We Keep Building Because It Keeps Us Sane: Episode 163

A hobby can be the best kind of escape until your workspace fights you, your calendar fills up, and the internet decides a vague press blurb means the sky is falling. We start with what’s been happening at our own benches, including Dave’s push to overhaul a hobby room that has somehow become “anti-modeling,” plus a listener-recommended project tracking app that could genuinely help builders log progress, notes, and next steps.

Then we dig into hobby news with real consequences, including the Dragon Models drama, the sudden appearance of “Drami,” and the clearer picture that emerges once Zimi enters the story. We talk about why it pays to wait for facts, how quickly online speculation spirals, and why Dragon still matters to the modern plastic model kit landscape even after years of fewer truly new releases. Along the way we share a great AMPS find and why better 3D printed tracks and scanning-driven accuracy are changing what’s possible in aftermarket parts.

The second half zooms out to the stuff that keeps this hobby sustainable: why we build models in the first place, how to handle work-life balance without breeding resentment at home, and why contests are evolving into broader “shows” with exhibitions, seminars, and more welcoming formats. We wrap with Shizuoka kit announcements, a quick benchtop reality check, and a warning about AI slop creeping into 3D printed figures and details.

If you’ve ever wondered what’s worth caring about in modeling and what you can safely ignore, this one’s for you. Subscribe, share the show with a modeling friend, and leave a review so more builders can find us.

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CRS Tankwerks - As mentioned by Mike
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Transcript

Welcome And What’s Ahead

The Voice of Bob (Bair) 0:11

Welcome to Plastic Model Mojo, a podcast dedicated to skill modeling, as well as to news and events around the hobby. Join Mike in Kentucky Davis to strive to be informative, entertaining, and help you to keep your modeling module alive.

Kentucky Dave 0:46

Yes, uh a little little late, better than never.

Mike 0:51

Well, we were hoping to push this out a little bit, but now we may have pushed it a little too far. So we'll see what happens the rest of the month, folks. But uh this is episode 163, and it's been a lot going on. Yes, there should mesh well with some of our shop talk topics, I think.

Kentucky Dave 1:07

But uh Yes. Although it was not planned that way.

Mike 1:11

Most of it's well, that yeah, that's not, but most of the stuff underneath those subjects is rarely planned. Yeah. I wouldn't say rarely, probably 50-50, but uh we'll get there when we get there.

Kentucky Dave 1:21

Yeah.

App Tracking And Hobby Room Reset

Mike 1:22

Well, all things aside, Dave, what is up in your model sphere?

Kentucky Dave 1:27

Well, a few things. Number one, on a previous episode, a listener wrote in to mention a app that they've been using that uh is kind of a tie-in modeling thing to app to track your work and your progress on different projects called Brush Rage. Yeah, I remember that. I downloaded it and started playing with it. And I could see the potential right away, but it wasn't it wasn't immediately just completely intuitive. And so I went looking around for a manual or a video or something to you know, tell me how to use this software, which I guess uh I'm old, and I couldn't figure out where, but I finally found in the help area of the software program, it actually is not exactly a tutorial, and it reads a little bit like stereo instructions to quote to quote Betelgeuse, but it does lay out how you use the software and what the what the software can do, at least to some extent. So when I get back to the bench, which I haven't been to the bench much in the last two weeks for a number of reasons, which we'll discuss later, I want to play with this software more because it really does seem like it could be very, very useful for somebody who wants to track and record their builds and and make notes and annotations and keep track of where they were where they are on any particular build. So I don't remember who who it was that recommended that. So if you're listening, please reach out because I'd like to talk to you more about the software or the app and how you use it. In addition to my the other thing in my uh that's up in my modeling sphere is I've started tearing my hobby room apart. I've come to the conclusion that its current configuration not only does not promote modeling, I think it actually discourages I managed to build a hobby room that actively discourages modeling.

Mike 4:06

And so is it the the clutter issue?

Kentucky Dave 4:08

That's that's part of it that's bumming you out when you go down there. That's a big part of it, is the clutter issue, but also the layout and a number of things that are all related. But I finally, after sitting and and ruminating for quite some time, I finally figured out, yeah, I need to bite the bullet and start a major renovationslash redo. But of course, once you start that, it has cascading effects. Okay, well, I need to do this, but that means I need to do this first, and therefore I need to do that before I do that. And so it's it it it uh I think you call that scope creep.

Mike 4:53

Well, it's no, I don't know if that's scope creep because you're doing it anyway. Right. It's it's a situation when you get into something like that. It's kind of like organizing your garage. Yes. There's there's this hopefully brief time at the front end that once you start cutting into it, it gets worse before it gets better.

Kentucky Dave 5:14

Yep, that's exactly that's exactly what I've been experiencing.

Mike 5:18

So good luck navigating that. And hopefully I'll be inspired to finally once the new school year starts, and I got a little more room down here that maybe I can start pushing mine in the direction I really want it to go because I've been in this house a long time and come on. It's it's time for Mike to get something Mike wants in this house, I think.

Kentucky Dave 5:38

There you go. That sounds good. So, what's up in your model sphere?

AMPS Finds And Better 3D Tracks

Mike 5:42

A couple things. One is real quick, and all our amps conversations. We had some segments from AMPS and we touched on it briefly with uh Brandon, and we've we've talked about it a little bit, but I was remembered after cleaning business cards out of my wallet over the past weekend that uh I forgot one. CRS Tankworks. Yes. The proprietor is Cody Wearsma. Uh-huh. They're making 3D printed tracks. And I'm sure people are thinking, yeah, or so are 50 other people. Um he's actually do they're actually doing some LiDAR kind of 3D scanning stuff on their links to to maintain scale fidelity, and they're real fun to talk to. Him and his friends were at their table. And I did buy, well, they gave me some sample jerrycans, which weren't too bad. And then uh I bought their uh Italian M1340 tracks.

Kentucky Dave 6:34

I love the M1340.

Mike 6:37

So that's cool. They're they're they're nice, nice set of tracks, and they've got the sprockets with them, and they've got an adapter for the sprocket so it'll fit either the Tamiya or the Attillary kit, because they're not exactly the same. Exactly. The way to go together. Um CRS Tankworks, it's CRS Tankworks on Facebook. There's no web page just yet, but I'll put the email and the Facebook link in the show notes. But another option, I can't remember. I know, I know they had probably track links for all the big German cats, and I think they had some Sherman tracks maybe. This is all going on memory, so so don't quote me, folks. You're gonna have to go look yourself, but I'll I'll give you the information to uh to do that. All right.

Dragon Models Drama And Zimi Twist

Mike 7:19

In addition to that, man, I've just been following this dragon DML drama.

Kentucky Dave 7:27

I was actually gonna mention that because it were it actually got brought to our attention due to our our friend Stephen Lee.

Mike 7:36

Well, no, I've been talking to Stu Cox, our club president.

Kentucky Dave 7:39

Oh, okay.

Mike 7:41

Or commenting on Facebook to his posts. You know, the the the the first announcement came out, and God, just watching people jump to conclusions, and I was like, eh, this thing is really, really vague. Yeah, I'm not sure what they're they're saying, but it it it kind of sounded to me like they were just gonna start farming out work and doing contract 3D development. And then a little bit later, uh, on Scalemates, a dragon kit was re-released under the name Drammy, D-R-A-M Small Eye. Small eye. And I at first my and it still kind of had a little dragon symbolism, red, you know, a little dragon. Right. And I'm like, is that just a a new abbreviation of some other incarnation of dragon models or dragon miniatures or or whatever? So it looked like, you know, maybe they were gonna rebrand their stuff. And and then Stu Cox had posted that original thing that that dragon had announced, the vague one. And I'd made a comment about this Drammy thing, and thought that was just at the time, you know, at the time, like it's months ago, it wasn't. It was like two or three days ago, right?

Kentucky Dave 8:52

Yeah. Tell me about it, brother.

Mike 8:54

I thought it was just them rebranding their plastic side into something else for whatever reason.

Kentucky Dave 9:00

Right.

Mike 9:01

Gosh, and and I talked to somebody else. It might have been Stephen Lee earlier or later last week, before the stuff he sent us today.

Kentucky Dave 9:10

Yeah.

Mike 9:10

That I think he had met the original proprietor of Dragon. He used to work in a hobby shop. Right. I I think it was in Munster, Indiana, or there and nearabouts, where Three Floyds is. We've had that conversation with him before a long time ago. But that's neither here nor there. The point was he was had his eye on it too. And he was thinking, oh, maybe, you know, he's retiring and they're divvying up the business so the carry-ons can keep this in various components of maybe multiple ongoing concerns instead of one, something like that. Right. Who knows, right? In the meanwhile, all the Facebook's blowing up. Oh, this is the end of injection mold of plastic models, throwing in sales STL files, oh, the chicken little sky's fallen, all that. Which, by the way, completely disregarding the fact that Dragon really hasn't had a real, honest to God, grassroots from the scratch kit release and flipping forever. Yeah. Right? They're basically were didn't do anything for a number of years, and then they started re-releasing some of their stuff, but really nothing new. So they had gone from the forefront to uh kind of an us two kind of position in the market. Anyway, I guess today or yesterday, well, no, maybe back up. Stu Cox sent me a picture from the website, I can't remember where it was from, but the Shizuoka hobby show's going on. Right. And Dragon Models has a table there. I'm like, okay, well now this really makes no sense. Because it was all Dragon Models branded, everything on the table. Right. And you can see old kits with 3D printed resin stuff on them, and you know, you're like, okay, and that kind of jives is what they were saying in this first vaguely worded announcement. But then I guess today or late yesterday they came out and said that uh Zimi models was now the the owner of some of I don't know how much of it, but uh at least a portion of their injection mold tooling.

Kentucky Dave 11:07

Yeah.

Mike 11:07

So now we understand Drami. It's Dragon and Zimme slammed together. Right. So it looks like they're gonna carry on with the the plastic stuff, maybe. And I guess still my best guess on Dragon proper is a talent farm for for other model companies, maybe.

