Cleaner Air And Smarter Workspaces For Scale Modelers: Episode 167

The fastest way to lose your modeling mojo is not a bad kit, it is a workspace that fights you every step of the build. With the IPMS Nationals in Fort Wayne around the corner, we keep things “Mojo Light” but pack in a ton of practical shop talk driven by listener messages, real bench mishaps, and the kind of small changes that add up to better results.

We start with what life looks like when guests are arriving, the yard needs attention, and the hobby room is mid-revamp. Then we share a true walkaway moment at the bench: a full waste-solvent spill, dead digital calipers, and the mad scramble to clean up safely. That leads to a bigger conversation modelers often ignore until it bites us, indoor air quality. We talk VOCs, why fumes can linger after you stop spraying, what an air quality monitor can reveal, and how extraction, respirators, and even dedicated VOC filtration can make your hobby room healthier.

From there, we dig into fun “what if” questions for history and research nerds, the missing records and photos we wish we could recover, and the extinct military subjects we would save for a museum. We also tackle a classic scale modeling debate: historical accuracy versus artistic license, and why the best-looking builds often balance accuracy, scale fidelity, and a tasteful finish.

If you enjoy scale modeling workflow tips, hobby room organization ideas, airbrush ventilation talk, and Nationals energy, you will feel right at home. Subscribe, share the show with a modeling buddy, and leave a review so more builders can find us.

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Transcript

Welcome And A Mojo Light Plan

The Voice of Bob (Bair) 0:11

Welcome to Plastic Model Mojo, a podcast dedicated to scale modeling as well as the news and events around the hobby. Let's join Mike in Kentucky Dave as they strive to be informative, entertaining, and help you keep your modeling mojo alive.

Kentucky Dave 0:52

Yeah, yeah. Life continues to happen.

Mike 0:56

It continues to happen. Go ahead. You finish your sentence.

Kentucky Dave 1:00

I mean, yes, life continues to happen, but neither one of us has any room to complain.

Mike 1:07

Uh maybe, maybe not, but not here, not here, not here at all. Folks, we're running out of month quickly here. And after we took great went to great lengths to get off the drop week of all the other podcasts, just to spread things out a bit, we have lifed our way right back to where we used to be. So given the fact that we don't take too many breaks, Dave, we tend to to kind of scale back the production scope a little bit. So 167 folks is a mojo light. It's gonna taste great and it's gonna be less filling, but uh it's not gonna be quite as long as the other episodes.

Kentucky Dave 1:43

Is Bob Euchar gonna come in at some point? Uh, you know, that'd be great, but that's gonna be hard to get to be in the front row. And if you get that joke, folks, you're as old as I am.

Hobby Room Revamps And Nats Prep

Mike 1:57

Well, Dave, what is up in your model sphere?

Kentucky Dave 2:00

Well, the hobby room revamp continues. I have a new light box setup. I continue to get a bunch of suggestions from people in their hobby setups, which we'll talk about later in the episode. Unfortunately, I've had to put modeling a little bit on hold because, in addition to all the model room stuff, I don't know if you know this, but the nationals are coming up.

Mike 2:30

That's what I heard.

Kentucky Dave 2:32

Yeah. And well, it turns out that I will have guests from Australia and Alabama.

Mike 2:39

And so I got your A destinations covered.

Kentucky Dave 2:42

I was gonna say, we're starting with the A's. Who knows where it'll end up? But because I've got guests coming in, the wife would like the the homestead to be presentable. So, and I've got a certain reputation to keep up with with people out there regarding yard maintenance. So uh I'm putting a lot of time into that stuff, which means a little less time modeling, but it's going to be well worth it because in a couple of days the Podfather will fly in. A couple of days after that, Dr. Geldmacher will drive in, and then the next day we're gonna be up in Fort Wayne, and it's gonna be fantastic. All right. So my model sphere is great.

Mike 3:34

Well, good. So how about you? Man, mine, I got a punch list a mile long for my model sphere.

Kentucky Dave 3:42

You and me both, buddy.

Mike 3:45

First off, we want to remind folks of Ed Bear's Dauntless project over on the dojo in the files section. I posted one about a week and a half ago, two weeks ago, and I'm about to dump a couple more on there. We would really like to have a Q ⁇ A kind of episode with Ed once we get some feedback for this article. So, folks, please go out there, have a look, keep up with the new posts. I'll mention those when I make them. But if you've got any questions, uh if if that project makes you think of questions that even aren't quite related to that project, but large-scale aircraft or anything he's done, painting or or detailing or what have you, shoot those to us. Maybe put his name in the in the in the subject line and uh we'll see if we can't get that episode together. We'd really like to do that with Ed. I know he's put a lot into this.

Kentucky Dave 4:30

I think we're gonna see him at the NAT, so it'll be nice. We'll be able to sit down and talk about it.

Mike 4:35

So I haven't asked him about that. I don't know if he's coming or not. So Ed, let me know if you are.

Kentucky Dave 4:39

I hope he is.

Mike 4:41

In addition, the fine folks at KitMass want to remind you of the uh discount code you can use to get 15% off your order. It's Mojo15, one word. And that'll get you 15% off. In addition, please use the link to KitMass in our show notes of this episode and eventually the one on the website. If it says just kitmask.com, it hasn't been updated on the website yet, but that request has been put in. But uh if it's kitmask.com with a bunch of gibber jabber after it, that's an affiliate link for us, and that's gonna help out KitMass and Plastic Model Mojo if you if you purchase through that affiliate link. So we'd really appreciate that. So far, it's been going pretty good, man. And their range is ever expanding. It's about to get mind-boggling.

Kentucky Dave 5:22

I know.

Mike 5:23

I know I don't see how he has time to do all that on work at Days.

Kentucky Dave 5:27

Neither do I.

Mike 5:28

He must have the technique to creating the artwork down to down to the brass tacks, I guess.

Kentucky Dave 5:33

We you know what? Next we'll next time we see them, we have to sit down and and have a little convo with them about it.

Mike 5:40

If I was pumping it out so fast like that, I might not spill the beans, man. He may have a secret, he might have a secret weapon. I don't know.

Kentucky Dave 5:47

He can trust us. Come on.

Mike 5:49

He can. What that discussion offline.

Kentucky Dave 5:53

So, what else is going on in your model

Bench Disaster Walkaway Stories Wanted

Kentucky Dave 5:55

sphere?

Mike 5:55

Oh man, I it's another listener feedback call to action. I had a walkaway moment about a week ago at the bench. Almost a walk away. It went an instant walk uh walk away. I had to clean up. Yeah, this is the one you sent me the picture of. Yeah, and I'll post the pictures when I'm uh when this episode drops. I can't remember what was I doing? I can't remember exactly what I was doing, but I spilt my entire waste solvent jar on my workbench.

Kentucky Dave 6:21

Yes.

Mike 6:22

Killed my digital calipers in the process, and and then in the are you flipping kidding me panic, I managed to knock over my tub of pointed Q-tips all on the floor. So spill those suckers all over the place.

Kentucky Dave 6:36

But in the scheme of things, looking back on it, the weight the waste didn't hit any model parts, so you didn't dissolve anything. Yeah. It it it was contained, you could clean it up. I mean, yes, the digital calipers that sucks.

Mike 6:54

I'm gonna buy me a better pair anyway.

Kentucky Dave 6:56

I was gonna say it gives you the excuse to upgrade. So, in the scheme of things, it could have been about a thousand times worse.

Mike 7:06

It could have been, but I just sat back down for a moment, kind of chuckled to myself. I probably enjoyed a brief hit or two of the Ode Acetone and Lacquer Thinner. And uh Yeah, that'll ease your pain. Yeah, I got up, pulled the pulled the filter out of spray booth, and fired it up just to get max flow from the whole basement, and then just commenced cleaning it up. Then I turned off all the lights and went upstairs and went to bed.

Kentucky Dave 7:32

And sometimes that is the solution.

Mike 7:35

So I'll be interested if any of our listeners out there have a walkaway story to share. We've done some goofs, gaffs, and blunders, so it's kind of on that same vein. But uh anything new since we've done one of those episodes uh would be fun to hear. What what what's your walkaway story that you'd like to tell?

