Tale of the Tape

I spent about a half hour this morning doing nothing but taping up my Foyt Olds in preparation for applying the black stripe down the side. Sorry for the lack of photos lately, I haven't been able to set up an area and haul anything out to shoot. Hopefully shots of the Foyt Olds soon.

Goals: Somewhat Met

As expected, it was a busy long weekend. But perhaps even busier than I thought.

Wednesday shopping turned into a mini-saga and took far longer than expected, but I did get a lot done.

Thursday was Thursday.

Friday I did get the leaves raked and the lights up, with much internal snipping and sniping with my wife. And I got caught up in helping rearrange the living room. Lonnng story we shan't go into. And a social evening out.

That carried on until Saturday, when I finally just stopped for a little while to watch football. Then it was off to dinner out and another shopping excursion.

Sunday I did some cyber shopping and some other computer work - that took a while, too. Finally by late Sunday afternoon I was pretty done for.

So what does that mean for hobbies? Zero accomplishment on the Mustang. Nada. So that's frustrating. And on the scale cars, I got the tires painted and wheels assembled on the Foyt Olds, and the orange paint polished reasonably well. I need to mask and get the black on. Oh, and I got a front support and the spoiler prepped for paint (forgot to do them in the first round...)

And I did get a bottle of stout to fermenting in the keg. That could be the long-term best accomplishment of the weekend.

Long Weekend Goals

The office is shutting down at noon today, followed by four days off! In my perfect little dream world, it will go something like this:

1. This afternoon: Pick up a few items on the Christmas shopping list, get some fine beer for tomorrow's repast, wash the truck, get a haircut.
2. Tonight: Crash on the couch and watch Captain America, which according to Netflix is in the mail and should arrive today.
3. Thursday: Haul the wife, kids and grandma to my parents for much overeating. Probably little else will get accomplished.
4. Friday: Finish raking the leaves, put up the Christmas lights. (Hey, it's supposed to be in the upper 50s!)
5. Saturday-Sunday: I really need to get back to working on the Mustang. I need to clean the oil pan, get the timing cover on, get the oil pan on, and start work on the valves. I'd love to get the head back on, but we'll see.

And I'd also like to work on my AJ Foyt Oldsmobile, my '64 Watson and start my '55 Kurtis-Kraft. And paint minis!?! Oh, and I have a batch of stout I want to get brewed up and going in the keg.

Alas, the wife wants to rearrange the living room and the kids' playroom, so I'm sure that will be a priority. And I'm sure other things will come up. Odds of getting just one thing on that list done: 25:1.

I'll report back next week. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Proofreading Karma

A couple posts back I had a little fun with a kit manufacturer's misspelling of "USS Enterpise" on a Star Trek kit. And wouldn't you know it, I come in to work today only to have an error of my own pointed out. On a corporate holiday card (nothing says happy holidays like an ecard from a battery manufacturer!) I neglected to add a space between "brightand".

Fortunately it was just a draft layout and didn't go out to any "valued customers," but still. Karma, she's a nasty one.

Buckle Your Seat Belts

Well, we're certainly entering a busy time of year.

There was the Santa parade Saturday that got the kids fired up, then a family birthday thing yesterday. Now Thanksgiving is already Thursday, and then the whirlwind that always is December.

Hopefully I can get some hobby activities in there somewhere. You'd think this would be the time of year to rest, wouldn't you? Ha!

I did bottle a batch of beer Saturday (a week later than planned), and also worked some on a couple of race cars, specifically getting the seat belts more or less together, hence the title of this post. On my '64 Watson, I had done it twice already, but still wasn't happy with it. I think I like it now. And last night/this morning I did the harness for my '86 Olds. These aren't 100% accurate recreations, but as representations with the fiddly photo etch bits and masking tape, I think they will do quite well, thank you. I need to get some photos maybe this week...

Fast Friday: 1986 Indy 500 Winner

Before 2011 winds to a close, let's take a look back 25 years in Indy 500 history.

That year was memorable for a number of reasons, not the least of which was it was deemed "The Greatest Spectacle in Raining" after days of rain pushed the race back from its traditional Memorial Day weekend date to the following Saturday. I remember making the return 300 mile trip, and it was as nice a day as you could want for a race. And it ended up a thriller, with Bobby Rahal winning the closest 1-2-3 finish in race history to that point.

This model represents Rahal's winning 1986 March Cosworth. It is based on the AMT '86 March kit based on Al Unser's 1987 winning effort. Not many modifications are necessary to make it a true '86 - fill in the hole on the side of the cowl, add the airscoop at the back, adjust the rear wing strut and make some bigger winglets on the rear wing.

As is usual in model building, not everyone agrees on the color. Some say straight up Tamiya works best for Budweiser red, but I mixed my own from Testors enamel, mostly gloss red, with some dark red thrown in to deepen it just a bit. I'm happy with the result. Decals are of the usual excellent quality delivered by Indycals. One of my favorites!

Proofreading at Starfleet?

Disclaimer: See the blog post at Model Kit Review that inspired this one here.

Part of my job involves proofreading. Believe me, it's not as easy as it sounds, and so I have great compassion for the poor fellow whose job it was to proofread something when errors are pointed out.

So when I get a chuckle out of an obvious error, it is a knowing chuckle rather than a conveyance of any sense of superiority. Lord knows I've made my share of mistakes. "Gleen" instead of green in a tradeshow banner, anyone? At least that one did get caught before it went to the printer. Whew.

Anyway, I did indeed get a good chuckle out of this one. I'm sure the proofreader has been condemned to proofing Klingon dictionaries for the rest of his career. (Yes, I'm aware it is the fault of some poor soul at AMT, not Starfleet.)

By the way, part of today's work agenda for me includes proofreading some automotive adhesive sell sheets. In Chinese. Keep in mind I don't speak a word of Chinese. All I can do is make sure what is in the word doc appears in the final layout. It may as well be in Klingon. And you wonder why things you read from China are in such fractured English? I like to think there is some poor fellow in China trying to do what I do, only in reverse.