Plastic Model Mojo
Plastic Model Mojo, a podcast dedicated to scale modeling, as well as the news and events around the hobby
Plastic Model Mojo
Mike and Kentucky Dave Spectacular: Episode 121
What keeps your modeling mojo alive? In episode 121 of Plastic Model Mojo, we commemorate birthdays and share our excitement for September’s events, including the much-anticipated Military Modelers Club of Louisville show. We dive into listener feedback from the National Convention, with heartfelt stories from Hector Colon, Bill Moore, and Stephan Georis that reignite our passion for the hobby. Hector's newfound enthusiasm, Bill's generous swag, and Stephan's suggestion for on-site shipping services spark lively discussions, reminding us of the power of community and shared experiences.
This episode also features an insightful comparison of two new airbrushes from Harder and Steenbeck's 2024 lineup, with a spotlight on the beginner-friendly Ultra model. We offer practical tips on attending conventions, honing your modeling techniques, and managing ambitious projects, all while keeping the fun and competitive spirit of the Moosaroo Cup alive. Expect candid reviews, valuable advice, and a touch of humor as we explore the latest in the modeling world and reflect on our own progress and challenges throughout the year.
We round out the episode with a showcase of new model kits and releases, from Roden's Type 830 Staff Car to Gecko Models' post-war Land Rover. Join us as we share shout-outs to our supportive listeners, celebrate community connections, and emphasize the importance of patience, practice, and camaraderie in keeping our modeling mojo strong. This episode promises to be a treasure trove of inspiration and tips for modelers of all levels, ensuring you stay connected and motivated in your scale modeling journey.
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Mike and Kentucky Dave thank each and everyone of you for participating on this journey with us. We are grateful for having you as listeners, and the community that has grown around Plastic Model Mojo makes it all worth while.
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 and Kentucky Dave as they strive to be informative, entertaining and help you keep your modeling mojo alive.
Mike:All right, folks, we're at episode 121. Kentucky, dave, how you doing tonight?
Kentucky Dave:I'm doing great man. We're ripping through August. We were originally going to record this on my birthday, Monday August 5th, but life intervened and so we're recording it. A few days later my wife had a birthday August 1st, Mine was the 5th and then our friend Steve Hustad was yesterday, the 8th. August is moving along very, very quickly.
Mike:Well, happy birthday to Ruthie and happy birthday to Steve, and happy birthday to you man. Thank you, hope it was good and enjoyable. You didn't have to do work for PMM.
Kentucky Dave:No, I did not. I was not recording an episode on my birthday, but that's okay.
Mike:That's good Cause, cause the pay is terrible.
Kentucky Dave:The pay's terrible. The working conditions are even worse. No listen, that's the recording. Pmm is one of the things that I actually really, really enjoy, so Well, what's up in your model sphere then?
Kentucky Dave:If the birthdays are behind you and you're newly focused on other things, I'm still coming off the post-NATS high anticipating us attending the Military Modelers Club of Louisville show toward the end of September, so that's less than 60 days away. Digger Dave sent me a book on Australia at war and Churchill and MacArthur. It's like 600 pages, so I've got a little light history slash modeling related reading to do. All in all, I'm still jazzed. I'm still coming off that post-NATats high where your eyes are bigger than your stomach. You've got 20 things you want to do and you've got all these great ideas, and so I'm anxious to try and get it all implemented.
Mike:Well, I think we've tried to move off the Nats, given we had our preview episode, then our post, to move off the gnats, given we had the our preview episode, then our post, and then folks just got to let the ripple settle down in the pond because the listener mail is coming in from that still and we'll touch on a little bit, but that won't be the, won't be the major part of the episode but expect more how?
Kentucky Dave:how about your model sphere? How are you doing?
Mike:you know I'm I'm wondering if 2024 is repeatable for us. Oh really, how so? Well, we're in the middle of Q3.
The Voice of Bob:Yep.
Mike:Third quarter We've been to four major North American shows Yep. Looking at a fifth Yep. I've been to three local shows Greenville, tennessee, knoxville, tennessee, and we went to Columbus.
Kentucky Dave:Yep.
Mike:As you just mentioned, we still have our MMMCL show in September.
Kentucky Dave:Right.
Mike:And I don't know man, I'm not sure I did this many shows in my last modeling life.
Kentucky Dave:Well, you know, our wives are clearly tolerant women. Yeah, this is, I think, going to be a banner year that the first six months' worth of episodes that we've done have been some of the best ones we've ever done. I'm just really proud of the quality and the variety of our episodes and I'm hoping we can keep that going through the end of the year.
Mike:I hope so too, and I think we've got a few birds in the bush yes, yes, we do that are going to pan out and it's going to be pretty good. August is looking pretty good.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah.
Mike:I think we've got a good one after this one. This is going to be a Mike and Dave show, but we'll get more into that a little later.
Kentucky Dave:I guess the other thing I want, want to touch on, is kind of tongue-in-cheek, since you mentioned digger dave is, uh, the moose root cup? Yes, which?
Mike:officially started august 3rd. That's right. Well, I I just we need a judgment from the hamilton crew. Yes, based on this assumption that the the builder who flubs last year's moose root cup gets to gets the redo the following year.
Kentucky Dave:Are you throwing shade at anybody, in particular here?
Mike:I'm busting on Julian a little bit. All right, your guy flubs his turn. You got to move to the next guy. He gets to wear the scholar scarlet letter for the number of years between himself and the number of hosts you have on your podcast. I mean, it's like American baseball you strike out, you don't get a do over. You got to wait the entire rotation before you get to go to bat. Again. There are eight guys in front of you before you get a shot at redemption. So what's that all about?
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, but on the other hand, what happens if Julian fails to finish twice? Man, I think Dave's got to kick him off the podcast, you think? So.
Mike:I think I don't see how that's going to be a hard one to live down there.
Kentucky Dave:Well, that tells me I definitely need to get started on the Moosaroo man. I don't want to take a chance like that.
Mike:So if Duncan and company wants to give us a judgment, I'll accept whatever they say and I'm just busting chops, it's all fun.
Kentucky Dave:Yes, absolutely. The Moosaroo is just done in good spirit and fun among the podcasts, and part of the fun is us ragging on each other about the Moosaroo. So I'm looking forward to plenty of the other podcasts, posting in-progress work and coming to some consensus about these lovely kits we've been gifted with. So I'm looking forward to that.
Mike:Yeah, I think for you, man, this was better than the Armut Mustang.
Kentucky Dave:Oh, absolutely. This is even better because it's not nearly as complex. It's got a lot less parts, Although the vignette throws kind of a twist in it. I'm telling you that may be the real challenge portion of this particular Moosaroo, and I'm still working on ideas for that.
Mike:So we'll see how that goes. Maybe I need to come into town and we need to strategize. Get another good pool day in and strategize.
Kentucky Dave:There you go, there you go, there you go. That sounds like a great idea. So, mike, do you have a modeling fluid in front of you?
Mike:I sure do Dave.
Kentucky Dave:And what?
Mike:modeling fluid is this? It is John Sleeman Sons Traditional Straight Whiskey. This is from the Spring Hill Distillery in Guelph, ontario. Guelph, ontario, guelph. Gifted to us by Mr. Is it Guelph or Guelph Guelph?
Kentucky Dave:I get it wrong every time. I know the Canadians will never let you live it down.
Mike:Well see, I thought I said Guelph and I got called out, so we need another judgment from the Hamilton crew. There you go, on me, so there we go. But this was gifted by Duncan Young from the IVMS Hamilton Club and we'll summarize it at the end. Dave, what are you working on?
Kentucky Dave:Well, first of all, thank you, duncan, for doing that. I have a beer. I've got Pistachio Cream Ale by Indeed Brewing Company out of Minneapolis, minnesota, and this one was gifted to us also at the Nationals by our good friend Mike Halliday, and I've never had it before, I've never even heard of it before. I do like pistachios, so I'm looking forward to this. We'll see how it wraps up at the end.
Mike:Well, we got lots of listener mail. Well, let's get into it. The floodgate opened right after Nats. Yeah, I understand why, and that theme's going to come up in a few of these. Okay, like I said, we're getting all the post-Nats listener mail now.
Kentucky Dave:First up Dave is Mr Hector Colon from the Butch O'Hare chapter up in Chicagoland. I was wearing their t-shirt the other day while I was doing yard work. It's better than waxing your car with it. Yeah, that's right.
Mike:Well, he said it was awesome running into us at the National Convention in Wisconsin and he's going to flip the script on you, Dave. Okay, he said you were the one with the look of joy. Well, I I own that completely the little boy who went to bed on Christmas Eve to an empty living room, only to wake up Christmas morning to find a huge tree with hundreds of brightly wrapped presents underneath it, all with your name on it.
Kentucky Dave:Absolutely, 100% true. I tell people that it's the best four days of my year, every year, and it is.
Mike:Well, he says you always say the national convention is the highlight of your modeling year and he says you were not kidding he absolutely fantastic time. He jumped in, eyes wide open, both feet, volunteer to help register, help the raffle and help judging Nice, and he went in full bore. So he's no longer intimidated to judge at his local show. Wow, that's interesting. His first judging experience was at a national convention.
Kentucky Dave:That's well. That's a great way to learn. I mean, you see it at a really high level.
Mike:That's true, and this was his first. And again, you didn't. You didn't undersell it or oversell it. Sorry, that's all right. He's already making plans for Hampton. His Navy son is stationed in Norfolk.
Mike:Oh that's perfect, and has already agreed to not only host him with a place to stay but we'll be attending the show with him as well, and Fort Wayne's not too far from Chicagoland, so that one's kind of aligning the stars as well. So Hector is having some fun, kind of aligning the stars as well. So Hector is having some fun. And you know he's saying his model mojo was non-existent to the point that it was dead and buried and practically forgotten over the last few months, but the nationals has helped fix that.
Kentucky Dave:Yep, it will.