Kentucky Dave 11:25

Who knows? The only thing that was amazing to me was people jumped to concl do dove to conclusions on so little evidence. I mean, some of those people could have qualified for the Olympic triple jump. Um you know, it's like nobody wants to wait and see what's gonna happen. Yeah, everybody wants to try and guess. And yeah, I mean, it's fun to talk amongst ourselves, but I mean, some people just they they go so far so quick, it's like, no, whoa, whoa, wait. Let's see what happens. Okay, you could be right, your guess could be right, my guess could be right, but we don't know. We don't let's just see what happens.

Mike 12:10

So I've, you know, even me kind of tapping my own brakes and just say, eh, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. But even my speculation is who knows? That's what it is, it's speculation. I'm barking out my posterior with with with my opinions about what this might be, but uh right. But again, it's a forest and trees situation because so many things have sprung up in dragons essentially absence in the marketplace.

Kentucky Dave 12:36

Yeah.

Mike 12:37

For all intents and purposes, uh, for the last number of years that I I don't know, I'm not sure it matters. And then Stephen Lee from Sprue Pie with Frets uh sent us a message today with a really interesting point. And I hope there's going to be a piece on his blog uh write up about his thoughts on it. But uh the essence is that while DML was scaled back for whatever reason, a lot of their talent went on to spawn a lot of these other companies that are out there now or or were hired into these companies after other people started them. Dragon was kind of the first real major breakout, you know, there in the late 80s, early 90s after a long drought of, you know, it was it was all monogram, revell, hell or airfix, Tamiya, and Italary, and that was pretty much it for forever, right? And in that sense, he said, you know, we may owe them a debt of gratitude to some extent about uh the the talent pool they brought into the the market and the leveraging of Chinese manufacturing, merged with some Western marketing and uh just created a a really big machine. And I don't know if if Zimi's gonna be a success or not. I know they're some of their kits they're probably getting from Dragon are better than the first Zimi kit I ever bought, which is that quad that quad bofers, which isn't bad, it just you know is a little underwhelming once you got into it, but we'll see where it goes, man. That's about the longest model sphere we've ever had, but uh it's it's timely.

Kentucky Dave 14:11

Yeah. Well, and it will be interesting to see where it goes. I mean, dragon had a huge impact in the day, they did, and if this new incarnation, let's call it, it's possible that it's just no big deal, and it's possible that it's a second birth for for dragon, and so who knows? I'm willing to wait and see.

Mike 14:36

Me too. And uh more kits, me buying more kits is probably not a good thing, but more kits into the marketplace is not necessarily.

Kentucky Dave 14:45

Never, never bad, or almost never bad. Oh, all right, enough enough of that.

Health Scare And A Dry Episode

Kentucky Dave 14:51

So it's modeling fluid time, and if you'll allow me, I'm gonna go first.

Mike 14:57

Okay.

Kentucky Dave 14:58

My modeling fluid tonight is orange juice. Orange juice, baba baba boom. It's good for you, kid. Okay, see, you got that joke. Nobody under 50 got that joke, but that one was for us.

Mike 15:14

I can't believe I'm laughing. I'm ashamed of myself.

Kentucky Dave 15:19

There's a story behind this, folks, and uh I'll I'll give you a little peep behind the curtain. Uh I was rushed to the emergency room this past Saturday, unresponsive. Right now, they're testing me for a whole bunch of stuff. We may think that it was a re a reaction to medication that I've actually taken for quite a number of years. But the one upshot of it is, is while all this is going on, modeling fluid is off limits to me while I work this situation out. So my modeling fluid tonight is orange juice, which isn't bad. It's good for you.

Mike 16:08

I'm glad you're upright. You and me both, buddy. Back in the saddle for a while, at least.

Kentucky Dave 16:14

Yep. Well, see, I can live vicariously through you for for however long I I have to go through this.

Mike 16:23

You're gonna be sorely disappointed. Oh gosh. You might pick somebody else. Uh-oh.

Kentucky Dave 16:30

I might have to start calling Evan.

Mike 16:32

You may have to call Evan. He's a way more prolific modeler than me.

Kentucky Dave 16:36

All right, what do you got?

Mike 16:38

Uh born at the forks of two rivers, Fraser and Thompson, North American whiskey.

Kentucky Dave 16:45

Hmm. So it's not a bourbon, it's a it's a whiskey.

Mike 16:49

It's not a bourbon whiskey.

Kentucky Dave 16:50

Okay.

Mike 16:51

It's a blend of Canadian whiskey and Kentucky bourbon.

Kentucky Dave 16:55

All right. Well, that that would be appropriate for for HeritageCon.

Mike 16:59

Maybe. Yeah. Let me get through it. It might start an international incident.

unknown 17:04

Okay.

Mike 17:05

But we'll see.

Kentucky Dave 17:06

Okay. We'll we'll we'll we'll see where we are at the end. I can probably assure you that my orange juice is gonna be quite satisfying.

Mike 17:15

Probably will. Nothing like a good glass of orange juice sometimes.

Kentucky Dave 17:18

That's right.

Mike 17:19

Just don't just don't drink too much of it, man. You might get some ulcers in your mouth or something.

Kentucky Dave 17:24

There you go.

Listener Mail Tips And Travel Talk

Mike 17:26

Well, man, the listener mail is tsunami. Good. That's good. Which which is good. That's what we want. We do. And I think uh we ought to get into it, or it's gonna take a long time. It's gonna take a long time anyway. You got it. Quite a few repeats, but they've brought back some some new stuff and some updates into their situations. Giannis Grammatikos, our Greek friend living in the United Kingdom, living in London. His current project is an Air Fix 48 scale BF 109E, and he's trying to go full water-based acrylics on it after getting his airbrush competency on Tamiya, Gunzi Mr. Color, et cetera, with leveling thinner. Right. He's trying to get the same level of uh performance out of his water-based stuff.

Kentucky Dave 18:12

And I'll be interested to see if he can do that, because that's always been the one of the things that has prevented me from going that direction.

Mike 18:21

Well, I think he'll get there. He's he's been appreciating re-listens on some of our Doctor Strange brush episodes. Good idea. He likes Dr. John's approach. You can tell he's got a background in science. He talks numbers, ratios, and he's tried things out himself. Well, that's all true. You know, I think once you get really competent with an airbrush and paint mixing and stuff, it kind of gets to be a lot more intuitive, and the ratios and numbers are kind of, again, intuitive. Yeah. Touch touchy feely, you know, you know what I mean?

Kentucky Dave 18:52

You get you get a feel for it.

Mike 18:53

You get a feel for it. But I think for for folks trying out new paints and stuff, and you know, John is certainly competent with an airbrush, and if he still does it that way, because he's got a scientific mind, more power to him. But we we are great to hear that Giannis is getting value out of that. And I'll give you a little preview. I don't know exactly when it's gonna be because Dr. Strange brush has been indisposed on and off for the last several months, but I talked to him last week, in fact, because I had sent him a line of paints that somebody had posted on the dojo, a new line of water-based acrylic metallics. A new line of paint?

Kentucky Dave 19:31

Well, well, that hasn't happened in a long, long time.

Mike 19:35

It's been at least an hour. Yeah, exactly. Anyway, jokes aside, who was it? It was it was Chris Wallace, model airplane maker. We had him on because he he had done the the F-104 using the Vallejo metal stuff, yeah, and was happy with that. And this user was thinking this stuff was better than that. So I sent the the paints to to John, Dr. John, Dr. Strange Brush. And once he is ready to commit to coming back on, we're gonna be talking about that particular paint and then one other kind of general line acrylic paints that's uh fairly new at this point. So there's gonna be more content coming for for at least a couple of paint lines.

Kentucky Dave 20:20

So I'm looking forward to having John back on.

Mike 20:23

Uh but again, I'm I'm I'm not sure when it will be. And once once I know, you folks will know because it'll be in the 12-minute monosphere of the month that's gonna happen.

Kentucky Dave 20:32

Yep.

Mike 20:33

Uh up next, Frank the Tank Blanton out of Richmond, Virginia. Just really appreciative of all the the feedback he got on his question regarding CA alternatives.

Kentucky Dave 20:46

Yep.

Mike 20:47

And he's made some posts to the Dojo, three in fact, about some of these. I think he's honed in on one. There was oh gosh, what's that company in the UK that sells all the adhesives and stuff? Oh, uh it's uh deluxe materials. Deluxe materials. There's a deluxe materials PE glue, he's kind of honed in on, and hopefully he'll hear more about that, but it seems to be serving him well. But uh Frank, it was a pleasure to host that uh question. And uh, you know, I I won't say I'm surprised, but I was really pleased we got a bunch of responses back, and I'm glad it's helping you out, and you're you're not having your allergic reaction to the stuff anymore.

Kentucky Dave 21:24

And it was good to see Frank, however, briefly at the Amps Nationals. Unfortunately, we didn't get to spend more time with him, but it was at least nice to see him. And yeah, I that whole discussion really drove home the point for me, the knowledge base that we have in our community, so that when questions like that come up, you're not just gonna get one or two guys chiming in, you're gonna get a whole bunch of info. And so, people out there, if you have questions. Feel free to tap into the knowledge base. It it really, I mean, you'll you'll be surprised what might spark a really big discussion.

Mike 22:10

Up next from Folos Greece, our other Greek listener. I'm not saying our other. We may maybe we got more than I think because we got one in the UK, and this one's actually in Folos, Greece. And my apologies, I must have butchered his name last time. We're just calling Panos at this point. Gotcha. Per his suggestion. There you go. Which is fine, but Panos, send me your name and last name in the Greek alphabet to me at some point, and uh let me play with it again. Because I I really try to learn, and I I thought I had it figured out, and then I I gaffed it when I was trying to actually say it on air. So Panos was talking about my work for the Artemis II project and our payload we had on Artemis II. And he wants to know if we could travel to the moon and land on it and come back to Earth again, and we could take any scale model with you. What would it be? Scale size, shape, genre. What would it be? And what would you do with it? Would you leave it there? Would you take it back? Would you release it into space? I would love to hear your thoughts on that.