Kentucky Dave 7:51

Yeah, I'd I'd like to hear those too.

Mike 7:53

And and then finally, for the model sphere, on the topic of not sharing, or on the topic of sharing, not sharing, both actually. The question about the computer in your workspace, we we talked about last episode. Right. Crickets, man. Crickets, crickets. Seems nobody wants to talk about the elephant in the room, Dave.

Kentucky Dave 8:16

And I and it is the elephant in a lot of rooms. Now, I will tell you that at least a few of the model room pictures that we've gotten from people. Now, they may be clipping it out where you don't see it on the, but there are at least a couple of modelers that don't have a computer inside of their model desk. And I'm wondering if that's a generational thing or a productivity thing or what, but I think there are at least some modelers out there that don't do what you and I and a lot of modelers I know, which is have in fact we're sitting here recording, and I have not one but two laptops open in my model room.

Mike 9:09

Double the pleasure.

Kentucky Dave 9:10

Yes.

Mike 9:11

So, folks, that topic is still active, and we'd love to hear about anyone's feelings. Anyone feeling they're surfing or doom scrolling, etc., is or was an issue, and uh if if and how you're dealing with it.

Kentucky Dave 9:25

Yeah.

Mike 9:25

Hey, hey, some of us, man, have either no willpower or we're easily entertained. That's probably part of the problem.

Kentucky Dave 9:30

Well, all right, a little bit of ADD and we're easily entertained or distracted. In fact, coming up, uh we won't talk about it now, but I've actually been thinking about something in regard to my computer and my hobby room. But you and I, you and I'll have to talk about that at Nats.

Mike 9:54

Well, I modified my my outline. It it said screen time instead of surfing and doom scrolling before. And I did just sounded like a pediatrician talking to a toddler mom. There you go. I didn't want to give that impression, but uh hey, I can wait, I can waste some serious time, people. Oh God, can I need to I need to stop? So yeah, that's that's my model sphere. That's all my non-uh kit building and actual modeling kind of thoughts for the episode. And not bad. That's a lot, Mike. Yeah.

CPAP Baseline And Modeling Fluids

Kentucky Dave 10:23

Uh, we're recording uh an episode, even if it's a light episode. Do you have a modeling fluid and is it light?

Mike 10:31

It's very light, Dave. Mine is water. Oh my gosh. I got a reason for that, though, man. Okay. I've uh hinted at it and I've talked about snoring in the past. Mm-hmm. Well, I got a new mistress Dave, and it looks a lot like a CPAP machine. And I'm on it, I've been on it a week, man, and I think it's it's doing some doing some good stuff for me, but I'm trying to get a baseline. Gotcha. And then the next time I imbibe with any kind of volume, I guess, I'm gonna see what happens there. It may be a bad idea.

Kentucky Dave 11:06

No, I I think that's uh I think that makes sense if you're if you're introducing something like a CPAP in there. Because yeah, just like working out in the yard can give you all sorts of congestion and stuff and make it worse. Alcohol does the same thing. So it well it it makes sense to start at a baseline.

Mike 11:27

Well about you, man. I heard a can pop there. What's that?

Kentucky Dave 11:30

Well, I I'm I will be holding up the honor of the of the podcast for both of us this episode. All right. I just opened Metazoa Brewing Company from Indianapolis Wicked Palsum Hazy India Pale Ale.

unknown 11:47

Yeah.

Kentucky Dave 11:47

And I like hazy IPA.

Mike 11:49

You're gonna like that one.

Kentucky Dave 11:50

By the way.

Mike 11:51

Oh, that's my next question. Go for it.

Kentucky Dave 11:54

This was given to us, and you and I both got them by Mr. Brandon Gentry. Uh, after the last episode, where I had another one of the beers he gave us from the same brewing company. I could not remember, and you could not remember who it was that gave it to us. Brandon listened to the episode and DM'd me. And it's so I am proud to say that Brandon Gentry gave us these adamps. It is Wicked Palsum Hazy India Pale Ale from Metazoa Brewing Company in Indianapolis. He says this one is his favorite, so we'll see if it's mine too.

Mike 12:39

Hopefully it is. And it reminds me, we need to bring some sharpies and some label tape to the national convention. You know what would actually work good for that? What's that? 3M tape. Well, throw it in your bag. I will. I don't have any modding fluid, but I got some listener mail.

Kentucky Dave 12:56

Okay. Well, we'll take that. Is it is it high ABV listener mail?

Mike 13:01

Uh some of it's really interesting. Good. That's good.

Listener Mail And Q And A Ideas

Mike 13:06

Well, Paul Budzik is written in and I probably should have answered him back directly, but I was saving it for the episode, and then we kind of went long on the episode. So now I kind of feel bad that I haven't. When he sent this, we it should have been uh I won't say imminent, but we should have had it on the radar. It's kind of like Ed Barris' idea too. You know, Ed's wanted to do to kind of a Q ⁇ A about his project. Paul has made a suggestion that I really like as well. So we want to try to build an episode about questions from the modelers at large out there on any of the tips, techniques, tools, materials, models, etc., he's talked about all the way back from his fine scale articles to his present content.

Kentucky Dave 13:55

What a great idea.

Mike 13:56

And I would really like to do that. So if folks are interested in that and want to send us those questions that that they may have, we're gonna we're gonna try to do that. And he says it's not meant to muscle his way into an appearance on the podcast.

Kentucky Dave 14:11

Oh, like like he has to muscle his way on. No, come on.

Mike 14:17

That's fine. We we didn't take it that way. And uh don't take my tardy response as a as a as disinterest, Paul. This is a very interesting idea, and we're gonna try to pursue it here. So thank you so much for thinking that one and uh sending it to us. So hopefully, uh hopefully we'll get some. I'll probably gotta have some of my own.

Kentucky Dave 14:34

So Oh yeah, I've got I've got a couple.

Mike 14:36

I can front load this thing.

Kentucky Dave 14:38

Yeah.

Mike 14:40

Uh from not too far from you, Dave. Branson Smith from Corden, Indiana. Okay. That's just uh over the river and up the road a little bit, isn't it? Yeah, Terry Hill's wife is from the uh he went to a wedding in Edinburgh, Scotland. Mm-hmm. And he says his ever so supportive wife made sure he was able to sneak away from the group for a few hours. Do visit Wonderland Models in Edinburgh, where he picked up an air fixed hurricane in 48 scales, everyone does while in Britain. Ah, he says the place was a paradise, Dave. Tons of kits, tons of supplies, full of modelers, happy to talk to an American about models and a few modeling fluids.

Kentucky Dave 15:19

That is fantastic.

Mike 15:20

I wonder if they had the they're talking about modeling fluids, talking about models and a few modeling fluids, or if they actually had modeling fluids at the hobby shop. Now that would be cool, but I bet that's not what he means. Yeah. We did have a listener write in about, I think was it in Belgium that the the place was upstairs from the model shop or vice versa?

Kentucky Dave 15:37

Yes. In fact, uh Agent 003 was just there.

Mike 15:42

Yes, that's right. We need to talk to him next week.

Kentucky Dave 15:45

Well, I've got something on that for you coming up in the DMs. Okay.

Mike 15:49

Okay. He sent us a potential wheel question. So he is in the drawing for the book of the Mighty Eighth Air Force that we're going to be giving away. And he wanted to make sure folks knew about the shop locator feature on Scalemates. Yep. Didn't know, didn't know how much people realized that was out there and how many people actually used it, but it is there. And that's how I found this one. So uh he wanted to make mention of the shop locator on scalemates, which is uh another good use of that website.

SPEAKER_03 16:16

Yes, it is.

Mike 16:17

Thanks, Branson. I'm glad you got away from the wedding festivities a little bit. It's probably all the the pre-stuff going on that was you get to be a drag sometimes. Probably a good a good break for him. Dave Waples has written in, Dave, we saw Dave up at Wonderfest. Yes, we did. He's done something, you know, we've been talking about workshop stuff, and this is gonna kind of percolate through the entire episode because it's gotten some traction.

