Stash Reduction Time...a Time To Reflect.

There comes a time when you have to let go of all the aspirations because you realize that there isn't enough time in life to be able to do everything that you ever wanted to do in your lifetime. It's not so much giving up...as it is the ability to focus on what is most important to you. I have made the toughest decision in my life. To pare down my model kit collection to the point where I have only a few kits that actually truly mean something to me. The rest, I will either sell or donate to the Royal Canadian Air Cadets. For my collection, I am hoping to be able to get enough to make a substantial dent in the cost of a Nikon AF-S 105mm VR Macro lens.

As much as I have enjoyed the collection of model kits that I have accumulated, there comes a time when you have to make a choice to pare down and really focus on what matters to you in life. And as difficult as it may seem, it appears that I need to do that, for the sake of organization as well as turning my mind to photography. Photography may be a more expensive hobby but for me, it also has the potential to earn some serious income. So instead of dragging around history that will never be used, I am going to take that and turn it into a lens that I can use.

Oh, I will be keeping some of my kits...that I cherish...and I hope to complete those before I die. And maybe I will work on them with my kids. What really means something is not the quantity of the things you own, but in the quality of the things you decide to keep. And for me, that is confining my purchases to camera equipment and only enough to do the photography that I really want to do.

So this blog is going to go on hiatus while I trim down my "stash".

Canopy Painting.

I've masked off my Tomcat canopy (did this quite a few months ago). I've been racking my brain on how to keep paint spillage from getting under the canoopy and ruining the canopy from the underside.

I'm just wondering if a blu-tak sausage shaped to fit under the canopy would be sufficient enough in keeping paint spillage from getting on the canopy inside? Or should I turn around and put Tamiya tape under the canopy to absolutely prevent any seepage at all?

These are the questions that I've been asking myself because the whole point of trying to figure out each and every step has not been crystal clear to me. A lot of people may say that might be a bit too much "thinking" on a hobby, but well...I don't like making mistakes. But maybe a part of this hobby is to learn as you make mistakes. ~sigh~

I'm going to have to strip the cockpit again so that I can actually turn around and prime the whole cockpit with grey primer. Then apply some tape to the sections that I want painted control surface black.

My wife gave me an idea of saving some "baby food" jars and using them to mix paint...or set up the mixture of thinner/paint for flat finishes of Modelmaster Int. Black (3 parts paint to 1 part thinner) (according to Testors = Gloss; 3 parts paint to 2 parts thinner. Flat; 3 parts paint to 1 part thinner)

Still Need To Finish That F-14

I really need to get going on that F-14A Tomcat that has been languishing on the model shelf for quite some time. But first of all I'm going to have to strip the paint off the stuff that I've already done because they didn't come out the way I wanted it to.



I would like to strip off the paint on the cockpit tub and the instrument panels because they should have been done with flat black...and would have turned out better with grey primer. And I did a somewhat passable job on the canopy with the masking off. That may allow me to paint a flat black...allow it to dry and then spray a coat of gloss gull grey over it. I'm going to need to get a spray rattle can of flat black. I have yet to set up my airbrush. Maybe I can see if this F-14 will prove that I can actually do this hobby. I guess it's gut-check time.



Well, at least I do have several of the paints that I need for this. FS16440 (Gloss Gull Grey) and Flat Black (I would like to make sure that it comes out flat black), the last two times, it's come out glossy.

Airborn T-shirts; not model related but aviation...

I remember a long time ago when I was in the Air Cadets in 1984 when several of my fellow cadets from 583 Coronation Squadron, a few cadets from several other squadrons and I went down to Spokane for the Fairchild AFB open house. I would have to say it was quite the highlight of my life. A fellow cadet, Paul Cameron, from my squadron and I were quartered with a Civil Air Patrol Master Sergeant named Jeff House.

During the course of the open house, I managed to see a lot of US military aircraft and also managed to pick up a "Blackbird Aviation t-shirt" of the F-15 Eagle. Needless to say, this company has metamorphosed into "Airborn Flightwear" and my old t-shirt from 1984 has seen the ravages of time.


Front side; F-15 tee.


Back; F-15 tee.

Needless to say, I was hooked on the Blackbird Aviation tees and I wanted to buy them, but didn't have the money until I grew up to get them. I had switched allegiances from the F-15 Eagle to the F-14 Tomcat due to a certain movie that came out in 1986. I'm sure you all know which one that was.





I bought this t-shirt in the 1990s in New Westminster, BC at a t-shirt shop that was located in the New Westminster Quay shopping center. Both of my now Airborn Flightwear t-shirts are an integral part of my history and I'm still happy to say that I still wear them...though I am seriously thinking of retiring my F-15 shirt. And frankly, I think it's about time for replacements.