Kentucky Dave 23:15

God, that's a great that that that's kind of an outside the box, off the wall question, but that's a great question. Yeah. So I want to hear your answer first. I I've got one or two that I think.

Mike 23:29

Oh, I couple answers. Okay. Whenever it happens, Artemis III, four, five, whenever they actually stay on the moon for a little while. Right. I think it would be cool to build uh the Apollo lander. And and leave it there. Yeah, the limb and leave it there.

Kentucky Dave 23:49

That that was my first thought. Exact. We've known each other too long, man, because that was exactly my thought.

Mike 23:58

My other one that would actually I've actually thought about even before we were even knowing we were going to be doing something on Artemis. I thought it'd be cool to have like a, I don't know, a 35th or 32nd skill astronaut.

Kentucky Dave 24:11

Mm-hmm.

Mike 24:12

And then like hide him inside one of our payloads and shoot him up there and get him back later and have that have that know it's been it's been uh it's been on orbit for X number of months at the ISS.

Kentucky Dave 24:24

Yeah.

Mike 24:24

That'd be cool.

Kentucky Dave 24:25

Probably get me fired, but it probably would, yeah. Because the the at this point they they still gauge weight in grams at this point. The other one that I would think would that that came to mind after the lamb, the other one that came to mind would be one of the space 1999 ships. Yeah. You know, like the Eagle or one of the one of the space 1999 ships. Just because you associate that with the moon so much, uh, that would be kind of cool. It'd be kind of an Easter egg.

Mike 25:00

It could, or you could uh be like a an AMT uh Enterprise from the TV series.

Kentucky Dave 25:07

There you go.

Mike 25:08

And then spacewalk it and then just put it out there and take your finger and just shove it off. Shove it out and let it let it go, man. It'll be up there forever.

Kentucky Dave 25:17

Yep. That's a great question. I'm like I said, out of the box, but Panos, great question, man.

Mike 25:24

Well, Martin Pietta's written us again, Dave. All right. Quite a few topics. We're going to pare this down a little bit. On the topic of your stash and selling stuff, either duplicates or things you're not going to build. He said he started doing that initially just to sell off a couple, but man, once he started pulling stuff down, it was then it was more and more and more. And uh he thinks it's a good thing.

Kentucky Dave 25:49

Well, and and I I think that some people uh start doing that just to pare down the stash. And I think that they, you know how we derive enjoyment from acquiring models. I think some people find that they derive enjoyment from actually selling out of the stash as well. Either getting a kit to somebody who they know wants to build it, or just the sheer free market exchange. And, you know, there's a certain enjoyment that comes from putting something out there, finding somebody who wants it, and selling it to them, clearing out a spot in your in your stash, which you'll hopefully later fill using the money that you got from selling out of the stash. I can see how that becomes enjoyable in and of itself.

Mike 26:48

I haven't got there yet, but uh who knows? The the stash gets too big, I'll probably do it again. I know it makes no sense, does it?

Kentucky Dave 26:57

I know, but that's okay. It doesn't have to make sense.

Mike 27:00

Well, James Mirando has written in and he appreciated our comments about uh the wine country model expo.

Kentucky Dave 27:07

Mm-hmm.

Mike 27:08

He wants to remind us we talked about getting to Winter Blitz uh via Southwest.

Kentucky Dave 27:14

Yep.

Mike 27:14

Cheap, quick flight. Oh, he says that if we're coming from Louisville, Southwest can get it to Santa Rosa, which is about 20 minutes from Petaluma where the expo is held through a single connection to a place like Vegas or Denver. So uh it's not quite as far flung as we might see. It is not. You know, there's still, man, if we're for Holland stuff to enter.

Kentucky Dave 27:34

To be honest with you, if if I'm going to the wine country, I think the wife, the model wife would insist on going to. I think so. She may not want to go to the model contest, but she's she's gonna darn well insist on going to the wine country.

Mike 27:51

Probably is. I think uh she'd probably have a companion to go with her too if it's coming that way. And he wants to confirm that the modeling fluid at the post-event social was up to their wine country standards.

Kentucky Dave 28:03

Well, I had no doubt.

Mike 28:05

Well, James, you're you're welcome for all the coverage, and it was a pleasure, and we appreciate the folks who were there writing back because uh nothing bad was said about it. Let's just say it that way. Up next, Rich Rich Capp from Clovis, California. He's president of IPMS Fresno.

Kentucky Dave 28:22

Okay.

Mike 28:23

Well, if he knows Dr. Paul, that's where he is, isn't it? Yep. Fresno? I think so. A few men a few episodes back, Dave, you mentioned replacement engines from ASK or Ask.

SPEAKER_04 28:35

Yep.

Mike 28:35

For the 72nd Scale Tomia Zeros.

SPEAKER_04 28:38

Yep.

Mike 28:38

And he's got the bug, and he wants to know if you purchased them. I purchased four of them. Uh, does it seem to fit the model?

Kentucky Dave 28:48

Yes, as I did a dry fit. I have not used it yet, but I did a dry fit, and it definitely seems to fit the model.

Mike 28:57

And how does it look?

Kentucky Dave 28:59

Gorgeous. I mean, let's put it this way. The mo I've got one in primer just because I wanted to prime it, because sometimes that helps you see the details, the the just the regular 3D print, you you can't tell. And it's so good that it it inspired me to want to do another to me a zero and do it with the cowling completely off to expose this beautiful engine. I mean, it's gorgeous.

Mike 29:32

And finally, how was your purchase experience?

Kentucky Dave 29:36

Very, very good. I bought directly from ArtScale in Ukraine, and this was actually at the height of the tariff mess when nobody knew exactly how all that worked, but they actually did all the work at their end. I got the price, shipping, everything. This is it. And it should and you know what's amazing to me is how, and this applies not just to art scale in Ukraine, but it's amazing to me how quickly stuff from the from Europe usually ends up here. I mean, my Hannitz orders, there have been some that didn't take four and five days. I ordered from AK and had it in less than a week. That art scale order, it was maybe seven or eight or nine days. Modern logistics is a modern miracle. And man, I've I've just been nothing but amazed at how quickly stuff ships. Back to the his question. I ordered direct from art scale and had absolutely no problem with them.

Mike 30:59

Well, there you go. So uh if you got the itch, scratch it, man. Sounds like when you need to scratch. Yep. Well, we've got an email from Evan's friend Michael Reese, who we met in Madison. Yeah, Madison.

Kentucky Dave 31:12

Yes, that was in Madison.

Mike 31:13

Uh, from Germany. He's got a YouTube channel channel, Hamelcar Barkas. Yep. A modeling show there. And he is written in to talk about his repeat attendance to the Moshon show in Hungary. You know, we need to connect him with uh Adam Coleman, because Adam goes over there every year. Yep, we do. That'd be fun because uh they're both good guys. Yep. Anyway, just he can't say much enough about this show really. He knows not everyone can immediately do so, but he can urge any modeler to experience this show in person at some point in their modeling life.

Kentucky Dave 31:49

And uh And everything I've heard about that makes me want to get over there and go.

Mike 31:55

And it must have a big draw because he met some folks from modelers from South Africa in person there. Yeah. I can believe that. Can't imagine can't imagine or don't think he's ever met anyone in person from South Africa before. And he says he's been to five shows this year, two in Germany, two in France, and in Moshon and Hungary. May calm down for the rest of the year. But he's considering HeritageCon because we quote unquote keep yapping about it.

Kentucky Dave 32:23

Well, it only gets better and better, man.

Mike 32:26

It does. And then finally, after making sure we all knew that this was a show that everybody should try to get to, which I really appreciate because of all the foreign ones, this is the one that I'm kind of really interested in for the most part in a hierarchy.

Kentucky Dave 32:42

For for a number of reasons. Yes.

Mike 32:44

I mentioned uh Berliner Visa modeling fluid last episode. Michael's a Bavarian, so he didn't take too kindly to that. So he's gonna he's gonna stick to his hefe visance.

Kentucky Dave 32:56

Good for him. Good for I agree with him.

Mike 32:59

Bavaria for the win. This is kind of an update primarily for us, uh, but he's he's got one tidbit in here that uh other folks may want to hear about. But uh Mark Doramus from Seattle, uh Jim's country, uh, written us in. And folks may remember we talked about on the show, he had a house fire some time ago. It's pushing a year, more maybe more at this point.

Kentucky Dave 33:23

Yeah.

Mike 33:24

He'll have to remind me. But they're finally back in the house, functioning kitchen, modern bathroom, all the whistles and bells. Seems all his ideal locations for modeling space got assigned different duties. Oh man. Oh man, yeah, no kidding. But he's got a dedicated space now. He sent some pictures. Uh he's got some finished work to do. But hey, man, take what you can get for now and then start lobbying later. Exactly. For better space. You deserve it.

Kentucky Dave 33:50

Yeah. And everybody check your insurance policies. That's right.

Mike 33:54

He liked her episode uh with all the the sound bites in it, especially the interview with Aaron Skinner. He didn't realize that round two was actually releasing new stuff.

Kentucky Dave 34:05

Yep.

Mike 34:05

They are. And just thought they were curating old AMT and MPC kits.

Kentucky Dave 34:10

That's how most people know them, but no, they are they are making new kits every year.

Mike 34:16

Well, I want to say, and I could be wrong, somebody will need to correct me, but it was in fact, I think it was the episode of On the Bench that we were on here fairly recently. Julian was talking about how so many of the car kits on the market are really, really old and not so great kits. Yep. And unfortunately, a lot of those have AMT and MPC badges on them. Yep. Just because they're, I mean, they're old American kits from the from the 60s primarily. Yep. I think AMT or round two, I don't know under what badge they've done it, but has started putting out some new, has started putting out some some new automotive kits.

Kentucky Dave 34:57

Yes, I believe that is correct. In fact, we have to we'll have to talk to Aaron or somebody at at round two and actually get the information on what what new car kits they've been releasing.

Mike 35:12

And then you gotta wonder if if they've done the math to see if any of those older AMT and MPC kits are worth revisiting for a retool.