Mike:It does, man. And in closing, he still wants to know if we've made it to Portillo's. Dave has not, but if you've been watching the Facebook group there, Hector, I was in Chicagoland just this past weekend, no, this week, now it's the weekend. Yeah, I was there midweek and they just built the new takeout walk-up drive-through only kind of place right there next to O'Hare. Went over there at lunchtime and got us some grub and skipped dinner after. I could not go with your menu selection, hector, I think that would kill me. That's a lot of food, man. But I agree, next time I'm in Chicagoland, which I hope is in October for the MMSI show, we're going to have to find our way back down to Portillo's and get us a big steak sandwich. Yeah, absolutely Up. Next, bill Moore, bill's from the Middle Tennessee chapter there I don't know if he's in Murfreesboro proper.
Kentucky Dave:Yes, I believe so.
Mike:Somewhere close. He wanted to thank us for mentioning World of Armor on the last episode and he wants to get together sometime having a cold winter 15.
Kentucky Dave:Well, let's keep it toward one.
Mike:I'm not as young as I used to be. Yeah, I don't think I could do 15. Yeah, my most irresponsible prime amen. Well, you're welcome, bill, and you know likewise. Thank you for the stickers in the t-shirt. Those will get used and worn. Yeah, I've already got stickers on my spray booth, in fact, and wore the t-shirt last week. Well, he's going to be. We'll see him at our show. Oh good, unless things get in the way, because that's not too far.
Kentucky Dave:No, that isn't.
Mike:Actually, we're closer to him now than we were before.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, you're right, because they moved the location to Paracat Springs in Shepherdsville Kentucky, so it's actually a little south of Louisville.
Mike:Well, he'll be at Huntsville. And then, of course, there's a show in Murfreesboro and one other, the Virginia shootout.
Kentucky Dave:Oh okay.
Mike:August 10th, and where is that? I don't know. I have to look it up. I'm not going to speculate. All right, that'd be unwise. Another Nats one, dave. Okay, stephan Joris. Another Nats one, dave. Okay, stephan Joris. Maybe Stephen. He's from Monterey, california, but his name makes me think he may actually be from somewhere else. Correct me if I'm wrong, stephen or Stephan. He had an amazing experience able to attend his first Nats in Madison. Yay, only a second model show at all.
The Voice of Bob:Oh man.
Mike:So he traded up. Yeah yeah, he didn't oversell it again. He became easily overwhelmed with all the incredible models and all the stuff to buy, which is the point of his email, which is a good one. He'd saved up a bunch of money, brought a wad of money in his pocket to spend at the national conventions, but he had flown out there and I guess he didn't do the suitcase inside the suitcase thing. He said it would have been nice had UPS or FedEx been on site to handle shipping from the show, because the nearest UPS store was two miles away, which is not really convenient when you've flown to the destination.
Kentucky Dave:Now some nationals have done that. It's dependent upon a number of things, including the agreement with the site host up at the show just for situations like that. But yes, the suitcase in the suitcase is also always a good idea. Bring that second empty suitcase, stuff it inside the first one, stuff your stuff inside that. Then when you fly back you go back with two suitcases.
Mike:But your clothes and toiletries need to go in the smaller one.
Kentucky Dave:Right, exactly. And if you have to throw some of that stuff away to make room, make the sacrifice.
Mike:Post-nat stuff from the voice of Bob Charlotte, north Carolina. Ah yes, post-nat stuff from the voice of Bob Charlotte, north Carolina, I guess. Well, anybody watching Facebook knows Bob had a little bout of gastrointestinitis from something while he was at the National Convention, kind of put a damper on things. He did show up where he was supposed to show up and made good on all his commitments. So good on you to some degree. Hopefully it wasn't too high of a degree, because that could be very uncomfortable.
Kentucky Dave:Well, nothing worse than getting sick at a Nats too, just because you're there and you want to go out and experience it. And you know, doing it while feeling awful is not ideal.
Mike:Well, he went off on the musical references.
Kentucky Dave:Oh, good, good. I'm glad somebody's getting them.
Mike:As for his room time at NASA, he'd hoped for sweet dreams, but instead it was. Every breath you take During those moments he found himself pleading don't stop believing. And eventually it was dancing in the dark. No more. Well, the real crux of his email, humor aside, was Dr Miller Model Paint Solutions. Dr Strangebrush caught the NPS spot that Bob had done for us and sent him a little care package. Oh well that Dr Miller is nothing if not a gentleman and says NPS should be number one on everyone's list.
Kentucky Dave:And I completely agree with that. We'll discuss that later too.
Mike:Oh man, another one, dave Greg Williams. He just listened to our Nats wrap-up episode and wanted to give his two cents. This was his first Nationals and no, dave did not oversell it.
Kentucky Dave:That makes me feel so good every time I hear that.
Mike:Venue atmosphere, models, vendors and the people are all top notch. Great talking to us. Thank you for that. And he got to talk to Andy at Andy's Hobby Headquarters. He appreciated that.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah.
Mike:He's unsure about getting to Virginia but definitely plan on being at Fort Wayne and he's going to try to get to Wonderfest in the coming years.
Kentucky Dave:Oh, you'll enjoy wonder fest.
Mike:Well, I'm curious where he is, cause he says he'll see us around the local circuit. So he must be a reason for somewhere.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah.
Mike:Let us know, greg, and if, if you're at our show, come see us at the table. Yep, okay, this was not natural up a little. Norman Stubbe from Philadelphia, pennsylvania, fairly recent listener and subscriber, and he loves the show, so thanks for that. And he's enjoying the cooperative and non-competitive position we've kind of taken with the other podcasts, so he thinks that's kind of cool because it helps keep the community more cohesive. Yeah, anyway, he's a 72nd scaler, good Yay, and he's trying to do the diorama thing a little more and he's having trouble with 72nd scale figures in civilian vehicles. Now the figure thing. He's had some success converting historic and military figures to use and he's been doing some zombie apocalypse kind of stuff which is-.
Kentucky Dave:Gotcha.
Mike:That's always fun. And he's used doing some like zombie apocalypse kind of stuff which is Gotcha, that's always fun. And he's used some 3D printed figures. But for vehicles, you know he's kind of dissatisfied with the, you know the toy car kind of Right Matchbox, hot Wheels thing is, I don't know, they're clunky, the wheels are too big and all that stuff.
Kentucky Dave:So any options or hacks we know of besides 3D printing, I know that just recently a company announced a bunch, a number of 72nd scale civilian Eastern European cars, and you're starting to see more and more 72nd scale civilian automobiles. Now a lot of them, just like in 35th scale, are starting to be released that are related to World War II. So you're seeing Mercedes, your classic 1930s European cars, the Citroen, the ones that you've already seen in 35th scale from a number of manufacturers. But I think that's an area that you're probably going to see grow more and more. As 72nd scale armor gets more popular generally, then I think it drags all of that quote-unquote accessory type stuff with it. So I think you'll see more 72nd scale buildings, more 72nd scale odds and ends, diorama materials et cetera, and I think civilian cars will come along with that.
Mike:And maybe there's a print service out there. I know you're kind of looking for an option outside of 3D printing but honestly that may be where it's at.
Kentucky Dave:It's getting better and better from their CMK products. I literally cannot wrap my mind around how fine the printing is. In fact, I need to take a photo of those and post them on the dojo, because several people have asked me about that.
Mike:Up next. I'm not sure if it's Eugene, Suida or Siuda. The INEU transposition there has me a little confused for the pronunciation. But Eugene writes in and says right off the bat Dave, you did not undersell the IPMS convention.
Kentucky Dave:That makes me so happy.
Mike:And he gave us the modeling fluid from Great Dane Pub and Brewing Company right there in Madison, Wisconsin. Yep, In fact.
Kentucky Dave:I've got that in the model fridge. It will be a future featured item.
Mike:That's good Cause I think I had mine already. He wanted to thank us for turning him on to Kevin at Kitmas. Okay, so great customer service, and clearly he found something he could use there. So, eugene, yeah, we we try to find those type of folks to have on the show and that one's really worked out, and I really hope we haven't inundated him with the business that he can't handle, because you are not the only one who's mentioned that. They've had a great interaction with Kevin there.
Kentucky Dave:And that's something that that, frankly, you know, the people we have on, you know we look for those folks and we get to know them before we have them on whether it's Dr Miller or Kit Masks or Squadron to see and therefore really like to promote in the hobby, are the folks who give really really good customer service, above and beyond type service, and that's something that all three of those I just mentioned have in common. We like it when we hear from listeners and they tell us that, yeah, that's what they're getting from these folks that we've had on.
Mike:Well, dave. Finally, from the email side of things, mr Michael Karnaka from New York City. Oh, we got a question. Have you ever bought a kit at a hobby shop or show that was too good a deal to pass up, even though you had no interest in the subject matter and the scale was one you normally do not build? I'm going to say no to that I'm going to say kind of well, you've got like the cup of noodles thing.
Kentucky Dave:So well, I do have the, the cup of, not the cup of, noodles. They're the goiza that I bought in Orlando 2012, ipms Nationals, because Hobby Link Japan was there and one of the things you see in Japan are model kits of food items and that wasn't particularly a good deal. But I bought it just because my daughters both love the pot stickers and so I wanted to have it. But the one that pops into my mind is when Edward first started releasing their Royal Class kits. In fact, the first Royal Class kit was a 48th scale Fokker D7. And I walked into Brian's and I saw that thing and it's 48th scale. It's World War I biplane Not my thing at all was so stunned by the quality of the decal sheet, the quality of the accompanying instructions and everything that I bought that kit.
Kentucky Dave:I've got it to this day in my stash. I'm not sure I'll ever build it, but I was just so utterly impressed by it. And brian, of course, gave me a little bit of a deal. A deal deal. Did that one come with a bust? Uh, no, that it didn't come with the bust, it came with a port de la merit, the blue max, okay so, which is still in the box with the, with the kit and the decals and everything.
Kentucky Dave:Maybe you need to check eBay and see what that one's I've done that from time to time Because they only back then this is when they first started doing them the kits were numbered and they only did 1,000 of them and my kit's like number 598 out of 1,000. I've gone on eBay from time to time and, yes, that one will fetch a pretty penny were I to sell it. But at this point I'm not inclined to sell it. Who knows?
