Kicking off a Special Feature on the Plastic Model Dojo: A PMM Special

He beat a brutal stretch of chemo, got the all-clear, then asked the question every craftsperson quietly fears: do the hands and the mind still work the same way? Our friend Ed Bareth is back, and he’s turning that question into plastic, paint, and proof with a 1/32 Trumpeter Douglas SBD-5 Dauntless built for awards-level judging.

We dig into what “national quality” really demands in large scale model aircraft building, where every shortcut shows and every improvement has to be clean. Ed walks us through his smart aftermarket picks and why they matter: Kelik 3D instrument panels for the cockpit, Eduard photo-etch dive brakes that live or die by build sequence, resin wheels, and One Man Army paint masks that look incredible but punish sloppy placement. He also shares how he’s documenting the project in clear chapters so you can follow the full process from cockpit painting and washes to canopy masking and final finish.

Then comes the part that spirals in the best and worst way: LED lighting inside an enclosed model airplane. What starts as “let’s illuminate the cockpit” becomes a real engineering problem with battery placement, a hidden on off switch, and even a detour into Bluetooth and phone control before he brings it back to something dependable. We also talk about using ChatGPT for paint mixes, fading recipes, and weathering guidance for a 1944 USS Enterprise three-color scheme, plus why you still have to verify references when AI confidently hands you answers.

If you want practical scale modeling tips, honest talk about returning to the bench, and a front-row seat to an ambitious 1/32 build, press play. Subscribe, share this with a modeling buddy, and leave us a review with your answer: what’s the next project you’re ready to level up?

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Transcript

Cold Open And Project Tease

Mike 0:10

All right, Kentucky Dave. How about a preamps short feature to get us jazzed up for?

Kentucky Dave 0:16

I'm I give it, let's put it this way, it'll give us something to talk about on the road.

Mike 0:22

It will, indeed. Folks, we've had Ed Bareth on the show a number of times, and uh Ed had some health challenges last year and then has slowly gotten back into modeling as he's got that situation stabilized, and uh we're happy for him in that. But he's diving back into a large-scale model airplane project that he's been known for, and we'll let him explain what he was trying to do himself as we get this feature started. But Dave, really looking forward to this. It's the first time we've done anything like this on the dojo, and uh, I think folks are gonna enjoy this project.

Kentucky Dave 0:57

Yeah, we're experimenting, trying to bring you all additional content and present it in a new and different way. So this is a work in progress, and we're gonna we're gonna learn from this experience, and we appreciate Ed helping us out.

Mike 1:13

Well, let's get our conversation with Ed rolling here, man.

Kentucky Dave 1:17

You got it.

Mike 1:22

Well, Dave, we got somebody back tonight we haven't talked to in uh in a minute or two.

Kentucky Dave 1:27

Yes, I know. I I I was anxious to get him back on.

Mike 1:32

And that person is Ed Bareth out in sunny California. Ed, how you doing, man?

Ed Baroth 1:36

I'm doing fine in sunny California.

Mike 1:40

Well is it is it sunny right now?

Ed Baroth 1:43

Uh uh, yes, it is.

Mike 1:44

Oh, lucky you. We know you had some challenges, I guess, last year. And uh I'll let you talk about whatever you want to talk about that, but I know in our offline conversations, you were how to say it, you had some concern that maybe your skills may have atrophied during your downtime.

Ed Baroth 2:03

Yeah, it seems like a perfect thing. Everybody's saying, you know, I I had some chemo for six months for for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and it was treated, and I'm in at the doctor says complete remission, but everybody's saying, you know, are are you back to way the the way you were?

Mike 2:21

Yeah, that's how you said it. I remember.

Ed Baroth 2:24

You know, let's let's do an experiment. Let's see if I'm back the way I was. And the most complicated model that I do is 30 second aircraft.

Speaker 2:34

Yep.

Ed Baroth 2:34

I've done them well before, and I've received, you know, national awards for them. So the feel the feeling is can I do one to the same quality that I used to? And so that's my little experiment.

Mike 2:46

Won't you tell folks exactly what you're building? Now, let me back up one more question before we do that. Now, did you do anything prior to starting this project we're about to talk about a little bit this evening? To kind of test the waters that you were looking like things were gonna be okay to proceed with this big project?

Ed Baroth 3:02

Well, you know, our club had a contest in December, but I ended up building a P51D Tomia. Oh, it was a you gotta build a 20-year-old Tamiya model. Okay. Was the contest. And so I built a P51D out of the box with natural metal finish. And I could tell I I wasn't back yet fully.

