Global Scale Modeller

digger303 wrote: Sun Apr 14, 2024 1:21 pm It looks very clean and presentable. It would have been a huge job to clean up.

Tomcat64 wrote: Fri Apr 26, 2024 3:06 pm We've been away with Mrs Tomcat's folks on Crete for a couple of weeks so just getting ourselves sorted out & all the washing done

Here's a couple of quick phone shots - I'll put up some more once I've had chance to tidy things up a bit

Twokidsnosleep wrote: Sun May 26, 2024 4:49 pm A less than stellar couple of weeks for me so far less modelling time.
It seems I have tweaked my knee and am having mobility problems. A medial meniscus tear is most likely as I had a minor one on my right knee a couple years ago. Supposed to rest, ya like I get to rest
So I am rotating icing when it is acute and heating when I can. Trying to not take too much medication but seem to need the anti-inflammatories. Reduced activities as much as possible.

This is a knee wrap with an ice circulating pump and an ice bath resevoir. It focuses the cold on the knee where you need.
Works well but you are anchored to a chair and an elevated leg…not conducive to modelling
It is getting better though

Tomcat64 wrote: Sun May 26, 2024 5:21 pm It's a long weekend over here and we extended it further by a couple of days as it was Mrs TCs birthday on Thursday so there has already been cake involved in the weekend which is always a bonus.

Yesterday we headed out to play with the 1/1 scale trains






Today has been mostly spent in the den, and tomorrow very much depends on what the weather chooses to throw at us.

DRUMS01 wrote: Sun May 26, 2024 8:41 pm Life is coming full circle for me....

For those who remember that I got pick-pocketed a couple weekends ago, my wallet has came home through the mail, but without the cash money of course. At least the returned wallet had my credit cards, drivers license, military and Government Retirement ID's, Car and Medical insurance cards, etc.. I was especially happy for was my retirement coin from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regimental Commander (not something you can just pick-up anywhere).

Friday, I coordinated with our local disabilities organization, who was having a large cookout for around 60 severely handicapped friends, to provide motorcycle rides in my bike with a sidecar. With the proper permissions and helmets in hand I took over 35 individuals on rides. I honestly believe it was far more rewarding for me than them as their joy and excitement was contagious.

Saturday, in preparation for our Memorial Day holiday honoring those Veterans who gave the full sacrifice, I was out placing flags in a couple large cemeteries with other members of my local American Legion Unit.

Today I arrived at Church at 06:30 for band rehearsal and then later performed at 09:00 and 11:00 before returning home to take my lovely wife out for our 39th Anniversary meal (just us two).

Tomorrow I am honored to wear my uniform again to become part of a color guard and rifle detail at several cemeteries over a 20 mile radius.

I think I can call this a wonderful weekend indeed. Cheers to all and hope to be posting more modeling stuff soon.

Ben

DRUMS01 wrote: Sun May 26, 2024 8:41 pm Life is coming full circle for me....

For those who remember that I got pick-pocketed a couple weekends ago, my wallet has came home through the mail, but without the cash money of course. At least the returned wallet had my credit cards, drivers license, military and Government Retirement ID's, Car and Medical insurance cards, etc.. I was especially happy for was my retirement coin from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regimental Commander (not something you can just pick-up anywhere).

Friday, I coordinated with our local disabilities organization, who was having a large cookout for around 60 severely handicapped friends, to provide motorcycle rides in my bike with a sidecar. With the proper permissions and helmets in hand I took over 35 individuals on rides. I honestly believe it was far more rewarding for me than them as their joy and excitement was contagious.

Saturday, in preparation for our Memorial Day holiday honoring those Veterans who gave the full sacrifice, I was out placing flags in a couple large cemeteries with other members of my local American Legion Unit.

Today I arrived at Church at 06:30 for band rehearsal and then later performed at 09:00 and 11:00 before returning home to take my lovely wife out for our 39th Anniversary meal (just us two).

Tomorrow I am honored to wear my uniform again to become part of a color guard and rifle detail at several cemeteries over a 20 mile radius.

I think I can call this a wonderful weekend indeed. Cheers to all and hope to be posting more modeling stuff soon.

Ben

digger303 wrote: Sun Jul 21, 2024 3:50 am Be amazing if you get all the kinks out.
Looks like 2 posts damaged ? $200 ? still cheap in this day and age.
Best of luck.

Twokidsnosleep wrote: Sun Jul 21, 2024 5:08 am

digger303 wrote: Sun Jul 21, 2024 3:50 am Be amazing if you get all the kinks out.
Looks like 2 posts damaged ? $200 ? still cheap in this day and age.
Best of luck.