Mike:Yeah, you know, 48 scale biplane is about the same size as a 72nd scale monoplane.
Kentucky Dave:And the D7 doesn't have a lot of rigging. I mean, I literally could build that. I'm not sure I ever will, but it's an impressive kit. Well, Dave, that's it. Plenty of other interaction as well. First, our friend Jake McKee. I had posted on the dojo. I was running out of space in my IKEA Detloff cabinets or Deltoff, God knows how you pronounce that, in any event and so I asked for suggestions. And he was interested as well because he's got that hangar bay diorama which doesn't fit in his current case for finished models, and so he was looking for suggestions for something bigger. And so he had DM'd me because he had seen that post and I was able to hook him back up to it so that he could read the suggestions of all the members of the dojo, and they were very, very helpful.
Mike:Ah, okay, so folks had mentioned other cases. Maybe.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, because I had originally asked for suggestions for other cases, that I was going to need a big case. The solution at least temporarily that I came up with, which was one that one of the listeners suggested, was you can buy extra shelves for the Ikea case. They're made of acrylic instead of glass so that you can basically double the number of shelves in the Ikea case. Given that I build 72nd scale they're not real tall Doubling the number of shelves was a perfect solution. So that's what I did, but Jake was able to look at some of the other suggestions.
Mike:Well, he's getting his hanger diorama rebuilt.
Kentucky Dave:Yes, that's why he needs a case. To put it in. Well, our friend Stephen Lee just reached out to us via DM just to rub our noses in the fact that he was in Vegas at a Morrissey concert drinking Woodford Reserve Vegas. And you can't go to Vegas without having fun, and it was nice of him to reach out and let us know his current level of enjoyment. Bob Delaney, our friend from St Louis. We got to see him at the Nats.
Mike:Yep.
Kentucky Dave:Bob has a blog and he did a series of three or four posts on the Nats experience and on one of those blog posts he mentioned Plastic Model Mojo and our table and coming by and some of his friends and fellow modelers that he knew and was there with who also came by our table, and it was just a very nice little mention of Plastic Model Mojo and Bob. We appreciate that. Dave Waples, he was paying close attention to the NATS coverage and saw that the ICM kits were the ICM, mini submarine kits were the Musaru. So he reached out wanting me to know that there was a company who made an aftermarket upgrade for the Seahunt kit and also he had seen I bought the U9. That same company made a set of photo etch upgrade for the U9. And so he wanted to make sure I was aware of that. Ironically, 24 hours before I had gotten his DM I had placed the order for both of those items from that aftermarket manufacturer and in fact that was about 15 or 16 days ago. It's coming out of europe and I am waiting anxiously for that to show up here so I can start my musaru build.
Kentucky Dave:Anything else, uh, yeah, tony jacob. Oh, you know how we were talking about sanding sticks. Yeah, okay, tony reached out and he likes the God Hand Kayamatsu sanding sticks. They're color-coded, he likes the level of backing and stiffness, but he had heard us mentioning the Infini sticks or the Squadron sticks and he just wanted to throw in his two cents that he really likes the God Hand Kayamatsu sticks. Finally, a listener, a fairly new listener. Peter Himberg out of Helsinki, finland, reached out to us to basically let us know he was listening, and I always love hearing from listeners outside of the continental United States. It's a particular joy to me that we have so many listeners worldwide.
Mike:Especially when it's not an English-speaking country.
Kentucky Dave:Yes, particularly when it's not an English-speaking country. We've had the previous DM where one of our listeners in Spain was using our podcast to help him practice his English. So I'm always particularly thrilled to see listeners from outside the continental US and outside the English speaking world. But Peter reached out to compliment us on the show, to let us know he was listening from Helsinki and also talking about how he's seeing particularly you know, you see this in the Gundam side how you're seeing models molded in multicolor plastic, even multicolors within the same part, and you see that within the Gundam community, a whole lot. And he was wondering if we thought it might bleed over into other genres of modeling and I think that's certainly a possibility. You know, we'll see, time will tell, but every time I think the technology can't get better, it gets better. But it was nice hearing from Peter. So, peter, thank you for reaching out and again, if you're there in Finland and you've got modeling friends, I know you do, please turn them on to the podcast Is that it Dave, that's it Mike.
Mike:Well, folks, hopefully you can tell we like this segment and we had a lot this time. We like when we have a lot, it makes the episode a lot easier to make, it makes it fun, it makes it a lot more fun. So if you'd like to write into the show, you can do so by sending us an email at plasticmodelmojo at gmailcom, or you can direct message us through the Facebook direct message system, through the Plastic Model Mojo Facebook page, and we look forward to those I'd like to thank everybody who's recently gone on to whatever podcasting app they use and rated Plastic Model Mojo.
Kentucky Dave:It really helps us and we thank you for doing that, and if you haven't done it, please do it. Also, as I was mentioning in the last segment, one of the best ways for us to gain new listeners and we want to gain new listeners, we really do we want the community to grow, because the joy for us is the interaction with other modelers, so we'd like more listeners and you can help by going to your modeling friends who aren't listening to Plastic Model Mojo, telling them about it and, if need be, helping them with the technology so that they can start listening. It's the best way for us to grow a podcast audience and that's one of the things we want to do, because we want this community to get bigger, because everybody contributes to it, so the more people we have listening, the better the community becomes.
Mike:And if you've done that, you can check out the other podcasts in the model sphere. You can go to wwwmodelpodcastcom that's model podcast plural. It's a consortium website set up with the help of Stuart Clark over at Scale Model Podcast and Stuart has aggregated the banner links to all the other podcasts out there in the model sphere and it's a one-stop shop. You can go there and pick up the links to all the other podcasts and have a listen to those as well. We also have a lot of blog and YouTube friends out in the model sphere.
Mike:A couple of great blogs are Stephen Lee's Group High with Frets. You're going to want to check that out. Another one is the Inch High Guy, a past guest on the podcast as well. Jeff Groves, the Inch High Guy blog all things 72nd scale. Chris Wallace, model Airplane Maker. Chris has got a lot going on in his blog and he kicks out some really good YouTube videos as well. So please check out Chris's work at Model Airplane Maker and Panzermeister36,. Evan McCallum armor-related and sometimes railroad, but mostly armor-related build reviews and weathering tutorials. And he just posted his seminar from the IPMS National Convention. You're going to want to check that out if you weren't there to see it in person. Seminar from the IPMS National.
Kentucky Dave:Convention. You're going to want to check that out if you weren't there to see it in person. Yes, if you watch that video, pay close attention, because he's really Natalie dressed for that seminar.
Mike:And Jim Bates Scale Canadian TV. Jim has got a YouTube channel putting out some commentary on the hobby and what he's got going on and look forward to what Jim's got coming up next.
Kentucky Dave:Yes, he's in Canada right now and I'm hoping when he comes back he'll have a lot of good video to turn into a post. If you're not a member of IPMS USA, ipms Canada, ipms Mexico or your national IPMS chapter wherever you happen to be listening to us please consider joining. The national organizations really do a lot behind the scenes to help the modeling community in their respective nations. Also, they do some really nice international stuff with other national organizations Also national organizations. Also, if you are an armor modeler or a post-1900 figure modeler, consider joining AMPS, the Armor Modeling and Preservation Society. Speaking of which, I just got my notice in the email that I've got to renew my membership, but it's a really great group of guys. Their national was in South Bend this year and it was a really great experience. Mike and I are already planning to attend next year's nationals for amps in Pennsylvania, so please consider joining amps.
The Voice of Bob:Plastic Model Mojo is brought to you by Model Paint Solutions, your source for harder and steam back airbrushes, david Union power tools and laboratory grade mixing, measuring and storage tools for use with all your model paints, be they acrylic, enamels or lacquers. Check them out at wwwmodelpaintsolutionscom. Them out at wwwmodelpaintsolutionscom.
Mike:Well, Dave, we talked about this being a Mike and Dave Spectacular, which is a code for we don't have a guest this episode, but that's the way we roll sometimes.
Kentucky Dave:Yes, sometimes we do, and this one I'm looking forward to, because you and I have a bunch of little topics to discuss.
Mike:Well, speaking of model paint solutions to start off, our first topic is going to be some new Harder and Steenbeck airbrushes. Yes, and the transparency statement here. Dr Strangebrush, dr John Miller, owner of Model Paint Solutions, has sent us a couple of brushes to test drive from the Harder and Steenbeck 2024 lineup Yep. There are two of these and we each chose a different one. I went for the Harder and Steamback 2024 lineup Yep. There are two of these and we each chose a different one. I went for the Harder and Steamback Ultra.
Kentucky Dave:Yep and I did the CR+.
Mike:The CR+ on the Infinity Evolution or the Evolution. So it's an upgrade on the current Evolution. I'll let you talk about that in a little bit, but I'll go first Go ahead. This Harder Steamback Ultra is a new airbrush to the line, and how's it different? It's, it's basically an airbrush that's set up for someone who's either never used an airbrush or who has very rudimentary experience with an airbrush. It retails for about 110, so it's not, it's not inexpensive, but it's not over the top either.
Mike:No, that that's. It's kind of middle of the road, I think. Yeah. So the first thing I did when I took this one out was there's a card in there that's got the spray sample on it from the factory, and then it's got a QR code, yeah, which goes to the factory demonstration video. So I watched the video the guy's painting a Warhammer figure with this airbrush. So again, this HS Ultra is geared for hobbyists who've had little or no airbrush experience in the past, and this airbrush, like really all the H&S airbrushes, is pretty heavy in the hand. Yeah, they're stout. They're stout but they're not big, they're not like a pache which is kind of like airbrushing with a banana.
Mike:They're really big right. Yeah, it kind of helps with control, fine control, and can help stay in the hand a little bit to have that mass in your hand. This airbrush has a 0.45 millimeter tip, which is kind of on the large end of the needle size spectrum. But for somebody just starting out it's a good size for a beginner and generally it's a handy size for shooting primers and clear coats and kind of your broad coverage colors Right. So don't get too distracted by the large needles and tip size. That's what it is out of the box. But again, it's made for basically for a beginner.
