What non-auto model did you get today?

[Snake45]

1 hour ago, Mike999 said:

Mr. Wiki can do that!  The German assault guns influenced it, but the "S" tank was a lot weirder.  The gun traversed by engaging the tracks, and elevated by raising the whole suspension.  If it needed to go "hull down" the suspension dropped, like a Low-Rider, and the tank had a built-in dozer blade to dig its own firing position.

The thing also had 2 engines in it, a Rolls-Royce Diesel and a Caterpillar turbine.  It was the first tank powered by a turbine.  Like I said, weird.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stridsvagn_103

I'm beginning to understand why the power window buttons in my SAAB are in the console.  (Though I have to admit, I've gotten quite used to them being there now.) 

[Ace-Garageguy]

21 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

I'm beginning to understand why the power window buttons in my SAAB are in the console.  (Though I have to admit, I've gotten quite used to them being there now.) 

Does your Saab still have the ignition switch in the console? The last Saab I drove was a 99 (not model year...a Saab 99) and that's where the switch was.

[Snake45]

3 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Does your Saab still have the ignition switch in the console? The last Saab I drove was a 99 (not model year...a Saab 99) and that's where the switch was.

Yup. Pretty much used to that now, too. Although it annoys me that once or twice a month, while turning the key, I'll electronically unlock the trunk, and then have to get out and go manually slam it shut again. 

I'm told my car is an exact double of the one driven by Uday Hussein, so I got THAT goin' for me. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

20 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

...I'm told my car is an exact double of the one driven by Uday Hussein, so I got THAT goin' for me. 

Wow. They shoulda done a "signature version".      

[Mike999]

eBay still has a few good deals, every now and then.  This 1/35 scale ICM (Mercedes-Benz) L1500A usually goes for somewhere between $25-$45.  Since ICM is in the Ukraine, many of the eBay kits come from there, with very high shipping prices. I think the kit may be out of production, since they're hard to find.  No U.S. vendor had them. Not even my usual go-to site for military kits, Sprue Brothers.

Like all ICM car-ish kits, the chassis builds up from separate side rails and crossmembers, with every gusset, U-joint and other part included.  Tricky to build but they look great when finished.  The kit also has a detailed engine.  ICM released it in 2 versions, top up or top down.  But both kits had the parts to build either version in the box.  The only difference was the art on the box top.

The seller's opening bid was $17.00.  In a week, nobody else bid on it.  So I won it for $17 plus shipping.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Just got another Testors (Italeri) CCKW water truck     

to do an aircraft fuel service truck.        

[Mike999]

Here's a strange kit in my stash of a modern Russian refueller truck, the ATs-5.5. The kit was released many years ago. It uses the old (and not very good) ICM 1/35 scale URAL 4320 kit as a start, but the fuel tank is vac-formed.  It also has white metal and photo-etched parts. From a company named "Russian Project," kit number 3504.  I've never seen any other kits from Russian Project.

  

And my latest Weird Kit!  The Dragon IJN Special Type 4 `Ka-Tsu.`  This was the Japanese version of the LVT, a tracked amphibious vehicle. The "Special" variant armed with 2 torpedoes was intended to attack U.S. ships anchored in atolls.  The plan was for the Ka-Tsu to launch from a submarine, crawl over the outer reefs of the atoll, then splash down into the inner lagoon and launch its torpedoes.  Fortunately for its crews, the war ended before it could be used on any of those missions.

I waited a long time for this one.  It's a costly kit and I was looking for the best combination of price and shipping cost from a U.S. seller. Finally found that on eBay.

 

 

  

Edited September 3, 2020 by Mike999
goof2

[Snake45]

22 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Just got another Testors (Italeri) CCKW water truck     

to do an aircraft fuel service truck.        

Gotta be a story about why a GMC truck is in the same picture with a Luftwaffe Ju-88. 

ETA: Found the answer: 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/297659856614129960/

Edited September 3, 2020 by Snake45

[Ace-Garageguy]

Virgin 1994 repop of Revell's X-15. Built it as a kid, fairly well, lost it. Now I have anudder one. Need an X-1 too. 

