mike 15:45

In an unforgiving medium that you want to put a challenging camo on. Channel challenging scheme on. So hey, I would concentrate on the build, and if I got it built, it might sit for a year or two.

Kentucky Dave 15:58

While while you practice the camo on.

Mike 16:00

Practice the camo or get the nerve to actually do it.

Kentucky Dave 16:03

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

Mike 16:09

Crappy Ravel one from the 70s.

Kentucky Dave 16:11

Exactly.

Mike 16:13

That's not a bad idea.

Kentucky Dave 16:15

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

Mike 16:17

Yeah, or their their big 30-second uh mirage.

Kentucky Dave 16:20

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

Mike 16:25

That's actually a pretty good idea. You can probably get that kit for next to nothing.

Kentucky Dave 16:29

Oh, yeah, I guarantee you you can.

Mike 16:31

Yeah, practice. But yeah, man, I would make sure the build was on spot on there. Yep. Make sure you get that sucker built. It won't matter what kind of scheme you put on it if you don't get it together.

Kentucky Dave 16:42

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

Mike 17:00

Yeah. How many colors in that scheme? Three, four?

Kentucky Dave 17:03

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

Mike 17:09

Oh man.

Kentucky Dave 17:10

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

Mike 17:15

You know, in 30 seconds scale, you could maybe conceivably come up with your own mask.

Kentucky Dave 17:19

Yes.

Mike 17:20

Pretty big size to work in.

Kentucky Dave 17:22

It is indeed.

Mike 17:23

There, we've we've given all advice we can given our inexperience with uh Swedish camos. Larry Donovan from New Brighton, Minnesota.

Kentucky Dave 17:34

Okay.

Mike 17:35

I won't get into the article. He sent me an article from The Guardian, but it was about looks and fashion. It was uh mostly directed at toward women and and makeup and colors and and all these influencers online are telling them what they need to do and they're all doing it and to varying degrees. That sort of thing. But he was just wondering what is the influence of the quote unquote influencers in our own hobby? What influence do they have on our way of doing the hobby? Oh, I think let me finish here. Is there a distinction between an instructional podcast or YouTube video and a quote unquote influencer?

Kentucky Dave 18:11

I don't I think there's a distinction maybe from the producer side. Some people may go out with the idea of becoming a quote unquote influencer. And some people may just be interested in making informational videos or podcasts, but on the receiving side, it not necessarily the receive the way that the that the producer intends. Because a lot of modelers who produce videos may produce them because they want to be instructional and helpful and all, but the people who view them view what is produced and are influenced by it and view the producer as an influencer, as a guru in the hobby.

Mike 19:07

Yeah, I don't and just know what's that influence look like? Is it picking a subject or is it, you know, they push in a product? Does it make you want to try something they're using? Right. So ha has have certain modelers with YouTube channels influenced me to buy something after I saw them use it? Absolutely.

Kentucky Dave 19:26

Yep.

Mike 19:26

Yeah, I think the VMS stuff from uh from Mr. Kovacs there on night shift is uh is one example of that. But then on the other side, you know, another one, another favorite of mine is is Greg's models out of the UK. Right. He's not influencing to buy anything because he uses a very basic selection of tools and has a very rudimentary approach to the products he's using on his builds, but he makes me want to try things.

Kentucky Dave 19:54

Right. And he makes you want to build old kits.

Mike 19:58

Yeah, because he's he's he's providing a path over some of the hurdles that some of those kits have just because he's he's just really good about just pushing through those things and getting them done. And then and they they turn out his models are good. And and I think influenced or it's inspired, maybe maybe there's those are two different things.

Fear Targets: Big Resin And Splinter Camo

Kentucky Dave 20:16

Yeah. Well, I would I would say there's no doubt, especially in the armor community, that whether he intends to be a quote unquote influencer or not, Night Shift has definitely influenced the way that a significant segment of the armor building community paints and weathers their models. I think he has he's created a style that a lot of people, just like uh Renaissance artists, might have a particular style, and then people come along and want to imitate that style. And I think that there's no question that Night Shift has had that effect on a segment of the armor community and their plasmo when he does aircraft builds. Same thing.

Mike 21:08

Yeah. I'm always afraid he's gonna cut his fingers off.

Kentucky Dave 21:11

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

Mike 21:22

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

Kentucky Dave 21:37

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

Mike 21:40

That's probably true. So I don't know how quite how to cut that or how granular you want to get with it. And then probably the big one though is can holding up our work in comparison to those influencers lead to better results of frustration? Well, I think both. It's gonna depend on the person viewing it. If you're an impatient by nature, I can see that getting Leading to a lot of frustration.

Kentucky Dave 22:02

Right.

Mike 22:03

But if you're if you're patient and willing to learn and try, try, try to you get something you like, uh it can move you forward.

Kentucky Dave 22:10

Yep. I think both those things are true.

Mike 22:13

All right. Well, other than that, Larry's done with the Minnesota weather, even though he's from there.

Kentucky Dave 22:18

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

Mike 22:24

Well, our friend Steve Ruey's written in. Okay. Uh some things he liked in episode 57. He said there's just so many good points, but uh the big one he wants to talk about is fear targets.

Kentucky Dave 22:36

Uh-huh.

Mike 22:37

He can relate to that. He's got four wingnut wings kits on his shelf, and he's just fretting the rigging on these things.

Kentucky Dave 22:44

Yep. Yeah, I can see that becoming a big that and wood grain. Yeah. And you're working with kits that are no longer available. So you have that limited, limited availability thing again, which I think probably heightens any model builder's fear when they are working on a kit that they know if I mess this up bad enough, I can't just go out and get another kit.

Mike 23:11

I don't think this is probably this is probably not as bad as that resin.

Kentucky Dave 23:14

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

Mike 23:21

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

Kentucky Dave 23:37

Get built, yes.

Mike 23:38

I I think for wing nut wings it's probably it's probably half that.

Kentucky Dave 23:42

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

Mike 23:47

You still see a lot of stacks of them at shows.

Kentucky Dave 23:50

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

Mike 24:02

And I mentioned Aviation Megastore when I was talking about the catapult I bought.

Kentucky Dave 24:06

Mm-hmm.

Mike 24:07

And he says, yes, it's a real place just outside Amsterdam. Now Steve's a a Delta captain and he flies European routes, so he's been going to aviation megastore since 2009.

Kentucky Dave 24:18

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

Mike 24:21

Yeah, that crossed my mind after he sent this email in. Actually, I was chatting with him texting earlier in the week and uh or late last week, and uh it did that crossed my mind. He said, Imagine Costco for the modeler. That's what the place is.