Air Quality Monitors And VOC Reality

Mike 16:44

Two things. The first thing he did was he got a air quality monitor for his workshop. Yeah, we'll he found out that things were going pretty well with uh his hoodie's made, his fume extractor. It's about a 550 CFM, which is what my old venerable pace and is not pace, what's mine? North Coast Hobbies spray booth is. That's a lot. That's a pretty good that's that's kind of where you mean. Still, when he shut it down, the monitor said the VOCs in his workshop were still going up to undesirable levels. So probably paint coming back through the the vent and uh paint and resin outgassing from what he'd just worked on and his 3D printer and all that. He said it would take days sometimes for the air quality in his workspace to return to acceptable levels by his by the monitor he had. So he dropped some coin, man. He has bought an air pura, one word, C600 DXL. What is it? Slice and dice, Julianne's. I don't know, but 1400 bucks, it's an expensive beast. An air purifier? Uh it's designed for extracting VOCs air purifier, so it's not your it's not your Costco special.

Kentucky Dave 17:58

Gotcha.

Mike 17:59

It's got a 26-pound charcoal filter in it with some potassium iodide impregnated activated charcoals in it. It's about three inches thick, but that helps uh that helps react with the VOCs and get them get them oxidized and out of the air. Filter's supposed to be good for two years. I hope so at 26 pounds. I bet it's not cheap.

Kentucky Dave 18:19

Yeah.

Mike 18:20

Since he's put this sucker in, man, it returns to normal levels within an hour or less than he thinks with the extractor to the outside world and using his respirator, which he also manages a 3M respirator, and the air cleaner. It's about as good as he can get in his workspace without working outside.

Kentucky Dave 18:35

Well, and and you know, I think this is an underappreciated area for modelers to think about. You know, we model, we get used to the fumes and the smells and all that stuff. And there are some stories out there. The one that comes to mind is the guy who runs a little cottage industry company called Ames, A-I-M-S, produces great stuff, great resin, great details, etc. And he'd worked over the years and he hadn't, by his own admission, paid a lot of attention to that, and ended up having some real serious health issues related to the off-gassing and the fumes and all that.

Mike 19:29

Day in and day out dealing and stuff.

Kentucky Dave 19:32

Yep.

Mike 19:33

Not good. And I've I've said on this podcast numerous times about your your your spray booth, if you can spray what you're painting, it's probably not pulling enough. Um that is not to say though, if you can't smell it, there's nothing there.

Kentucky Dave 19:45

That's right.

Mike 19:46

So that's the you know, I'm not saying that's true at all. I'm saying though, as a first line, if you can still smell paint while you're airbrushing, you might want to reconsider what you're doing. Um, $1,400 is a pretty big investment, but in the long term, it's probably not.

Kentucky Dave 20:02

Well, for your health, maybe you know.

Mike 20:05

I'm curious. Here's the deal you go get the air quality monitor and then you find out something you didn't want to know.

Kentucky Dave 20:12

Well, I I'll be honest with you, given his experience, I'm interested in getting an air quality monitor and testing it. All right. Now, you can all insert the jokes here about how I model so little that there's no way there could there can be fumes. I know those jokes are coming. Go ahead. Get them out of your system.

Mike 20:34

Abundance of methane in your workshop, Dave.

Kentucky Dave 20:36

Yeah, well, that's probably true. But in any event, that is, you know, we all we all joke around and all of that stuff, but we really should take our health more seriously.

Mike 20:50

He says he's noticed his persistent cough has gone away. And his wife comments on how clean the air smells in the basement now. Cool. There you go. That is fantastic. Thanks for the info, Dave. And uh if you're at Nats, come by the table.

Kentucky Dave 21:04

Please do. I'd like to have a little conversation with you about that.

Mike 21:08

Oh, who is next? Garvin Lee. Okay. And uh he is in the Toronto area, if I'm not mistaken. He's a friend of Harvey Lowe's. Okay. I think they're in the same club.

Kentucky Dave 21:23

Man, Harvey's been killing it lately.

Mike 21:25

He has, and he's got the YouTube thing going now, too. I know. Well, he wanted to get in on the on the drawing. That's the first thing you want to do. So he sent us some ideas. Well, good. Thank you. Some of them, one of them I'm gonna I'm gonna bust out of the well, two of them. He asked if he said, You we might want to he's a new listener, brand new listener. Hadn't cruised through the back catalog yet, and he was suggesting we might want to talk to Harvey. I said, Well, well, we did, in fact. We had a really nice conversation about his Japan trip about a year ago.

Kentucky Dave 21:53

It really was. That is, I will tell you, that was we have so many great. Conversations and it's really hard to single them out. But that conversation with Harvey, it it went places that I didn't expect it, and it was so wide-ranging that I just really enjoyed that one. If you haven't listened to that episode, go back in the catalog and listen to it.

Mike 22:19

So he's got a couple three others here.

Why Military Toy Marketing Changed

Mike 22:22

We're gonna run a bank. The question that it's because I'm gonna I'm gonna put it out here for us to talk about a little bit because it's it's not it's probably not a long discussion. I I guess in Asia, and he mentions Japan specifically, there's a lot of cross-marketing between the hobby community and the the Japan Special Defense Force, Army, Navy, and Air Forces to create modeling and toys that engage young people and help them think about the future of serving serving their country.

Kentucky Dave 22:51

Yeah.

Mike 22:51

And he's wondering why US model and toy makers haven't learned from this. And I have an answer. Maybe you'll you'll have one too. Prior to mid to late 60s, this did exist in the United States. It did. The model making, quote unquote, war toy side of thing was in the scouting. Yep. It was on television, all the commercials, G.I. Joe, and then this thing happened primarily called the Vietnam War.

Kentucky Dave 23:23

Yep.

Mike 23:24

And with all that stuff on TV, those type of toys in the United States started getting discouraged and even you know frowned upon by certain segments of society.

Kentucky Dave 23:35

Yep.

Mike 23:35

That's just what happened. I'm not gonna give an up or down on what I think about it, but that's the reality of the situation. It did happen. So so G.I. Joe went from America's Fighting Man to the adventure team G.I. Joe.

Kentucky Dave 23:48

Right.

Mike 23:48

And then not too long, that was kind of early 70s, that started happening. And then kind of we had a cataclysmic shift in the whole toy industry with uh Star Wars and all the sci-fi marketing that followed with just about everything else uh going on. So that's kind of what happened to the toy industry. I mean, you saw a lot of the things in the model industry, a lot of the the graphics on the box art started to get toned down. I know Airfix went through and edited out a lot of the the more violent aspects of a lot of their box art in the late 60s and early 70s.

Kentucky Dave 24:20

In the 70s, the US, the Federal Trade Commission, briefly cracked down on model companies using illustrations on their box tops simply because they were worried about basically false advertising showing things that weren't included in the kit as part of the artwork. And so for a not an insignificant period of time, companies went to having to use photos of the actual constructed models for their box ops. That's true. And that that really did take a lot away from kits because how many times have you looked at a model box and been inspired to buy it because of the box art?

Mike 25:10

And and why is there nothing now? Well, in the United States, there's not really that many model kit makers anymore.

Kentucky Dave 25:18

Yeah.

Mike 25:18

And then the toy industry in the United States is largely an adult collector thing now. Yes. Believe it or not. In many respects. In many regards. There's not a lot of, you know, what would you say, seven to early teen kids? Right. They're on toys computers. It's all grown men fighting over stuff at Target and Walmart when they start the shelves. That's where that's what it is now.

Kentucky Dave 25:47

But our writer is absolutely correct. Now, I will argue there are many great things. And one of the things that they are good about is that procreation. Well, yeah, that's right. Yeah, we won't talk about that. But um they're absolutely right. The Japanese self-defense forces are intimately connected with the modeling hobby, and there is a lot of crossover and cross-promotion and stuff like that. They really, we could our armed forces could learn something from that in the marketing department. Well, maybe.

Mike 26:36

I mean, we'd have to have a model company to back them up, or they're selling Chinese model kits.

Kentucky Dave 26:40

Well, that's true, too. But also, I think the Japanese self-defense forces, because of a number of factors, mostly demographic, have to work harder to fill their recruiting as opposed to the US with a relatively vital, vital growth, demographic growth. We're finding it much easier. I mean, right now, all of the armed forces, all of the different branches are filling their quotas three and four and five months ahead of schedule. So, you know, maybe they don't think they need to market.