 

[cobraman]

Looks like your stocking up Bill. I hope you will have some down time to build. ?

[Ace-Garageguy]

19 minutes ago, cobraman said:

Looks like your stocking up Bill. I hope you will have some down time to build. ?

Any luck, I'll be dug in at the Az. homestead within 6 months. I may have to come back to Ga. one more time to build up the '66 Chevelle after it's painted, but other than that, I'll be quit. Period. Forever. Except for my own stuff. Really. If I live that long.   

[cobraman]

I hope you will be happy here in Arizona and live long enough to finish all your projects . I know you have a few. ?

[Tom Geiger]

On 9/1/2020 at 8:20 PM, Snake45 said:

I'm beginning to understand why the power window buttons in my SAAB are in the console.  (Though I have to admit, I've gotten quite used to them being there now.) 

On my PT Cruiser convertible they are on the dashboard. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

9 minutes ago, cobraman said:

I hope you will be happy here in Arizona and live long enough to finish all your projects . I know you have a few. ?

    

Edited September 18, 2020 by Ace-Garageguy

[Snake45]

8 minutes ago, cobraman said:

I hope you...live long enough to finish all your projects .

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! 

[Ace-Garageguy]

1 minute ago, Snake45 said:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! 

I know a lot of folks who no longer have dreams, ambition, or the drive to accomplish much of anything...particularly anything of any significance.

Even many people younger than me seem to be content to sit on their spreading behinds and wait for the inevitable end, putting forth the minimum effort in everything they do.

I'm glad to know that I'll be actively engaged in something I have great passion for, whatever it is, until I'm dust. But whether I finish or not is not particularly important, so long as I'm truly alive in every moment.

The journey is everything. We all arrive at the same ultimate destination.

[Phirewriter]

57 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Even many people younger than me seem to be content to sit on their spreading behinds and wait for the inevitable end, putting forth the minimum effort in everything they do.

If I retired tomorrow (still few years away) I'd have enough interests and hobbies that I'd be busy until I go room temperature. Some guys I've talked to, even quite a bit younger would retire and sit in front of the idiot box and swill barley pop with no other ambitions, they think I'm nuts. Why would I want to do things and stuff....

Edited September 18, 2020 by Phirewriter

[Snake45]

1 hour ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

I know a lot of folks who no longer have dreams, ambition, or the drive to accomplish much of anything...But whether I finish or not is not particularly important...

But isn't "finish" included somewhere in the very definition of "accomplish"? 

 

[Tom Geiger]

12 hours ago, Phirewriter said:

If I retired tomorrow (still few years away) I'd have enough interests and hobbies that I'd be busy until I go room temperature. Some guys I've talked to, even quite a bit younger would retire and sit in front of the idiot box and swill barley pop with no other ambitions, they think I'm nuts. Why would I want to do things and stuff....

I was home for Covid lockdown until August when I went to work. I considered that time kinda like a free preview of retirement and found that indeed I would find myself a routine and spend time doing things I enjoy, like model building, researching local historic buildings and writing. My wife was amazed at how much I found to do.

I know too many people with zero interests who were climbing the walls and zoning out to the boob tube!  

Edited September 18, 2020 by Tom Geiger

[Ace-Garageguy]

12 hours ago, Snake45 said:

But isn't "finish" included somewhere in the very definition of "accomplish"? 

Best analogy I can think of off the top of my head is preparing and eating a fine meal. Sure, the object is "accomplishing" a full belly. But you can get that with a PB&J sammich.

In my mind, the careful selection and preparation of quality ingredients, developing the skills involved, the combinations of subtle flavors, and the time taken to savor every bite, every sip of wine, vastly overshadow the "accomplishment" of having a full belly at the end.

Nice thing about model-building is that I can savor every step, redo what I'm not happy with endlessly, and not have to worry about burning something if my attention lapses, or have it go cold if I need to step away from the table.

Building real cars is somewhat different, whether my own or someone else's. It's another story entirely. It's real life. The object is to end up with a functionally beautiful machine, and in the case of clients' cars, to do it in a timely enough manner that I get paid well and regularly. I'm involved in finishing up a client car now, and it takes priority over everything else...except preparing to move my home, shop, and studio 2000 miles west.