Mike 3:24

Okay.

Ed Baroth 3:24

I didn't have the concentration, I didn't have the patience in December. And and you know, my my last chemo was at the end of October. So December was was pretty quick.

Mike 3:35

Yeah, that would be pretty close, just a few months.

Kentucky Dave 3:37

So was most of the effect mental? In other words, was it mostly concentration and stamina? Or, you know, I have the physical tremor challenge. Did you have any physical side effects?

Ed Baroth 3:52

No, I didn't, other than I was uh I didn't have the yeah, the stamina. I I was tired a lot. I couldn't put the hours in that normally uh I have the benefit of being at the bench jealous time compared to a lot of people. Yeah, you're one of those retired guys. Yes.

Mike 4:09

We know a couple of those, and yes, yeah, it can be a little envious. Yes.

Ed Baroth 4:14

Yes, I I can beat Mike's monthly quota in a day.

The 1/32 Dauntless Build Plan

Mike 4:18

Yeah, no. Don't rub it in, Ed. Don't rub it in. Yeah. We can end this now. You are back because I've seen previews of what you got going on. So let's talk about this this project and what you're hoping to do here.

Ed Baroth 4:33

Okay, well, what I I'm doing is a 32nd trumpeter, uh Douglas Dauntless SVD 5. And I've been told this is one of the good trumpeter kits. Uh, and it is. I hope so.

Kentucky Dave 4:47

That's a relative term there, Ed.

Ed Baroth 4:49

Uh, I know, that's what I'm saying. This is get this is considered one of the good ones. So I'm doing this in 32nd, and 32nd, to me, by definition, is class A, so to speak. And I'm doing this for you know awards consideration. And my philosophy is in 48, because normally I do 48th as well. In 48, everything extra you do is a positive. In 32nd, everything you could do but don't is a negative.

Mike 5:24

I understand. Yeah, okay. Keep going.

Ed Baroth 5:26

For those people who do armor, 30 second airplanes is just like 30 second armor, except you can't put a sandbag over your mistakes.

Mike 5:34

Oh, come on now.

Kentucky Dave 5:35

Oh, you can hang a tarp over it.

Ed Baroth 5:37

Come on. And so I'm doing this basically flat out, and I'm adding some extra, you know, there's more I could, but I'm adding some 3D, 3D instrument panels from a company called Kielik, K-E-L-I-K, which I believe is from Ukraine. I'm adding some Edward die flaps. I'm adding some one-man army stencils.

Kentucky Dave 6:03

Those are amazing.

Ed Baroth 6:04

And I'm adding some uh resin wheels. That's that's what I thought I was starting with.

Scope Creep And Internal Lighting

Kentucky Dave 6:10

And then here comes Scope Creep, our old friend.

Ed Baroth 6:15

Yes, well, because I like the instrument panels so much, those 3D panels, they're really nice.

Kentucky Dave 6:21

Yes, they are.

Ed Baroth 6:22

I said, you know, I'm gonna put some lights in so you can see them.

Mike 6:27

Okay.

Ed Baroth 6:27

I I've already had the lights, and I already had the battery from from an earlier project, and it turns out I can fit the battery inside, and and lights are just about scale. So, but the question was, how do you flip the switch inside the plane? And that's what led me to down this horrible rabbit hole of trying to use Bluetooth on my phone, and that got me to modules. I ended up ordering modules and this and that, and I I spoke to Chat GPT and we had some lovely discussions, but to make a long story short, I I it just was a bridge too far. And what I just figured I would do instead is I can't reach the switch on the actual battery, it doesn't it doesn't work where I can get to it. If I put in another switch, there's a there's a a part of the plane where the the the uh machine gun bullets drop out in the in the back, and that is open. So I just have to find a switch that would fit, which I thought would be easy and turned out to be another rabbit hole to to find a small on-off switch. Evidently you can find small momentary, but not all on off, which I finally found and got it in, and I hooked it up to three lights in, and I said, you know, why should I stop there? Since since the model comes, it's very nice, the model comes with a clear cowling and engine. So I naturally I I had to trick it out a bit, and then I figured since I tricked it out a bit, why don't I add a light in the engine? So you could see that. And then I figured, well, since I did that, now I gotta add more stuff to the engine.

Kentucky Dave 8:19

This isn't your first lighted model, but it sounds like this is the first time you've gone this extensive.