I got the kinks out but it is aluminum so tears, thus the extra reinforcement
You know how $200 turns into $600 or $800 really quickly; I would rather fix what is there.
The amount of weight isn’t large so my planned modifications to the legs should hold it up enough

digger303 wrote: Sun Jul 21, 2024 4:01 pm

Twokidsnosleep wrote: Sun Jul 21, 2024 5:08 am

digger303 wrote: Sun Jul 21, 2024 3:50 am Be amazing if you get all the kinks out.
Looks like 2 posts damaged ? $200 ? still cheap in this day and age.
Best of luck.

I got the kinks out but it is aluminum so tears, thus the extra reinforcement
You know how $200 turns into $600 or $800 really quickly; I would rather fix what is there.
The amount of weight isn’t large so my planned modifications to the legs should hold it up enough

It's just not the weight to consider , but the amount of force wind can exert too.
Normally if a repair was to be made at a shop it would be to cut a piece out and weld a section back in or weld a flat plate over the top.

Twokidsnosleep wrote: Sun Jul 21, 2024 4:04 pm

digger303 wrote: Sun Jul 21, 2024 4:01 pm

Twokidsnosleep wrote: Sun Jul 21, 2024 5:08 am

I got the kinks out but it is aluminum so tears, thus the extra reinforcement
You know how $200 turns into $600 or $800 really quickly; I would rather fix what is there.
The amount of weight isn’t large so my planned modifications to the legs should hold it up enough

It's just not the weight to consider , but the amount of force wind can exert too.
Normally if a repair was to be made at a shop it would be to cut a piece out and weld a section back in or weld a flat plate over the top.

With wood posts internally they should withstand the sheer force
Also sheltered areas with house and large hedges around
Aluminum is hard to weld as far as I believe

digger303 wrote: Mon Jul 22, 2024 2:42 pm All really lovely photography.
Good to see the Canadian f-15 showing a spot of speed. Do you know where the other one was....
Those Harriers are a amazing machine even now after all these years. I do wonder if the Ukrainians had a couple of squadrons of these what havoc they could cause. Not needing the smoothest of runways or the longest.
Thanks for sharing

aur0ra145 wrote: Mon Jul 22, 2024 9:17 pm I'm off this week, so a lot of projects have come up!

1. Get FiOS (Fiber Optic Internet service) installed. I've had it with my normal ISP. Spent several hours trying to get through to their tech support to find out they, ISP wide, will block ports from port forwarding. So essentially, I couldn't run a local game server because of them no matter what I did on my end. This should also reduce cost by $45 a month, and be of the same speed I was using. Thence, I had to buy my own router for use with FiOS, I got an awesome one, evidently they are up to a 6 GHz connections for WiFi in addition to 2.4 and 5 GHz.

2. To maintain lightening fast internet I may need to wire my home for LAN. A lot of this will depend on where the FiOS guys install the box. I'm told they will need to auger my yard to lay the lines. Personally, I don't care if they need to dig up part of the yard to install FiOS. That's how much I dislike the current ISP. I am worried that the techs/booking service for installation is mistaken in thinking my home is already wired. I think they may need to tap a line off of where ever the major line is. I've lived in this house for over 5 years and haven't ever seen them lay lines for the FiOS. I'm very interested to see how the installation goes. I'm a small bit worried FiOS will be slower that what I have now. As of writing this, my internet speed tests at 526Mbs down and 40Mbs up speed. FiOS claims 740 down and up. We will see.

3. Watch all the Star Wars shows that I missed while I was gone the last few months.

4. Enter the Sci-Fi SIG!

5. Start on an armor and/or aircraft kit.

6. Resist urge to buy extra stuff for modelling.

7. Learn the F-4 Phantom II in DCS. I bit the bullet and upgraded my gaming PC to 128GB of RAM (from 32GB) to run the module at peak fidelity. Excessive? Yes probably, though it will be many years before I upgrade again. Also added another 4TB of storage via a SSD. Additionally, I have a 2TB NVMe though that may be a bit excessive to have 10GB of internal storage on this computer.

digger303 wrote: Mon Jul 22, 2024 2:42 pm All really lovely photography.
Good to see the Canadian f-15 showing a spot of speed. Do you know where the other one was....
...
Thanks for sharing

Tomcat64 wrote: Tue Jul 23, 2024 4:01 pm

digger303 wrote: Mon Jul 22, 2024 2:42 pm All really lovely photography.
Good to see the Canadian f-15 showing a spot of speed. Do you know where the other one was....
...
Thanks for sharing