Kentucky Dave 24:36

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

Mike 24:45

Well, he uh said it he was there a few months ago and ran into four Canadians who were there on a model quest and had been they had been to HeritageCon, they knew Chris Wallace.

Kentucky Dave 24:53

So Oh, okay.

Mike 24:54

There you go.

Kentucky Dave 24:56

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

Mike 25:00

And like us, he's looking forward to HeritageCon, and we'll be hanging out with him then. So thanks for the listener mail, Steve. Appreciate it. And my last quote unquote regular email.

Kentucky Dave 25:10

Okay.

Mike 25:11

It's from Lee Edmonds, and he'd written in last time too, but he's the one who said he was more worried about forgetting skills that he already had versus learning new ones. I don't remember that.

Kentucky Dave 25:23

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

Mike 25:27

And then he he well he he also did some writing and he was went back and read something he wrote 15, 20 years ago and discovered he was using a technique back then that he'd forgotten about when something new came along. He's like, Are these things cyclic? And he said, Didn't I read somewhere that dry brushing is back in favor? It's coming back, yeah. Or maybe it never never went out. Yeah, and and he's looking at the wrong YouTube.

Kentucky Dave 25:53

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

Mike 25:57

Yeah, I lived through the it going out phase. Which uh I'd mentioned before, I the the I thought it was ironic that some of these dry brush paints started hitting the market.

Kentucky Dave 26:06

Yeah.

Mike 26:07

Especially from some folks that maybe I've got the Mandela effect, but I could swear I remember reading some pretty Oh, they were scathing a scathing things about how unrealistic it was. Yep. And and I went looking, because one of them that I want to remember was Meg I Menez.

Kentucky Dave 26:23

Yep.

Mike 26:24

And I went cover to cover on his FAQ book and I found a little blurb in the in the dry brushing section of that book, which by the way is only about barely a page long. Yeah. Which he says, you know, it was used to highlight details on models, even though it wasn't very realistic and tanks really didn't look like that.

Kentucky Dave 26:45

Yeah.

Mike 26:45

But he repurposes the technique for other things. So I think that's kind of where it's coming from. I don't think the old paint wash dry brush formula it may never totally go away.

Kentucky Dave 26:54

Right.

Mike 26:55

But I seriously don't see that coming back as a resurgence.

Do We Revisit Finished Models

Kentucky Dave 26:59

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

Mike 27:14

Yep. Well, that's it on my side for the listener mail. Do we get into our primary segment?

Kentucky Dave 27:20

Yeah. Well, I've had a a few DMs. One Bill Moore, who we mentioned in our show Spotlight mini, mini episode, had DM'd in to talk about the fact that you know he runs the World of Tanks on Facebook. And you and I are both lucky enough to have a World of Tanks t-shirt that he gifted us. Yep. And he's doing new ones. And I don't know if he redesigned the logo or if he's doing the same shirt. He's doing a different shirt. He's doing a different shirt. I do know that. I don't know if he's changed his logo or what, but it's going to be different than the one we have. So I'm looking forward to seeing that. And maybe we'll get another one because it's nice to have those. I wear that. I wear that one modeling all the time at the bench. And has a has a few uh stains to prove.

Mike 28:16

Yeah, a few paint stains.

Kentucky Dave 28:17

Yeah. Uh second, I want to mention we got a DM from Warren Dickinson that frankly I it completely made my day, week, month, and year. As listeners may remember, Warren lost his longtime spouse fairly suddenly toward the end of last year. And you can imagine the devastation of losing a life partner, a spouse, and now you're rattling around an empty house, and just you're the person you're used to always being there isn't. Yeah. I mean, how devastating a loss that is. Well, Warren reached out to say to thank Mike and I, because he's kind of unmoored at this point because of the loss, and was talking about how the listening to the podcast was helping him reconnect slash stay connected to the hobby and to keep him company and and all filling filling a need for him particularly. And it was just wonderful. It really, really made me feel good about doing the podcast. If for no other reason, if if we're bringing that to someone who needs it in that situation, I'm I'm thrilled beyond belief. So I want to thank Warren. That was very nice of him to reach out and say that.

Mike 29:49

Yeah, I saw that one too.

Kentucky Dave 29:50

Our friend over in England, Michael Grisabian, was very kind enough to I'd mentioned previously he had DM'd me about using the cameo to cut plastic and giving me a pointer to a Facebook page and a video on on the subject. He's he recently I had mentioned my interest in Japanese and Near East Asia or Near East Indies, uh Dutch Near East Indies, early World War II in the Pacific interest. And he sent me a link to a website called, I think it's called Emma's Planes. And I'll put I'll uh we'll put a link in the show notes, and just has a ton of material, including Japanese aircraft manuals and other stuff, and just really, really a great resource. And it was very I never would have found that on my own. So it was very kind of him to to We'll have to link that. We we will. I'll send you the link and we'll link that. William Christman DM'd in and he was doing a build of the Tomia McLaren Senna McLaren kit. Okay. And he was posting his progress builds on the doja. And unlike other Tamiya kits, he was having some challenges with this one. And he did a post and it didn't appear, and he was worried that it didn't appear because he was being critical of Tamiya kit and pointing out its flaws and errors and all. And I reassured him, no, we're not holding that we don't filter for that stuff. You are free to express your opinion about any model you're building or any product you use. And we're we're not we're not in the gatekeeping business, we're not in the currying favor with manufacturers or producers or any of that. So what happened was, of course, it ended up in Facebook jail because Facebook has some sort of weird algorithm that we're still trying to figure out why it selects certain posts and says, no, we're not gonna post that one. So anytime that happens, guys, please reach out to me, DM me, and I'll go in and I'll find it and I'll get it published.

Mike 32:15

Yeah, it's usually the cross-post problem.

Kentucky Dave 32:17

Yes.

Why We Build: Escape, History, Friends

Mike 32:17

That is that seems to be a common thread amongst most of them.

Kentucky Dave 32:21

That is the single sing, although it's not always, because we have some that aren't cross-posted, get help. But the single biggest indicator is cross-posting. A post that's been posted somewhere else on Facebook and then is being cross-posted into this to the dojo. So, but like I said, if it ever happens to you, please reach out. We we try and police that regularly, but sometimes we don't always catch them right away. So uh if you encounter that, please reach out and we'll fix it. Next, I just want to mention Oliver Krebs from Germany, and he had a suggestion for a future show topic.

