Bates throws a low blow! (BOTB round 3)

Welcome to round 3 of the Battle of the Barristers (BOTB).  Previous installments can be found here and here.  Well, it is clear that my opponent has decided that the only way he can succeed by insuring that I don’t finish my F-8 in time.  In order to make that happen, Mr. Bates threw a low blow.  He sent me, gratis, (and this is your clue, since an attorney never does anything for free.) a set of the prepainted Eduard photoetch for the F-8.  Clearly he figured that by getting me to start adding improvments to the Academy kit, that AMS would take over and I’d never finish.  A clever plan, but it won’t work!

Eduard F-8 set

I got a little time with the F-8 over the weekend. As I said previously, this kit is not nearly as perfectly fitting as the Revell Hunter kit.  The cockpit as made had a gap on each side between the side panels and the sidewalls.  I added a thin strip of plastic to each side panel.  Curiously, even though it isn’t mentioned on the instructions, the Eduard side panels fit perfectly on the modified cockpit side panels.  I painted the whole interior medium gray and will begin weathering it next.

Cockpit

More soon.  So take that Bates! 🙂

Modeling? No, really.

This is suppose to be a blog mainly about modeling.  However, there hasn’t been a modeling related post in almost a month.  Well, that ends with this post.

Recently, for some reason, I’ve gotten an urge to build a 72nd scale DeHavilland Chipmunk.  This is an Airfix kit from back in the late 60s or early 70s.  I picked it up at the Huntsville show last fall.  I am  not sure why I want to do this one, especially since I have at least 15 other half built projects sitting in the model room.  Not only do I want to build the kit, I want to go whole hog adding details and tricking it out.

Here is the kit.

Chipmunk kit

 

Here is the back of the kit with the markings options.  I won’t be doing either of these, especially since the decals have to be about 40 years old.

Kit markings choices

More soon……

Notes from a long weekend

These are just some random notes from this past long weekend. The fact that it has taken me this long to post this tells you how busy I have been.

1. I’ve never had President’s Day as a work holiday until now….and I still went into work for a few hours.

2. Man, I am sore from spending two straight weekends cleaning up branches.  (see the photo below)

The clean back yard.

CLena back yard

The giant stick pile.  The big wood has already been hauled to the neighbor’s woodpile.

Stick pile

 

3. The drug Boniva, sounds like a boner pill, not a treatment for weak bones.

4. This is one of my favorite movie scenes…ever.  I’ve added it to my list of movies I have to watch.

5. I am bummed I won’t be at the Columbus show.

Sad

This would make you cry, if the whole world hadn’t been going down the toliet lately and you had any tears left to shed.

Don’t blame me…

I voted for Kodos.  For the latest, see this.

Kodos

Whistling past the graveyard

The New York Times does it here.

Movies I just don’t get

In a previous post, I did a partial list of movies that I just have to sit down and watch when I run across them on TV.  Below is a list of movies that are generally considered great that I just don’t find that compelling.  They aren’t necessarily bad, I just don’t think they are as great as everyone else.

1. Citizen Kane  Uusally considered the best movie ever made by critics.  It isn’t bad, and it has great actors and great cinematography, but I just don’t see it as the best movie ever made.

2. 2001: A Space Odyssey A good movie that I think just falls apart in the last 20 minutes.  It is an acid trip rather than a movie ending.

3. American Beauty  This is a truly aweful movie.  It shows the depths that Hollywood has fallen to, when the hero of the movie is a junkie.  The writer and director really must have had bad suburban experiences to produce a piece of trash like this.

4. Anything with Meryl Streep.  I just don’t think she is a very good actress, I just don’t.

5. The Godfather trilogy.  I know this is a guy movie.  I don’t have anything against gangster movies.  I love Casino, but the Godfather movies do nothing for me.

Like my previous list, I am sure there are more that just haven’t come to mind.  I’ll add them if I think of them.

The state of the (legal) economy

UPDATE2: Here is an idea for some of the recently laid off lawyers.  I hear there will be plenty of ex-Starbucks locations available soon.

UPDATE: That didn’t take long.  Here is more news of law firm layoffs.

I suspect we will see more of this in the future.  I know of several firms that have been laying off staff and attorneys.

and God said, “Let there be light, and there was light.”

After 4 1/2 days without power, we finally got it back at 12:30 p.m. today.  Now, if we don’t get the massive snowfall they have been predicting for Monday, I can begin the long process of cleaning up the mess.  I’ll just be glad to spend the night in my own bed, with heat and light.  I’ll post some more photos later.