Mike:This thing's also got a detachable paint cup, which is kind of interesting. Not that it's detachable, because that's really nothing new, but it also has an integral mini or micro paint cup which is basically just the port on the top of the airbrush where you'd insert the larger color cup. And this is facilitated by the fact that for this airbrush, unlike the other airbrushes in the H&S line, it's not threaded, it's a friction fit, so you can just leave the color cup off and just put paint right in the hole right and and airbrush right from that a small quantity of paint and you don't have to worry about getting paint in threads of the color cup thread in or whatever. So it's it's kind of interesting feature. And again it's it's a friction fit for the larger cup. So that's how this is incorporated into the airbrush.
Mike:Some other features that are set up for a beginner is well, there's two things. There's two kind of main features that make it kind of a training airbrush. The first is there's a trigger lock feature on it. You cannot retract the needle before you begin the airflow with this airbrush. Oh, okay.
Mike:So, you have to depress the trigger far enough to get past the interlock before you can pull it backwards to you know kind of classic double action feature there, right? So if you don't put any downward pressure on the trigger and pull it back, it won't move. So you have to get the air started before you start delivering paint through the needle. Interesting feature for for somebody who's new at airbrushing yeah. Then the next feature is a.
Mike:There's a collar on this thing behind the trigger motion. That's a kind of governor or limiter, and it's got like five predetermined positions on it. There's one that's kind of a long trigger pull for for primers and clear coats, and there's a shorter trigger pull preset for your primary color, and then there's three successively finer settings for basically finer lines. You keep adjusting that down by rotating this collar and it determines how far you can pull the trigger back. So it's very handy for somebody who's never used a double action airbrush before, and I've said it on here before, if you've never used an airbrush before, I would give a single action airbrush to skip from the start. Yeah, I wouldn't even go there. So this kind of lets you get your feet wet with some limited trigger pull. So it's kind of like a single action airbrush, but it lets you get a feel for the trigger pull for these various paint volumes yeah and there's a sixth setting on it, once you've developed a feel for it.
Kentucky Dave:That's a full, full travel setting for normal open loop double action airbrushing so it's basically like kind of like a set of training wheels to help you get you, because that is the single biggest thing. That is the single biggest adjustment when using a double action airbrush is getting the combination of the right pressure down on the trigger and the right pressure back on the trigger, and so anything that help, that helps you learn, that get the feel for that, I can see how that would be very handy and I think it kind of teaches you that the down pressure to start the airflow is kind of binary.
Mike:It's either on or off. You control that with the pressure of your airbrush. Yeah, there's not like a half push on the valve to get less pressure, gotcha, it doesn't easily work that way. But anyway, you're right. Yeah, it's, it's sets up these presets to let you get a feel for it and then, once you've got it, you can set this final setting and you can run it open loop like you would. A normal double action airbrush which gets also exists on the one you're you're looking at. Is that the, the needle clamping nut. You know that lets you pull it. Pull the needle, put in a new one or adjust its depth into the airbrush.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah.
Mike:They've made this thing. You know I say they've made this thing. I've got a prior harder sting bat evolution and an infinity, both Right and the needle clamping nuts on on. Those are better than like on my old Badger 150. But this one's even better than those, and how it is better is it's a lot longer. So there's a lead in on the back end that you insert the needle through. That is really, really shallow, because this nut's now, like I don't know, three quarters of an inch long. Yep, possibly it makes it much easier to handle.
Mike:It makes it easier to insert a new needle without damaging the tip. So if you're really using a fine needle, your wrist goes way down. I know my Badger 150, there's no lead in it at all. You're pushing the needle into a hole. It's got square corners and if you miss the hole you bang the needle on the, on the back of the nut, and that's not always good, right, yeah so I love this little redesign. It's not. It's not a huge thing, but I think it really makes changing needles a lot easier.
Kentucky Dave:Well, it's the small details that matter. I mean with really well-manufactured anything. It's the small details where they put thought into something like that and give you something that makes it a little bit better.
Mike:Well, if a modeler wanted to go this route. Another point I would like to make is and this is probably feeding to yours as well is that this airbrush and again it's the Harder and Steamback Ultra yeah, once you've got it, it will accept the entire Harder and Steamback range of tips and needles. So you get a 0.45, you go to 0.4, you go to 0.6, 0.2, 0.15, all of those, all those work with this airbrush once you have it in hand. So it's a way to go from a training tool to basically a full-blown double-action airbrush that will accept any customization from HNS you'd want to put on it.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, and the same is true I've got. The one that I got to test drive was the Evolution CR+, which is full-blown double-action airbrush. It's a little step up price-wise it runs in the $160, $170 range. It's an improvement of the Evolution that they've already had out and has many of the. It has the same feature for the threading needle nut that you mentioned. Its feature is that it has two tips, two needles. It has a 0.45 and a 0.28. Now the 0.45 functions exactly like you described when talking about the brush you were using Really good for clear coats, for primers and for applications of single colors on large projects.
Kentucky Dave:You know how these 1 16th scale models are all the rage these days. I cannot imagine painting a 16th scale model using an airbrush with a 0.2, 2.0 or 0.28 needle and tip. It would take you for bloody ever. Whereas the 0.45 needle and 0.45 tip you can get a nice application and you get real smooth results. Then, if you want to then go and do camo or a finer paint application where you're not hosing on a clear coat, as it were, then the swap out is really simple. The needle and tip are all self-contained, easy to pop on and pop off, pull the needle. Like you mentioned, getting the needle out very easy, low chance of damage because the way they've designed the locking nut, pop the new one in and go to town.
Kentucky Dave:I did a switch where I painted with the fine needle first and then switched to the large, and the entire switch out did not take me a minute, two minutes at most. It was very, very simple and easy to use. The control on the trigger is really really smooth. So getting that with any earbrush there's an adjustment period to learn what the feel of the trigger is. This one period to learn what the feel of the trigger is this one the adjustment period was very, very minimal.
Kentucky Dave:I was spraying with it. Just after a couple of little test sprays, once I had loaded the brush, I got the feel of the trigger pull very quickly and was on to painting. So, like I said, price-wise it's a little step up from what you were using, but it's still. I mean $160 for an airbrush that's going to last you pretty much the rest of your modeling life. That's a good deal, and so I was very happy to get this and to have the opportunity to test it, and I can tell you for sure that it is a brush now that is in the Hydra and has a permanent place in my airbrushing stable.
Mike:Well, Model Paint Solutions offers some other incentives for folks to do business with them and we'll put those in the show notes. I enjoyed them, Dave. I thought they were good. I was glad to get them. I mean, they just work.
Kentucky Dave:Yes, absolutely.
Mike:Well, dave, moving on, we've had some other topics that we want to talk about besides airbrushes. Yes, we do, and we kind of created these with some private conversations and in the car ride back and forth between all the shows we've been to. We've kind of landed on a few of these, and the first one is the most timely, and it was three takeaways from the National Convention.
Kentucky Dave:Well, my three takeaways are actually five takeaways.
Mike:Do we want to go back and forth? You call it, let's go back and forth and you go first.
Kentucky Dave:Okay, Number one takeaway and I actually had a conversation with another IPMS member at the show the contest is the least important thing going on at the Nationals. Now that's not to say that it's not important. The contest attracts really great modelers. It is an integral part of the show, but it's the least important thing that's happening compared to everything else going on. And I love entering. It's always a nice feeling when something you enter gets an award, but the truth of it is, and you want the contest to run well and to be run fairly. Those are important things, but overall, everything else going on at the nationals are all much more important ultimately in your enjoyment than the contest.
Mike:I would agree with that, and there'll be some folks disagree with you about the importance of the contest. Well that's okay, and I think I was standing there when some of that happened. Yes, but that's the way it is, but that's uh, that's the way it is. Yeah, my, my first one is going to be the trade show vibe seems to be on the increase, at a slow pace, but on the increase. I don't know if this is just a post-covid return or this is a real thing no, I think it's a real thing.
Kentucky Dave:I think that you and I noted this a little bit in Las Vegas, but then that was still tempered by COVID. But we really saw it in Omaha and then Madison. This year you're seeing it more and more. It is taking on more and more of a trade show aspect.
Mike:And this is talking about the vendor room for the most part. Yeah, and I think IPMS should keep some focus here and encourage more of this. Yes, of course you've got to keep a balance between just expose and actual table selling merchandise Right, because ultimately folks are there to buy Right. So I don't know if you encourage them to bring sellable product or may they pair with a vendor that is selling. I think there was some of that maybe with ICM and Squadron going on.
Kentucky Dave:Yes, there was indeed.
Mike:We'll talk to Brandon about that at a separate time. I'm sure there's no accident. I think it's the way you do it. You don't want to give up too much of the floor space to folks who aren't selling anything.
Kentucky Dave:Right.
Mike:Which is going to make me sound like a hypocrite when I get to one of my other takeaways, that's okay. I don't know, but here's what other folks think. Do you like seeing the manufacturers show up with their latest and greatest? What if they're not selling it but they're showing it? How do you feel about that? Let us know.
Kentucky Dave:But I do think it is a slow and steady growth in the trade show aspect of the vendor room and of the convention and that also flows over into sponsorships by manufacturers and sponsorships of awards and seminars by manufacturers. Several airbrush seminars have gone on by different manufacturers in previous years and I think that those are all aspects that have improved the Nationals. What's your next one? My next one and this particularly applied to Madison see the town. I know you all have heard me say this when talking about the Nationals leading up to it, but there is so much enjoyment that you're going to get by, not just spending four days in a fluorescent lit room in a fluorescent lit room pawing through boxes of accessories or old kits or whatever. And there's plenty of that and that's plenty enjoyable. Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking down, but there's plenty of time when the convention isn't actively running in the mornings and in the evenings. Take that time to get out and see the town. Madison was perfect for that.