Mike 33:05

And Mike, we'll We'll discuss this one, yeah. Because it kind of meshes something, it meshes with something that I've already got planned. So it was rather timely.

Kentucky Dave 33:13

Yes, I and I think it it is something timely, and I think it's a great suggestion. So I just want to thank Oliver for reaching out and making the suggestion. And want to encourage all of our listeners, if you have a suggestion for the podcast, either a topic or how we do something, something we ought to do, something we're doing that you don't like, please tell us because the only way we can make this podcast more enjoyable for you, which is our goal, is having you let us know what you like and don't like or suggest ways for us to improve.

Mike 33:54

All we can do is agree or not. Yep. And uh take everything into consideration, at least.

Kentucky Dave 33:59

Yep. And even if we disagree, we still appreciate it. That's right. Next is Don Bruger, who is down in Florida in the Tampa area, and he wanted to let us know that the Tampa IPMS chapter down there is holding Pelicon on March 14th, 2026. So about three weeks from now. And I'll post a copy of The Flyer in the Dojo if he hasn't done that already. I'll post it and encourage folks in the Florida area to go down and check out the show. Mike and I are fans. And if you go, please take pictures and post pictures and a report in the dojo.

Mike 34:43

I want to think that's the one we covered in the spotlight last year. I think we did. The name is familiar.

Kentucky Dave 34:49

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

Mike 34:56

Maybe.

Kentucky Dave 34:57

So I'm not sure. In any event, go to the show, enjoy. Finally, listener Greg Edmonds wrote in with a with an interesting question. It was related to we were the last episode, we were talking about how your completed models, do you display them? Do you go back and look at them? They in display cases, do you get rid of them? Whatever. And he had a comment on that with where he takes and he has display cases and he'll display them, and he'll display awards that the model might have won with the model. And he asked what I did with my old awards. And I was there are three that I actually do have out, my two national IPMS National Awards and the one from the last Canadian national back in the 90s. But I'm kind of sheepishly admitting to him that the rest of them are in a giant rubber-made container next to my water heater in my utility room. And occasionally, if I need a base, I'll go in and I'll pull out an old award that has a plaque style and pry the the fate the plate off of it and use that as the base. So most of mine are not displayed in a model case with the models. They're just they're in a utility room, and that's where they're they'll probably stay till I die, and my children throw them out into the trash.

Mike 36:37

They probably will, Dave.

Kentucky Dave 36:39

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

Mike 36:44

All right, folks. We like the listener mail. It's our favorite segment of the show, and we'd like to get some more. We got a bunch this time. We're gonna make a good use of them, I hope.

Kentucky Dave 36:53

Yep.

Mike 36:53

You can write to the show via email at plasticmodelmojo at gmail.com, or you can send a direct message via the Facebook messenger system. And usually Dave handles those. I take the emails unless there's some crosstalk that we can cover one or the other if it's uh to our own uh expertise. In addition, there's a feedback web link on the website at uh plasticmodelmojo.com, and there's you can also send us a message there as well. And we've been getting quite a few of those through that avenue as well, so we really appreciate it. Well, that's it for listener mail, Dave.

Kentucky Dave 37:23

All right.

Mike 37:52

Not entirely, but to to some degree. And we'll probably pivot to some more technical topics in the coming month for sure. But we've been soliciting emails from our listenership for uh the answers to what do we get out of this hobby or why we do it, kind of things on on that vein. So uh I can start with one of the emails to kind of kick this off and and get us going back and forth a little bit. I've got about five of these.

Kentucky Dave 38:15

I've got an interesting answer to this question.

Mike 38:18

Okay. Well, I've had this one since earlier in the month. It's from longtime listener Terry Wilkinson. Okay. And as to what we get out as hobby, he believes we live vicariously through every build, be it a tank, plane, or whatever, uh, as though we participated, drove, or flew flew this whatever this said project is. Including stuff you've jumped out of, because he mentioned that one time too. He's a former former paratrooper. So uh interesting take. I think there's some truth there for sure.

Kentucky Dave 38:47

I think there is.

Mike 38:48

Certainly it gives us uh at least a miniaturized version of the real thing. That's the whole goal, right? Right. And you spend a lot of time learning about stuff, making it look like the way you want to look, hopefully. And yeah, I can I can see that. It might be uh a car you'll you're you'll you you owned in the past or maybe you'll never own because it's some kind of supercar and you're like a regular roller like us.

Kentucky Dave 39:10

Yeah.

Mike 39:11

Something like that, maybe.

Kentucky Dave 39:13

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

Mike 39:16

That's right. You can buy a supercar and start a hobby business.

Kentucky Dave 39:19

There you go.

Mike 39:20

So I I think that's a good answer. Yeah, I didn't really think about it that way, but we are kind of living vicariously through through the models.

Kentucky Dave 39:28

Yeah, I think we are. I don't think there's any doubt that there's that there's some truth in that. Well, what's your answer? You're thinking you got. What do I get from this hobby? I a lot of things. So there are actually a lot of answers to this question. But one of the main things I get from it, I'll be honest with you, wasn't apparent to me at first. But upon reflection, one of the main things I get out of this hobby is friendships. Yeah. I literally all of my very close friends, the people that I talk to and text and DM and email and video chat with are all other models. And while our initial connection is the hobby, okay, that's how we came to know each other. In all of those cases, I'd say a majority of our communication is on topics that aren't the hobby. Other things we have common interests in, other experiences we've been through together or in parallel that we share and and that forms part of the bond. Yeah. One of the big things I get out of this hobby is friends and good friends and people that I enjoy talking to, even if it's utterly unrelated to anything about the hobby. Now we talk a lot about the hobby as well, but the non non-hobby related conversations are every bit as good as the hobby-related ones.

Mike 41:13

Well, I mean, think about it. We we keep talking about HeritageCon. We're about to rent a car and drive up to Hamilton, Ontario, and hang out with by the time we're all there, about nine people for most of the time that we didn't even know when we started the podcast.

Kentucky Dave 41:28

Yep. Well, that's why I was saying to my wife not too long ago that it's really, really odd for me to say this, but three of my best friends, or four of my uh four very good friends of mine, live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Yeah. I mean, that's just unusual. And it's a combination of this hobby and technology.

Mike 41:57

That's right. It is. Yep. Been hard to do with pen pals. It would have been. Especially that many. I don't know what I would do it. Well, I I think uh Scott Huber from uh State College, Pennsylvania has got a take that I think is gonna resonate with a lot of people.

Kentucky Dave 42:16

Okay.