Ed Baroth 8:28

Yes. And this is the first time inside the model. I did a 72nd Ukrainian armored personnel carrier, and I and I put a couple of lights in, but you know, that you can put through the base and what have you. And so and so that was that was relatively easy and straightforward. This is you know enclosed in the plane. So obviously, yes, I cannot change the battery, but let's face it, how often am I going to put the light on? Maybe, you know, a couple hours every six months of the show. I'm really not that worried about it. And I and I honestly think the battery will last longer than I will. So I'm really not that worried.

Kentucky Dave 9:04

But that raises a question for me. Now, do you have a lighting mentor modeler that you're getting help from, or is this all Ed Bareth and Experiment and Chat GPT and reading stuff online?

Mike 9:21

No, no, I and retired JPL engineer.

Kentucky Dave 9:24

Yeah, well, that too.

Ed Baroth 9:26

I I have to confess, I I do have a mentor when I when I did the other model, I spoke to our friend Bobble.

Mike 9:33

Oh, yeah.

Ed Baroth 9:33

Bobble told me what uh LEDs to buy and what battery holders to get. I admit I I've checked with him a bit.

Mike 9:41

You chose wise because he's one of the folks Dave's referring to that's at Wonderfest, usually. So we've seen his his big big sci-fi subject with all their internal lighting. So pretty cool.

Kentucky Dave 9:52

And not only not only that, I it's not like I'm faulting you for that. I think that's smart. If you've got resources out there, why would you possibly try and learn it yourself when you can reach out and tap the that kind of knowledge?

Ed Baroth 10:11

So, yeah, so that gave me the leg up. I I use the same battery holder and the same LEDs. That's fine. And even Bobble doesn't deal with with you know hooking up through the phone yet.

Sharing The Build As Chapters

Mike 10:25

I suspect he might at some point, though. Yeah, it's coming. Ed, it's not just this episode short we're doing here that folks are gonna hear about this. You've talked talked to us a little bit about it, but we're gonna choose a visual path for this. And folks over on the Plastic Model Dojo, our Facebook group, are gonna be able to follow along with your progress. So won't you tell us how you're breaking this thing up and what folks can expect to see once once I figure out how to present it in the best way?

Ed Baroth 10:54

Chapter one is is obviously the the cockpit, and I have all pictures before I wash, after wash. I I've got different interior colors, and I'm gonna be uh showing just how to do the complete cockpit.

Mike 11:12

Okay.

Ed Baroth 11:12

And I've got notes and I upgrade the directions, and it's a it's a really nice cockpit out of the box, to tell you the truth. The only thing I added were were those 3D instrument panels. Although they also they they give you 3D seat belts as well. Chapter two is the engine, which I obviously wire up and and put a lot of stuff in there because you can see it. It's because it's it's clear plastic for the engine and the cowling.

Mike 11:44

Okay. Now you're gonna leave it that way when you paint it? Okay, yes, I am. All right, you got a lot of work to do then.

Ed Baroth 11:51

Well, one side's gonna be painted, the other side you're gonna be able to do it. Ah, okay.

Mike 11:54

Oh, that's smart. That'd be a good presentation.

Ed Baroth 11:57

Third chapter is the dive brakes from Edward. And I'm gonna show how how I how I do it, because you know, it to me, if you're gonna do photo etch sequence is absolutely the key. Yes, I agree. Especially with the small parts, if you don't do it right, you're in for heartache.

Kentucky Dave 12:16

The photo etch manufacturer does not always give the level of thought to the sequence that they should.

Mike 12:26

No, they usually just show you where it goes, and that's pretty much it.

Ed Baroth 12:29

Right. This goes here, and it it really matters because you're imagining you're doing these dive breaks, and that there's a lot of pieces and they fold over and they're really small and what have you, and it does matter. Chapter four is sort of the light, just rehashing of how I do the lights. And I and I show you all the details, you know. I'm showing you, I'm I'm showing the people what LEDs I use, what switch I use, what you know, the battery holder, all you know, all that kind of stuff. So you can you can immediately, if you want, you can just get them. And the LEDs are really nice. You you don't even need any resistors as long as you're using a watch battery. Okay.

Kentucky Dave 13:08

Okay, you're gonna light the engine, you're gonna light the instrument panel cockpit. Right. You're gonna uh obviously I assume you're gonna uh light the nav lights.

Ed Baroth 13:20

Oh no, I'm not okay.

Kentucky Dave 13:22

You're not doing the nav lights, all right.