Kentucky Dave 35:21

Yeah.

Mike 35:21

I don't know. I mean, if they're still selling the old ones, you would think, but you'd also think if they're selling the old ones, there's no reason to invest the capital into redoing them. I don't know. I'm not in the model kit business. Uh, also from uh Northern California, Bruce Bingston's written in again. He's in San San Francisco, and I'd mentioned in episode 162 about my acquisitions of the art the UV Feist artwork. Right. Bruce actually met him in in 1972, May 1972, in a squadron shop, the one in Concord, California.

Kentucky Dave 35:58

Yep.

Mike 35:59

Long time ago. The shop's long gone. A lot of those shops didn't weren't around that long. Yep. A couple of them were though.

Kentucky Dave 36:06

Yes, they were.

Mike 36:07

He had one of the old white cover squadron in action books, the Schutzenpanzer in action book, which is the half-tracks. Right. The armored half-tracks, 251, 250. And Uve signed his copy for him with an annotation. So that's kind of cool. That's nice. That's a keep saying. And then somewhere he's got a sketch that Uve drew for him that was a section through a Panzer Three or Four Road Wheel. And he says he can't find it right now, but when he does, he'll send it to us. So I want to see it. He's also sent a YouTube link to uh a YouTube tribute to Uve Feist and some of his work. And I'll have to put that, I'll have to I'll have to go watch the video and then I'll put that in the show notes as well. Man, we got a lot of mail, Dave.

Kentucky Dave 36:53

I know. That's good.

Mike 36:55

We're getting close, folks, unless Dave's got a bunch.

Kentucky Dave 36:58

No, I've got a little. I've got a few.

Mike 37:01

Jason Campbell from uh the Smoky Mountain crew down in Knoxville wanted us to mention their show's coming up again. Ah, man. I know. I know. You know what makes life go too fast? Yes. It's having a bunch of perennial events on your calendar. Yes. Man, that makes life go fast because it's like every stinking two or three months or something you're doing again. It just seems like the last time it was there was just two weeks ago.

Kentucky Dave 37:27

In two weeks, we'll be at Wonderfest, which is basically halfway through the year. Oh, shut up, man.

Mike 37:37

Tell me about it. 43rd annual Smoky Mountain Model Con presented by the Knoxville Scale Modelers Association. Speaking of Wonderfest, this is on the same weekend, Saturday, May 30th, 2026. So, folks, if you're down there, it's at the Knoxville Catholic High School in Gymnasium. It's a real, it's a real nice gymnasium. He sent me the flyer, and I will pull a better copy out of, because I printed mine, out of the email and get that posted to the dojo, unless Jason, you want to go ahead and do that before I can get to it, that'd be great. I got a couple weeks to get that figured out, folks. If you want to go to that show, Smokey Mountain ModelCon 43rd Annual. This one comes to us from uh well, we've got a username, The Rox Rocket Guy. And it came through our uh feedback link on the website show notes. Thank you for using that. He says he's gonna disagree with some of the advice we gave to a model returning to the hobby after a long break because he went through the same process not too long ago. Well, good. I want to hear it. Well, and he makes some good points, and we'll get to the the biases we might have as we go through this. He completely agrees that an Edward kit is going to fit together extremely well compared to something from AirFix, but the cost of that kit's gonna be four to five times that of the AirFix kit. That's true. That cost can factor in or can cause a a new model or paralysis and moving forward. They're not gonna mess it up because they spent a bunch of money on it. That assumes that they're interested in aircraft modeling. Um I completely agree with that. And I guess we went to the top of the heap because we've been at this for a while. And I guess it would make more sense if somebody coming new into this, a lot of those people are going to be at the the front end of everything. And that would it that would include the economic side, the cost side of this.

Kentucky Dave 39:24

Well, and and his point is well taken. It is if if you get a modern air fix kit, now I'm not talking out of their classic line or any of that, because that's just a recipe for heartbreak. But if you buy one of their modern kits, say their P51 kit, their P40 kit, their Spitfire Mark 19 kit, any of those. Now, the engineering is not as nice. Maybe the the engraved detail is not as nice, but when you're talking about $15, if you mess it up, you throw it out and go get another one. And that might really, for a modeler either brand new or returning to the hobby, that might be a significant build incentive for them. Because I can see how if you get one of those really nice Edward kits, and you how how paralysis can can hit you, because Lord knows I have that problem, and I don't even, I mean, it's I'm not brand new back to the hobby.

Mike 40:35

In addition to that, he says another new tool we mentioned. Well, he's he thought most of them were spot on, but uh he thinks the airbrush is actually an exception to the the must-haves for for a newbie. Okay. And he he makes the point that using an airbrush is its own learning curve and its own set of frustrations. It does. And he used he would usually recommend that a new modeler get a couple of builds in under their belt for tackling the airbrush. Uh, he says for 70 second scale airbr aircraft, a lot of this, a lot of models you can get a a decent result with a brush for larger scale stuff and even 70 second scale stuff. Like to me, a rattle cans are just fine for a new modeler. Mm-hmm for for you know broad coverage kind of things.

Kentucky Dave 41:18

Right. If you're if you're painting an aircraft like the Edward Hellcat, the F6F, overall glossy blue.

Mike 41:26

Yeah.

Kentucky Dave 41:27

You could do that with a rattle can quite easily.

Mike 41:30

And he goes as far as say, even with car bodies, well, a lot of the lot of the stuff other than the car body can be hand painted, you know, the interior and the engine and the stuff underneath. But the car body can even be painted with uh Rust Oleum rattle cans. Because back in the day, a lot of the rattle cans stuff could be too hot for a lot of plastic modeling, but that's not not true anymore. And I, you know, I've been using rattle cans for God, I when I was doing railroad cars, I was using Rust Oleum grill black all the time. Sure. It just worked. It does. So he's right. And I guess it his point is well taken for the the learning curve for for airbrushes. And I guess if if economically it was feasible for you to to to chase the the kit build and the airbrushing in tandem, the reason I would would make the recommendation I did was that it's it's kind of the same reason. It's it's that learning curve. The sooner you can get into it, the sooner you're gonna get good at it.

Kentucky Dave 42:28

That that is my thought exactly.

Mike 42:31

It could be for for some people, for maybe a significant swath of of new modelers, it could it could pose uh just another challenge that would uh would hold them back. So points well taken. Thank you for the for the email. And I I don't disagree with any of those.

Kentucky Dave 42:46

That's a really good point. When when Mike and I express an opinion, it is just that an opinion. And there is nothing more that we like than having somebody somebody come back and say, well, wait a minute, you said this, but how about this, or did you think about that, or whatever? Because it causes us to reflect again on what we said originally and possibly change it, and possibly not, or at least expand on it.

Mike 43:19

And it's always good to have another point of view. It is, and that is the end of the email side of things, Dave. All right.

DMs Corrections And Wiring Tricks

Kentucky Dave 43:28

Well, we do have some DMs. I've kind of whittled them down to a few that I want to mention. But first, by the time you all are listening to this, it is quite possible that SpaceX's Starship 12 will have launched and recovered. The reason I bring this up is of course, our friend from down under, Dave Goldfinch, huge uh real space fan, and he and I, every time a Starship launch is going to occur. He and I start exchanging DMs, anticipating the date, and this has been no exception. And if you haven't followed it, Dave is building, speaking of Artemis, Dave is building one of the kits out there. In fact, I think he might have both kits now of the Artemis that he is building because he's into real space. Next is our friend from England, Neil Gilborne. Yeah. And he, and I'll will, I'll send the link to Mike to put in the show notes. He sent a link to a memorial that's being built out in a field in somewhere in England, I'm not exactly sure where, or I don't remember off the top of my head, where the they have built a full-size Lancaster replica on a pole made entirely out of wood. And it is really, really beautiful. It's artistic, it's not a actual visual representation of a Lancaster made out of wood. It is the shape and everything of the Lancaster, but the wood is visible. And it's just really, really a nice memorial. And I've anytime, anytime there are memorials to the folks who participated and provided us the opportunities we have, I I absolutely love to see that. Listener Scott Daniel. Scott was scheduled to be in town in Louisville for a work-related thing before he had to go to Cincinnati. He's the modeler you may remember who travels over to Cincinnati quite often. Yeah. And he was actually in Louisville for a day or like a day and a half for work stuff before he went to Cincinnati. We had tried to arrange to get together, lunch downtown, visit the hobby shop. Unfortunately, because of his work schedule, it didn't work out. But I want to I want to mention it as a reminder to folks. If you're in town, if you're in Louisville, don't hesitate to reach out and DM me, because there's nothing better I love than meeting listeners in person. So, you know, if you're in town for a conference or work thing or something out, DM me. We'll see if we can get together, see if I can run you out to Scale Reproductions, our local hobby shop. And unfortunately, Scott and I weren't able to this time, but I'm hoping that in the future we'll be able to. I talked about people correcting us or giving us more information or a different point of view. Listener Ron Smith reached out because I had mentioned that cyanoacrylates, superglues, were developed as wound care treatments in Vietnam. And it turns out that's partially true. Actually, cyanoacrylate goes back to World War II, where it was developed apparently for gunsite reticles. And that's where it was originally developed. And it was only in Vietnam where the medical community started utilizing it as a liquid suture, but it actually wasn't developed originally as a liquid suture. So I appreciate Ron reaching out and giving me that information. Listen, I I love to learn new stuff. So I love somebody to reach out and say, well, you said this, but actually the story is that. In fact, I'm going to appreciate it even more. The next DM we've already covered, Stephen Lee reaching out, talking about the Trammy thing. So I'm interested to see where that develops. But Stephen was very nice to reach out to us to bring that to our attention. And then, as you mentioned today, give us even more information about that whole thing. So looking forward to seeing where that goes and always good to hear from Stephen. Finally, listener Jared Strawn, S-T-R-A-W-N, reached out to remind people that you should save your electronics and your electronics and your wires because they can be very useful for providing very, very ultra-thin wires. The reason this comes up for him is he's building the Edward 48-scale aircode DH2, which if you've ever looked at one, it looks like a spider sneezed a spider web onto a World War II biplane or World War I biplane. So he mentioned that started to do this aircraft, and luckily he had gotten in the habit of saving electronic wire and stripping it out and stripping the wire out of it. And so he had plenty of this ultra-thin wire to do his rigging. And I think that's a great little tip that most people don't think about, especially in this day and age. You know, you have charging cords that die, or we've got so much electronic stuff now. And I'll tell you one that you wouldn't think of. You know what procs cards are? Those little electronic ID cards. Yeah. When those things die, or when you have one that's no longer useful, go ahead and split it open.