Mike 27:22

Well, Garvin, thanks for the questions. We're gonna bank a few of those and get back to them later because uh they're good ones. And I hope that shed a little light on that. If anybody else has got information on that, I don't know what it might be, but I'd be interested in hearing it.

Kentucky Dave 27:35

Yeah, and Garvin say say hi to Harvey for us.

Mike 27:38

Yes. Frank Blanton, Frank Tank. The

Workbench Layout Tips From Listeners

Mike 27:42

model space discussion. He's enjoyed this continued discussion on modeling space, workbench organization, flow workflow optimization. Uh, he's moving from Richmond, Dave. Oh, really? He's moving to a gated 55 and up retirement community in South Carolina, low country.

Kentucky Dave 28:00

Oh, there's there's some great modelers down there.

Mike 28:03

We just got back from down there. Yep. So he's uh taking all this stuff to heart because he's setting up him a new place.

Kentucky Dave 28:09

Well, that that's I wonder where it is.

Mike 28:11

Hey, Frank, uh let us know where you're moving to. Yeah. And if you got a guest room.

Kentucky Dave 28:16

Yeah, there you go.

Mike 28:19

Uh he thinks the most important thing to have is a desk or bench that fits within the room, meaning the piece should not be too large as to clutter up the room itself.

Kentucky Dave 28:28

I agree.

Mike 28:29

Set of bookshelves would be nice. And his display cabinet. Getting those things in first and uh arranged is and arranged is the largest factor for him. But he's uh watching all this other stuff for all the all the nitty-gritty of getting the rest of his workplace set up. So Frank, this episode's gonna have a little bit of that. So as long as folks keep bringing it up in the listener mail, we'll keep talking about it. Because uh I know your you got yours under uh redesign, and uh I'm certainly thinking through mine, but uh until then. Keep the suggestions coming. That's right. And Frank, uh send us some pictures of your new model room once you get it all set up, and I'd I'd be real curious where you are. You're you're probably not too far from Charleston, but be curious where where down there you're moving, man. I'll I'll really love it down there. Up next, Dave, William Barry Goss has sent us in. He's from the Orlando area. He's got a a show he wants to promote, and we're gonna do it right here. It's it's it's the Figure World Orlando figure show in conjunction with the Amps FloridaCon Armor Show. So this is gonna be a figure, you know, juried exhibition style thing. And then the Amps God's gonna run their side of thing their way. And two-day event, November 7th and 8th. And that's it, Dave, from the from the email side of things. I'm sure the DMs have been hopping.

Nationals Meetups And Travel Updates

Kentucky Dave 29:50

The DMs have been hopping. First and foremost, we have had with the Nationals coming up, we have had tons of DMs of people, you know, are you gonna be at the Nationals or I'm coming to the Nationals or stuff like that. Thank you, all of you who have reached out and told us you're gonna be there, inquired if we're gonna be there, if we're gonna have a table. The answer is yes, we're gonna be there. Yes, we have a table. We are over in the squadron, squadron models area. So our table is in the corral, as they call it.

Mike 30:29

That's right.

Kentucky Dave 30:30

So come and look for us there, please. And thank you all for reaching out.

Mike 30:34

It's gonna be right right across from the entrance. In the you'll be facing it when you come into the to the squadron corral, it's gonna be right past to their checkout stand. So we'll be right there for everybody to see us and uh encourage folks to come by and uh of course check out what Brandon's selling. It'll be a lot, but uh come by and see us too. He's got us some space back there where we can hang out with a few people and not be in his way and look really looking forward to it.

Kentucky Dave 30:57

Yes, he's been very kind to us. Thank you, Brandon. On the DM side, in addition to all those DMs about the the upcoming ads, the Podfather is, as we are recording this, just starting his journey from Australia to Louisville. He will be arriving here Saturday evening and looking forward to it. Once he gets here, I will post photos and try and keep people up to date and can't wait to see him. We had a great time two years ago when he came in and and looking forward to it again this year. Special agent 003 was not planning on attending the nationals this year.

Mike 31:46

Of course, broke from his Belgium trip.

Kentucky Dave 31:49

That's what I was gonna say. You you and I keep up on on his travels, and and Brandon manages to travel. Well, he was over in Belgium and the Low Countries and all, doing a World War One related trip. And so he wasn't planning on coming to the Nationals. I got a DM from him just a day or two ago, says, blank it, I'm coming. So he is coming, so he's looking forward to to getting together with us and talking about World War One, because you know, a lot of people go to Europe and they do the World War II trips and tours and all, but he focused on first world war stuff and sent some great photos, and so I'm really looking forward to it. Next is a DM from, and I apologize, I I am I butcher names, Sebastian Videk, and I hope that's right, Sebastian. Sebastian who lives in I think the Czech Republic, somewhere in Central Europe, but I think it's the Czech Republic. I had previously talked about art scale kits, ASK, who made that beautiful 72nd scale zero engine that I've been painting up. And gosh, they've got a lot of stuff I want. I already own a fair amount of their stuff, but I won't they're releasing new stuff a lot. But he I had said that they were from Ukraine. That's not true. They are from the Czech Republic. I think it is Czechia now. And I just I guess I had assumed they were from Ukraine because the place I got the ASK stuff from was in Ukraine. And so I guess I made the false assumption that they were that they were located in Ukraine, but they're not. They are located in the Czech in Czechia or the Czech Republic. He also mentioned the the motion show.

Mike 33:59

Yeah.

Kentucky Dave 34:00

And talked about he had attended it the last time it was there, the one I think the same he was there at the same time Evan was, and talked about the number of models, and you know, it's a Saturday-Sunday show. And he says what he tends to do is he tends to do the vendors on Saturday, because if you try and do the model room on Saturday, it's so crowded that you're standing three people deep back from the model table. So he says what he died, he did at least last time, was he did the vendors on Saturday and then reserved Sunday to do the model room viewing. And he says that yes, we certainly need to attend, and he has extended a hearty invitation for us to come over, and he said he'd be happy to show us around the show and the town.

Mike 35:04

All right. We're getting some invites. We're going to put our money where our mouth is, man.

Kentucky Dave 35:08

Yes, we yes, we are.

Mike 35:10

It's that second one this month.

Kentucky Dave 35:12

It is. The next DM we got, and this is one you and I had a lot of conversation about. A listener from Finland, and again, I apologize if I butcher the name, Vile Yervanin, I think. Vile Yervanin. Vile, please, if if I got close, let me know. And you know, I talk about sometimes how, you know, during the day I'll get a DM with from a modeler and how it brightens up the day. And a lot of those DMs are just simple, hey, trying this modeling fluid, hey, uh, this is what I'm working on, just short conversations. Well, Vila, in response to the conversation about organizing and and doing up your model room, he engaged in a really in-depth back and forth. We conversed for quite a while with with numerous back and forth, back and forth DMs about setting up a model room. And he had what I've got to say is a really good philosophy.

Mike 36:31

I'm gonna kind of summarize it here because it was a very, very long. Well, it's topic three in the special segment, so don't don't go too far.

Kentucky Dave 36:40

You don't wanna, okay. He thought not about, oh, here's this way of storing things, or this is where you put this is, you know, a really good storage solution. His was a little more high-level, talking about almost a philosophy of how your model room should be laid out. So since we're going to talk about it later, I'll just leave people with that. But it was a really great conversation, and we'll get into it later, about a philosophy of what your model room should look like. Next, Derek, Daryl Miller also reached out in regard to the in regard to the hobby room organization issue, and he sent pictures of his room, very organized. And what he utilized, and I utilize some of these myself, are those rubber-made multi-drawler, clear drawer, they're like three-drawer or five-drawer organizers, and you know, you can either sit them on a desk or that, or in his case, he had them mounted to a wall, which I think really is a good solution. And he he had a really nice setup, and frankly, it's given me some inspiration for some stuff I'm considering. So I really appreciate that. And I'll post those pictures on the dodo dojo too. I'll try and get a little better. I have all these conversations, and they're great between the two people, but and sometimes I'll say, Would you please post this on the dojo? And and the person I'm talking to will, but sometimes I just forget, and I want to get more people to see these things. Next is our friend John Fluck. John sent us in a guest suggestion that I've I think I've already passed on to you, but if not, I I will. And thank you, John. We need those suggestions, and we'll put John in on the on the book drawing as well for giving us a possible guest. Finally, the voice of Bob. The voice of Bob reached out and he pointed out something that I'm sure you don't know, and I didn't know until he pointed it out. But apparently, if you count all our shorts and our show specials and our regular episodes altogether, we've released more episodes than any other podcast, including OTB. And believe me, the Podfather's gonna hear about that when he gets up here.