Kentucky Dave:The location of the convention site was within walking distance of 20 or 30 really nice restaurants. In addition, we were two blocks from the Capitol and on Saturday morning they had all around the Capitol Square a farmer's market thing going on and you could buy cheese curds or handmade soaps or chocolate or vegetables or whatever or crafts, and you really got a lot of local flavor just by going up at eight o'clock in the morning and walking around that farmer's market. But all of the places where we hold nationals all have something to offer and seeing the town really is something that in many cases you will remember long-term. So don't just hide out in your hotel room and in the convention space. Go out, venture out a little for breakfast or for dinner or to. I think there was actually. The Wisconsin Military Museum was not far from the convention site. There were lots of things to see to enhance your experience and don't overlook that.
Mike:You're next. My next is I will never regret paying for a table in the vendor room. Amen, brother, it's always nice to get comped, but when you sometimes you get comped, you're kind of out somewhere else.
Kentucky Dave:Yes, you're wherever they can stick you and wedge you in, it's just worth it man.
Mike:It's never been more. It's never been more apparent just how many people we've met when we're sitting in the vendor room, and it's just a steady stream of people hitting the table.
The Voice of Bob:Yep.
Mike:Absolutely, and I think there's an attitude factor with that, because all those people in there shopping and having a good time and oh hey, you guys are here. I'm in a good mood, I'm happy, I'm going to stop and talk to you and it kind of makes it all flow, and I love being in there.
Kentucky Dave:I agree with you completely and, in addition, something we learned from amps was you never know who's going to walk by the table. Start up a conversation with you and five minutes later you realize this person would be really great to talk to on the show. Yeah, yeah, and we did some of that at the at the at Madison, where we had guys come by and we said, hey, sit down, like Evan, when one of the first things we did when he walked up to the table on Thursday morning was hey, sit down and talk to him.
Mike:Yeah, I like being in there. Man, you gotta go downtown. The lights are much brighter there.
Kentucky Dave:Yep, nice reference. I love that you're going for Petula. I love you going for deep reaches.
Mike:She's still with us, man. She's 91 years old Hard to believe. You know, when she was kicking out the hits, she had like 15 years on her contemporaries, oh yeah, she was already in her 30s. Yep, wow, that's neither here nor there. But good stuff. What do you got next?
Kentucky Dave:Go without a list and I've said this before it's okay to have a thing or two in your head that you want to keep an eye out for, but when you go without a list into the vendor room and just open yourself up to the possibilities, I think you find a lot more and I think you end up being happier with what you end up acquiring.
Kentucky Dave:Because if you go with a list and you're focused, you're going from vendor to vendor looking down your list and looking for stuff and you miss the forest for the tree. Sometimes I can think of picking up those model collect kits just because I saw you and I were walking. You had just bought the old Airfix M3 kit from Rare Plane Detective and I turned around. That vendor just happened to be there and he had a stack of model collect stuff and I just started pawing through it, found out what kind of deal he had on it and I had not planned to buy any of that when I went and I'm real happy that I got it and I got it at a really good price.
Mike:So what's your next one? My next one is we need a better dojo plan, else we're going to get kicked out of a hotel. What is this?
Kentucky Dave:Yes, yes, you and I've talked about that.
Mike:We need to look at options at the host hotel and see, see if we can come up with something. You know our our, our goal for Madison was to walk up to the uh, the line from omaha and not cross it. Yeah, and we did that twice twice. So we did set a new record in that respect I don't think we want to try to push that needle to thrice or third time anybody who wasn't there and is just listening.
Kentucky Dave:The people who came to the dojo were utterly and unreservedly well-behaved. It was a great time. But when you get 40-some-odd modelers in a hotel room and they're all talking to each other, it can get loud and that was a problem, and we don't want to be bad guests. So we want to figure out a way where we can get the same camaraderie and the same getting everybody in a group sitting down, sharing a modeling fluid and talking modeling, and do it in a way where we don't make the host hotel mad at us. And so, mike and I, we spent part of the drive back brainstorming some of this, and I'm not exactly sure we've come up with the solution yet, but we're working on it, so we'll see what happens at Hampton. What's your last one man? I actually have two because I stuck in extra ones.
Kentucky Dave:But the display-only area was some of the most interesting modeling that was at the convention, and that's not to take anything away from anything that was in the contest room, but those displays in the display-only area were well-organized, were cohesive, it was some really, really great modeling and the different themes and the different displays it was really great. I think I spent almost as much time in the display-only area as I did in the model rooms themselves. So I'm really thrilled to see that and I hope that. Well, I know that Hampton is going to have something similar and I'm hoping that future conventions will go out of their way to intentionally encourage and make space for the display-only type of I don't want to say entries, but the display-only type presentations. I don't want to say entries, but the display-only type presentations.
Mike:I like the displays too, and I tell you, the one that stood out that I looked at the longest was due to Paul Gloster's experiment. He did, he does some of the 43rd scale automobiles, race cars, et cetera, and there was a display there that had several of those things and I just think when they're really well done, they're just beautiful little models.
Kentucky Dave:Oh, they were fascinating. It was that one was really really a nice display and one that you spent quite a lot of time looking, because there were a large number of individual models and they were all very attractive and very well done. I do have one last one that I want to mention, and that is, if you're driving to a national convention, always bring an Australian with you. I know that, mr Hustad, mr Copeland brought an Australian from Minnesota, they brought Mr Gloucester along with them, we brought Digger Dave with us, and I can highly recommend having an Australian in the car with you on a long car ride. That was fun, thank you long car ride.
Mike:That was fun. Thank you Well, dave. Up next is if we've had any modeling insights in the last year?
Kentucky Dave:Oh yes, absolutely. Do you want to go back and forth on this one? I have one main one Okay, I've got two or three, Well, you go first. Okay, I've got two or three, well, you go first. This one actually is something mentioned by our friend, ian McCauley, and it was something he said on a group DM that we all participate in and we were talking about people going and buying new models and getting hepped up or excited for the latest new release or whatever, and Ian mentioned falling in love with your own stash of being anxious to go buy the next new thing and stick it in a closet, never to be seen or not to be seen for 10 years until you get to building it.
Kentucky Dave:That what modelers need to do is more often go look at your stash. Go paw through your stash, pull kits out, remember what it was that attracted you to them. Don't feel so anxious to go buy the next new thing. Go take a look at what you've got and you may find inspiration in there to build what you've got and to realize that you've got a lot of really great models already and you don't necessarily need to be anxious to go get the latest new thing. I think I do that all the time already, do you?
Kentucky Dave:I should do it more yeah, I go back there and rummage around all the time there's a part of me that thinks that you ought to rearrange your stash once or twice a year, just because I think that doing that encourages you to fall back in love with your stash.
Mike:You got a lot of love to spread there, Dave.
Kentucky Dave:Listen, I got a lot of things to fall in love with man, especially after the Nats. I know you do.
Mike:The one I want to talk about is this kind of multifaceted, but my my quote unquote not caring is is sticking. Okay, I am being successful at building for myself. I am happy and learning new things, exploring new, new to me kind of genres. Now I've not built a lot of them yet, but I've certainly been acquiring a few to hopefully get at some point and join the community a lot more and just avoiding this building for contests and competition.
Mike:I just think I've been kind of guarded against that, especially this year, because I didn't get anything done to even take to the national convention this year. I had to stop and think, okay, well, why did this happen? Are you? Are you building super slow again Because you're trying to get something perfect so you can go take it to this, this event or that event? And I think the answer to that is no. I just I've I've had a lot of distractions this year and I think I've got several close to the finish line, but I think I'm still again quote unquote not making as much progress as quickly as I wanted.
Kentucky Dave:And, frankly, I realized that there's not enough time that I, because of work and life and my situation, I am never going to have 30 hours a week where I'm at the bench building, where there are plenty of modelers in a situation where they are able to do that and that impacts their ability to produce both quantity and quality. My life situation isn't that right now, and so I don't. There are some weeks where I'm lucky to get an hour or two at the bench and I don't want to beat myself up for that. I do not want to. I don't want to feel bad or compare myself to others because of that fact. By the same token, I don't want to waste time, and I do think that I still waste too much time sit down at a bench and stare at things instead of actively moving things along, so I do need to get better at that, but I'm not going to feel bad over the fact that I just don't have the same amount of time as other people.
Kentucky Dave:Got any more insights? Well, I've got one. That's not. I don't know that I would call it an insight, but I would call it a motto, which is have fun this back and question why that is because you should be having fun. And I got to say, even when I have negative modeling, which I did the other day, I'm still having fun. I'm having a lot of fun, so you should have fun too.
Mike:So you should have fun too. Well, dave, the next discussion point we talked about earlier when we were formulating this episode was what modeling technique have you learned or gotten better at in the last?
Kentucky Dave:year. Well, this one's an easy answer for me Rescribing me, re-scribing. One of the things that separates a really nice model from an average model, when you look at it, is the panel lines. The panel line highlights and, as an integral part of that, the modeler having replaced what was lost in the building process. As far as scribing and re-scribing panel lines, that's been a weak area for me In the last year.
Kentucky Dave:I made a conscious decision that I was going to concentrate on it. I've done so and even if I must say so myself, I've gotten better at it. It's a combination of two things. Number one, being more careful when you do your sanding, filling, etc. So that you eliminate as little as possible of the kit's actual molding. Then the other part is learning how to re-scribe the line and doing so in a way that not only do you get a straight line or a curved line where it needs to be curved or whatever, that that you do so and you replace the line to the same depth and width as the kit's original molding, so that your panel line re-scribe doesn't stand out as being deeper or wider or heavier, as well as making sure it's straight.
Kentucky Dave:And a lot of this for me, you know, I've certainly asked some really great modelers what they do and what they use and what their techniques are and Steve Fustad has helped me greatly in that regard but a lot of it is time and patience and a little bit of perfectionism. I want to build faster, but not rushing through the model if it isn't right and going back and fixing it if you didn't get it right when you did your initial re-scrut. So it's the area that I actually feel like I've improved the most in the last year. How about you Masking?