Cheers mate - ref the Canadian F-18 (they call it a CF-188A for some reason) the display jet failed after its practice run on Thursday which is why they flew the grey one on Friday! They got the display bird fixed for the weekend tho... so that's Scott's entire defence over here

Tomcat64 wrote: Tue Jul 23, 2024 4:01 pm

digger303 wrote: Mon Jul 22, 2024 2:42 pm All really lovely photography.
Good to see the Canadian f-15 showing a spot of speed. Do you know where the other one was....
...
Thanks for sharing

Cheers mate - ref the Canadian F-18 (they call it a CF-188A for some reason) the display jet failed after its practice run on Thursday which is why they flew the grey one on Friday! They got the display bird fixed for the weekend tho... so that's Scott's entire defence over here

aur0ra145 wrote: Wed Jul 24, 2024 7:44 am Broken jets? A tail as old as time. Must have been a bad one for the demo to default to the backup.

DRUMS01 wrote: Fri Aug 23, 2024 2:20 am Well everyone, it's me....

As you can tell I haven't been modeling much lately. I've been real busy, just not modeling. Around three months ago I was elected the Vice Commander of our American Legion Post. While it is an honor and privilege, it is also very time consuming to do correctly. So what have I been doing within our Legion Post? Well, not much other than finalizing a revised of our constitution and by-laws. Renewing our articles for non-profit and tax exempt status with our State and Federal Government. Creating several different recruitment materials and brown shoeing them around the communities. Attending and chairing weekly meetings at the Post, county, and district level. working at a strategic level to integrate our post into city, district, and state activities. Performing civic duties to further the Legion and Americanism on our city, county, and state. Attending training seminars, creating a Facebook page for our specific post (American Legion, Heath Post 771). Playing administrator for the Post Facebook content and contributors. Performing more color guard and honor guard duties at ceremonies and funerals. Working with the city on the reopening, dedication, and renaming of our city airport; to include an all day event this Saturday. It will include National, State, county, and local dignitaries. There will be a fly in of several vintage military aircraft to include a B-25 and a Vietnam Huey helicopter. There will be several experimental aircraft, a vintage car show (over 150 vehicles), military static displays, etc. etc. It is going to be a very happening place this Saturday. Though I will be very busy, I will do my best to capture some nice photos to post for everyone to see.

Outside of the American Legion, I'm also very involved in our churches contemporary christian church band. We have been practicing to make a recording of several songs. I'm not sure how soon it will be available to the public, but the official recording begins next Wednesday with me playing the percussion parts. I'm invigorated as its been several years since I was in studio recording.

This week we cleared over 200 ft of creek bed and spring run-off area then added over 48 ton of rap rock. The is limestone in 6-18 inch chunks to line the spring and creek beds on the property. I'll add some photos of that once I'm totally done.

Health wise I found out that I have a blood disorder called Polycythemia Vera, which is a somewhat rare form of blood cancer. It's when your bone marrow creates far to much red blood cells. I'm told that there is no cure, but many people live decades with it while others can be effected in months. I don't feel any different just yet other than extreme tiredness. I have several more treatments and then we will know a little more about the severity of it for my situation. I'm not really worried about it and will just do what the doctors tell me to do, as it is what it is....

Believe it or not, I have started on something modeling, a based for my recent completed bridge layer tank. I took to task the ideas you all suggested and have started a based that will have the tank, figures, roughly use and neglected cobblestone road, a destroyed bridge, and more. I'll add a build string on that soon too.

I guess this is enough to show I'm still around, just not on here as much as I used to be. Life goes in cycles and I will be back as soon as I get our Legion post running more proficiently and with more active members.
Hope to be posting with pictures something soon. Take care everyone!
Ben and Jarrod

DRUMS01 wrote: Fri Aug 23, 2024 2:20 am Well everyone, it's me....