Mike 50:20

There's an RFID tag in there.

Kentucky Dave 50:22

And and some of the finest copper wire you will ever see in your life. Human hair thin. And I've got actually got a couple of those. And I mean, it's amazing. You can use that for plumbing on 72nd scale aircraft, landing gear. There's all sorts of uses for it. So yeah, he he's absolutely right. And it's a good reminder to all of us.

Mike 50:52

Is that it, man? That's it, man. Well, folks, this is a long one, but there were some really, really good ones in there, and we really appreciate it every time we get an email or a DM. If you want to email the show, and we encourage you to do so, you can send us an email at plasticmodelmojo at gmail.com. Another avenue for that, there's a link in the show notes for feedback that you can send a message to us that way. And of course, you can also use the Facebook Messenger Systems direct message. And Dave usually handles those, and I handle the other emails. But folks, went long with this one tonight, but there's some interesting stuff in there, and we really appreciate it.

Kentucky Dave 51:29

Yep, we do. We really enjoy all of this.

Why We Build Models At All

Mike 51:58

Some of the other shows have touched on in the last three, four months, but we haven't, at least not as overtly as we're going to do it this time. And the first one, Dave, I think the uh I think the posse had this one. Mm-hmm. Why do we do this, man? Why do we why do we build these models?

Kentucky Dave 52:17

For me, why do I build the models? I I get, and then we emphasize this all the time, I get enjoyment out of it. I enjoy doing it. Even when you get to the frustrating parts, which happen from time to time. Overall, I just really enjoy the hobby. I enjoy building, I enjoy learning. I mean, I'm constantly learning new skills, new, new, new techniques. Also, it's an outlet for history because I have a deep interest in aeronautical and aviation history. This is a way for me to express that. And not to be undersold the social aspect of it. One of the reasons I do this hobby is so that I get to interact with some of the best people I know. I mean, all of my very almost all of my very close friends are people I've met through modeling. The people that I look forward to seeing once or twice a year at this model show or that model show are again people I've met through the hobby. I think as a as a guy, well, as a person, but particularly as a guy, you need to have a hobby. You need something to get away from life and be able to close the door and put all of the stresses of work and home and everything else on the other side of the door and relax. Now, some guys do that with golf, some guys do that with hunting, so you know, there's myriads of hobbies. This one works for me. This one I particularly enjoy. I've I've played golf. I do not enjoy that. And I don't think if I did it a lot more, I would enjoy it anymore. Whereas the more I do this hobby, the more I enjoy it. So for me, it's a combination of bringing history to life, doing something I enjoy, and giving me a connection to a bunch of other like-minded individuals, all of whom, or almost all of whom, turn out to be really, really great people. I would agree with all that.

Mike 55:02

Good. But I think the the social aspect, and we can we can get back to it in a minute after I rattle through through my reasons as why I do this. Sure. Was not a primary reason to get into the hobby at the front end.

Kentucky Dave 55:17

I would agree with that. Yeah. That was not the thought at the front end, but it turned out to be one of the reasons I continue in the hobby.

Mike 55:26

So I, you know, it's like like we hired some new person at work and they didn't know anybody in town. I'm like, well, I'm I'm I'm new here. What do I need to do to meet some people? I'm I'm gonna say, well, you need to take up modeling.

unknown 55:40

Yeah.

Kentucky Dave 55:43

That might be bad advice, particularly if it was a guy trying to meet a woman.

Mike 55:48

Well, that's different. That's different. But uh even the even the just the camaraderie side of it. I think if they were in for the long game, it would probably work out. Right. But it's not gonna happen instantaneously. You're not gonna be playing, you're not gonna be playing racquetball with some dude you just met because you got into modeling, right?

Kentucky Dave 56:07

Right. Get it get into get into UK football and UK basketball in Lexington. You're gonna make more more friends much quicker.

Mike 56:16

Oh, but back to why I do this, uh, it's a lot of the same things, man. It's ever since I was, gosh, I don't even know how young I was. I was pretty stinking young. Just I've always been a history enthusiast.

SPEAKER_04 56:34

Yep.

Mike 56:34

And and military history in particular, I don't know why. War is, I guess, categorized as the the result of human failure at some level, right? So it's it's certainly nothing to be the act of it is not really to be venerated, I guess. That's not not the point of the modeling, at least not for me. I think you know, I can go back to 1977. I guess I was in 78 I would have been 10. So I was I was nine years old. Good year. That the the two movies I saw in 77 were Star Wars and A Bridge Too Far.

Kentucky Dave 57:17

Yeah.

Mike 57:18

And my dad took me to an R-rated movie as a nine-year-old.

Kentucky Dave 57:24

But things were different back then.

Mike 57:27

The F-Bombs were the same, but yeah. But it wasn't, you know, it wasn't like a Quentin Tarantino movie.

Kentucky Dave 57:33

Right. Exactly.

Mike 57:35

And it, you know, it was oh, who wrote the book? The movie is based on Cornelius Ryan. Cornelius Ryan, he also did the longest day, right? So it's it's you know, from a historical accuracy standpoint, even though the critics called it a movie too long, uh it it follows things pretty stinking close.

Kentucky Dave 57:55

Yeah, and not only that, but it had a collection of actors who gave really, really good performances.

Mike 58:05

And a lot of them actually looked like the people they were supposed to be portraying. Yes, they did. But that's a movie thing, that's different. But anyway, I was into it then. I had every box of air fixed HO scale, 176 scale figures from I had everything, Dave, from ancient Romans and Britons all the way up to their astronauts set and everything in between. Yep. The the only ones that were lightly represented in what I had were the Napoleonics, because a lot of those sets when I was getting into it were really hard to find because they weren't in production anymore. But most of them were World War II, and I had, man, I had all that stuff. And I used to set up these epic battles on the the billiard table. We had it. My dad had a full-size billiard table from a pool hall that was going out in my hometown. They bought it and they moved it in, and we cut a piece of plywood into four two by four foot sections that I put grass on. That when I wanted to do my stuff, we could go get them and set them and cover the pool table up with these things so I wouldn't damage the felt on the pool table.

Kentucky Dave 59:14

So you and I live apparently live the same life because that's exactly what we did, except it wasn't a pool table, it was a ping-pong table. But same thing.

Mike 59:26

So you had more space than I did. Yeah. It was wider, it might have been shorter. But anyway, that's kind of the way I got into all this, and it's just this tangible, this tangible connection to history because with the internet and stuff, e visually anyway, museum access is a lot easier. You can see a lot of stuff out there from all over the world at the click of a button. But when I was a kid in the 70s and then got into quote unquote more serious modeling in the 80s, you know, there's no there was no internet. Right. You you had to make a conscious decision to go visit a museum and plan a whole trip around that because you're gonna have to drive to it.

Kentucky Dave 1:00:06

Our our early trips to Amps. Yeah, one of the the well, besides the show, one of the major reasons you and I went to Amps was that ability to go to Aberdeen and go visit the actual physical items. And, you know, that you wouldn't see anywhere else in the world or anywhere else that that you and I would have had access to.

Mike 1:00:39

True. So, so the the tangible link and in the learning and the study and the history part of it's one angle. The other side is just the the the tactile creativity part of it. Always enjoyed the problem solving and the it's my vocation, but there's an engineering aspect to it to it as well. That's just so so much fun. It's so relaxing. And even if I sit at something and stare at it for three hours and ponder it while I'm trying to go to sleep at night to get to a solution to a problem, you figure it out, and then the next day you go down there and you actually do it and it works, and it's just a a great sense of satisfaction. And then on the rare occasion I actually finish one. That's that's kind of cool too. I'm not gonna deny that I don't like finishing a model. And I don't want to overemphasize that and and use the use the journey as a cop-out that never finish one because I do like to finish them. I'm slow and I got my own way of doing it, and I enjoy it every step of the way because it it's it's it's a a very targeted avenue of escapism for me that scratches the itch of the historical component of it and the uh the actual craftsmanship part of it. That's that's why I do it. Because it and ultimately it gets it all distills down to to relaxation and escapism. It really does.

Kentucky Dave 1:02:05

Yep, I agree.

Mike 1:02:08

Anything else on that? No, that's that's that's why we do it, and we've talked a little bit about that in the past, but uh sounds good to me, man.

Kentucky Dave 1:02:15

Me too.

Work Life Balance Without Resentment

Mike 1:02:21

Well, this one's a hot topic. Work-life balance, and I think the Model Geeks had tackled this one a few episodes back. Yep. Man, you gotta make choices sometimes, Dave.

Kentucky Dave 1:02:35

Yes, yes, and unfortunately, lately for me, for a number of reasons, the hobby has had to take the backseat between situations at work, needing to get done at home what needs to get done, and then throw on top of that an unexpected health crisis. It's I feel bad that I can't get down to the bench more than I have been, because again, I get real enjoyment out of coming down here and sitting down and just losing myself in modeling for an hour or so. But sometimes work and life take over, and you know, you can moan about that and complain about it. It's not gonna change it. You just have to accept, okay, my modeling, my hobby is going to ebb and flow as life otherwise does, and I accept that as part of the bargain to get to do it when life allows it. And you don't want your family resenting it if you try and put your hobby before your household and home obligations. And obviously, your employer is not going to tolerate you putting, although you you you have a nice setup where you kind of have two blended, at least in some respects. But yeah, your your employer's not going to tolerate you saying, oh, I I didn't get that done because I was doing something in my hobby. So, you know, unlike many of us, Mr. Budzig and Mr. Usted, and all who are all retired and don't have that problem, we do, and you just have to accept it and put it in its proper place.