Mike 39:44

I don't count it.

Kentucky Dave 39:47

Bugsprout does. Yeah, I don't either, but it was a fun thing for him to notice, and it will be a great thing for me to give Goldfinch some some heck about.

Mike 39:59

All right. Well, I can't wait to hear that. Was that it? You said it's the last one, man. You sure does a lot. You could lose one or two.

Kentucky Dave 40:07

Yeah, I don't know. Hey, I might there were there were probably a couple more I I could have put in that I didn't. So yeah.

Mike 40:15

Okay. All right. Well, we gotta keep them all relevant. Yep. Well, folks, we appreciate it. Again, if you want to email the show, you can do so by sending us an email to plasticmodelmojo at gmail.com, or you can send us a direct message via the Facebook messenger system or the feedback web link in the show notes of each and every episode or on the website at plasticmodelmojo.com. Keep them coming, folks, and go back and listen to that intro part again and see if we can't get a little verbiage on this computer topic. That was that's one I'm really curious. Uh I know I'm not the only one, but maybe I'm maybe I'm the only one with no willpower. That could be true.

Kentucky Dave 40:55

No, I I I don't think so, because I know I have that problem. And if you and I both do, there gotta be other modelers that have it.

Book Giveaway Deadline And Topics

Mike 41:23

Well, Dave, folks have answered the call for topic suggestions, and they have a set up for a good while now. Yep. That's good. We've been debating on when we might actually drop this episode. If we if we drop it the soonest I can get it out, you're gonna have one day left to get these suggestions in and still get in on the Mighty Eighth uh Air Force book giveaway. That's if I get this out as soon as I can. Because it's gonna shut down on July the end of the July 31st. So it's gonna be a shop talk episode, Dave, and we're gonna start diving into those topics. Uh I'm telling you, these are some great we're gonna dive into these topics that folks have sent in just after this quick word from our sponsor, Squadron, Dave.

The Voice of Bob (Bair) 42:08

Plastic model mojo is brought to you by Squadron. Head on over to squadron.com for the latest in kits and accessories, all at a great price and with great service. Check out their wide selection of kits and supplies, including a growing range of squadron's own line of paints and 3D printed kits and accessories. Mark your calendar for April 2nd through April 4th, 2027, and join Squadron and the Chattanooga Scale Modelers at the Chattanooga Model Con Eagle Quest 2027. Squadron adding to the stack since 1968.

Lost Records We Wish We Had

Mike 42:45

Well, Dave, our first suggestions, and I'm gonna say suggestions because it's two, but they're closely related. Yep.

Kentucky Dave 42:53

Come from uh Inch I guy, Jeff Groves. Jeff always manages to come up with great questions.

Mike 43:00

He sent us like a whole page of them, man.

Kentucky Dave 43:02

I know, and as soon as I looked at these, I'm like, God, that's good, that's a great question.

Mike 43:07

Man, these retired guys just make sick, man.

Kentucky Dave 43:11

Yeah.

Mike 43:12

They got lots of time.

unknown 43:15

Okay.

Mike 43:17

There you go. We'll see. All right. So the first one is if you could find an Indiana Jones type box of original records or photos, what would be in that box, Dave? I'm going to you first.

Kentucky Dave 43:31

Oh, there's so many great choices. There's a lot of there's a lot of late war German records that are missing.

Mike 43:44

So that almost all the Japanese records.

Kentucky Dave 43:47

Well, that's where I was going next. The Japanese records, because of the fact that the Japanese there was a gap between between when they surrendered and when When we occupied them, they went about destroying a ton of records to the point where there are the if you take just an example aircraft, the KI-44, the Tojo, there are, I think, unless I'm mistaken, only four photographs of any part of the cockpit of a KI-44. There's just this giant hole where we don't know so much about it. And because the Japanese destroyed a lot of their records, I would love to have those back. You know, Germany was falling apart in the late war. There's so many of those records that that are confused or missing. I would imagine there's a lot of Russian stuff that you would love to know. It could still exist in the case of Russian stuff. It's just buried somewhere. Truly Indiana Jones.

Mike 45:14

Yeah. So what's your thought? Well, you you hit it, hit the nail on the head there. I would love to find the captured equipment evaluation reports from the Kumersdorf Proving Grounds in Germany from the war. This all stems from my KV-85 project.

Kentucky Dave 45:34

Well, and you know, I talked about there are only fo four photos of a Tojo interior. You're working on this KV-85, and I think you and I have talked previously. There's only what 12 or 13 photographs of these things.

Mike 45:52

Yeah, it's not, it's in that. Yeah, certainly less than 20. And then of those, there are only some of them are of any value.

Kentucky Dave 46:00

Right. So but I mean they made 300 of these things.

Mike 46:05

I keep watching German eBay. There was one that came across German eBay of the vehicle that ended up at Coomersdorf, call it White 31.

Kentucky Dave 46:14

Mm-hmm.

Mike 46:14

That it's 31 or 32, I can't remember. But anyway, it it was very valuable because it confirmed which production series that KV85 came from, the first or the second, and then where the second turret number was actually located on the turret. So it was a very valuable snapshot. But you know, there's still so much unknown.

Kentucky Dave 46:35

Well, and and if I pull back from inch's question to a larger, larger hope, and I've talked about this before. My if if I could do one thing, it would be that all of these photographs taken by all of the World War II soldiers from all of the combatants would all get central preserved, centralized, digitized, and made available rather than what I know happens every single day in this country, and I'm sure in other countries too, where a veteran dies or the veteran's wife dies where the veteran died already, and the family comes in, goes through everything. There may be photographs from the time the veteran participated in the war. They may might save one or two where the veteran's in the photograph, but I know there are tons of photographs out there that would answer questions that we in the modeling community have that just get thrown in the trash. And once it happens, we'll never know. So if I could, if I could be super Indiana Jones, I would have the ability to gather and preserve and digitize and make available all of those photos. And that's going to happen. It's starting to happen in the Korean War II. And you would think, well, we know everything about the Korean War. No, we don't. There's a whole, now it's obviously was much better photographed and filmed than World War II or even more so World War I, but there's still stuff that was known at one time and now isn't known. And we're going to be losing that stuff too eventually.

Mike 48:50

Man, are we live streaming? I just got three emails from folks getting in on the drawing.

Kentucky Dave 48:55

Great.

Mike 48:55

So Lister mail is already stacked for next episode. That's great.

Kentucky Dave 48:59

That's good news.

Mike 49:02

Uh we can move on to the part B, the second one from Jeff.

Saving Extinct Subjects For Museums

Mike 49:07

On the same vein, if you could go back and save one example of an extinct military subject for a museum, what would it be? What do you got, Dave?

Kentucky Dave 49:16

Oh God, there's so many answers here. You have to choose because, again, there are so many things that we do not have an example of. So I'm just going to pick the one that I think to me is the single biggest hole in what we don't have that I would like to have. And that's a vowel, a D3A. Believe it or not, with all of those that were produced, all we have is, and I think it's at the Pearl Harbor Museum in Hawaii, is kind of a skill partially skeletonized wreck of about, you know, a third of the aircraft. But given how many of those things existed and how many actually survived World War II, there's not an example of one anywhere in the world. And that that to me is a big hole. But I could just as easily pick a half dozen other aircraft. A BV-138, a DO17, usually they're their Axis aircraft just simply because the Allies having won the war, had a whole bunch of surplus. And while many things were destroyed, they did tend to preserve their own stuff a little better. But man, wouldn't you love is is there an example of a KV-85 anywhere?

