Mike C

Last year I was told that I might get laid off by last August. Well, things got better and I got extra happy today.

Yeah, he was a great drummer. I just happening to be listening to Cream's "Wheels of Fire" album in my car. It has "Toad", that 15 min. drum solo on it.

Well, my manager called me into the office today and told me about how they've been doing salary adjustments to give us a fair market value salary. So I just got a very nice raise today of 8.25%! This has nothing to do with the regular merit raises we get from out annual reviews. That's due next Feb. WOOPEE!

Far out man! The best concert ever! I was on 14 yo then and didn't get to go. I also really didn't quite know what it was about until it came out as a film.

It was a free upgrade a few years ago. I don't think it's free any more.

There's a lot of the Apollo documentaries on YouTube including the whole mission. You can watch it just like it was when it originally happened.

And failed. They couldn't figure out my password. Three attempts and they lock it. I haven't logged in here for quite a while. And I get in on the 1st try because I use a password manager. But I just got a notice about the attempts and lockup just now. There's nothing useful that they could steal that they could have obtained from me here either.

Here's the wheels, they look like they were never painted. I did take some toothbrush work too.

I have this dollar store degreaser that I bought from the advice at a mountain bike forum for a cheap and effective chain degreaser. So today I thought I would give it a try on removing paint from some wheels I painted on my latest build. Here's a picture of the bottle: And it's only a buck!

Besides all the steps to remove dust of the model I mist down mt spray booth with water before I start spraying. But with all these steps sometimes some dust still manages to find its way onto the paint.

That's a great tip!

Last Dec. I had the emissions test done on my car. It's a Lexus CT200h, a hybrid. Well I certainly passed the test easily as I always have but this time around the tester did NOT have me run the engine. And it was the same guy as the previous year too.

I'm using one of these from Harbor Freight: https://www.harborfreight.com/16-hp-58-psi-oil-free-airbrush-compressor-60329.html I've been using it for years trouble free.

I've seen your builds before Charles, you do great work!

That is really cool!

You did a really nice job on that!

Looks pretty good. I have one of those that I haven't built yet. A guy from work commissioned me to build the Jeep Honcho for him because he has a 1:1 Jeep just like the kit. He told me I could keep the snowmobile. That's how I got it.

Here's more pictures. The frame is now complete. I'm just left with installing the fairings and decals:

I just started this one. I started engine and frame assy and painting the fairings. I got some pretty good 1st coats. Tbe metallic blue was pretty easy, metallic colors always lay down smooth. White can be a bit orange peeled but this 1st coat of white came out really good. I just have to paint the metallic blue where the bottom fairing is masked on the sided: Box art: The kit; The frame already comes with the silver coating. And here is further progress on this bike: Here's an update on work I've done. I did some frame assy and heat stained the tuned pipes. I included a photo from the box side panel so you can see how the pipes have this foil covering on them so you don't think I did some cheesy job putting foil on them. It's not like BMF on chrome trim, doesn't need to be crinkle free. Box photo: Model photos:

That is really cool!

Nice build. I love building those Tamiya bikes. I have one under construction right now.

Go to this channel on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9UUZIFvHRQPfDoCP-bTB7A He's got lots of scale modelling information including airbrushes, I watched a few already.

I also find copper or brass make a good base coat color for it.

You know what helps too? Using a hair dryer. I learned that from the Scale Motorsports instruction sheet. It, too helps soften the decal. Just use it a minute or so at a time, work the decal, then use it again as needed until you finally have the CF decal laid down right.