Mike 1:04:41

Oh man. I so your setup's like mine. We're we're in basements.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:47

Yeah.

Mike 1:04:48

And you know, we're we're in a similar place right now. You've got one that's out of the house and one that's not.

Kentucky Dave 1:04:54

Right.

Mike 1:04:54

Your other one's about to be, and my other one's about to be, but until summer's over, which I don't want to rush that through because I like summer.

Kentucky Dave 1:05:05

Right.

Mike 1:05:05

Um we're we're we're in a very similar place. And because we're in basements, we are removed from what's happening above us a lot of the times. So what I always have tried to do, and I've I've I would say try, what I've what I've succeeded at doing is if I'm down here and I've been down here for I don't know however long, hour, three, five, whatever it is, this is not a don't come interrupt me zone. Man, sometimes that would be a nice boundary to put on it, but it's not one I typically do because I'm down here removed. They're up there doing their own thing, maybe together, maybe not. They're watching a show and I don't like to watch a lot of television or or whatever. But if they need something, I'm I'm up I'm up the steps. Right. You know, and if and if I've got something like An airbrush that's full of paint, I'll I'll I'll ask, hey, give me give me five minutes to clean this up to a point where I can leave it, which is usually not painting a nozzle, right? Right. Or whatever. I don't try to make myself unavailable. Well, and that's one thing I've never done.

Kentucky Dave 1:06:17

Right. And the advantage of doing that, okay, is that when it comes to doing stuff for your hobby, your spouse doesn't resent it because you haven't done that. You've always made yourself available. And therefore, your spouse tends to be much more accepting of the hobby in general, and maybe a specific thing you want to do, take a day, an afternoon to go to a show or whatever it might be. And as I point out to my wife regularly, and she acknowledges this hobby is one where she knows exactly where I am. And if she needs me, all she has to do is come down, knock on the door to the to the hobby room, and I'll go up and you know kill that spider or move that box or whatever it is that needs to be done. And you don't want your hobby to breed resentment in your family.

Mike 1:07:29

Yeah, and I it's it's really not a hard thing to do.

Kentucky Dave 1:07:33

No, it really is not.

Mike 1:07:34

It just takes some just uh God, what would you call it? Tact. Tact. I don't know if I call it tact. Just some mindfulness about what's going on in your house. Yeah. And what's in what's important and what's not, and and what's important and what's not, it's not gonna be the same for everybody in the house.

Kentucky Dave 1:07:53

Right.

Mike 1:07:53

So that's where you gotta kind of be able be a little bit flexible, I think. But again, I'm in the basement, I'm removed, but if I'm needed, just gotta come to the top of the stairs and say, hey, can you come do this? Yeah. And I'm gonna, I'm, I'm typically typically I'm gonna do it and is that it may be a hey, give me five, ten minutes, and I'll be right up. I gotta I'm at a bad point to stop.

Kentucky Dave 1:08:15

Right.

Mike 1:08:16

Uh, but uh, you know, I'm not blowing off anybody because I'm down here surfing the internet.

Kentucky Dave 1:08:20

Exactly.

Mike 1:08:21

So, and then you we bring up the travel, you know, we we we do quite a bit together. And I don't know, it's early on when I was young, it it seemed to make the most sense to to me anyway, to try to accommodate my wife and and travel together. But at at this point in my life, it's like she's not there's nothing uh where where would we go? Madison. She doesn't want to go to Madison, Wisconsin. And not that it's a bad place, but she's got her list of, you know, she's got her punch list, and some some of her punch list is places I want to go, and some of it's not.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:02

Right.

Mike 1:09:02

And a lot of these not places, she's going with one of her good girlfriends, and they're going and doing doing stuff. And man, I don't say no to any of that. Not that I don't even want to say no to it. Right. Because because, you know, we've been to Amps, we've been, we're gonna go to the national convention. I mean, Lord willing, we're gonna go, I'm gonna show up and we're gonna go to uh Wonderfish.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:25

Yeah.

Mike 1:09:25

And then we're already planning out in advance for for the Eagle Quest show down in Chattanooga with Chattanooga ModelCon next year, next April. So uh, you know, I'm driving that steak in the ground now. So that means other stuff around that, I'm gonna have to be flexible with that and I'm gonna have to greet be agreeable when I need to be agreeable. So it's all give and take. And you know, that's you know, we've talked a lot about spousal stuff. Work work's work. I mean, if you're employed, right? You're obligated to number hours. I for for the hobby, I've I've not really tried to push any boundaries with work. That's just seems like a bad idea. Exactly. For me, like you said, uh it's it's I I can bring a lot of my hobby into my work. I know you don't quite have that advantage. But that's kind of cool for me, but it makes my working more enjoyable. Work's work and my my my current employment, I can say that I I have willfully and graciously worked more weekends in the five years I've been there than anywhere else I've ever worked. And that's more of a testament to my work environment and uh the good spot I'm in. It's it's flexible enough for other work-life stuff outside of the hobby that typically those have not been conflicting, and maybe they were a little bit at times, but you know, it's just it's just something I gotta go do. But that's that's really not in the in the vein of what we're talking about here. But work-life balance, life first, hobby second. Maybe this would have been better better phrased as life slash hobby balance.

Kentucky Dave 1:11:05

Yeah. And uh but just just give everything its proper priority. And while your hobby is important, it is not you should not be putting that above either your work or your family.

Mike 1:11:18

Agreed.

Contests Evolving Toward Better Shows

Mike 1:11:24

This one I don't know that has ever been tackled by any of the other shows of late, maybe in bits and pieces, but uh the other the other two topics I knew who had done them and because they're both fairly recent, but right. Contests and competitions. I know we've we've evolved here, Dave.

Kentucky Dave 1:11:43

We have evolved, and not only have we evolved, in my opinion, in fact, uh you and I have discussed this, contests and competitions seem to be involved evolving as well.

Mike 1:11:58

And to be to be called other things.

Kentucky Dave 1:12:01

Right, in a very positive direction, in my opinion. I'm not sure that five years ago when or six years ago when we started doing this, that I would have foreseen what's gone on with contests and competitions and displays. I don't think I would have predicted that. I think I would have predicted things to continue on on the status quo as they've been all this time. But you and I have really seen some some major changes that we have taken note of and and really tried to kind of bring attention to. Yeah. And and and query the the listeners to say, what do you like about this? What do you like about that? Do you think what these guys are doing is a good idea? Do you think that uh this needs to change or that doesn't? I'm just I'm I've gotta say as you and I are big fans of going to contest competitions and displays for the social aspect, and that that brings so much more to the hobby. I've got to say that I am just really, really encouraged by the evolution that's taking place.

Mike 1:13:31

And in evolution, you mean what?

Kentucky Dave 1:13:34

I mean, contests used to be very generic, uh, all the same, very cookie-cutter. A IPMS 1, 2, 3 contest with a show, with vendors, and maybe a concession stand, if not that, then you had to go out to eat. They were all the same. And what we have seen, particularly over the past uh, I would guess about three years. I'm not sure where you would put it, but within the last three years, we have seen things develop, like what's going on at Wine Country or what's going on at Rocky Mountain, or we've gone back to MMSI and gotten, even though that's been going on a long time, you know, we're re-exposing ourselves to that. And then shows like NordicCon, who did the the thing where you could display with the competition. I mean, just all sorts of these variations. Seminars are making a comeback. As you know, I'm a huge fan of seminars at shows. And seminars seem to, for the longest time, have been dead and gone.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:59

Yeah.

Kentucky Dave 1:14:59

And now they're now they're coming back. And so I'm I'm just really thrilled with the developments that that we see occurring. I don't know about you, but I I'm I'm really, really positive about the trajectory that's taking place in in model what for want of a better term, modeling get-togethers.

Mike 1:15:25

Yeah, it's it's certainly becoming and and I I tease you a lot to kind of change your the vernacular of of contests to shows. Shows. Because the show is a lot more open to what that could mean. It could be a contest or it could not be a contest. It could be a gold, silver, bronze, it could be an exhibition style, whatever.

Kentucky Dave 1:15:43

Right. It could be a display and a cont.

Mike 1:15:46

And I don't know if it's age or just the the adapting to the current landscape of all this, but man, I'm I'm getting really good at as far as the the competition part of this of just not caring, man.

Kentucky Dave 1:16:02

Caring. You and me both.

Mike 1:16:05

I'm I'm thinking I'm like a ninja of not caring. I'm I I really is like, whatever, man. What are we doing here? Who's gonna be there? What can we do while we're there? Just so all this other stuff for me is just way more important. And if there is a contest, and when I say contest, I you know, I mean I guess I mean anything. Anything, or maybe I mean one, two, three, or I don't I don't know. If if there's a competitive component to this, for me, that is the the least important part of the entire thing.

Kentucky Dave 1:16:43

This is something that uh that okay, and my question to you Do you think you've just uh aged out of competing? That that it you know, you did it for any number of years, you did very well when you did it. Do you think that after a certain point you're just okay, not particularly interested in the quote unquote competition portion of going to a show?

Mike 1:17:15

It's an interesting question because uh if I think about when it, you know, I I've talked about the the kind of my dead time. Yeah. For a while there, I wasn't doing much. It's kind of armchair modeling.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:28

Yep.

Mike 1:17:29

After it was after the kind of shift in the the basically it was the weathering techniques and the realism that folks were bringing to models, versus the classic kind of Chappain Francois Verlinin way of doing stuff, which was what I was that was a school I came from, if you want to put it that way. Right. That had kind of run its course, and I would had done really well, particularly at Amps, and I never won the whole enchilada. I got close, but I'm not an amps master. Right. When I was playing that game, I would have liked to have been one. Now I can say I I'd if it happened, it happened. I'd be glad it happened. But is this something I'm actively pursuing at this point? No, it's not. Not even that even crossed my mind when I'm working on a model. Right. So have I aged out? I I I guess I went into that time of not doing much, but because I never won the won the whole thing, I I can't really say I aged out. Because if if I if I aged out, I would think I'd done everything I wanted to do, and then it then it was just didn't the the meaning was was a lot less at the after that, right? So I don't know if I've aged out of it. I think in the time that the hobbies changed in front of me, I've just taken a different perspective on the whole thing, and I've learned to enjoy different aspects of the hobby.