Mike 42:16

Uh including myself. Like you, he's an attorney. And he started modeling at age five and never had a dark time like a lot of people. So he kind of carried it on from childhood all the way through. That's kind of like me. I never really quit completely wholesale as I was growing up. In law school, he does his airbrush at home on breaks, but he had a tackle box with modeling supplies at school. So he's working on stuff uh while he was in school. Did you do that?

Kentucky Dave 42:42

That I came back to the hobby. I got away from the hobby in late high school and all through on almost all through college. And I came back to the hobby at the end of college, the beginning of law school. And in fact, my second year of law school was the year that I attended my first national convention, IPMS national convention in 1985. And I built a model for it.

Mike 43:13

Well, he says it's always been his creative place, the Fraser for his history bug, and just a fundamental part of what he does and who he is. So I think the history part of that for me, that really resonates because it's it's such a tangible extension to to a hit to an interest in history.

Kentucky Dave 43:33

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

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Mike 43:40

Yeah, I've well for for the traditional genres, I think that's true. You know, there's a lot of stuff out there now. I mean, you could be a sci-fi modeler and not be interested. You could be interested in in movie history, maybe, I guess. So maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it could it could still manifest this way just a little bit different. But yeah, and this this creative place. You know, we get into that with with Paul Budzik just about every time he's on. That this just like this you just get in this zone and it's it's this creative outlet and you can just tune everything else out. So b both those resonate with me, the creative place and the and the history bug.

Kentucky Dave 44:15

Yep. Me too. I agree.

Mike 44:18

The history bug, m my military collecting is kind of touching that one as well. Probably even harder than the scale modeling, but uh the stuff I model primarily won't fit in my basement. So if I if I had them in one-to-one scale, and they'd be hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Kentucky Dave 44:32

So or unobtainable completely. Like the like like a rabe of botan.

Mike 44:38

There's one and a half.

Kentucky Dave 44:40

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

Mike 44:49

To to go on about that a little bit. You know, it we've talked about the hobby being fun. If you're not having fun, you're doing it wrong. You say that quite a bit. I think that for me, and probably for most people, it is just a chance to get away from a bunch of crap.

Kentucky Dave 45:07

Yeah.

Mike 45:07

I don't read for entertainment. I know you do some. I I just don't. I've I've never I don't that's something I don't have the patience for. I can do an audio book and listen to that while I drive, but holding a bound stack of paper and reading through that does not doesn't do much for me. Man, my wife does it and she's got some shows she watches on TV. This hobby for me re it replaces all that.

Kentucky Dave 45:29

Yeah.

Mike 45:29

I just don't get into that stuff much, but but I can be down here for a long time amongst all my stuff. So the king among his possessions. That's right. The king among his possessions. So I really think it's the the the creative outlet and and the escapism is is probably I won't say overlooked, but the actual building is is why we do it. A lot of this stuff is we get things out of it. Right. That are kind of we kind of take the the actual aspect or the actual doing of the hobby kind of for granted sometimes when we talk about these other things, but it fundamentally boils down to to some some kind of escapism and creativity.

Bench Report: Hellcat And Roosevelt

Kentucky Dave 46:13

I do think that's absolutely true. I think that that escapism, creativity, and stress release. Because if you there are among modelers, you know, you talked about uh uh writer mentioning that he was an attorney as well. Attorneys are overrepresented in this hobby. And I think that at least part of that is due to the fact that being an attorney is a relatively high stress job and a mentally high stress job. And so the hobby provides a a stress-free haven where you can relax and you're not having to deal with those high pressure, high mental, mentally draining the high pressure, high mentally draining work. Yeah. And I suspect that like engineers, physicians, we know uh quite a number of physicians who are modelers. I think the same thing is probably true of them as well.

Mike 47:24

I think so, but I think in my current job, I've sent you a few pictures that you can't tell whether I'm at home or it's true. Got my knives and my cutting mats and my sand and sticks and all that stuff.

Kentucky Dave 47:37

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

Mike 47:41

Yeah, I really appreciate it.

Kentucky Dave 47:43

Or your job and your hobby.

Mike 47:45

That's why I pursued it.

Kentucky Dave 47:46

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

Mike 47:50

It is. Ken Schaefer from Stratford, Connecticut. Okay. His response to the question about what he gets out of the hobby, the answer is Shangri-La. Ah, okay. So that's what we're talking about here, right?

Kentucky Dave 48:03

Yep, exactly.

Mike 48:04

He's a senior manager at work, and uh he's got to constantly be on while running a business, managing employees and making decisions at a moment's notice. And at home, like most of us, he's got responsibilities of being a husband, a father, a grandfather, homeowner, and all that stuff. He is an empty nester, which affords him the luxury of having some free time. Right. He's found a modeling to be a much better uh use of his free time other than being a couch potato and doom scrolling on his phone.

Kentucky Dave 48:29

Right.

Mike 48:30

Going to the bench, he can mentally turn down the outside world, forget his responsibilities at least for a little while, put on one of his favorite podcasts or an audio book, and uh just retreat to his happy place to work on one or more of his multiple ongoing projects.

Kentucky Dave 48:44

Yep. That's exactly what I was talking about. You walk into the hobby room, you close the door behind you, and for as long as you're in there, you're not thinking about, okay, what do I have to do tomorrow at work, or what what project needs to get done around the house, or or what bills do I have to pay tomorrow, etc. That it just all it literally in when I close my hobby room door, the outside world disappear. For a while. Yeah, for a while. Not permanently, no. That's it's called a hobby.

Mike 49:23

I know, I know. Yeah, you know, these people do it for a living. I I don't see how they do it.

Kentucky Dave 49:30

Well, I I don't either. And I'm not I don't I question whether I I question whether I would enjoy it if I did it as my source of income, as my job. But I'd kind of like to have the opportunity to know. That would be an interesting thing to experience in the short term just to see.

Mike 49:53

Uh from Medina, Ohio again, Mike Garapick, and he says I did get his first name pronounced correctly the first time. Good. So that worked out. Well, he's approached this one more from the motivational standpoint. Okay. Um, but it kind of gets it it gets around to what's he what he gets from the hobby. It's multifaceted. He's always loved aviation, particularly military subjects from World War II to current day. He had an uncle that when he was younger, when Michael was younger, that worked for uh Cleveland Pneumatics, which made landing gear parts. Mm-hmm. Remember, he was from the Cleveland area, knew all our friends from that area. Yep. His uncle gave him promotional flyers of the kind of stuff he was working on. And he'd take trips to the Cleveland Air Show, and then he was just hooked on aviation, and you know, he was never able to find himself find his way into the cockpit. So building these small scale replicas was the best and only option he had.