Mike 51:04

Not a production vehicle. There's a monument tank near St. Petersburg. Which which is a prototype? It's a prototype. It's a converted KV1S hull. Gotcha. And the map that's all a lot of the details are just different, and it's it doesn't answer some of the fundamental questions about where the engine deck firewall actually was and what the shape of the fighting apartment roof armor looked like.

Kentucky Dave 51:30

So let me ask you the same question. What one item would you like to see preserved that doesn't currently exist?

Mike 51:40

That would be it, probably. I mean, there's not one.

Kentucky Dave 51:43

Is that a bias just because you happen to be working on it?

Mike 51:46

Currently, oh, I'm sure. I'm sure I've got some sample bias going on there because it's the one I'm currently working on. I what else? I don't know. It's a good question, but there's probably some aircraft too. I just can't name them. There's probably some German night fighters that don't exist. And what's sad, some of this stuff did exist, and we wrecked it or blew it up or trying to fly it.

Kentucky Dave 52:10

At the end of World War II, when we came in and occupied Japan, there were examples of almost every Japanese aircraft. And there is picture after picture of these things bulldozed up into a mound, yeah, and either buried or burned or hacked up. And man, those pictures hurt me every time I look at them.

Mike 52:41

Are there any devastators left?

Kentucky Dave 52:45

That's a great question. Um I'd have to drag.

Mike 52:49

I know when they when they found the uh oh, what was it? Was it the Lexington? Yeah. There was some talk about raising one of those. Or the Yorktown. I can't remember which ship it was, but I think it was the Yorktown.

Kentucky Dave 53:02

But I believe there may be one at the Naval Air Museum. I would have to go to their website and check. The NA the U.S. Navy, by the way, has done a really good job of preserving examples of their aircraft, which is one of the reasons going to Pensacola, Florida, and going to the Naval Aviation Museum is such a pleasure because there's not only all the stuff we all think of, F-14s, F-4s, you know, Hellcats, Corsairs, etc., but they have preserved numerous examples of lesser known types. And I gotta get down there. And done so in a beautiful way. Yes, you have. If you if you have, and you can make a vacation with the family out of it, because Pensacola is fantastic. You take your wife down there, you do all the vacation-related stuff, and you won't have any problem getting her to let you break away for a day and go to the museum.

Mike 54:14

Jeff, thanks for those, man. Those are some fun ones. They are. And we'll get into some of his others at a later time.

The Voice of Bob (Bair) 54:22

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Accuracy Versus Art In Finishing

Mike 54:47

Well, our next topic for the night, Dave, is from Jeff Adanich.

Kentucky Dave 54:51

Mm-hmm.

Mike 54:52

And he wants to know what's more important in the look of a finished kit. Historical accuracy or artistic license. I think it's a it's a blend.

Kentucky Dave 55:03

I would actually say neither. You know what's most important?

Mike 55:07

Getting it finished.

Kentucky Dave 55:08

Well, yes.

unknown 55:10

Thank you.

Kentucky Dave 55:10

Okay. I'll I'll get hang on. Let me grab that knife. I've got it here for you when you come by.

Mike 55:18

Yeah, you can put it back in my back.

Kentucky Dave 55:20

Yeah, there you go. But I'd actually say neither. And I uh and that's kind of a tongue-in-cheek answer because I think this is a great question, and both of those things you can you can talk about and make make a case for both of those things. I would say the most important is the modeler enjoyed the process.

Mike 55:47

Well, he's specifically saying the look of a finished kit.

Kentucky Dave 55:50

Right. I I would argue that now I do think finishing a kit is great and and all of that, but I think if the modeler enjoyed the process, got joy out of it, and finished the model, and they are happy with the result, whether they went for historical accuracy or whether they went for artistic presentation and didn't concentrate quite as much on historical accuracy, as long as they're happy with the result that they got for what they were trying to accomplish. I'd say that's the most important thing.

Mike 56:38

How about you? I think it's a a a balance. I think what you said is important. We've talked about enjoyment a lot on this podcast.

Kentucky Dave 56:47

Yes.

Mike 56:48

And but back to his the specificity of his his question and the look of a finished kit. I I think it's it's it's a you you get a balance of historical accuracy, which maybe I'm gonna think this is uh I don't know. I'll save that for a second. Historical accuracy accuracy, scale fidelity, and artistic license. And I think the secret sauce is getting those all balanced. Um the historical accuracy one is is interesting. I'm not sure what what Jeff is thinking specifically with historical accuracy, but for the longest time you didn't you saw it in aircraft modeling, but in in armor modeling for for the longest time it seemed like nobody was building a specific vehicle, you know, like from a photograph. Right. They were building and marking vehicles rather generically, and but they may have had high skidelity of scale as far as the detailing is concerned, and they put us just a banger of a paint job on it using some artistic license there, because if you ever seen a real tank in some of these photographs from like Tank Fest or the events wherever Samoa, Bobbington. Now, those are not combat vehicles, they've been restored pretty tight and paint's pretty fresh, but there's certainly no color modulation in the paint scheme. Right. And there there probably wasn't any on a vehicle that was seven months old in the theater either. Right. Uh so a modeler can take all these things and just end up with a a really convincing and visually appealing thing. And I I think it's it's it's all these things. And go ahead.

Kentucky Dave 58:37

I remember 1996, IPMS Nationals, Virginia Beach, Virginia, Dave Klaus, who ran a cot well, it was way more than a cottage industry, but he ran a company that produced resin sets, but also produced decals. And he did a seminar on decal doing research, you know, everything from the research all the way to the production and distribution of decal sheets. And one of the things that he drove him up a wall, and he went on about it at length in this seminar, was that he he prided himself on the research end, getting the decal right, you know, getting the getting the colors right, getting the shape right, getting the the markings correct for a particular aircraft from a photo or series of photos. And it drove him up a wall that most modelers didn't seem to care. Because there were other companies that had produced sheets of the same aircraft and they got this wrong, or they got that wrong. You know, they used the wrong font on the codes, or the wrong color, or they had a marking in the wrong place, or whatever. And it drove him up a wall that modelers didn't seem to care about that level of accuracy, or at least aircraft modelers for the sheets he was producing, did not care at that level that the decal sheet that they got from another manufacturer that purported to be the same aircraft wasn't as accurate as the sheet he had done because they had either get the other manufacturer had either guessed or didn't care or didn't do the research. But as long as the modeler thought the finished product looked right, they were happy with it. Yeah. And I buy that. I buy that too. So when you talk about historical accuracy, even folks who are trying to do it accurately, I'm sure there's a subset out there that really do care down to the nth detail. But I think there are a lot of modelers that when it comes to historical accuracy are in the close enough is good enough category.

Mike 1:01:44

Yeah.

Kentucky Dave 1:01:44

And so, you know, I finished the model. It looks right to me if I find out later that that code should have been dark blue rather than dark red. It's in my case, it's finished and I'm on to the next model.

Mike 1:02:01

I'm not gonna strip it and start over.

Kentucky Dave 1:02:04

Exactly.

Mike 1:02:05

Uh I like I like fidelity of scale. I'm not that great of a paint and finisher. I you know I'm trying to get better.

Kentucky Dave 1:02:12

Aren't we all, brother?

Mike 1:02:14

And you know, there's a lot of weathering techniques I don't think I'm very good at, but I I just think when it all comes together, if if if I'm satisfied with it, like you're saying, then that's probably what matters the most. Maybe scale fidelity is wrapped up in his historical accuracy.

Kentucky Dave 1:02:28

Yeah.

Mike 1:02:29

Not entirely though. I mean, you could have all the details that are supposed to be there, some that are supposed to be there, but some could be grossly oversized or undersized. Right. That that's the kind of thing I I kind of shy away from trying to get away from that kind of issues. But but it's, you know, in 35th scale, it's it's not especially in the marketplace today with all we've got at our fingertips, it's not that hard.

Kentucky Dave 1:02:50

I was about to say.