Mike:Well, you've had plenty of opportunity. I have this E16, we'll talk about it a little bit more later, but it's all related to that and I don't know if it's been learning something new or even gotten better, because I knew where I used to be. I just haven't done it in so freaking long. Yeah, and you know, back in the late nineties, early two thousands, when I was really dabbling in my roading a lot more, I used to paint diesel locomotives on commission for some of the local guys here and man, I thought some of that masking was difficult in. In retrospect it really wasn't one.
Mike:That comes to mind was we had a guy here in town, I think he was originally from bloomington, indiana, and you know a hoosier died in the wool, right, right, yep. His railroad of choice for his HO model railroading was the Monon Railroad Right, also known as the Chicago, indianapolis and Louisville, which almost operated entirely in the state of Indiana. They had some diesel schemes that weren't really complicated, but they weren't easy either. They weren't easy either, and he gave me some locomotives of paint for him and I had to figure out how to do it all and cut the mass and and and make it look like, like it needed to look and I tell you, though, despite thinking those were hard, it was still a slab sided diesel locomotive bodies, this, this aircraft masking and particularly float planes.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah.
Mike:Just the tedium and the the of the application of the of all the masking tape, and then you're worried about you're going to break it during the application. And then you got to take it all off and you're like extra worried you're going to rip something off with the tape when you take it off. That it's just been a huge learning experience and learning how to mask again.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah.
Mike:Probably the big thing is breaking bigger jobs into smaller jobs.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah.
Mike:Masking around complex shapes and all that and not trying to get it all in one go.
Kentucky Dave:Well, and something that I think is important in regard to doing that and doing it well is taking the time to look at the model, look at what you want to mask and think about okay, there are three or four ways I could do this. Which one is the best way? And in some ways, masking's a lot like airbrushing you can mask for three hours and then you paint for five minutes and then you spend an hour carefully removing the masking because you don't want to break anything at the end when you're actually done yeah, so I'm learning.
Mike:I've used a lot of tape, used a lot of foam. It's uh, just, it's just going to be part of it and and I think it was it was a hang-up for me making progress and finally I just pulled the trigger and like okay, okay, I'm going to, I don't know, pretend it's a railroad locomotive and how would I do it. And it all worked out in the end. We'll talk about more here in a little bit. But yeah, for me the skill, particularly in the last year, has been masking. The last one of these topics we picked out of the ether for this episode is what three kits do you want to build next?
Kentucky Dave:And of course I couldn't limit myself to three. I've actually got five.
Mike:Well, I've got three-ish Okay.
Kentucky Dave:Well, and this excludes everything on my bench.
Mike:Me too. You have to bookend it, so you'll get to start here, the Moosaroo because I've got to get it done, because you gotta.
The Voice of Bob:I cannot embarrass myself.
Kentucky Dave:I may ultimately end up building both of those submarines in that kit. I'm not sure yet, but I do have. I both have to and want to build the ICM German mini subs. I think they're fascinating. I think they're really attractive. They're interesting looking and I am so super stoked that they picked that as the Musaru for this time.
Mike:Well, and they're new, so it's a good kit.
Kentucky Dave:These are brand new, not like the one I built. Yes, and apparently the folks at ICM felt a little bad about that, that the one last year was not one of their newer kits and was, even in their recognition, a challenging build. So I benefit from your suffering, which makes it all the better. You're welcome. Yeah, thank you.
Mike:So give me one Same caveat this includes nothing currently on my bench BM-13M Katusha, my multi-kit extravaganza. I'm really anxious to get started on that. How many kits?
Kentucky Dave:do you have to make that model three? How many different separate kits three I think yeah, three kits and that doesn't count. Accessories, photo etch, anything else but three actual?
Mike:kits, three actual kits, to make that happen the way I want it to happen. Now, if I picked a different truck, you could do it in one Right, but we're not doing that. No, of course not, that would be easy. No, this thing is on the ZIS-6, the three axle Soviet kind of medium heavy truck.
Kentucky Dave:And I've got to say, of all the trucks that the Katusha was mounted on, I think the z6 is actually the most interesting looking I agree that the probably the most numerous one is the, the american studebaker right, which they kit that one in its entirety.
Mike:So so basically, this, this thing is, this project is I've got the old allen kit and pretty much the only thing I'm going to use from that kit is a little bit of the rear transmission and the bed of the truck.
Kentucky Dave:I thought you were going to say the only thing you were going to use was the box.
Mike:No, there's some useful parts there. Good, and I'm converting a Hobby Boss ZIS-5 into a ZIS-6. Folks who've been following us from the get-go from the start from 2020, know I've got some 3D-printed tandem rear axle suspension springs for that. To make that work. Might be one I need to throw up on Colts 3D Maybe that would be cool, and be wanting to throw up on cults 3d Maybe that would be cool. And then. So what I've got? I got the Allen kit for a few parts, the hobby boss kit for pretty much all the truck, and then I've got a, a hobby boss, a post-war Katusha. It's, it's the same, it's the same vehicle. It's hilarious Kitted, it's a post-war truck, but the rocket launcher is unchanged. So I'm using the launcher from that kit, the truck from Hobby Boss, the ZIS-5, converting it to ZIS-6, and then using the ZIS-6 transmission and rear bed from the Allen kit. So it's going to be interesting. Yeah, looking forward to that one. What else you got?
Kentucky Dave:Edward MiG-21. I was so thrilled when Edward announced they were going to release a MIG-21 series. They released it. I picked up numerous ones. I like the MIG-21. And there are so many schemes and all that you can do it in and I've yet to build one. And I need to get off my butt and build one because it's a great kit. It's something that I have wanted to do. I've got numerous copies of it and that's one that I think that I can build out of the box and turn into a really nice looking model.
Mike:You probably got tons of decals too. Yes, god, god, yes, tons. Well, my next one's something from ibg. Okay, and there's two kind of categories. One's the 7tp, the polish light tank from 39 War. It's been on my wish list for ages. They finally came out with a decent kit and I've done nothing with it Except accumulate four copies of the various versions.
Kentucky Dave:It sounds like me in the big 21.
Mike:And then they've also made some really early Panzer II derivatives. Same kit, evan Panzermeister 36 built. Yeah, I don't know, the kit's really interesting and I think a pre-war brown camo over Panzer Grey is interesting and it's just another thing I've always wanted to do. So I don't know Either the 7TP or the PZ2. Probably 7TP would be the first one, but yeah, something from IBG, because I've never built a 35th skill kit, or any kit for that matter from IBG. So I'm just curious.
Kentucky Dave:Well, I'm going to give you an either, or for my next one as well. That's the B24D or the HE177. I've got to get on my Ploesti Raiders. I need to start cranking out B24s. I've got the kits, I've got the decals, I've got everything. There's no excuse for it. I need to get on with it. Now I'm saying either or because I have a weird affinity for the Heinkel HE-177, a disaster of an airplane. Got a good kit of it. There's a brand new book out on it that is really, really good and I got it and it's rekindled my interest in pulling. I've got an HE-177 that's barely started. That's on my shelf of doom, so I could clear one off the shelf of doom by doing that as well. So, one of those two. I need to build a big airplane, so I need to. I need to do one of those two things within the next year.
Mike:Well, finally, if we're going to have three ish, Okay, again, it's another either or, but it's the third third slot here, the next float plane, depending on how the shakes out here in the next not really the next few weeks, probably it's so.
Kentucky Dave:So three c, seagull soc three yeah or arado ar 196 I want to see you do the soc three it's just because it's going to go with september's group exactly, and not only that, but you can do yellow wings, and yellow wings is always attractive, it's just a great scheme.
Mike:I'm leaning for that one. In fact, I dug it out the other day and I've got the box stuffed with all the aftermarkets.
Kentucky Dave:And there's a ton of really nice aftermarket. That kit dates back to the 70s, 80s.
Mike:Yeah, but Starfighter makes a cockpit.
Kentucky Dave:Yes exactly.
Mike:They make the flat wire rigging Yep and they make decals. A canopy mast set. Somebody does, I've got it. I think it's. I don't know, I can't remember who makes it, but yeah, I've got all that and some decals for it, so that's kind of the front runner.
Kentucky Dave:Well, I want to see you do that one. My, my final one is a 72nd scale mini art stug. I have finally picked up the kit. I've got to build this kit because if I build and finish this kit, then panzer meister 36, evan McCallum, is required to build and finish a 72nd scale aircraft model. So I'm going to do that just to force him to build an aircraft model.
Mike:I saw you buy that.
Kentucky Dave:Yes, I know I bought it today and it's a nice looking kit man. It really is very nice-looking. I'm convinced that that one will be a very easy and enjoyable build. I'm a little concerned about what camo scheme I'm going to do in 72nd scale on it, but we'll see what happens.
Mike:Well, folks we've hit on several topics here tonight, just kind of at a high level. Really. I don't know man, it's stuff we've been talking about for a long time. Oh yeah, just nice to get caught up on it all.
Kentucky Dave:Next time you and your friends are road tripping to your next model contest, bring these topics up and discuss amongst yourself. It'll make the car ride pass really, really quickly.
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Mike:Well, we've touched on this a little bit, dave, but it's time for the Bench Top Halftime Report. All right, how are you doing?
Kentucky Dave:I'm doing good. Again. I'm resisting beating myself up because I'm not getting a lot of hours in right now, but I'm making progress and I am having fun. Right now I'm concentrating on the A7M. The SAM re-scribed the panel lines and they came out beautifully. Then I used the Evolution CR Plus with the 0.45 needle to prime it using Mr Surfacer 1500 black and I've got to tell you it's probably the best prime job that I've done. I didn't have a single hair anywhere in the model.
Mike:That's got nothing to do with the delivery method as much as it does the cleanliness of the workshop. I told you that mixing your own and airbrushing it was better than the spray can, and you were absolutely correct.