As you can tell I haven't been modeling much lately. I've been real busy, just not modeling. Around three months ago I was elected the Vice Commander of our American Legion Post. While it is an honor and privilege, it is also very time consuming to do correctly. So what have I been doing within our Legion Post? Well, not much other than finalizing a revised of our constitution and by-laws. Renewing our articles for non-profit and tax exempt status with our State and Federal Government. Creating several different recruitment materials and brown shoeing them around the communities. Attending and chairing weekly meetings at the Post, county, and district level. working at a strategic level to integrate our post into city, district, and state activities. Performing civic duties to further the Legion and Americanism on our city, county, and state. Attending training seminars, creating a Facebook page for our specific post (American Legion, Heath Post 771). Playing administrator for the Post Facebook content and contributors. Performing more color guard and honor guard duties at ceremonies and funerals. Working with the city on the reopening, dedication, and renaming of our city airport; to include an all day event this Saturday. It will include National, State, county, and local dignitaries. There will be a fly in of several vintage military aircraft to include a B-25 and a Vietnam Huey helicopter. There will be several experimental aircraft, a vintage car show (over 150 vehicles), military static displays, etc. etc. It is going to be a very happening place this Saturday. Though I will be very busy, I will do my best to capture some nice photos to post for everyone to see.

Outside of the American Legion, I'm also very involved in our churches contemporary christian church band. We have been practicing to make a recording of several songs. I'm not sure how soon it will be available to the public, but the official recording begins next Wednesday with me playing the percussion parts. I'm invigorated as its been several years since I was in studio recording.

This week we cleared over 200 ft of creek bed and spring run-off area then added over 48 ton of rap rock. The is limestone in 6-18 inch chunks to line the spring and creek beds on the property. I'll add some photos of that once I'm totally done.

Health wise I found out that I have a blood disorder called Polycythemia Vera, which is a somewhat rare form of blood cancer. It's when your bone marrow creates far to much red blood cells. I'm told that there is no cure, but many people live decades with it while others can be effected in months. I don't feel any different just yet other than extreme tiredness. I have several more treatments and then we will know a little more about the severity of it for my situation. I'm not really worried about it and will just do what the doctors tell me to do, as it is what it is....

Believe it or not, I have started on something modeling, a based for my recent completed bridge layer tank. I took to task the ideas you all suggested and have started a based that will have the tank, figures, roughly use and neglected cobblestone road, a destroyed bridge, and more. I'll add a build string on that soon too.

I guess this is enough to show I'm still around, just not on here as much as I used to be. Life goes in cycles and I will be back as soon as I get our Legion post running more proficiently and with more active members.

Hope to be posting with pictures something soon. Take care everyone!

Ben and Jarrod

Twokidsnosleep wrote: Sat May 10, 2025 3:29 am Great pics Neil
The last post was me in August last year making the 300 Movie figure and whining about my knee
So more to whine, i finally have a knee replacement surgery on June 16
Have to travel out of province and pay for it myself.
Don’t talk to me about the great Canadian medical system
Hoping to get back to being myself soon

Tomcat64 wrote: Tue May 13, 2025 3:18 pm

Twokidsnosleep wrote: Sat May 10, 2025 3:29 am Great pics Neil
The last post was me in August last year making the 300 Movie figure and whining about my knee
So more to whine, i finally have a knee replacement surgery on June 16
Have to travel out of province and pay for it myself.
Don’t talk to me about the great Canadian medical system
Hoping to get back to being myself soon

Ouch

Crumbling medical services appear to be a common theme at the moment.

At least you're booked in now; I know several people who've had knee or hip replacements and have had a completely new lease on life once they've been through the op so hopefully this'll sort you out too once it's done

digger303 wrote: Tue May 13, 2025 10:00 pm

Tomcat64 wrote: Tue May 13, 2025 3:18 pm

Twokidsnosleep wrote: Sat May 10, 2025 3:29 am Great pics Neil
The last post was me in August last year making the 300 Movie figure and whining about my knee
So more to whine, i finally have a knee replacement surgery on June 16
Have to travel out of province and pay for it myself.
Don’t talk to me about the great Canadian medical system
Hoping to get back to being myself soon

Ouch

Crumbling medical services appear to be a common theme at the moment.

At least you're booked in now; I know several people who've had knee or hip replacements and have had a completely new lease on life once they've been through the op so hopefully this'll sort you out too once it's done

Got a friend who had both a hip and knee done.
A possible side effect of hip replacements is getting a hernia, which is more prevalent in women. Unfortunately he got one and as this is all done under the public system he is still waiting to get that fixed and it's very painful every movement causes a new gasp of pain. Still not urgent enough to get one moved up the line of people waiting for surgery.
I'm afraid government run systems are never the quickest.

RangerNeil wrote: Wed May 14, 2025 3:23 pm Bad news on the knee - hope you get sorted soon.
I've torn the Manuscus (sp?) in both knees and was scheduled for surgery a few years ago. Went in for the pre-op assessment to find the original consultant had left and the replacement told me I was too old for the operation to be cost effective and sent me back to the GP with a request for steroid injections. They make life bearable for a year or so then need doing again....