Building my own cars falls somewhere in between, the final desired outcome being the same, but the process being rather more like model building for me. I can savor the process, but there's the added incentive to "finish" because I love driving something I've built even more than the building of it.

But what do you do with a finished model? Sure, they're nice to look at, but the fun for me is mostly in the building...which is why I have way more kits than I'll probably ever get to, but I'll always have something to pull out and work on, no matter what subject might spark my interested on a given day.

Finally, my own standards for myself are very high, and I derive zero pleasure from rushing through anything just to gitterdone, only to move on to another half-assed exercise in mediocrity.

Far as your Yoda quote "Do. Or do not. There is no try" goes, I never walk away from anything making the excuse that I "tried", so that should be good enough. I work to master whatever it is I get involved in, at least to the point that I can look at my accomplishments, no matter how small or partial they may be, and see quality that I'd admire if it was someone else's work.

So there you go. I'll "finish" a model when I bloody well get around to it, in my own damm time, and that's pretty much it.  

[Snake45]

40 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Best analogy I can think of off the top of my head is preparing and eating a fine meal. Sure, the object is "accomplishing" a full belly. But you can get that with a PB&J sammich.

In my mind, the careful selection and preparation of quality ingredients, developing the skills involved, the combinations of subtle flavors, and the time taken to savor every bite, every sip of wine, vastly overshadow the "accomplishment" of having a full belly at the end.

Okay, I'll play. 

Invite some friends for a dinner party. Go shopping and assemble all your select ingredients. When your friends show up at 7, show them all your goodies and invite them to watch you prepare your fine meal. Won't they be thrilled? Been a long time since we enjoyed Phil Hartman as The Anal Retentive Chef: 

 

Around 10:00, with not one bite of edible food on your table yet, your guests start talking about having to get home to their babysitters, and looking for an open Burger King (or even Waffle House) on the way home. 

Look, I get ADD. I used to be the National Poster Child.  I also get Anal Retentive Modeling (also known in Model Airplane World as AMS, or Advanced Modeler Syndrome).  I'll bet I have at least as many started/half finished model cars as you do, and at least that many airplanes also in the same condition. They bring me no pleasure or pride. 

That's why I started the Bring Out Your Dead Completion Builds, because I know this is a common condition here in Model World. Last time I counted, the participants of the BOYD builds have completed over 50 once-dead models, and every one of them has been a source of pride. Are any of them "perfect"? Well, I can think of a couple (none of them mine), but most of them aren't. And they're still a source of a great deal of satisfaction to the builders. We GOTTER DONE! 

C'mon. Commit to something. Anything. Simple, complicated, doesn't matter.  Just finish something. You will be AMAZED at how good it feels! 

[Ace-Garageguy]

1 hour ago, Snake45 said:

 ...C'mon. Commit to something. Anything. Simple, complicated, doesn't matter.  Just finish something. You will be AMAZED at how good it feels! 

How 'bout you do you?

I don't come here to get hassled or psychoanalyzed.

And I sure as hell don't try to shove my ideas of how or when people build down anybody else's throat.

So back off.

Edited September 18, 2020 by Ace-Garageguy

[JollySipper]

To Ace, it's probably like making love to a beautiful woman....... once it's over, it's over! I've had kits/builds that I didn't want to be "over", the Viper being the latest one.

Not picking sides, just maybe that analogy makes more sense?

[Snake45]

23 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

How 'bout you do you?

I don't come here to get hassled or psychoanalyzed.

And I sure as hell don't try to shove my ideas of how or when people build down anybody else's throat.

So back off.

I've been trying to encourage you, but I'll back off. If you want to die with dozens of boxes of half-built projects for your estate executors to send to the dump, that's your bidness, and I'll respect it. Snake out. 

[Snake45]

7 minutes ago, JollySipper said:

To Ace, it's probably like making love to a beautiful woman....... once it's over, it's over! I've had kits/builds that I didn't want to be "over", the Viper being the latest one.

Not picking sides, just maybe that analogy makes more sense?

To me, it's more like going to the trouble of getting the phone numbers of all the hottest women in town, and then never calling any of them.