| Tuesday, June 19, 2007
WHEW! I survived Alabama Summer 2007. In case yer not aware, I spent last week at Gulf Shores, AL Chauferring and being a second adult with my mother, 11 y/o daughter, and 13 y/o cousin. And after the disasters that befell my last two trips to sandy shores, I was NOT looking foreward to it. So the Battlebox was packed and on the wee hours of Saturday, the 9th we set sail. 15 hours later we arrived. Roadkill count for the trip 6 opossum, 4 deer, 4 coons, 4 armadillos (Alabama's version of Opossum) 2 unidentified. |
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So upon rising Sunday morning, The Battle Box was deployed on the only workspace I could find a small table on the balcony overlooking the ocean, man the sacrifices I make for the hobby. First project was a TOS Constitution Class from the TOS/A/D Enterprise three piece set. This was the first plastic kit that I actually TRIED. I consider myself a darn good scratchbuilder and I've done kits before, but only half assed, like seamwork......my first attenpt at putty, primer and sanding. I gotta say the Connie was a doozie to get up to speed on. The joint where the pylons insert into the hull were nowhere near as bad as the seam along the bottom of the Engineering hull, primarily the fantail under the shuttlebay |
| I decided on this trip to take a crack at three different kit mediums. One was an all styrene Connie as I have mentioned, another all resin kit of a Pompy Class Frigate from Gee Bee models, and the third a hybrid bash of styrene parts and resin parts using some extras and seconds from the goodie bin to make a Coronado Class through deck carrier. The resin kit was a breeze, of course it was a relatively simple design too, just a modified saucer and some nacelles The Coronado required cutting a notch in the casting to fit the pylon assembly from a 2500 Eterprise setand the fitting of a saucer section from the same kit. Razor saw, Xacto knife and some CA and its all good! |
L to R: Coronado, Pompey, Constitution |
| The
trip wasn't all bad though. I got to tour the USS Alabama and
the USS Drum. Found a Hobby Lobby and a well stocked Hobbytown USA
right outside Mobile (Daphne actually 6880 and 6900 Rt90, right off
Hwy 10) Scored a couple of three piece sets and various and sundry
modeling supplies. Was hoping to be able to return and order a few
decals to finish up my TOS ships, but alas I find some Netshmoo has cobbed
my card number and been making charges, I shan't go through my experience
with Customer Harassment again.
I had taken Monday off for some modeling but got aggravated instead, cable TV hookup for The Shop got destroyed, and i tried airbrushing, but just ended up splattering paint and sanding down the paintjobs. So after a 2nd pot of coffee, leftover meaty loaf ( I loves me some meatyloaf), and taking a poop I felt more human. Sucessfully getting the Cable back Online for the Shop helped too. Did a little research online and discovered that yes, I need to turn down the pressure down and yes when I do that, I need to thin the paint and rubbing alcohol does that nicely! 'Mazing what you can find in the forum archieves at Starship Modeler. Anyhoo. Airbrushed up my three TOS ship hulls using Tamiya JN Grey, its sorta a lighter color grey, with a hint of bluishness to it; just so happens that the Mirror Universe episodes of ENTERPRISE aired on Sci Fi last night, seems that my paint is pretty much spot on for the color of the Defiant. I also made up a little jig for painting TOS Nacelles, sure wish I had decals...... |
| Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Hey looky!!! Theres actually some content building here! Since this is the launch of the new site I thought I'd say something appropriate.....but couldn't really think of anything 'cept HOWDY! There will be a lot of modeling goodness that I'm pretty proud of that will get posted to the appropriate area, right now I'm collecting up photos from various places I had them stored and figuering out about what I did when. I've only been back in SciFi a little over a year now, so that shouldn't be too troublesome, just check back frequently! |
| Probably
the most interesting thing that happened in the last little bit was my
chance to attend Wonderfest 2007 in Louisville, Ky. I had planned
on taking in this event, but an invitation from Jeffery Griffin to join
a group in the Official unOfficial Blap!fest Suite at the Exec West hotel
made this into a most memorable trip!
I arrived Thursday afternoon and met with two of my roomates; Eric Lakie and Jim Leary in the parking lot, and then Jeff Griffin and John Lane after they arrived later that afternoon. Our other roomate Jim Martin arrived on Friday. What was awsome was that as of Thursday evening I had only spent $40 and was heavy about 6 different ships! Friday was mostly a hang out and bull day, til the Ugly Shirt Friday event kicked off, mostly an excuse to wear Hawaian Flowerdy Shirts and hang out in the hotel bar. First drink was on Griff though. Saturday was THE DAY.....Early Bird special into the dealer room for total Rape and Pillage. I have to say I scored ALL my grail kits and some that I wasn;t expecting (or knew that I needed) |
(L to R standing) Jim Martin, Jim Leary,
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Against my general personal policy about contest modeling, I decided to enter the scratchbuilt DSC-304 Daedalus from Stargate SG-1/Stargate Atlantis, Sunday afternoon I find out that I am an Award Winning Scratchbuilder! She took a bronze medal! I suspect that my construction got me that far, but my inexperience at painting and final finishing counted against me (First Scif Fi subject I actually completed thus far!) I plan on improving my skills in those areas and making an even bigger splash on the contest next year! Still considering the caliber of the work that was present I've EXTREMELY pleased with myself! Sunday Afternoon/evening we had the unofficial S.P.A.S.M. (Scifi People Assembling for Sunday Meal) at Smokey Bones in Louisville. First time I had left the hotel since Thursday evening and the the food was great. Theres a lot of stuff I just don't recall offhand, and a lot thats documented out there already. Suffice to say leaving for home on Monday morning was depressing. got a lot of stories, met some great folks, and made some friends for life on Memorial Day Weekend 2007. |