Things it took me 10 years in IPMS to learn.

Never under any circumstances take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the night before the National Convention.

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."

People who want to share their views with you on a specific camouflage pattern or what a specific color really looked like almost never want you to share your opinion with them.

You should not confuse your hobby with your life.

No matter what happens at a chapter meeting, somebody will find a way to take it too seriously.

When trouble arises at the local contest and things look bad, there is always one individual who perceives a solution and is willing to take command. Very often, that individual is crazy.

Never lick an X-Acto® knife.

There are very few problems with a bad-fitting kit that cannot be solved through a suitable application of high explosives.

Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.

Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.

Friends may come and friends may go, but kits accumulate.

He who dies with the most kits is still dead.

Two rights do not make a wrong. They made an airplane.

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic.

If at first you don't succeed, throw it in the spare parts box.

Outside of a dog, a model kit is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to build anything. [ Thank you, Groucho. ]

Remember, when someone annoys you at a Chapter meeting it takes 42 muscles in your face to frown, BUT it only takes 4 muscles to extend your arm and slap the annoying person upside the head.

The 50-50-90 rule: Anytime you have two parts that look alike there is a 50-50 chance of getting the correct one glued in, there's a 90% probability you'll get the wrong one glued in.

Nobody cares if you aren't a Master Modeler. Just build!

[The preceding is an accumulationn of various sayings and quotes I have modified to apply to this hobby based on an article by Dave Berry. ]

…And So How Are the Projects Going?

28 March 2006
Given my poor track record with completing something I decided tonight that I would paint the 1/48th scale Tiger I kit I’ve been messing with. Now as you will know if you are a serious model builder, Snap-Tite® kits are made for kids to put together without having to use glue (or plastic cement). So it shouldn’t be hard for me to build, correct? Wrong! I couldn’t leave well enough alone when I was building it. I had to putty and fill in gaps and drill out the gun barrel. Of course I couldn’t accomplish drilling out the double muzzle brake. Anyway, my faithful Badger® decided to act up tonight. It spit and spewed. Partly my fault because I didn’t mix the paint and thinner well enough first go round. After doing some painting the airbrush came to the thinner and that’s what I was spraying – just thinner. I remixed my paint 50/50 and ensured that it was well stirred this time. That’s when the Badger® decided it want to spit every once in a while. Plus the spray would go at a slight angle every once in a while. Time for a major cleaning of the airbrush. This is what the first coat of panzer schwarzgrau looks like on the model.

30 March 2006
FineScale Modeler® did another one of their surveys and the outcome was reported in the editorial of the most recent issue. FSM found that the mean productivity is 5 models completed per year. Hmm, guess I’ll have to schedule an hour per evening and work on my stuff. Yes, that’s the ticket! Self-discipline! Now why didn’t I think of that before?

Braille Scale Armor Fighting Vehicles

You know, besides making a journal of my model building activities I had planned on talking a lot about my procrastinations in completing model projects in this blog. Well, it seems that my procrastination extends beyond my chosen hobby. I haven’t written anything since April 2005! Now is that a great illustration of the power of procrastination? It’s like the old joke: “I was going to stop procrastinating, but kept putting it off.” Anyway, I need to finish writing something soon and post so it won’t be a year without anything. I’m certain by now anyone who possibly read these ramblings now thinks I have abandoned it.

I like small-scale armor and military vehicles. I use to define small scale as 1/72nd scale and smaller (i.e. 1/76, 1/87, 1/100, 1/144). Now with my discovery of the Tamiya® and old 1/48th scale Bandai® AFV series I have expanded that definition. Why do I prefer small-scale? I don’t know. Just do. I realize that here in the U.S.A. 1/35th scale armor is the most popular but in other parts of the world especially Europe and Japan, small-scale is very popular. In fact there has been a recent resurgence in popularity in the U.S. because of the vast number of good kits coming out of Eastern Europe and from the Chinese companies Dragon® and Trumpeter®. I guess it is because they don’t cry out for detail the way large scale does that I build miniature scale AFVs.

Of course the wargamers who indulge in World War 2 games use small-scale armor a lot. BattleFront Hobbies® of New Zealand has a very nice and extensive line of 15mm (1/100th scale) tanks, vehicles, artillery pieces, and soldiers for their “Flames of War®” game. I’ve seen a lot of these on display at the local HobbyTown® and on the Flames of War® web site. Which brings me to my wondering why gamers want to overemphasis their weathering. Ever seen the Warhammer® or Flames of War® figures and vehicles painted up by a wargamer? Seems they like to use undiluted black ink or paint in the crevices, folds, and lines. The “shadows” are too dark and way out of scale. It must be because a wargamer needs copious amounts of figures or vehicles to represent his army. The ones who paint their stuff still have to get a lot accomplished in a short time. Well, each to their own, I guess. It’s a good thing for me I don’t play these games because I’d never have an army to field.

So what projects am I doing now? This year IPMS NCT’s group entry for the IPMS 2006 Nationals is “Pacific War 1945”. I’m doing a Hasegawa® 1/72nd scale Yokosuka MXY-7 (allied code name Baka Bomb).
For the group entry for a little group of armor model builders I belong to, the George Armstrong Custer Gin Drinking and Model Building Society, I am doing a AFV Club® 1/35th scale SdKfz 251/4 ausf C. [Now you are wondering about the 1/35th scale. Hey, that’s not my fault. That’s the scale this group always does their group entry in.]

And lastly, just for the heck of it, I have a Monogram® 1/48th scale Snap-Tite® Tiger I. Sometimes I just like to finish something so I waste my time on something like this.


[By-the-way: if you wonder about the P-51 I was building for our group entry for the IPMS 2005 Nationals…I never did finish it.]