Ed Baroth 13:24

You're so I'm not doing any of that stuff.

Kentucky Dave 13:26

Is there anything else you're lighting?

Ed Baroth 13:28

Yes, I I'm there's a light in the back, so you can see the radio compartment. They really did a nice job in in giving you the 3D decals for the radios. They really look nice. And I said, you know, so I I put one in the back as well.

Mike 13:43

Yeah, because it's probably down in a hole, isn't it, behind the gunner's position? Yeah.

Ed Baroth 13:49

And uh if part of this experiment is to show what it takes to make a model for national, then I cannot go crazy enough. I can't go too far.

Mike 14:01

Provided you do it all well, that I would agree with that. Right. You you throw a bunch of poor poorly executed stuff on there, and that's maybe a different story. But I I know you, Ed. I know when we first met out in Las Vegas, it was a 48-scale plane and a 38 second-scale plane that uh had us think to have you over to the table for our initial conversation. So I know you're gonna do this well, and I think it's really cool that you you you've uh been willing to uh parse this out into digestible chunks of information, and we can put that out there and and folks can just see what a one of these large-scale projects actually looks like if you really want to trick it out to the to a to the inst degree.

Ed Baroth 14:41

And then you you know, the like chapter four, you know, you put the fuselage together, and then uh I've put the wings, but to be honest, that's pretty straightforward. Sure. I've got the wings and I've got the tail on, and then there's always the glass, which is its own chapter.

Kentucky Dave 14:58

Please tell me there are aftermarket masks for that canopy.

Ed Baroth 15:03

Oh, yes, of course. Good. Good word has as masks.

Kentucky Dave 15:07

Good.

Ed Baroth 15:07

I could not think about it otherwise.

Kentucky Dave 15:10

Amen, brother.

Mike 15:11

Well, speaking of masks, I know you said you're gonna use the one-man army, and I assume that big set probably has does it have the internal stuff and the external stuff?

Ed Baroth 15:19

No, it's not internal. It's it's basically just external.

Mike 15:22

Okay. Please, I know there's folks out there like, yeah, I might want to try painting my own markings, but I've never done it. So hopefully that's gonna be a chapter as well.

Ed Baroth 15:31

Yes, and that's a challenge. You know, it's not it's not as easy and straightforward because the masks are big and sticky.

Speaker 15:40

Yeah.

Ed Baroth 15:41

And the pro the problem is it's very hard to get it right in the exact place the first time. And it's not like decals where you can just move it a quarter of an inch.

Mike 15:51

Okay, well, looking forward to that because that I know Dave's been thinking about that a little more.

Kentucky Dave 15:57

Yeah, that's one of my projects for this year.

ChatGPT Paint Mixes And Doubts

Mike 16:00

We're on a smaller scale most of the time, so we'll see how it goes for us. But uh really curious how the one-man army works out for that. So we're gonna get this thing in in chapters and folks are gonna be able to see that at the plastic model dojo. And I'll go run straight straight to the end now. Once this is all said and done, do you have a a scheme in mind for this for the for the for the actual finish of the airplane?

Ed Baroth 16:24

Yes, it's the three-color uh three-color Enterprise 1944, and I have a good couple of pictures. And what I also have to bring up is this business of Chat GPT.

Mike 16:38

It's probably been lying to you.

Ed Baroth 16:40

Yeah. Well, I I have to I have to, and I'll send you the notes. I went on Chat GPT and I said uh started off easy. What colors should I use for my Dauntless 1944, what have you? And it gave me the the non-specular blue and blue in intermediate insignia, blah, blah, blah.

Speaker 17:01

Right.

Ed Baroth 17:02

And then I asked it, what paint should I use? And it gave me Vallejo and it gave me AX or something, whatever. The other and it mentioned the pros and cons of using each. Well, these are directly, but you gotta mix these. Okay. And then I said, Well, suppose I want to use Tamiya, and it said, Okay, the mix for Tamiya is this, and it gave me the three-color mix for each thing. And then it said, Would you like some more details? In other words, what scale are you doing? And I said, I'm doing 30-second trumpeter, SBDD5, ZB 10 from 1944 Enterprise, and it said, Okay, for a 30-second trumpeter kit that this is to me a mix for 30-second ratio.

Kentucky Dave 17:50

No, so it take taking scale lighting into account. Yes. That's interesting.