Kentucky Dave 50:45

Mm-hmm.

Mike 50:46

And he's 65 years young, and this was the video games of his age, and he returns a hobby in the 90s, now that he's retired. It's taking a whole new meaning just because uh it occupies so much of his time and uh interest. So it sounds like he's getting enjoyment out of the hobby, which is great.

Kentucky Dave 51:03

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

Mike 51:18

No. And I got a final one from uh Joshua Abbey from Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Kentucky Dave 51:23

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

Mike 51:26

He's aerospace engineer, an RC pilot, full-scale glider pilot, and he says amateur aircraft modeler. So am I. And he wanted to also address the topic of uh viewing completed models. Mm-hmm. And he says, Why would you ever build a model and not look at it? He says, Of course I look at my old builds. I put a lot of effort into them. And he says, as an aviation enthusiast, the point of the model build is to see it on his display shelf. I'm sure he enjoys the process, the painting, the building, the weathering, and all that. And but he builds his A4s, his P-47s, his AN2, was it an Antonov 2?

Kentucky Dave 52:04

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

Mike 52:15

He loves these aircraft and wants to look at them on a shelf so he can admire their aerodynamics and the performance considerations. Uh he appreciates the aircraft evolution, you know, wildcat, hellcat, bear cat, tiger cat that a display can offer. And he can ruminate on the historical significance and related pilot stories and experiences. And he builds a lot in 32nd skill and 48th skill, so he's got some bigger planes to look at, and it brings him joy in the cold, dark Colorado winters when he can't fly himself. Yeah, I think these are all valid, but I would make one thing. He says as an aviation enthusiast, as an aviation enthusiast, the point of building the models is to see them. Well, that's a point. A point, his point.

Kentucky Dave 52:54

Right.

Mike 52:54

And I guess I talked a little bit about well, I I said, you know, I keep my unbuilt or my in-progress stuff when I know it's going to be off the bench for a significant amount of time, it goes in my display case. So I do go over there and I look. I was reminded when John Bryan from the from Croydon, the UK, there, we did one of the first listener mails we rattled off tonight about his website. Well, on my PC at work, I've got a bunch of my builds on my screensaver rotating a slide. So I look at those quite a bit because they're coming around. Yeah. My computer goes into sleep mode. So I I do do it. I think we all want to get it done, but I just think for some people the the the journey and the creative aspect of the thing and the problem solving is is more significant to them uh than actually, you know, just taking a gander at the finished product.

Kentucky Dave 53:44

There are modelers I know, okay, good modelers that I know, who when they finish a project, they give it away. Yeah. They they don't keep any of their completed models. Because to them, once they're done, they're done. I mean, for them, the goal was accomplishing the build to its completion, but they have literally no interest in ever going back and looking at that completed build. So the the spectrum is very wide on that. I think a lot of people, most people, probably do keep builds around and probably do go back and look at them. But I don't think that that's universal.

Mike 54:35

No, I don't think so. And uh you know, how much do you look? I don't think anyone I'd be surprised if anyone out there is actually making a conscious effort to not go look at them. Yeah. I don't think that's what we're saying. Right. I just think to some of them to very diminishing degrees just don't go back and look because they're on to the next thing.

Kentucky Dave 54:53

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

Mike 55:04

In a different room.

Kentucky Dave 55:05

In a different room that I go into very rarely.

Mike 55:09

Yeah.

Kentucky Dave 55:09

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

Mike 55:20

Well, Joshua, thanks for the your perspective on that. You know, that's you mentioned a lot of things here that do ring true. I think uh a lot of this these points about all these considerations about the aircraft's history and evolution and stuff, uh I actually get a lot of that during the build process.

Kentucky Dave 55:36

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

Mike 55:43

Yeah, I don't know that too many people know much about that airplane at all. That's true. It's a little enigmatic, but yeah.

New Kit Faves: Chaffee To Vulcan

Kentucky Dave 55:51

Well, you got anything else you want to say on this topic, Dave? No, other than I don't think ultimately it matters what you get out of the hobby, as long as you get something out of the hobby that makes you happy, that that brings you enjoyment and relaxation. Whatever it happens to be, whether you're a construction guy, whether you're a finished model person, whether you're whatever, you're a history buff, you're uh uh uh a technique guy, whatever it is. The only thing, and I've said this, you you mentioned before that I say this, if you're not enjoying it, you're doing it wrong. Okay. If you're not getting enjoyment out of the hobby, and it doesn't really matter what why you get that enjoyment out of the hobby, but you really do need to enjoy something out of it in order for it to be a hobby.

Mike 56:52

I agree with that. Yeah. I just think there's there's so much, especially since we started the podcast. We we had a lot of fun before this was ever an idea. Yes. A lot of the early club workshop days, and all that it all gets back into the to the friendship side of things. Yes. All the old road trips.

Kentucky Dave 57:08

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

Mike 57:20

Well, and I've mentioned to you when the days get a little longer and the weather gets a little more stable, I'm probably gonna start attending our own club meetings again.

Kentucky Dave 57:27

Yep.

Mike 57:27

Because I need another outlet. I hear you. So hopefully I can talk you into it too.

Kentucky Dave 57:32

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

Mike 57:43

We got several trips planned and uh could be seeing a lot of people this year.

Kentucky Dave 57:46

So this is gonna be a big year.

Mike 57:48

The friends side of it is is fantastic, but all that stuff aside, just getting to the bench and actually gluing stuff together and and sculpting or modifying or cutting, sanding, whatever you're doing. There's just so much value in the creative process and all that and the tactile exercises you're doing there that can really put you in a good spot mentally and tune out a bunch of crap. So pretty well-founded stuff on the mental health side.

Kentucky Dave 58:19

Yep.

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Mike 59:22

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

Kentucky Dave 59:32

Yes, I have I've been getting to the bench, just not as much as I want, or and or nor accomplishing as much as I want. But the Hellcat decals are done. The overcoat is done. I have begun the oil weathering. I'm about halfway through that process. Then once that's done, I will apply a satin coat and I'll go to chipping. And then from there, it's bits and bobs, and it's still on track to be done for HeritageCon so that I can take it to HeritageCon. And in addition to that, that old T33 project that I pulled out to because it fills it fills the niche for the Septemberists uh build for the nationals. It took some time for me to reacquaint myself with, okay, here's where you were when you stopped.

Mike 1:00:31

Yeah, you talked about that last time.

