Day: February 12, 2023

Oh, don’t get me wrong, perfect sailed long ago on this model build up. There was little to no chance in attaining perfection this time around. But after wrestling with having to leave my project for days or weeks, or taking advantage of a 90 minute block of free time I had today, I choose to use the old method, and keep moving forward. Now I can move on the setting decals, weathering and rust effects, and call this hot mess done. Oh baby – yeah! Strike it from the list. Moving on!

Stopped out to pick up some Red Oak for the Urn build. Cost me a little bit of change, but I can go full steam ahead now, without having to cobble together remnants of other projects in order to Frankenstein this Urn together. Now it can all match in colour, tone, and grain. Mostly. I can stain it darker if need be. Also I feel as though I might end up making more of them as times goes on. Seems like a handy trinket to have on hand. Save ourselves the expense of buying it from a funeral home, or predatory sales person. “Wouldn’t they want – the best?” They say, making you out to feel cheap if you don’t go balls to the wall for a corpse. Idiotic. Why spend upwards of $1,200.00 plus bucks, when I can build it myself for around $200-$300 ? That just makes more sense to me. Now I can choose the fit & finish, as well as take some pride in my own workmanship.

Supposed to have sunshine and warmer weather this week, so perhaps I can actually start this Urn sooner rather than later. It will take many hours of sanding to get this thing to sparkle anyway, so… best get to it when you can. Make some room in the schedule if I have too. I have my materials lying flat on the floor inside the house. I’d rather not introduce any additional unwanted moisture into the new Red Oak I just bought. I really don’t want this to warp. I intend to build around a plywood core to keep everything as stable as possible. I feel a new build episode brewing in the back of my head! Getting excited.

The game day coverage is bound to start soon enough. Music, lights, and coverage, coverage, coverage. Saccharine stories of players lives, tales of a coaches rise to infamy, and all the shiny tight suit fabric you can handle. It is SuperBowl Sunday in February of 2023! So get your food orders in, if your local restaurants are still accepting any, and finalize those bets, if you partake. Sit back in a comfy chair, and try not to eat yourselves into congestive heart failure. Also, don’t drink and drive today either. Ni nanna ni nanni ni nah nah nah – naaah! *Fox Sports Intro Sounds Off*

Hit a bit of a low point with the model build up yesterday. Had some paint peel from under the low tack masking tape which made me mad. Had some finger nail scratches appear from handling and assembly. Was really getting overwhelmed by how lack luster it all looked. But I pressed on. Got the additional armor panels on, did several spot paint touch ups, and am less upset with the whole thing. It isn’t going to be the glowing bastion of model builds, but it is better than the previous one. I have discovered a new step to add into my process, that can take it all back to step one after priming. A hard lesson to learn this late in the game, but it will make the next one even better. Well two things. First, I definitely need to putty and sand the seam lines, as the thin cement and sanding didn’t hide them well enough. Second, go back and sand again after priming. It made the previously hidden nubs very apparent once the additional layers of paint went on. So, fear not. Go back and sand some more next time. Unfortunate that I had to learn it after spending ten to twelve hours painting over the last week, but… live & learn. I’m in a holding pattern waiting on some fluids to progress through my build. Not far to go now. Panel line. Gloss coat. Decals. Gloss coat, and then weathering & rust effects, and chipping paint to finish it all off. If I had everything on hand, it could be just one more week until I’m finished, but now that I have to wait on some deliveries, it could be three or more weeks before I can even start that weeks worth of work to close this project out. What a pain! I’m motivated now! Could always forgo the new fangled fluids, and go with the usual methods. I’ll have to mull it over and decide. Is finishing the project sooner more important, than trying to make it as close to great as I can make it with the new products I’m waiting on? Hm. A head scratcher for certain. Is the subtle boost in quality from the new products worth setting it all aside for what is essentially another month. Or, is it worth more to me to check a completed project off my list using my previous tried and true methods of panel lining, and setting decals?

Going out in the shop was a bad idea, as now I want to build the Urn, whether they want it or not. I have it on my mind, and I may just keep it for myself if they wind up going elsewhere. A useful item to have on hand. Can always make a newer better one, as the years draw on, but to know you have that settled would be kind of nice. I think. A tad morbid sure. But… we’re starting to hear talk of Avian flu killing upwards of 200 million birds already. And it has been killing seals, and dolphins and such in south american zoo’s. So who knows how long we’ve all got. The birds go, then bugs take off, and the ecology goes bananas, and we all starve to death anyway. Especially if the migrating birds all catch it down south, and die on the way back here, but bring it with them anyway to infect everything else that eats birds, and the non migratory birds catch it too. Ugh. What a nightmare.

So it is a sunny Sunday morning. The SuperBowl will dominate the tv for much of the day. Both Canada and the USA have shot down three (in total) balloon / UAP items out of the sky. Things are getting weird. The Yukon, Montana, and the Dakotas (iirc). Plus a huge toxic air event in Ohio that depending on the wind could potentially blow across Ontario. A train derailed while carrying toxic substances that it shouldn’t have without additional permits & precautions. Another case of money over safety. Pictures below:

So yeah. Lots going on. Take care of yourselves out there, because nobody else will. Ciao Bella.