More on the Airfix Vulcan

See here.  Looks like at least one version will have the Blue Steel missile included.

Revell Ju-88A-1

A hole in the 72nd scale modeling world has been an A-1 version of the Ju-88.  This was the most numerous version used in the Battle of Britain.  Now Revell has announced that they are doing one.  Given their excellent A-4 version, I have high hopes.

Good news of the day, of a different sort

Same theme, different aggressor.  As conservation has kicked into high gear over the last 30 years, the comeback in wildlife has been amazing.  Black bear have been spotted near Louisville, and have even swum the Ohio river to once again enter Indiana.  I live in a very suburban area, and the talk of the neighborhood the last few weeks is the two coyotes that have been spotted in the neighborhood.  I am sure they’ve shown up because of the deer and raccoons that are ever present.

Deer in the neighborhood

 

Polish defense upgrades

It appears that Poland will upgrade its submarine force by purchasing second hand Swedish subs.  You don’t think much about Poland having a naval presence, but it has a significant Baltic coastline.

More UFO speculation

Here is another article trying to analyze the USN “UFO” videos.  I hope we one day know what this was all about.  I, for one, am pretty sure there is a terrestrial explanation for all of this.

My favorite modeling tools #11: Future

or as it is now known, Pledge with Future shine.  Future is an acrylic floor wax that has been around for a long time.  In fact, the original bottle of Future I have is well over 20 years old.  In fact, last night I sprayed some Future from that bottle on one of my current projects.  Modelers many, many years ago discovered that Future could be airbrushed easily, that it dried quickly to a rock hard acrylic finish, that any error could be removed with a cloth dampened with Windex and it made a great surface on which to apply decals.  Later as the weathering craze took off, modelers found the added benefit that it made a great barrier over which to apply oil based weathering products.  Is has become trendy lately to decry the use of Future, but I still find it very useful.

Slowtime

No, I am not referring to my inability to post over this last weekend, but that is part of it.  Every year at this time of year, my modeling efforts tend to go into hibernation.  From Thanksgiving to the New Year I hardly get anything done.  Obviously this has to do with the pressing nature of the holidays.  This year I am going to try and change that, and I am going to bring you along for the ride.  This year I am going to try and do a post once every other day related to modeling that I am doing during the season.  Hopefully, this will lead to at least one more model finished before the end of the year.

November MMCL meeting

MMCL had its November meeting last night.  35 members in attendance.  Presentations on LEDs and on static grass.  Great raffle and a lot of show and tell items.

What makes a “super soldier”?

The army has recognized for years that a small percentage of soldiers do a vast majority of the damage to the enemy in combat. These soldier’s effectiveness has an out-sized influence on the outcome of battle.  In battle their bravery borders on suicidal. They attack when any rational person would run and hide.  For years the army has done studies on how to identify, train and ultimately “make” more of its forces into these super soldiers.  So far they’ve been pretty unsuccessful.

As this article makes clear by example, many of these soldier (though not all) are misfits in peacetime.  They don’t fit well in the peacetime army.  They are regularly in trouble and don’t deal well with peacetime regulations.

Trade war

The administration might have been right that the US held the stronger hand if a trade war developed between the US and China. Story here.  Of course many people have made the same point for years and have wondered why previous administrations haven’t used the same leverage.