Kentucky Dave 1:00:33

Yeah. So I managed to do that, and I know where I am. And so I have started to, it got an initial coat of primer on it. And now I'm going back, and that's where I had stopped after the initial coat, and now I'm going back and filling seams and flaws and re-engraving, correcting previous re-engravements. Remember, this was six or seven years ago before I concentrated on rescribing as an area that I wanted to get better at. So this is one that comes from the before time. So I have to then take the skills that I have learned since and go reapply them to that model. But yeah, I again, not as much progress as I want, but making progress, staying on target. And I'm enjoying, you know, again, the important thing is are you enjoying it? And heck yes, I am enjoying it. And as I mentioned, I'm also kind of redoing my hobby room. So I'm hoping that one of the results of redoing my hobby room will it will become I will become much more, it will be a much better climate to build in, so that I will want to be at the bench more. And when I'm at the bench, I'll be more efficient. All in all, good, good. My my bench top is happy and is humming. Maybe not as much as I want it to hum, but it's humming. How about you?

Mike 1:02:12

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

Kentucky Dave 1:02:24

Because you got to send pictures in like two weeks early. I keep forgetting about that. I was thinking, well, what are you talking about? You got like five weeks, but no, that's to actually take the finished model to Hamilton, not to submit the pictures.

Mike 1:02:38

Exactly. Yeah. So I've been using some bare metal foil to mask the the weather stripping around the the front windshield frame and then the around the convertible, you know, tops of the doors and around the back of the deck and all that stuff.

Kentucky Dave 1:02:54

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

Mike 1:02:59

No, I had to get new bare metal foil. Right. You had run out of well, I'd got a little bit done and and then it was man, I probably had that sheet for Right, 20 years. 20 years. So the little patch that was left had been creased and bent a couple times, so it had some tears in it, and it was just not holding together. So I went and got some more. And again, Burbank's House of Hobbies came through on that.

Kentucky Dave 1:03:23

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

Mike 1:03:33

Well, then I posted on the dojo, it's like I've I just bought some more of this stuff and been using it, but I've never used it for its primary purpose. Right. I've only ever used it for a masking medium.

Kentucky Dave 1:03:43

Right.

Mike 1:03:44

Which is a pretty good one, actually, if you got some some dimensionality you need to cross and and uh it can just get get a lot tighter than like most masking tapes. So once you learn to to handle it and use it a little bit, it's really not that bad.

Kentucky Dave 1:03:58

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

Mike 1:04:01

No, no. All the weather stripping was painted black.

Kentucky Dave 1:04:05

Mm-hmm.

Mike 1:04:05

And I went back with bare metal foil and masked that off and trimmed it.

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Kentucky Dave 1:04:09

So Oh, okay. So you are using it as a masking.

Mike 1:04:12

Just a mask, yeah.

Kentucky Dave 1:04:13

Okay.

Mike 1:04:14

So once I get the car primary color painted It all gets stripped off. It all gets stripped off. So be looking forward to that. Which just made me think of something that's gonna make things interesting. The car is gonna have to be glossed.

Kentucky Dave 1:04:30

Right.

Mike 1:04:31

And I don't know how many layers of paint it's gonna take. And then some gloss. Do I take off the mask and just gloss the weather stripping too, or it just won't look right?

Kentucky Dave 1:04:41

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

Mike 1:04:54

Well, the yeah. I we'll cross the bridge when we get to it, but uh, you know, it's it's real close. Uh just before we started recording tonight, I actually shot the the black I use for the weather stripping is just Mr. Surfacer 1500 black primer. Yeah. Because it's kind of got a dull, it's not quite matte, but it's not quite satin either.

Kentucky Dave 1:05:13

It's a good black finish.

Mike 1:05:14

It is. So I I went and hit uh after I trimmed all the the bare metal foil down to just what needed to be left on for the mask, I went back and hit those cut lines with the black again just to make sure. If I had a scratch that didn't get filled up with the the car color, it was gonna be black and not uh the the gray primer that's under everything, which if I had to do over, I'd just prime the whole car in black. I don't know why I didn't think of that ahead of time, but it was primed in gray first and then Well, considering your final color, I think gray probably is a better unprimer. Yeah, maybe. I don't know. It's it's gonna have some black around the cockpit and window windshield that's not gonna get sprayed gray again. So we'll see. But uh other than that, man, my bench has been Slow. I've been you've been launching things into space, you know. No, we haven't.

Kentucky Dave 1:06:05

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

Mike 1:06:10

No, the KV-85 is just still on hold. I was I you know last time we talked, I think I was doing some stuff on the turret, but but now it's like completely just sitting there.

Kentucky Dave 1:06:17

Right. You've got to you've got to get the loosery.

Mike 1:06:20

I gotta get this done and then I'll get back to it. Because it won't take me too long to get that one to a near state of completion either. So looking forward to getting back on it. But that's my bench top, man. That's all I got.

Kentucky Dave 1:06:31

All right.

The Voice of Bob (Bair) 1:06:34

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 1:06:50

I remember the old days where the in the 90s where there were so many fewer companies and so many less kits announced.

Mike 1:07:01

You had to read about it in a magazine.

Kentucky Dave 1:07:02

Right, exactly. And you didn't have this stream, never-ending stream of the modeling news or scalemates or whatever, everyday new stuff. And then, of course, along comes the 3D print companies, and it just anybody can be a manufacturer, and the whole thing just blows up. So I've seen some things I'm interested in announced lately. Have you? I have. So let's give some faves and yawns.

Mike 1:07:32

My first fave, and hopefully I didn't mention. I've I've mentioned this on the podcast before. I don't think it was a faves and yawns segment.

Kentucky Dave 1:07:38

That's okay.

Mike 1:07:38

To me, his new M24 Chaffee.

Kentucky Dave 1:07:41

Yes, that's a neat tank.

Mike 1:07:43

That's a good one. You you there was the old Italy one. Right. That had the wrong tracks, had had post-war tracks and probably some other post-war features. And then remember formations came out with that resin thing that was absolutely beautiful for its time. Gorgeous.

Kentucky Dave 1:07:58

Yeah.

Mike 1:07:58

Uh then it was a Bronco one, and they got the turret shape wrong and then reissued a turret you could get separately to fix the problem with the turret. And now there's probably not a whole lot wrong with a Tamiya kit. The only thing with Tomia is the, you know, some some detail shortcuts so they can mold it. So I don't know if I don't know if it's one I will get, but uh I'm sure that one's gonna be really, really popular.