Kentucky Dave 1:18:59

Well, for me, I I think when I was modeling and I was younger, I do think I was at least somewhat competitive to the point that I built models for contests. I did too. I don't ever build models for contests. Ever. I mean, I have not in years. And I just I by aging out, I mean I think at least some people, and this is my experience, so your mileage may vary, and yes, I want to hear from all of you. I just I don't care anymore. It took, I mean, at some point, I just I I mean, I used to when I went to a contest, I went and entered a model. I wanted to win. I didn't get upset if I didn't, you know, I wasn't gonna throw my model across the room or do something stupid. But but I cared about the results. Now I can honestly say I when I do put a model down on the table, I honestly do not care at all what the result is. It doesn't matter one way or another. And, you know, usually if I'm putting a model on the table, it's to support the local or to support the show that I'm attending. Because obviously, if everybody adopted my attitude, there wouldn't be any models on the table. And, you know, that that's a bad thing. So I I do believe in entering to put my, you know, to make a show good and to have a lot of models, because I come there to see other people's models, so it's only fair that they come and and see mine. But for the actual competitive portion, I've lost my taste for it.

Mike 1:21:01

Yeah, that that was good.

Kentucky Dave 1:21:03

Yeah.

Mike 1:21:04

I don't know what else to say. Uh I'm a ninja at not caring. Uh yeah. But what I will say though is the what you say about the fairness of them being able to see yours if you're gonna go see theirs. Man, does that not just play right into this exhibition format kind of thing?

Kentucky Dave 1:21:24

Yes, it yes, it does. And again, Jim Bates, if you're listening, you you've got, and I told you so, you know, marker that you get to play it sometime, because 10 years ago Jim and I were having these discussions, and I was like, exhibition is stupid. And now I am to the point where I, well, I'm not all the way to exhibition only, et cetera. I am 75% of the way there with, yeah, every show should have at least an exhibition portion, even if they have a contest as well.

Mike 1:22:05

Well, we'll see what happens. I'd be interested in what other folks think of this.

Kentucky Dave 1:22:09

No, I want to hear from from the listeners out there, because again, these are things there are thoughts, and I want to hear what other people think, and that's both agreeing and disagreeing with what Mike and I have have expressed as our thoughts.

The Voice of Bob (Bair) 1:22:30

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Benchtop Reality Check And Slow Progress

Mike 1:23:08

Where we've gone long before, folks, is going to be made up by brevity in the bench top halftime report. Yes, it is. Unless I ask Dave, what have you not done in the last since the last episode? That list might be fairly long. Yes. Hopefully, you've got something to tell the listeners that you've actually accomplished.

Kentucky Dave 1:23:30

I wish I did. Honest to God, I wish. Well, actually, that's not true. I did get a little bit of progress on the F6F, but it was very, very small. And a little bit of progress on the T33, but again, very small. Just talking work-life balance. The last two weeks has been because of the fact that it's May and people take vacations. Our office has been short-staffed. We've been one attorney down, sometimes two attorneys down for several days in a row in a rolling manner. So we were constantly down. And so work has been been nonstop from eight to five and beyond. I mean, I one of the nice things about my current job is I rarely end up doing weekends or working late, unlike you. But the the past two weeks I've encountered that stuff. In addition, spring is here, pool is open. That means that I have obligations to get things all ship shape, and those have to take priority, which means most of my Saturdays and most of my Sundays for the past two weeks have been occupied with doing yard work all day. And then you and I have commiserated over text a couple of times. You know, you come in at the end of the day, and of course the sun is up later, so you're out there later doing the work. You just have zero energy to hit the bench. So, other than starting to tear my hobby room apart and doing very, very little in the way of advancing any of my projects. Yeah. Yeah, this is a disappointing bench top halftime report. I apologize to the listeners, and I will make an extra effort to have a really good and full bench top halftime report for next time.

Mike 1:25:44

Well, that's a twist screws, man. Yeah. I can't say I've done a lot more. I think the last episode I'd primed the KV-85. Yeah. I think. I think that's true. Yes. I have gone back and sanded all the specks and fibers and just goobers out of it.

SPEAKER_05 1:26:02

Mm-hmm.

Mike 1:26:03

It's it's ready to to hit it again. So it's been sitting under plastic sandwich bags now for a couple three weeks, maybe.

Kentucky Dave 1:26:13

Don't you have one of those cake things that see I use one of those cake things. Those are great.

Mike 1:26:19

Well, the the hull's like on a fixture I've got, so it's I don't want to take it off. So it's it's got a a gallon freezer bag pulled over it, and then so does so do all the road wheels on skewers and the turrets in the just display case hiding out in there. So it's all good. Nothing's getting dusty. Yeah. Everything's getting sanded smooth and ready for a little more primer. And then, you know, uh, I've I've not done anything other than think about think about the the process and the painting process going forward is is so far is not what I'm gonna do. It's what uh books and magazines and build guides I'm gonna go look at for some inspiration and some planning to figure out what I'm what I'm gonna do on it. So not a lot of progress. So I'm not not getting much more done than you, Dave. Well, good.

Kentucky Dave 1:27:07

That way you can't give me 40 kinds of heck.

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Shizuoka Announcements Worth Watching

Kentucky Dave 1:28:12

Mike, uh, the hobby is in full swing. The new announcements. Shinizuka just wrapped up this past week. We got to we got to see one or two things announced there. So have you noticed anything that you're particularly interested or particularly puzzled by in the new announcements?

Mike 1:28:36

Yes. I've got a few faves here, a couple. Okay. Anyway, and a and a yawn. Where are we starting? A fav? Just start with a fave. The modeling gods are shining on me, Dave.

Kentucky Dave 1:28:48

Uh-huh. Yeah, I know exactly what you're going to mention.

Mike 1:28:52

Uh, there's a 3D creator under the brand name of Ospenschutz. I've actually conversed with him via email. Yes, I knew you had. Anyway, Ospenschutz has released a couple of T26 turrets, a model 38, which is a version that Hobby Boss has done, but man, this guy's design is way better than what's in that kit. So it's going to come down to the printer. And just recently, he told me he has finished up his Model 39 turret, which is the one I'm really hot for. So that model is all available on Cults 3D now. Uh-huh. So I've also got that one in my cart. I'm going to pay for that one tomorrow. Ospen Schutze has told me they're also doing the sloped uh armored hull package to convert the hobby boss kit. So I'm going to get my Model 39, Dave.

Kentucky Dave 1:29:51

Well, and you you said you reached out and talked to the guy. Your interests and his interests seem to overlap greatly in these particular areas. Did you actually have any conversation as to why he's interested in this?

Mike 1:30:10

Uh a little bit, but uh not enough to talk about here yet. But I think maybe I'll talk about that in the future. I I'd I asked him to be a guest, but his spoken English is not the point that he feels comfortable coming on. So he sent me some information. Probably gonna give Aspen Schutz a a little bit bigger of a shout-out a little later. But I'll tell you this the this is pushing me toward buying a new printer.

Kentucky Dave 1:30:36

Yes, uh you you and I have discussed this, and I'm all for it because there's some a couple of things that I want printed that a new printer from you, you having a new printer would enable me to get.

Mike 1:30:51

You're welcome.

Kentucky Dave 1:30:53

Thank you.

Mike 1:30:54

What about you, man?

Kentucky Dave 1:30:55

I'll buy you a bag of resin is it a bag of resin? What are they coming?

Mike 1:31:00

Bottle.

Kentucky Dave 1:31:00

Bottle. I'll buy you a bottle of resin. How about that?

Mike 1:31:04

Sounds good.

Kentucky Dave 1:31:04

You buy you buy the new printer, I'll buy a bottle of resin. Well, first one I want to mention is something that I apparently missed. A couple of years ago, Wingsy, the model company, I think out of the Ukraine, announced a D3A2 Val in both 72nd scale and 48 scale. And then nothing happened as far as I knew. As far as I knew, Wingsy never released the 72nd scale D3A2 valve. They've just recently released their 48 scale kit of it, and Harvey Lowe has a beautiful build of it online, you can find. But apparently, according to Scalemates, back in 2023, they say Wingsy did release the the D3A2 and 72nd scale. I don't think they did. I don't think I ever saw it. I only saw it announced. But apparently Wingsy and ClearProp, who are another Ukrainian company, are somehow related or interconnected or something, because this Wingsy 72nd scale val is now being released by Clearprop. And I will get one. Now, I really want the earlier version of the Val, the D3A1, but I am more than thrilled to have the D3A2 as a good starting point because we've needed a new set of uh Val kits for a number of years. So a a fave for me is the Clear Prop by Way of Wingsy D3A2 Val in 70 seconds scale.

Mike 1:33:01

You're next. Well, my next one, Dave, is from 4Art.

Kentucky Dave 1:33:05

Okay.

Mike 1:33:05

Who uh probably their most notable release is has been S-Boat.

unknown 1:33:11

Yes.

Mike 1:33:12

Their first release. That was way back in when we went to Las Vegas. So that's that's not new. Yes, it was. That's not new at this point.

Kentucky Dave 1:33:18

Although they did release several versions of it.

Mike 1:33:21

They have, and they've got some other stuff out there that's worth looking into. They have announced a new tooled Panzer 3 House G in 35th scale. And I don't know. I'm I'm really looking forward to seeing what this one's all about because I I know the quality of those the kits I've seen from 4AR. And I'm really curious because this one's allegedly a new tool.

Kentucky Dave 1:33:46

Now, is the the Panzer 3 Os G a neglected version?

Mike 1:33:54

I would say no. No, there's a Dragon Kit of it, I'm sure.

Kentucky Dave 1:33:57

Okay. Well, but it you know, if it's a really old Dragon kit, you might say, yeah, it's neglected if nothing else has been, if no one else has done one.