Ed Baroth 17:56

It gave me the mix for the blue, which is four colors, told me how to lacquer thinner. It it gave me the the colors for the for the other ones, and then it also said, in other words, do you want to fade? And I said, sure. And it said, okay, here's the fade mix. This stuff's getting good, man. So it it tell it gave me, you know, how to add, you know, to what I already had to the main mix.

Mike 18:23

All right.

Ed Baroth 18:23

It tells you where, you know, where to spray, what have you, and that kind of stuff to fade. It also has a grime mix for the white, where to spray. It has advanced multi-tone fading secrets. Then it asked me realistic patterns. And then I also asked, you know, what should I use for the National Insignia, you know, for the for the C blue around the white. And it said, well, for Tamiya, you can use the C blue, but really to get a slightly richer, deeper insignia tone, it gave me a three mix.

Mike 18:58

Well, I'll be curious, I'll be curious when you mix these up if you're happy with them.

Ed Baroth 19:01

Yeah, me too.

Mike 19:03

We'll see.

Ed Baroth 19:03

I uh so far, yeah. I'm certainly happy with the with the white, you know, with the light gray is really what it is. Yeah, right. And and the blue. And then it also asked, would you like me to show you a picture of to explain the the shading panel? So I said, sure. So it printed me out a picture. I'm not quite sure where it got it. See, that's the other thing. It may have made it. It may have made it out of full cloth. What's funny is the picture shows the exact color mixes for the tamiya, exactly. But the picture of the plane doesn't quite look like a dogless. Although it says it is, right? And it sort of is.

Mike 19:44

But it's sort of not.

Ed Baroth 19:45

Some of the writing is is backwards in the sense that the it points to the cut to the cowling and says slightly cleaner towards tail.

Mike 19:54

Well, Ed, uh, I want to thank you for your willingness to chop up this project and document it for us so we can help feature it. And we'll get these first few chapters once you get the final drafts to me up on the dojo, and uh folks can uh follow you along and see that Ed Barrett's back, and we're glad your your health is managed now, and we look forward to seeing what this sucker looks like when it's done. Well, don't put pressure on yourself. Just uh you go at your pace and we'll uh dole it out at the same pace. Nobody's pressuring you, man.

Ed Baroth 20:22

I'm set myself because I'm trying to get it for some shows. I mean, obviously. Well, that's on you, Ed. Come summer, there's some shows.

Mike 20:30

Thanks for joining us tonight. We appreciate it, and uh, we look forward to seeing these final chapters and uh and hopefully in the interim, I'll figure out the best way to get them posted, and uh we'll start putting this stuff up stuff up as you feed it to us. Okay. Good to talk to you, Ed. Enjoy sunny California. Oh well. Well, he's learning new stuff, lighting a model airplane, a degree is, but uh that's not the only thing he does. Ed is multi-talented, he's also a musician. So uh Ed, thanks for those bass rifts. When I said I wanted some Seinfeld-ish, Seinfeld-esque bump riffs to do between our segments, I think you nailed it.

Kentucky Dave 21:10

Yep, he did. He did. He is a multi-talented individual and not one to shy away from stretching the boundaries.

Mike 21:19

That's for sure. Gonna light this sucker up. Can't wait to see it. What do you think? You uh I I think there's gonna be a lot to learn in watching Ed do things a step at a time here and sharing it with us.

Kentucky Dave 21:29

Because anytime you have somebody of his talent who who's willing to break down how they do things step by step, there's always so much to learn.

Mike 21:41

Well, I think the modeling world's changed a lot since I first uh started going to shows as a late teenager. I remember one time at a show in North Carolina, Dave, that I asked a modeler how they did something, and they actually told me that it took them years to figure out how to do that thing, and I was just gonna have to learn it myself.

Kentucky Dave 22:00

Thank thank thank God we are well past that.

Mike 22:03

I I hope so. I've not run into that much No. Nah, I haven't. It's been it's that might have been the only time that ever happened, honestly, but but it did happen. Yeah. And it's nice to know that uh Ed is not only willing to share, but he's gonna have to put in some some work on the back end of his stuff to give it to us. There's gonna be And we all and we all benefit. We all benefit. And I uh got a couple of 30-second scale aircraft in my stash, a couple of float planes, one that he's built, the the Kingfisher. Between Glenn Hoover's book on building that kit and uh Ed Barris' Gray Matter, I think I got a good shot actually getting that sucker together.

Kentucky Dave 22:42

Yep.

Mike 22:43

I can't wait to see you do it. Well, we are on our way to Amps as of the end of this week, and look forward to seeing everybody who's gonna be there in South Indiana.