Kentucky Dave 1:08:19

I I think so too, especially given not only its World War II use, but its use in the Korean War, in all of the it got every every South American country ended up with some of those things, no matter the size. Yeah, South Vietnam had a ton of. Just, I mean, it was ubiquitous. And so I am sure that will be extremely popular in a lot of countries.

Mike 1:08:51

Well, it's they're not related, but the M24 and the M26 pursing. Yeah. They represent a kind of a sea change in American tank design. It was the first time they went to torsion bar suspensions. And then the you know the the the pursing lineage goes all the way up to the the last of the M60 series, really.

Kentucky Dave 1:09:12

Yep.

Mike 1:09:13

So they got a lot of miles out of those designs. That they did. And I think it'll be a really popular kit, and I'm sure we'll see some freaky Korean War ones with the crazy fronts painted on them and all that. So that's my first fave. What do you got?

Kentucky Dave 1:09:29

In addition to aircraft, I have an interest in missiles, particularly anti-aircraft missiles. And in 72nd scale, there's been a real hole. We don't have a really good MIM 23, which is the Hawk, the US uh ground-based anti-aircraft missile. A country or a company out of Ukraine by the name of Spala, S P A-L-A-H, has announced a 72nd scale Hawk launcher. And that's definitely one that when I when it comes out, when I see it, I will pick it up, because I want to build a whole series of anti-aircraft missiles. And a whole bunch of the Russian ones. And of course, the Americans don't rely on anti-air ground-based anti-aircraft missiles quite as much. And so there isn't as much variety from American and NATO countries, but there are some. And I'm just happy to have the Hawk available now. How about you? Got another fave, a yawn, or I got a couple faves here.

Mike 1:10:46

I'm gonna group together. And this one's kind of interesting because Evan McAl on Panzermeister 36 has been working around a BT.

Kentucky Dave 1:10:55

Yes.

Mike 1:10:56

Working on a BT five, I think.

Kentucky Dave 1:10:58

Yeah.

Mike 1:10:58

Well he's it's in the kind of in the at the front end of that project.

Kentucky Dave 1:11:02

Right.

Mike 1:11:03

So we've been talking about BTs a lot off offline. But you know that the turret for my KV85 is from a Russian company called A Resin.

Kentucky Dave 1:11:11

Right.

Mike 1:11:12

And A Resin's got a bunch of different BT wheel sets coming out.

Kentucky Dave 1:11:16

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

Mike 1:11:29

Yeah, from like the late BT2 all the way up through the BT7, it's one or two different wheels.

Kentucky Dave 1:11:35

Gotcha.

Mike 1:11:36

The early BT2s had a spoked looking wheel. Okay. Actually had some hollows in it. But I think they got three or four wheel sets, and then it was on scalemates, and it was funny because it was a kit that Evan had been talking about from Demon Barber Designs.

Kentucky Dave 1:11:51

Mm-hmm.

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Mike 1:11:52

They've got uh an early BT5 turret coming out and a couple other things, that some track sets, and he was showing that off on his Facebook page just yesterday or today, I think. And uh we were talking about that this afternoon before we started recording, and all that stuff looks pretty good. Now, of course, the A-Res and stuff coming from Russia is gonna be impossible to get. Right. Maybe, I don't know. The demon borrowers out of Europe, I can't remember exactly where, but uh all looks all looks really nice.

Kentucky Dave 1:12:23

Well, good. I I can't wait. I can't wait to you you and Evan both get 90% done with a BT5 project so that Tamiya announces their BT5.

Mike 1:12:34

Well, I think with the right Hobby Boss base, it's really not too tough. So I don't think that would be uh that wouldn't be too big a gotcha project. Yeah. Even if they came out with it, what they're gonna come out with is probably not gonna be that much better than what you you can cobble together with conversions and the hobby boss haul.

Kentucky Dave 1:12:50

So gotcha.

Mike 1:12:51

Wouldn't worry about that one too much.

Kentucky Dave 1:12:52

But you're probably right. Well, my next one's also a fave. The 109 aficionados that you and I know are gaga over the fact that the Edward 109K, the final evolution of the 109, the 109Ks, are coming out very, very soon. We've seen screenshots, we've seen instruction sheets, renders, etc. And so it is the 109K is eminent from Edward and 72nd scale. And a company who makes a lot of products that I really like called Ames, that used to be out of the UK, but it's now out of somewhere in Central Europe, and I forget where, Czech, Slovakia, Croatia, somewhere in there. Actually run by an Anglican minister who has a deep interest in World War II German aircraft, particularly the JU-88. He produces decals as well as conversions and other stuff. And he has a set of decals for the 109K to go to go with that Edward release. And God, they're beautiful. Um I know decals. Like I I need another decal, like I need a hole in the head. But as soon as these things come out, I'm gonna buy them. He's shooting a fish in a barrel at this point. I will be getting those, even though German aircraft aren't my favorite. They're just beautiful decals, beautiful markings. The kit's gonna be gorgeous. And you know, having seen Barry and Steve building those and and how how thrilled they were with those models, I can't resist. Okay, you and me both. This is this is that is exactly what I'm gonna say about my last one.

Mike 1:15:01

And I got a suspicion we're gonna out b try to outbig each other.

Kentucky Dave 1:15:05

Yes, we are.

Mike 1:15:07

Trumpeter announced a 48-scale Avro Vulcan this week or so. Get out of my head. Man, that thing's gonna be the size of like an adult stingray. Yes, it is. That's a lot of airplanes.

Kentucky Dave 1:15:20

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

Mike 1:15:24

I don't know. I mean So there you go, folks.

Kentucky Dave 1:15:27

I can't imagine a case that that would fit in. You have to build it. Yeah. Well, mine is actually a combo of that kit, Trumpeter's 48th Falcon, with Trumpeter's announcement just the last day or so that they are doing in 35th scale, not 32nd, 35th scale, an ME 232 Gigant or 323 Gigant. It's an ME 323 Gigant, which is the powered version of the big glider.

Mike 1:16:02

Yeah. The big clamshell front on it.

Kentucky Dave 1:16:05

Clamshell front doors. This is the thing that got slaughtered in North Africa and the Tunisian campaign. It's an easy target. Easy target, yes. It was used heavily on the Eastern Front. And I I think it's brilliant from the idea that in 35th scale, you're gonna open up those clamshell doors, and you will take your 35th scale German soft skins or armored cars or whatever, and you'll be able to display the thing with the cargo, you know, on the ramps coming out or going in or whatever. But in 35th scale, this thing is going to be huge. Our friend Barry Numeric builds almost exclusively 109s. The other thing that he builds and has a a number of kits of is the 70 second scale Etalary 323. And that thing is huge in 70 second scale. It's nearly the span of my arms in 70 second scale. I cannot imagine the wing span on this thing in 35th scale. Heck, I'm not sure how you engineer it so that the wings don't droop and fall off or fall off.

