My goodness.........it's been a long time since I was last on this site! Things have changed so much since I last posted anything. Well, that's progress for ya!
Well, to begin this blog.......the only way I can describe it, is that it was a Modeler's Christmas. Aside from the clothes {which featured a pair of pants that's fleece lined.....should be quite useful when I have to shovel snow}, I got paints and several models.
These are the plastic kits.......upper left is an AMT Corvair funny car. .......kind of an odd make of car to base a drag machine on......should be an interesting build. The Ecto - 1A.......I had to break mt son's heart, telling him that it was the same one he got me last year. I was on the lookout for an Ecto - 1 kit { I know it's out there somewhere}.......he thought it was the one. There is a silver lining here though.....the instructions show how to modify the kit into the Ecto - 1, so when I get 'round to building it, it will be quite a tutorial. The best one.......the Batmobile!
I was looking for this one.......the Burt Ward Batmobile. I have the Michael Keaton version of the Batmobile, thanks to Carl for sending it to me. It's by Polar Lights and even has the resin figures of Batman and Robin. Big AZZ smile here! These two kits at the bottom come from Old Model Kits.com....I have not lost my sweet tooth for older kits. The Fokker DVII is a Revell kit, produced back in the mid 90's, and is 1:28 scale.
The Santa Maria is a much older kit.....produced back in the mid to early 60's.......could even be as early as 1957. It has no scale denoted on the box..........from what I could find out, it may be 1:89 scale. The decals on the Fokker are not in the best shape.......but the Santa Maria decal sheet is almost like new. I was also wishing for a Revell Thermopylae, 1:96 scale. It would have looked good next to my Cutty Sark.
The admiral was going to get it for me {bless her heart}.....but when she ordered the others, it had been sold. So, she went to the Ages of Sails site, and got me the Mantua / Sergal Thermopylae!
This kit is 1:128 scale......a decent size for a model. It's a wooden kit......plank on bulkhead {I was afraid that it was a solid hull}. She felt sad that it wasn't exactly what I wanted......but I assured her that it was alright.....and even more so as I looked the kit over. Of course, I had to open the box......I pulled out the instructions, and found that the parts panel diagrams printed on the back of them, was 1:1 with the model!
With these diagrams, I can trace out the parts for another hull of the same scale! Heck......I can even use the parts panels themselves.......the possibilities are endless! Here's an even bigger mind boggler, try and think of how many different tea clippers there are.......I don't want to scare you! Hee....Hee......Hee!
Peeking in, you can see part of the diagrams I speak of........when the sheet is spread out, you'd see how large the diagrams really are {big smile}. Christmas Eve brings us to kit #7........we went to my oldest son's house, to bring them our gifts. We all opened them at this time, since we weren't able to attend the party they were having in the evening for their in-laws. Our {my} two grand sons, Chase 8, and Tripp 6 brought out the gifts, giving one of them to me "This is for you Grampy....." I watched them open theirs, to see the gleam in their eyes.......Lego Dementions. If anyone has seen this, it is a really cool game for the X-Box.
I opened the gift to find this, hidden in the wrappings...........
I almost wanted to laugh.........especially when told that the boys picked it out. I was sure to put a really surprised spin on the acceptance.........but I had thoughts that the adults had a hand in it {I'm sure they had no idea}. I had ideas for it anyway.......do a little bash here and there......and it will surely be a cool build.
The boys got it for me.......and that's the way I left it. Tripp later told me that when they come over, they want to see it built, which changed my mind a bit..........perhaps the boys thought it WAS the perfect gift for Grampy {big smile here}. It was probably a lesson in giving.......and the last thing I ever would want to do, is hurt their feelings. Even today.......I still feel good about it. I looked in the kit when I got home, my ideas will work......and I even thought of a couple more things I can do to it, to enhance the experience. I even got an idea of my own........I'm going to purchase a couple of the snap-tite car kits, and give them when they come over. I will help them build them........and introduce them to model building. It should be fun.......they like Legos........I think that's a good start.
All and All........I had a fantastic Christmas 2015...........and I hope you all had one too! I now have to get busy........I don't know when the grand kids will be over........so, I had better get the Black Diamond build for when they do! I love my boys! :)