Kentucky Dave:I will grant to you that you were correct that mixing it instead of using the r and spraying it through the airbrush really does give you a very, very nice primed finish. I then started to do some work because I was going to mask the National Insignia. My initial attempt at that did not work out, so I had to drop back and remove that, do some sanding and all, and I've reprimed it and now I'm ready to move forward again.
Mike:You kind of glossed over that man. What happened? Because you had the red?
Kentucky Dave:on it. I laid the masks down, I laid down the white and I over two things, a little bit of Future in my airbrush and done a mist coat of Future over the masks to seal the edges. That's a technique that now you don't want to apply a heavy coat because you don't want to build an edge, but a very, very light mist coat is enough to seal the edges of the mask and it works. It's a technique that I've done and it works. I didn't do it this time. Did you get bleed on her? And what happened was the white that I sprayed was well thinned and white is a hard color to paint to begin with and I was a little heavy handed with it and I got bleed under and it just it it was. It was a mess. I was very disheartened for like five minutes when I took it off and saw all the bleed under that I had gotten, and so what I did was I dropped back. I said you know, negative modeling is modeling. I'm not going to be upset or depressed. This is nothing that can't be fairly easily fixed. So you know, out comes the very, very, very fine sandpaper. So you know, out comes the very, very, very fine sandpaper 1,000 grit and 3,600 grit to sand stuff back a little to make sure I had a nice smooth surface and then last night I reprimed it and it looks beautiful and I'll move forward from here. Well, how are you altering the process Now?
Kentucky Dave:I think I'm going to go forward on this one with decals. I think I need to spend a little more time with. What I need to do is I need to pull a Hustad, I need to practice masking. I need to not only practice masking from this standpoint, but also I want to combine that with my Cameo, and you know I cut masks for the LCM. That I did and those were okay, but they were just okay and there's so much more to learn. And I want to use the Cameo and I want to mask and spray more of the markings I put on models in the future. And what that's going to do is that's going to have to devote time and attention, to which I will and I'm going to do as Steve recommends spend a lot of time experimenting and seeing what works so that I can get a consistent, good job every time. But that's all. I've concentrated on nothing with the few hours that I've modeled in the last two weeks I've concentrated on nothing but getting that A7M finished.
Mike:Well, I've been working on the A16.
Kentucky Dave:Mm-hmm.
Mike:And I can say that the green and gray base scheme is fully applied. The last time I updated, I still had not painted the fronts of the leading struts.
Kentucky Dave:Yep.
Mike:And that was the last thing I've done. I've masked those off and I've painted those and even done a little brush touch up A little bleed under myself, but it wasn't too bad, yeah, and I tell you I'm really pleased with the way it turned out.
Kentucky Dave:Well, now you face the challenge of masking the yellow on the leading edges. If I do it that way, yes, oh, are you thinking of possibly going decal?
Mike:I'm thinking about it. Okay, the issue is the forward struts are forward enough that they're right at the beginning of the, the radius for the leading edge of the wing right. So there's no room to put a continuous piece of masking tape down for the underside edge of that yellow area Right. It's going to be interrupted by the pontoon strut.
Kentucky Dave:Right, so you would have to do it in three, at minimum three pieces.
Mike:The long edges. Yes, it's going to take more tape than that. Yeah, because you've got the ends of the-.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, no, I'm talking just that. Underside would be at least a three-piece pieces of tape. Yeah.
Mike:I've got to mask the base of the pontoon strut Right and it's got to be tangent to the straight line for the bottom edge of that yellow area. Yeah, it's not cut and dry. I don't think it's as hard as the faces of the pontoon struts being green, but it's. You know it's its own set of challenges, but again, look at what you did where.
Kentucky Dave:Look at where you've come from and where you are. Look at all of when you think about it. All of the masking that you did to get to this point was all probably harder than what you face with this little bit going forward.
Mike:Yeah, maybe I don't know. I don't know, we'll see. I tell you it's going to make me reconsider the next float plane, to the extent I fully assemble the model before I start painting it, right, I think, especially with the floats, because that's the rub, right, you have poor access to so much of it because of the pontoon struts, and the E-16 is unique in a nice way is there's no rigging between all that, right, whereas you had a Jake or some of the biplane reconnaissance aircraft if we're talking Japanese that have wire rigging between the floats. So that's a whole other wrinkle in all of this. So, especially if I have another twin float arrangement, like the one that comes to mind is the Arado 196. Yeah, I think I might not put the floats on it. Oh, I think that that's probably Now.
Kentucky Dave:Steve did one in a crash thing so he had at least one of the floats broken off. But I would suspect that would be the way that I'd approach it is you'd leave those off, build those all separately and then, after everything's painted, attach those.
Mike:Yeah, I think, were I to build this aircraft again, that's probably the way I'd do it.
Mike:Yeah, well, and you learn. The other issue is Fujimi plastic and Tamiya extra thin is a bad, bad combination. Yep, I don't know what the deal is. I don't know if the if the Fujimi plastic is just really hard and the Tamiya cement is not. I don't know if it's too hot or not hot enough. The problem is that it doesn't persist long enough to form a good bond, so I think maybe it's too hot. Yeah, it needs to. It needs to hang around a while.
Kentucky Dave:Right.
Mike:More, more like a tester's. The issue I'm facing is I keep cracking the pontoon joints at the underside of the wing just in handling the model, and I've probably re-glued them at least twice. Yeah, some of the joints three times. Luckily, the Tamiya Extra Thin doesn't wreck the paint too bad, but it's not forming the best bond either. Fujimi, I don't know, they've got a Jake. I think Hase has a Jake as well. I don't know which one's the best, but they're both old. Yeah, I'm going to do some glue experimentation before I commit to building. Next time I build one of these Again experiment, experiment, experiment, anything else?
Kentucky Dave:No, that's it, other than I'm looking to get more time in at the bench. There have been some kits announced since we last did a Faves and Yawns segment, so have you looked at what's coming out and do you like it or not?
Mike:Yes and no. Okay. First up for me, Dave is Roden. Oh, okay. Yeah, that's me too. Never owned a Roden kit, but I'll probably pick this one up. They're releasing a horse type 830 Staff Car. Oh, it's the first time this particular vehicle has been released in styrene.
Kentucky Dave:Really. I would have thought, everything German would have all ever been already made in styrene Well, Tamiya's kitted their heavy car for a long time.
Mike:That's an old classic kit and it's Hilarious. Got one as well, one of the lighter cars. But this Type 830 is a much smaller car and it's never been done in styrene before. So I think, given all that, I'm going to pick this one up. I don't know when I'll ever build it, but again, I've never owned a Roden kit, so I don't know what to expect. It seems to be hit or miss Depending on the age and the subject matter, but this one can't be too expensive, so I'm going to give this one a shot.
Kentucky Dave:Well, anytime it fills a hole, that's always nice to see something new. What do you got? Well, my first fave is there's a company out of Ukraine called Metallic Details, yeah, and they're doing 3D printed, like the Quintus Studios.
Mike:I don't know if they're 3D printed, but well, it's all semantics. Well, they're printed and they're three-dimensional, but I don't know that they're done with a 3D printing process, with a printer like we're thinking of Right.
Kentucky Dave:No, they are three-dimensional decals. There you go, there you go. They're done with a 3D printing process, with a printer like we're thinking of. Right. No, they are three-dimensional decals. There you go. There you go, three-dimensional decals, much like Quintus Studios does. These folks are out of Ukraine and have announced a whole bunch of stuff, and one of the things they've announced that I'm particularly interested in is different sets of World War II Japanese seatbelts. I have absolutely come to the conclusion, finally, that using photo etch for seatbelts is a complete and utter non-starter is a complete and utter non-starter. So you know, you either make your own tape seat belts or you utilize something like these three-dimensional decals, which will form and adhere to the seat naturally, and because of the fact that I've finally said that's the way to go, I want to pick up these decals, more than happy to support a Ukrainian company and I want to see. You know, the quality of the stuff coming out of Ukraine is really good, and I want to get some of these and see what they're like.
Mike:Up next for me is Gecko Models, dave, oh, okay, and they're turning up the volume here and somebody will have to remind me They've got some lineage to somebody else. I don't know if it's Bronco or somebody, or Rich or somebody. It just kind of looks familiar. That aside, they've just announced an early post-war era land rover they're selling as korean war, but I'm sure this thing got used all over the place that that's interesting.
Mike:I don't know if it's interesting enough that I would get it, but I think it'll be popular. Oh yeah, and then, continuing on their vietnam wars theme, they've released another set of figures with some low horsepower motorcycles. Yeah, for you know, motorcycles for Vietnamese street scenes Interesting, I mean, they've got Water Buffalo, they've got all kinds of stuff.
Kentucky Dave:I've got to say, all the Vietnam War stuff that they're releasing has really, really tickled my fancy. They're dominating that particular field.
Mike:What's next for you?
Kentucky Dave:A company called Wolfpack is releasing a 72nd scale F5E and Wolfpack does really great stuff and in 72nd scale, the only two F5Es out there are the really old etaleri kit and the more recent hobby boss kit, and the hobby boss is an improvement on the etaleri kit, but not that much of an improvement, and it's expensive, like all hobby boss kits tend to be, and so I know Wolfpack does really high quality stuff and I'm really looking forward to seeing what they do with the F5E, because there are just so many great aggressor schemes that you can do for the F5E.
Mike:Well, up next for me is Tamiya. Oh wow, They've announced a Panzer I B. I'm not sure where this falls on the faves and yawns spectrum.
Kentucky Dave:Well, is that influenced by the fact that everybody seems to be releasing Panzer?
Mike:I B you know, I'm sure it's a lovely kit. This kind of thing makes me wonder if this is like home market driven and folks will say, well, tamiya's not making any money off TACOM's Panzer II, panzer I. But there's subjects they could pick that they would make 100% of the market of, versus a third or a quarter of the market on somebody else's subject right, it's also an observation. When I went to Japan, because the tamiya and and pit road and fine mold stuff was really affordable, but all the chinese stuff was really really expensive. Yeah, so that's why I say maybe it's a home market driven thing to release a panzer one, because there's you know, they don't have one, they've never had one right, but there must be a half a dozen currently on the on the market or about to be on the market. In fact, at the National Convention MRC had sprues from the new Academy kit.