Mike 1:17:27

Touch the ground.

Kentucky Dave 1:17:27

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

Mike 1:17:48

Oh man.

The Voice of Bob (Bair) 1:17:49

Well, that's all I got.

Kentucky Dave 1:17:50

That's all I got, too.

The Voice of Bob (Bair) 1:17:53

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Kentucky Dave 1:18:18

Dear listeners, if you're listening to this podcast and you haven't already done so, please, when you're done listening, go rate us on whatever podcast app you're using to listen. Please give us five stars because it helps drive our show to be recommended to people who are just browsing. And also, if you have a modeling friend who isn't listening to our podcast, we would appreciate you recommending the podcast to them. Mike and I are amazed at how many listeners we have. We are amazed that it continues to grow. But the best way for us to continue to grow is for current listeners to recommend us to their modeling friends. And every one of you listening now has one modeling friend you know of that isn't listening to our podcast. Please go to that friend and recommend us. Mike and I would appreciate it.

Mike 1:19:22

And we'd appreciate you going to www.modelpodcast.com. That's a consortium website set up with our friend Stuart Clark from the Scale Model Podcast, where he's aggregated all the banner links to all the other podcasts out in the model sphere. And you can go check them all out. We've also got a lot of blog and YouTube friends out in the model sphere. We mentioned Panzermeister 36, Mr. Evan McCallum. You want to check out his armor-centric Facebook page. We've mentioned Chris Wallace. He's got a blog page and a YouTube channel, mostly 48 skill aircraft. You're going to want to check him out as well because he does great work. And he's been doing some really good stuff lately. That's right. Paul Budzik's come up numerous times in this episode. Check out his skill model workshop on YouTube and Patreon. Stephen Lee, Sprue Pie with Frets, a great long and short form blog, 70 seconds, 70 second scale modeling and some HO model railroading. You can check out his stuff there. Uh Steve's always been a good friend of the podcast and uh like what he's doing there. Yes, I do too. And Jeff Groves, Inch I guy. If you really like 70 seconds scale, you're gonna want to go there as well. The master of the batch build.

Kentucky Dave 1:20:26

He's he's on Soviet subjects right now, World War II Soviet. And it's just really, really neat to see him producing those. You don't you don't see as many of those things built as you do, say, German, Japanese, American, British, etc. But it's really fascinating to see them. If you are not a member of IPMesh USA, please consider joining. It is a really great group that is run by a bunch of volunteers who give up their time, some of their modeling time to help make the hobby in the United States better. Even if you're outside the U.S., you can join and become a member of IPMes USA, and please consider doing so. If you're an armor or post-1900 figures modeler, please consider joining AMPS, the Armor Modeling and Preservation Society. They're a really dedicated group of modelers who are really interested in advancing the art of armor modeling. Great group of guys, highly recommend it. If you're anywhere around South Bend, Indiana this year, they have their national show. I think it's in April. Yeah. In April in South Bend. You would do well to get there and go to their show. Mike, we're almost at the end. And I'm almost at the end of my beer. You're, I'm sure, almost at the end of your willet. I am. And I I already know it's gonna be great. So go ahead.

Mike 1:22:13

The Willet's cool because it's in a a bottle that's shaped like a a pot still. Right. It kind of looks like I dream I dream a genie bottle. Right. But it's shaped like a actually distiller's pot still. That said, it's it's uh a little spicy, some cinnamon notes because it's got a pretty high rye content in it.

Kentucky Dave 1:22:33

Yeah.

Mike 1:22:34

Not unlike bullet, though I think it's a little better. But it's not one I buy very often. But uh I thought I'd try something new. Try something different tonight.

Kentucky Dave 1:22:43

Yep, it's it's a little bit more expensive. Yeah. So now it's interesting that you think uh I think I'd prefer Bullet over Willet a little bit, but uh that's probably just utterly personal taste because they're they're they're both very quality bourbons. Yeah. Uh at a very reasonable price. And I guess it just, I mean, you know, it depends on what spice level that and what particular notes that you like or don't like. It's not better enough for me to switch.

Mike 1:23:17

Right. No, I don't do a lot of bullet anymore either. Yeah. That was a staple a long time until I found the Russell's 10-year.

Kentucky Dave 1:23:24

I was gonna say Russell's 10 year is your go-to. Well, how's your IPA? It's you know, if you had told me 15 years ago that I would regularly be drinking IPAs and actually seeking them out to drink, I'd have told you you were crazy. It is amazing how my tastes have changed. This is good. It is an IPA, it is hoppy. It has a little bit of citrus note, which are, I'll be honest with you, the kind of IPAs that I like. I like the ones that have uh a little bit of a citrus or fruitish flavor. But it's it's excellent. Now, it's an IPA, it's hoppy, so if you don't like that, you're not going to enjoy it. But it's about 7.5% alcohol by volume, so it's mid-high on the on the range for for beers off the shelf. I continue to enjoy what they're doing.

Mike 1:24:23

Well, they're about a block away from work, so well a little further than that, but not not too far.

Kentucky Dave 1:24:28

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

Mike 1:24:47

Well, I always want to shout out the folks who have chosen to help Plastic Model Mojo through their generosity. It's greatly appreciated. Putting a lot of that to use right now, getting this website expansion squared away. So uh been a big help, and we just really appreciate it. Yeah, it's just it just amazes me how folks have have stepped up and helped us over the years. And uh just thank you so much. We really appreciate it.

Kentucky Dave 1:25:09

We do.

Mike 1:25:09

You got a shout-out, Dave?

Kentucky Dave 1:25:10

Yes, in addition to that shout out, which I full wholeheartedly endorse, I'm going to pre-shout out somebody. Normally, this shout-out comes in April, but I can pre-shout out because I know that the guys in Hamilton are some of the nicest, most hospitable modelers ever to put on a show. Canadian nice is a real thing. They go out of their way to make us feel welcome. And they don't have to do it. We're coming anyway. Uh, we love the show anyway, but they really do go out of their way to make us feel welcome, to include us in their activities, and to just make sure that we have everything we need to do what we do when we're doing podcasting or recording or whatever. And I know they'll do it again this year, and I thank them for it. I want them to know that it's not something that that is taken for granted by us.

Mike 1:26:17

All right. Looking forward to it.

Kentucky Dave 1:26:19

You and me both, brother.

Mike 1:26:20

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