11-11-11

Armistice Day. Veterans Day. Remembrance Day. It has many names, but one meaning. Never forget.

Somehow, my collection of WWI minis, now growing a bit long in the tooth, I suppose, has escaped recent photography. I haven't played a game with them in years, and there are no immediate prospects. I've considered picking up Death of Glory and Test of Battle, but haven't been able to justify it with no opponent ready to go. Yet as one of my very first forays into wargaming, I can't bring myself to get rid of the armies, either. And so, they rest.

In the meantime, here is a period appropriate subject. Eddie Rickenbacker's SPAD XIII.  A beautiful aircraft, and I have always been fascinated by the stories of the Lafayette Escadrille and the Hat in the Ring squadron. I do have his autobiography, and really should sit down to read it someday.

It should be noted this subject also has a connection with my theme of Fast Fridays. Before the war, Rickenbacker was a race car driver, participating in the Indy 500 four times before the race was suspended for the war in 1917 and 1918, when the backstretch was used as an airstrip. Later, in 1927, he would become owner of the Speedway. The Speedway closed its gates again from 1942-1945, when Rickenbacker sold it to Anton Hulman. The rest, as they say, is history.

Model notes: 1/72 scale, built from the old Revell kit. Most likely used Testors enamels, though in this case I seem to recall possibly Humbrol. As for rigging, I hit on this idea years ago and to my knowledge only my roommate at the time seems to have picked up on it and uses it regularly - I use paint brush bristles. That's right, just get any old paint brush, cut the bristles to length, put a dab of superglue on the end of each one and drop into place. No drilling, no tieing, no trying to heat things up to make taut. A lot of times the simplest solutions are best.

Welcome Followers

I see  there are two people out there who have signed up to see if anything of interest to them gets posted to this humble blog.

Welcome, Joao Mota and MiniMike!

Whistling Dixie

The last couple of evenings while my wife and I prepare dinner, for some reason she has been humming the Battle Hymn of the Republic. She can't really explain why, it's just stuck in her head at the moment, she says. Of course, ever ready to play the role of her foil, I start in with a rousing rendition of Dixie. Yes, we're an odd couple sometimes.

So in that spirit, along with the suggestion that my posts have leaned toward the cause of the Union, here are some more Confederates painted up some time ago, fuzzy photos and all. These appear to be Foundry minis, which I know I haven't bought any ACW Foundry minis in years, so this must go back a ways. As best I can recall, it does not represent any specific unit, and was in all likelihood painted with the usual mix of Vallejo and Testors acrylics.

But doesn't the officer look dashing?

Lord of the (Piston) Rings

A brief progress report on the Mustang.

I drove out to see the body man last Friday morning, but I guess I should have called ahead - he wasn't there. But a peek through the window looks like not much progress has been made. Which, as I've said, is fine with me to a point. It's his garage space, after all, and I'm not ready to reinstall the engine and such anyway.

Speaking of the engine, I put the pistons in this past weekend. My BIL came up with the proper tools for the job, and once we sorted it out, it actually went rather well. So, while steps are small, progress is being made!

Fast Fri.., er, Monday: 1969 Camaro Pace Car

I was out and about Friday and unable to get a post in on Fast Friday. Which is really a shame, as Friday marked the 100th anniversary of Chevrolet, a true American icon if ever there was one!

So in recognition of this achievement, I present my model of the 1969 Camaro Indy 500 pace car. At least one of the surveys I've seen in recent weeks asking people to select their all-time favorite Chevy had the '69 Camaro ranked No. 1, and the pace car being noted specifically as one of the best looking cars of all time. I hope you think so, too, and I hope you think my model does this remarkable car justice.

Notes: Built from the old MPC kit, the one that also included the Corvette and Trans Am. It's not the best kit in the world, but it built up OK. I used flock for the carpets, added seat belts, and used decals I bought from a supplier on ebay. They are really excellent decals, though I had to buy two sets because I screwed up the first one - no fault of the decals. I forget his name, if anyone wants it I can look it up.

Comments?

I just noticed this little blog has cleared 1,000 visits. I hope it has provided a few moments of interesting reading and/or photo viewing in what I am sure is a busy day for all of you!

I've been trying to be diligent of posting every day, or nearly so (weekends are tough), and I shall plan to continue to do so if readership continues. What say you, valued reader?

As for today, I did not even get my 20-30 minutes of quiet me time this morning. It was one of those mornings by the time I let the dog out, fed her, cleaned the cat box, emptied the dishwasher, took out the trash and cleaned up a pile of cat barf, the babies started crying and I sat with them until our daycare provider arrived. Sigh.

I'm Not Broke, Just Badly Bent

The good news: My recent auctions have brought in nearly $150 in revenue. The bad news: I paid the credit card bill that included recent Mustang parts and getting the engine cleaned and bored.

Let's just say, ouch. It pretty much wiped my account out.

The hobby budget for the foreseeable future is going to be very tight, especially given that I have at least a thousand dollars worth of work/parts to go on the Mustang. Let's just say that money doesn't exist at the moment. I hope I can put some/most of that off until spring.

I think I need to start looking at more things I can sell off. Seriously, I rolled up a bunch of coins in my drawer and came up with $54 cash. Hey, every little bit is going to help at this point.