Mike 1:34:07

But it's, you know, an another another company, you know, outside of Dragon doing some 35th scale stuff. It's not a tiger tank. So really curious how this one's gonna be. And if it's any good at all, I'll probably get this one.

Kentucky Dave 1:34:21

Yeah, that's good news. That's good news. Stimulate the economy.

Mike 1:34:25

What do you got next?

Kentucky Dave 1:34:27

Next, our friends at Fine Molds announced at Shinizuka, they had actually announced it a couple of weeks before, kind of as a preview. They're completing their F4 series by doing the F4G Wild Weasel, which was the electronic warfare version of the F-4. And really to round out the whole series, this one was the one that you would expect. And so they finally announced it. It makes a really nice pairing with the F-104 that they that they've just brought out within the last six months. So Fine Molds, who in a lot of ways have been more known for their their World War II stuff and before, are now really seeming to lean into 72nd scale, more modern aircraft. And I'm here for it because again, they did an F-4 series, we needed a new F-4 series. They are doing an F-104 series, we need a new F-104 series. I'm all for this, and I can't wait to see what they do next.

AI Slop Hits 3D Printed Figures

Mike 1:35:48

Well, unfortunately, my next one's a yawn. Okay. And if this was English, it would be Steve's, Steve's models. Okay. But it's Austrian, so I think it's Stevis models. I think it's a a surname. It's not a first name. Gotcha. Two things. They've released a pair of dogs. Okay. Oh no, I know what you're thinking. In the in the act of making little dogs. Yes. So the the hobby sure needed that.

Kentucky Dave 1:36:17

Really? You know. You you you just kind of wonder, it's like that'll fill up this blank space in your diorama. And I guarantee you somebody will think that's a good idea and will put it on a diorama that we will see in the next 12 months.

Mike 1:36:36

Well, they've got uh two other releases that, man, uh they are 16th scale figures. One is a quote unquote Tiger Commander, and the other is a quote-unquote tiger tank loader with found gun, meaning he's he's he's got a a small arm.

Kentucky Dave 1:36:56

Right.

Mike 1:36:57

These are these look like AI prompted figures.

SPEAKER_04 1:37:01

Yep.

Mike 1:37:02

The uniform details are completely bogus for anybody with even a cursory knowledge of World War II German armored crewman uniforms. The small arm held by the loader with found gun is a AI-generated approximation of an AK-47, not like a Sturmgewehr 44, which is at a at 100 yards, is a little bit similar looking.

Kentucky Dave 1:37:30

Right.

Mike 1:37:31

And these guys are wearing web gear and and pouches and equipment that is completely, completely made up by the AI.

Kentucky Dave 1:37:39

And see, I think we're gonna see more and more of this. Okay, for all the, you know, we've spent the last month, month and a half talking about the ability to generate figures and good figures with AI prompts, et cetera. And I think this is the downside of that, which is you're gonna get a ton of slop. People, people who are just making something quick and dirty, particularly to sell, and they don't really care. And they or they don't know. Or they don't know.

Mike 1:38:20

I mean, it helps to have a little bit of foreknowledge about what you're trying to design before you try to go and design it, right?

Kentucky Dave 1:38:26

Right. Or they think that, you know, they don't care and people don't care. That, you know, you can get away with AI slop and enough people will will buy it to make it worth your while.

Mike 1:38:41

It's almost almost free, right?

Kentucky Dave 1:38:43

Exactly. Yeah, exactly. While I'm really, really encouraged, enthused, and thrilled about the positive aspects of AI and 3D printing and the two things combined, there is an obvious downside with AI slob. And just as the technology expands, we're going to see more and more of that. And you're just gonna have to be more and more discerning as a consumer.

Mike 1:39:17

Uh I'd say at some point we'll see less and less of it, which that gets into some scary stuff, so we won't talk about that on a modeling podcast. But um, at some point it'll know more than we know. That's that. You got any more?

Kentucky Dave 1:39:31

I got I've got one more, and it's uh a Fave manufacturer called Ames A I-M-S. It's a biz small cottage business run by Anglican minister, used to be out of England, but now he's in Central Europe. And he does some amazing his specialty is JU88s and their variants, but he has a bunch of a bunch of World War II German-related stuff. And he has just come out with a decal sheet for the JU88 or JU 388 L1, the late war JU88, JU 388 that was manufactured right as the Germans didn't have enough fuel for their bombers. So a lot of the JU 388s got built and then part. And so there's some because of the late war manufacture, there are really some visually interesting color schemes and variations because these things were manufactured from parts made in different places. But he's got a decal sheet for the JU388 L1 version. And again, I can highly recommend any of Ames' products. A really, it's the the antithesis of what we were just talking about. He is a cottage manufacturer who cares deeply about accuracy and quality. So I highly recommend his stuff.

The Voice of Bob (Bair) 1:41:16

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Final Thoughts Shout Outs And Sign Off

Kentucky Dave 1:41:41

Well, Mike, uh, we're almost to the end. How's your modeling fluid?

Mike 1:41:46

Uh this was given to me as a birthday gift from my mother-in-law.

Kentucky Dave 1:41:51

Okay.

Mike 1:41:51

Who's very generous, never giving me any grief about anything for the most part. That said, I think marketing departments see her coming. Let's just say it that way. Fraser and Thompson North American whiskey is a blend, allegedly out of Bardstown, Kentucky. Well, it is. It's from Bargetstown, but 92% Canadian whiskey. Oh, wow. Eight per 8% bourbon.

Kentucky Dave 1:42:22

Oh, wow.

Mike 1:42:23

And if folks go way back to the first season of Plastic Model Mojo, you can hear my comments about Canadian whiskey. I hear you. Not going to repeat them here, but I'm not sure they used the good Canadian whiskey when they made this. It's a little ironic. I know why she bought this. It's because it has a hang tag on the neck that has Michael Bublet on it. Okay. So if Michael Bublet sponsors this, it must be good. Yeah, must be. He's Michael Bublet. Exactly. The reverse of the hang tag says it's going to be strange liking whiskey. And I would say, yeah, especially after you drank this one. That is rich. I can't believe it. This tastes like a bad rum. It is a very sweet, buttery flavor to it.

Kentucky Dave 1:43:12

Uh-huh.

Mike 1:43:13

My pipes need a much-needed cleaning in the kitchen. And I think that's where this is going.

Kentucky Dave 1:43:19

Oh my. This is poor.

Mike 1:43:21

This is drain pour. And in what are we, in our seventh year? Yep. Six and a half years of plastic model mojo. This, man, I don't know. This might be the worst one ever.

Kentucky Dave 1:43:36

Oh, wow.

Mike 1:43:37

This this might be screwball.

Kentucky Dave 1:43:40

Oh, I was gonna say you need to save it and have a taste off with screwball.

Mike 1:43:44

No, it's going away, man. This is uh you there's nothing you could not make a drink that you would make with bourbon and put this in it and have it taste right.

Kentucky Dave 1:43:54

Right.

Mike 1:43:55

Yeah. It's gonna be strange liking whiskey.

Kentucky Dave 1:43:58

Wouldn't wouldn't wouldn't make a good highball.

Mike 1:44:01

If you were saying, I want a rum and coke and you grab this instead of the Captain Morgan's, yeah, it might be okay, but no, it's a rum and coke, so who cares? Right. Not recommended. You're getting a thumbs down on this one, folks. Fraser and Thompson, North American whiskey.

Kentucky Dave 1:44:20

Well, sadly, I lived vicariously through you the one time you had a thumbs down.

Mike 1:44:26

Um you still you still come out a winner.

Kentucky Dave 1:44:29

That's true. Because I didn't have to.

Mike 1:44:31

Because once you're on the back on the wagon, man, you don't have to foot with it.

Kentucky Dave 1:44:35

Yeah, I don't have to try that. I will tell you my orange juice was excellent and got me through the episode, and now I'm full of vitamin C and Vim and vigor and ready to go out and model. All right, man. All right. So uh we really are at the end of the episode. Do you have any shout outs? I've got two.

Mike 1:45:01

Okay, I've got one. Well, one is the cursory thank you to all the folks who've contributed to Plastic Model Mojo through their generosity. We appreciate it. It's been kind of growing lately, and it's gonna help us keep talking about his phase two. I'm not gonna dwell on it much more, but uh it's it's really gonna come at some point this summer, hopefully. And everybody's making that a lot easier for us. All those avenues can be found at www.plasticmodelmojo.com or in the show notes of each and every episode. Folks, it's really humbling and we really appreciate it. And we thank everyone who's been uh giving us some support.

Kentucky Dave 1:45:37

I would like to thank the fine people at Baptist East Hospital and uh my my physician, Dr. Marques, who I got to see today. Obviously going through something unexpected and certainly unwelcome. It's really nice to have a group of professionals who, from the moment you start dealing with them, you feel confident that they know what they're doing. So shout out to the folks at Baptist East and to Dr. Marquez. And hopefully things will be 100% back to normal very soon.

Mike 1:46:17

I hope so, man.

Kentucky Dave 1:46:19

You and me both.

Mike 1:46:20

Yeah, cut this crap out.

Kentucky Dave 1:46:22

Yep.

Mike 1:46:25

Well, Dave, my last shout out is to uh not a new acquaintance, but a new listener, Adam Mann, who's like the third uh musketeer for uh Evan McCallum and Michael Reese. Yep. I forward you that email.

Kentucky Dave 1:46:41

Mm-hmm.

Mike 1:46:42

And Adam, if you're listening, I really appreciate it. And I I sent you a personal email back to express uh why and just really appreciate it, man. Thanks a lot. And hopefully we can keep you engaged and keep you listening because we enjoyed meeting you in uh Madison and hopefully we'll see you again, man. Yep. Hopefully you make it to Fort Wayne. Anything else, Dave? Nope, that's it, Mike. I think we need to get out of here. I think we do too, man. I gotta get to bed. You know, I know you need your rest. Yep. Well, as we always say, so many kids. So little time, Dave. Take it easy, man. Take it easy.