Mike 1:02:52

Somebody like Steve Hustad, though, doing 72nd scale and maintaining Fidelia scale gets a gets a little harder. Maybe not for him anymore, but he knows all the tricks, right? But it's just and man, that's that's where Fidelia scale with with the with a with a nice finish, even you know, if the artistic aspects of the finish are there, but they're I don't know what to say, tasteful is not the right word, but uh not overly exaggerated. Mm-hmm. Uh I just think you can get a really visual visually appealing model, even though it might not actually weather like that in real life.

Kentucky Dave 1:03:28

Yeah.

Mike 1:03:29

It just it just brings there's a level of realism there that just makes the whole thing pop. And and I don't know. I think it's a combination of all these things. I don't I don't know if either of those is more important than the other.

Kentucky Dave 1:03:40

Well, you know, there was a modeler in our club, John Blossom. I don't know if you remember, John.

Mike 1:03:45

Yeah.

Kentucky Dave 1:03:46

700 scale ships.

Mike 1:03:48

Yep.

Kentucky Dave 1:03:49

And this was before a lot of photo etch and clearly well before 3D printing and everything like that, which by the way, I think is a revolution for scale fidelity because what they can do with 3D printing now really will give you scale fidelity, especially in 35th scale. But John, when he was doing these 700-scale ships, he knew you couldn't reproduce every beam and every the every little detail. And he said, and I think this is absolutely true, that what you were trying to create was the impression of detail, especially in 700 scale, where he would use techniques where he was not putting in every piece, you know, when he was up detailing and scratch building on one of these 700 scale kits, he wasn't trying to reproduce the item bolt for bolt in 700 scale. He was trying to create the impression that those details existed through the use of scratch building, painting, dry brushing, which at the time was was the was the technique of of choice. But I think he's right in a lot of cases. You're not trying to reproduce every single rivet or screw, but you're trying to create the impression that the model is well detailed.

Mike 1:05:39

And he did great work.

Kentucky Dave 1:05:40

God, he did. Yeah. Yes, he did.

Mike 1:05:44

All right, man. I hope that answers Jeff. We had two Jeffs. Jeff number two's question.

Kentucky Dave 1:05:49

Yep.

Mike 1:05:50

Interesting topic. If folks got comments on that, we're glad to hear 'em. I think it's uh just a blend of historical accuracy, artistic license, and scale fidelity. So and finishing it, enjoying it while you're while you're going on going all along there. So thanks for the suggestion.

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A Practical Philosophy For Organization

Mike 1:07:22

Well, Dave, we're gonna get back to your email, your direct message from Phila Yervanin.

Kentucky Dave 1:07:27

Yes.

Mike 1:07:31

He'll have to tell us, but I think that the V is probably an F sound, if I had to guess.

Kentucky Dave 1:07:36

See, I I don't know Finnish.

Mike 1:07:38

Well, I don't either, but that's pretty common in some other European languages, though Finnish might be completely different. I don't know. Regardless if we got your name right or not, I saw that text thread. Yeah. And he had some really interesting points about this continued organizational conversation we've been having.

Kentucky Dave 1:07:58

He did, and I think that part of the reason that it was so fascinating was he did approach it at a at a kind of high level. A thought into as opposed to the details of put your paint in racks like this or store your detail parts like that. He had he put more thought almost into a philosophy of how you're how you should think about organizing your model room. One of the things that he talked about, and I it it it's common sense, but it's it's probably something that you don't think about is that the way you store your tools affects how cluttered your workbench is. And that if if you store your tool tools in a manner in which it's easier to get them to use them, and it's natural to put them away, that uh you know that the storage is accessible and close, and the tools that you use more often are closer, and the tools you use less often, maybe a little further away, that you're more likely to put the tool away. And if you put the tool away, your bench is less cluttered.

Mike 1:09:34

Yeah, I'm thinking about kind of the opposite of that, is just trying to have everything close. Yes. What you're calling the start. And then you know, I've got uh the top drawer of my workbench is starting to look a lot more like the kitchen drunk junk drawer than junk drawer, than than my workshop drawer like it used to. So it's it's it's uh high on the list to get pulled out and trashed and and rearranged.

Kentucky Dave 1:09:58

Yep. And I think that that's that is part of what he was talking about, is if you store all your tools, all trying to keep them all closed, rather than putting some thought into them as to what tool that you use every time you sit down at the bench, and what tool you use once a year for that specialized thing that needs to be done that you may do once a kit or once a year. Yeah. And not keeping them all in the s in the same place, I think that makes a lot of sense.

Mike 1:10:40

Well, I do too. And it's it gets into everything else too. It's it makes me miss my old shop at the old house because my workbench was better than it is now, but it wasn't that much different, really. But that also allowed me to get a lot of stuff that I don't use that often in a different place. And uh I would just go retrieve it when I needed it. And like he's saying, you're more likely to put it back, especially your your frequent use tools, if they're right there next to you, you're gonna just get in the habit of putting those back if if things are if it's a frequent situation, I guess is what I'm trying to say.

Kentucky Dave 1:11:15

The next point that uh Philae made that really got me thinking was talking about wall space and utilizing wall space for storage of less commonly accessed items. In fact, this kind of tied in with what listener Daryl Miller was communicating in his DM about using those rubber made style clear drawer sets attached to walls to utilize the storage items. But Vila was basically you mentioning thinking about utilizing your walls as storage space for less frequently used items. And I think that really makes sense. And frankly, ever since he and I had that interaction, I've been looking at the walls in my model room and realizing how much space and how I could utilize that to clear up a lot of stuff that right now is cluttered around my hobby room. And frankly, I'm I'm I've I've been thinking a lot about that. That's frankly from our conversation, probably one of the things that he said that got me thinking the most. So I know you, your, your model room, you were thinking about redoing your walls.

Mike 1:12:56

Oh, I am. I've about a third of the way done. I've got a bunch of commercial slat wall like you'd see in a retail store.

Kentucky Dave 1:13:04

Yeah.

Mike 1:13:05

That I'm furring out the walls and hanging these these panels up, and I'll have like one entire long wall in my basement's floor to ceiling, edge to edge, is gonna be covered in this stuff. Now, some of my military collections on some of it. Right. Which is on what I've got up now. But the rest of it, what I did is there was a a bicycle shop that was going out of business here in town, and it had been all slat walled, and this guy had just boxes and boxes of all the different pegs and hooks and stuff. So I've got tons of that, and I I've got all the slat wall, I just need to get it done. So hopefully this fall I'll finish that out. But uh really gonna use the wall space a lot.

Kentucky Dave 1:13:45

So well, and everything you put on a wall clears up either floor space or bench space, and it's an it's almost an easy gain by making that move. It's just that you haven't thought about doing it. Yeah, and so I I am I like I said, this is the part of the conversation that I probably have thought about most since we had it. You have anything else to say? Well, he talked about, and this is I guess what I'm going through right now, except I I haven't. I've been in this house six years now, and once I initially built out the model room, it became pretty static for a long time. And his comment was your hobby room should be continuously refined workspace. In other words, there's always room for improvement. And when you're working on a model in your model room, even when everything seems to be just perfect where it should, constantly think about your process. And if you find yourself, and you always will find yourself doing something in a way that could be improved by changing either where a tool is stored or moving a set of storage or reorganizing what tools or where, that you should constantly be refining your workspace. And I really think that's true. And I don't think enough people think about that. I think that you get comfortable with a model space as it is, and you end up working around the problems rather than saying, hey, this is a problem, I need to fix it.

Mike 1:15:57

Which gets perpetually worse because usually it's a one-way door of bringing stuff in.

Kentucky Dave 1:16:02

Exactly.

Mike 1:16:05

I might use that someday. It's like all the scrap lumber in your garage, right?

Kentucky Dave 1:16:09

Oh god, in fact, I'm walking past a whole bunch of scrap lumber that's leaned up against a wall in my garage right now for that very reason. Yeah.

Mike 1:16:20

Bust it up into kindling, man.

Kentucky Dave 1:16:22

Yep.

Mike 1:16:23

Some other joker near near living in your cul-de-sac's got us got the same thing. You just go get six inches of two by four from from him sometime.