Mike:Yeah, they did Panzer I-B with a motorcycle as a side, and then TACOM just single boxed their Panzer I's A and B. In fact, at Brian's this week I saw you today he had those on the shelf. Right now we've got three new Panzer I's on the market.
Kentucky Dave:I'll be interested to see if there's any difference, any significant difference, between the Tamiya kit, the TACOM kit.
Mike:That'll be interesting. Is there that much demand for that subject? I don't know, We'll see. Yeah Next for you man, for that subject I don't know, we'll see.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, next for you, another fave, and this one's more of a. I really want to see this because I'm curious. Gas Patch is releasing a 72nd scale ME163. Yeah, I've seen that one man. I want to see what this is all about Because the ME-163 is a small aircraft. There's a really good kit already out of the 163 Academy kit, so I am really really interested to see what sketch gas patch kit is going to be like well, other than the canopy.
Mike:It's 3d printed right and I know we talked about this earlier last week, is you know? You were wondering if it was just the academy kit with a bunch of baubles thrown in right and it's not, it's not you know. Maybe they get the canopy from them, maybe.
Kentucky Dave:Maybe I don't know. I don't know, I'm just really interested to see it.
Mike:Model Paint Solutions has an expose out there. Yep, Check it out and I will do so. I'll tell you it's packed really nice. You just have to go look.
Kentucky Dave:I definitely am going to have to.
Mike:Well, my last one here is a Border Models Mini Art Dragon Trifecta, yontacular man. Yep, what is it? It's just a bunch of stuff that's stupid. Okay For a biased opinion. Okay, border is boxing their SDKFC 251 Alps D kit with the R35 turret mounted to it. It's like some obscure French underground thing. 51-ounce D-kit with the R-35 turret mounted to it.
Kentucky Dave:It's like some obscure French underground thing. I was going to say I've never heard of that.
Mike:It's a whatever. It's a whatever. And MiniArt this came out with this SDKFZ-234 Puma Right, beautiful, beautiful kit, bazillion parts. Well, now they're building basically a one-off field mod. It's got the Lux light tank turret on it Right, and this vehicle shows up in some footage of the Surrender. I can't remember which unit it is, but there's like one of these things.
Kentucky Dave:Does MiniArt have a?
Mike:Lux kit and they don't. So they've retooled this. They've tooled a turret. I'm assuming they've tooled a turret just to make this variant.
Kentucky Dave:Which you've got to assume, means that there's a Lux kit in their future.
Mike:Unless they're buying a turret from plots or tech mod. Oh well, that they're reconstituting of their 35th scale armor line has a Me Too copycat. They're releasing the Lux turret version as well. I'm like, come on, guys, where's the BT-5? Where's the T-26 Model 39? If you're going to do an SDKFC-251, where's the ALFs A or B state-of-the-art kit? Right the early, there's none of those. Yeah, we got an ALFs D with an R35 turret on it. By God, what the world needs now, man.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, rant over, I've got a Yawn 2, and it actually happens to be mini-art, 35th scale urban travelers that's what they call it. There are four generic modern figures yeah, I saw one of which is pulling a suitcase, a roller bag.
Kentucky Dave:I somebody needs it yeah, I was gonna say I'm sure somebody looked at that and went man, that's what I needed to do, that diorama idea that I've had for 20 years. And to ever that person is congratulations, I'm glad you got this kit. But other than that, I just cannot imagine what, what the attraction is.
Mike:I don't know Same attraction as the Lux Turbine 234.
Kentucky Dave:Yeah, maybe.
Mike:And for a company that's on the crux of T-34 76mm gun tanks, I don't get it. Amen, oh well, maybe this stuff is easier to make, but we have our opinions and many art has theirs, that's right and they've got a business and we don't. That's right. They have a business, we don't. We talked at Brian's today that there's a kit that I'm looking at buying their M3 kit, m3 Lee Absolutely Nothing against them. You mean M3 Stewart, their M3 Stewart? Yeah, I don't understand, but I'm not.
Kentucky Dave:I'm not running their business, mike, we're we're getting toward the end of the episode and I have finished my modeling fluid and I got to say pretty good 5.5 ABV. So it's mild. It's pretty much a normal beer. As far as the alcohol content, it is described as bready and crisp on the can and that actually is. Now the pistachio flavor is very strong and it is the pistachio flavor is added to the beer because they make actually clear on the label ale with pistachio flavor added. So it's an addition as opposed to being used somewhere in the brewing process. It's pretty pistachio forward Now, like the taste of pistachios.
Kentucky Dave:It's present immediately. I'm not sure I would describe it as crisp, but bready actually does describe it. It does have a bread-like flavor, the yeast that you get from eating bread. That yeast taste is actually pretty present in the beer and I don't know if that's accentuated by the pistachio flavor. But no, it's a good beer. I enjoy drinking it. I think if you're really into pistachios, this could be a good beer for you. I'm not sure that it would be an everyday beer for most people, but it was interesting to experience. How was your bourbon?
Mike:I'm not sure if it's a bourbon or not. Oh, is it a bourbon or a whiskey? Well, it's traditional straight whiskey. Okay, john Sleeman Sons Spring Hill Distillery, guelph, ontario. I looked it up during a break, so you are correct, I was wrong. Gifted again by Duncan Young from the IPMS, hamilton Club, moosaroo sponsor and HeritageCon host. It's good. It's three years old, so it's young. I think the brevity of the aging shows, but it's way better than all the young stuff we've been gifted since we started the podcast.
Kentucky Dave:Yes, there have been some of those that have been pretty harsh, pretty harsh, pretty leathery.
Mike:At least one's been a full-on drain pour. I wouldn't turn this down and I think I say that because well, let me back up. We've had a few from Canada over the years since we've been doing this and folks have been bringing this stuff. Today, this is the best Canadian I'm going to say Canadian whiskey, and I say that with the ignorance that Canadian whiskey is not its own thing, right? I don't know. I don't know if this traditional straight whiskey, by the fact that it's made in Canada, makes it a Canadian whiskey, or if Canadian whiskey is kind of like bourbon it's, it's. It's its own thing, right, I don't know, but to date it's the best thing from Canada we've been given. Well, good, it has the makings of something really smooth.
Mike:So I think their mash bill is is in a good spot. I just think it needs to go a little longer and again, I would not turn it down. Hopefully they have some barrels to take a little further down the road in five, six years. I think this would be exceptional. So it's not bad. But the youth is showing a little bit. But I think if they know what they're doing, they're going to age this out a little more and come out with a different bottling that's a little older and it's going to be even better. So I've enjoyed it. Thanks to Duncan for getting it to us. But that's my two cents.
Kentucky Dave:Well, tape it up. I'm looking forward to giving it a taste.
Mike:It is tape. I've taken it to the halfway mark and it's all yours.
Kentucky Dave:All right, mike, we are truly at the end of the episode now. So, before we go, do you have any shout outs for this episode?
Mike:First off, I'd like to make our typical shout out to our folks who make Plastic Model Mojo possible. Those would be the folks who are contributing to us financially, and we really appreciate that, whether you do it through PayPal or Patreon or whatever. We really appreciate that and there's several avenues that you can do that through, or Patreon or whatever, we really appreciate that. And there's several avenues that you can do that through and we've mentioned them already. But whether it's Patreon, paypal, buy Me a Coffee, however, you would like to do that. If you'd like to do that, you can go to any of the latest episodes at plasticmodelmojocom and in the show notes. The links to all those avenues can be found there. We appreciate it. Thanks a lot for helping us bring you to this show.
Kentucky Dave:Well, I have a couple of shout outs. Number one I want to shout out listener Tom Choi. Tom's a longtime listener. We've known him forever. I think he was probably one of the first people we met who was a listener when we started going to shows.
Kentucky Dave:And Tom posted on the Dojo recently about stuff he'd been dealing with over the last six, nine months job, losing a pet, etc.
Kentucky Dave:That basically had been difficult struggles and he actually did a very nice post thanking us for some mentions and some things. But I want to shout him out because one I think it was important and good of him to do that post and make all of us realize that we've all got stuff in our life we're dealing with and that you know there are going to be highs and lows and those are say this from personal experience that when I've faced in my life some tough challenges in my personal life or whatever, my modeling friends have been some of the people that I have leaned on the most, some of the people who've been the most supportive. And while this is a hobby, it is most valuable for the long-term friendships that we make as a result of our interest in the common hobby. And I really do want to thank Tom for posting that, and everybody go to the dojo, scroll back and you'll find the post. I think it'll make you realize how much your modeling friends mean to you.
Mike:Well, my other shout out, Dave, is related to that, because I know Tom is a member of the Jack Weislick Polish Coast Watchers chapter, the IPMS, and one of his fellow club mates, michael Uzi, wrote in yep with some kind words for the show and some suggestions and I just want to thank him for his candor, and he knows why I'm thanking him, so I'll leave it at that. So, mike, we really appreciate that. Glad we have so many listeners there with your chapter.
Kentucky Dave:Yes, absolutely. My final shout out is to someone we mentioned earlier in the episode, bill Moore. Bill did something that I appreciate all of our dojo members doing, which is he went through his Facebook friends and invited to the dojo all of his modeling friends who weren't already members of the dojo, and that really really helps increase the dojo membership and the increase in the number of people in the dojo increases the number of posts and the number of interactions, and the dojo is really becoming a place that I value for the fact that I can post a question like the one about the model cases, or can see somebody building a kit that either I've built already and so I can tell them something about it, or that I'm interested in building and I can ask questions, and also just some fantastic finished models. I thank Bill for inviting more people and therefore growing the dojo, because that community is really at the heart of a lot of what we do. Got any more, that's it. Well, dave, we're at the bloody end now. I know. I know this has been fun.
Mike:I've enjoyed this. Well, dave, as we always say, so many kits man, so little time, dave, and we'll see you. I know we will see you.
Kentucky Dave:Yep, absolutely.