Kentucky Dave 1:16:31

Yep. Well, as a matter of fact, uh I have a skilled carpenter and woodworker three doors down in my cul-de-sac. So yeah, I could walk over there and get any piece of wood I need.

Mike 1:16:46

But for the workshop, you know, obsolete crap, products you never use. I I've got a I've got a purge coming, man.

Kentucky Dave 1:16:55

You and me both. Well, I'm you and I've talked about this. I'm purging on my old Vallejo and other paint sets that I don't use. I am purging those, and you're gonna end up with some of them, or at least you're gonna get up with the opportunity to go through it first. Okay, but yes, purging through that stuff and winnowing down to what I I use regularly, so that I don't have 20 different paint sets.

Mike 1:17:29

We've covered a lot about workshops today.

Kentucky Dave 1:17:31

Yeah, yes, and and guys, keep this stuff coming. This has been really great. It's been really helpful for me, and I'm hoping, especially as version 2.0 of the website comes out, and we have the ability to post some more long form stuff and things like that that we're working on, that we'll be able to share more of this. And I'm really appreciating everything that that everybody's contributing. Please keep it coming.

Mike 1:18:07

All right, folks. Again, unless I get this out later than I anticipate, you got one day left to send us topic suggestions for either our shop talk format or the wheel of accidental wisdom and get your name in the the hat for the book, the 98th book giveaway.

Kentucky Dave 1:18:23

So whenever whenever you drop this, you probably ought to. We ought to probably declare here and now we're gonna give them two days from when we drop this episode to get those last minute ones in.

Mike 1:18:36

Not a bad idea. Because we may draw that we may figure this out who the winner is at the national convention.

Kentucky Dave 1:18:40

So right.

Mike 1:18:41

Yeah, good idea. So we may have a little slight extension depending on the drop day.

Progress Updates Shoutouts And Closing

Mike 1:18:50

Well, hopefully you got some modeling done between the all the house cleaning chores, getting ready for your your house guests. Have you gotten much done, Dave?

Kentucky Dave 1:18:58

The first half of July was the most productive month I have had this year. Then about the 15th of July, everything ground to a halt because of again prepping for house guests. We're going through a bathroom remodel. We're preparing for my wife's 60th birthday and my 65th birthday, and having house guests and all of that. So it slammed to a halt. About the only thing modeling-wise, I've actually done since our last recording was I I've been working on that ASK Zero engine, and I finished it up to the point where I can now simply put it in a container. And then as soon as I finish my current project, I am going to, among other things, break out another Tomia Zero, Model 21, and build it with the cowl off of it, which I'll be able to highlight and feature that engine, and it's done, ready to be mated with an actual model when I get to that point. Other than that, I have not done anything else productive other than again remodel for the model room, et cetera, et cetera, which I will try and take pictures and update people. I did post an update in the model room. I've got a new light box. So hopefully we're gonna be getting better photographs of my stuff that's in progress, and there will be way more of that right after the national.

Mike 1:20:55

We'll see, man. I hope so.

Kentucky Dave 1:20:56

Other than spilling waste inner all over your modeling bench, uh, have you gotten anything done?

Mike 1:21:03

I'm shooting paint on the KV-85. I've got all the road wheels and sprockets and idlers and return rollers all base coat.

Kentucky Dave 1:21:10

Now, this isn't primer, this is actual paint, right?

Mike 1:21:13

Green green paint, man. Green paint for BO. It is. And it's trying to think what's next. I'm probably gonna actually start on some of these parts some preliminary weathering to kind of get the feel for what I want to do, since it's kind of just road wheels are easy to strip if I don't like it and redo them.

Kentucky Dave 1:21:31

And I assume you're gonna to weather the road wheels separately before you put them on the model.

Mike 1:21:37

Uh well mostly, I mean Yes, but uh that'll probably all go down while I'm doing the lower hull as well. Right. Oh, I probably would not weather up all the wheels and then try to make it match later. I don't know. It could be done, but it's not usually my way of doing things. I I think what else have I got to do? I've got a I've got a a mask to cut for the turret numbers, which is not that big a deal. Just use the decal sheet as a guide and cut those out of Tamiya tape. Not to paint a white or light gray patch on the turret faces to come up with the white markings. But uh other than that, I haven't done a whole lot. It's probably not coming with me to show off at Nats this year. Everybody saw it in this raw form last year, but uh so yeah, I haven't made a whole lot of progress since then. But but but I am painting now. Are you liking that 4BO mix? I I like the color. It's it's uh it's it's light, but it you know it matches the the real paint I have on several things here in my collection. I think when it weathers, it's gonna subdue it a little bit and darken it a little bit, and uh that's kind of the direction probably needs to go for the finished product. So I don't know. I I would like to get the turret mask cut here and maybe that's part painted before before we head to head to uh Fort Wayne. Other than that, not much. Um gotcha. I had a fun Saturday painting, getting all those wheels done. Really got back trying to get back into the paint and finish flow of things since I finished the E16 Paul. I haven't really painted hardly anything since then. That's that's been a minute now.

Kentucky Dave 1:23:11

Well, again, and I maintain that airbrushing is a perishable skill.

Mike 1:23:16

You know, it is, but uh, it's it's I don't know. I think I'm more mindful about what I'm doing now, just since I've gotten more experience since we've had uh John Miller on the times we have, and and just seeing other people's work. So yeah, it's it's a lot easier for me now to get back into the groove. So but it'd been a minute, you know, mixing paints and all that. Uh you can uh you can lose your edge for sure. But it's solid green, so it's not like I'm painting you know, smoke rings on a 70-second scale Italian fighter plane or something.

Kentucky Dave 1:23:48

That's true. I wouldn't paint those either. I'd use Mike Grant's decals.

Mike 1:23:54

So that's it for me.

Kentucky Dave 1:23:56

All right. Mike, I'm sure your water was very satisfying.

Mike 1:24:05

Kept me from getting hoarse tonight.

Kentucky Dave 1:24:07

There you go. I can say that Wicked Possum hazy India Pale Ale from Metazoa Brewing was really good. Got me through the episode, and I like hazy IPAs. 6.3% alcohol by volume, so a very mid-range beer. Very good. I can highly recommend it. And I want to thank Mr. Gentry again for supplying that for tonight's show.

Mike 1:24:38

Exactly. We we're sorry, we uh gaffed uh remembering who gave it to us.

Kentucky Dave 1:24:42

Yes, and thank you for listening to the episode and reaching out and letting us know.

Mike 1:24:48

They've all got great names.

Kentucky Dave 1:24:50

Yes, they do.

Mike 1:24:51

Unless you've already had if this is your last one, you probably know they're all great. So yes, they were, they were yummy. Yep, maybe we'll get some.

Kentucky Dave 1:24:57

They were. Well, hopefully we'll we'll re-up a little at the at the Nationals. We are now at the uh end of the episode, and it's shout-out time. You got a shout-out?

Mike 1:25:14

Uh, my customary shout-out to all the folks who've uh chosen to support Plastic Model Mojo through their generosity. We appreciate it very much. Keeps this boat chugging down the river. And if you'd like to do that, there's several avenues to which you can contribute to the show, and those can all be found in the show notes of each and every episode or under the support the show tab on the website at www.plasticmodelmojo.com. Other than that, I just want to shout out to all our travelers and wish them all safe journeys to Fort Wayne because they're coming from about a bazillion different places and look forward to seeing everybody.

Kentucky Dave 1:25:49

Me too. My shout out is a point of personal privilege on this one. This coming Saturday is my wife's 60th birthday. I could not ask for a better model wife. She indulges me greatly, including allowing me to go to the Nationals every year right around the same time as her birthday occurs. Thank gosh, this year Fort Wayne got it. They got it starting on my birthday rather than uh the timing it around my wife's birthday. So, but she's a wonderful model wife, and I couldn't ask for any better. Happy birthday, honey. Even though I know you don't listen to this podcast, I'm still gonna still gonna put this in here anyway. So shout out to her. All right, man. I guess we gotta get our bags packed. Uh you know, I've already started packing. I actually started packing about four days ago. So you're ready. Well, no, I'm not, but that's okay.

Mike 1:26:56

Well, man, as we always say, so many kits, so little time, Dave, and we'll all be together real soon.