Courtesy of Jim “Cranky Canuck” Bates, here are two websites with extensive photos of two Japanese war museums, Yushukan – Tokyo War Museum and Kawaguchiko Aviation Hall (Zero Fighter Museum – Harada Collection). Thanks for the pointers Jim.
Our friend, the Cranky Canuck, (aka Jim Bates) has started blogging again. This pleases me as Jim always has something interesting to post. In this case, he posted a link to a YouTube model building channel. There are quite a number of these, and some of them are very good, as is this one that Jim referenced in his post.
I realized recently that I hadn’t done an entry on modeling tools in a long time. I checked the archive and it has been over two years. This one will be a bit different as it will be a comparison of three different vision enhancement tools that I have in the shop.
As we get older, one of many modelers main complaints are that modeling gets harder due to eyesight not being as sharp as it use to be. That is certainly true for me. That fact was recently brought home when i had to get a new pair of glasses. I got them, and they are wonderful, but they made me realize home poorly I’d been seeing out of my old pair, which were admittedly very old. I am a frugal guy and I hadn’t given my eyesight the priority it deserved. A few days later, on a Facebook modeling group, I saw a member touting and selling a head-worn magnifier, that was touted as being much superior to the classic Optivisor, especially for those of us who wear glasses. I was intrigued. A quick check of Amazon, found the same item at have the price being offered on the Facebook site, and as the price was only $13, I went ahead and too a chance.
Amazon alternative
This was what I got. I decided to test it out while working on my “I blame Jeff Groves” truck project. The pluses, it comes with 5 different lenses that are quickly interchangeable. It is a bit easier to flip up to restore normal view allowing a modeler to look between his project, and a TV or book. It has a built-in light which requires 3 AAA batteries while the light kit for an Optivisior is an add-on.
After using it, I then switched to the Optivisor that I have owned for years. Every modeler knows the classic Optivisor or one of its look-alike knock-offs. Mine is a name brand one I have had for years, and I also added the third-party light kit and loup. Here it is.
Optivisor
For me, there was very little difference between the two items. Yes, the Amazon purchase was a bit easier to flip up to view things at normal distance. The Optivisior might have been a tad bit heavier, but not enough to really notice. The one thing I did note during the test that I hadn’t noted before, I had too strong a lens in the Optivisor. I have a #10 lens, which is the most powerful. I quickly realized from testing the different lenses that come with the Amazon purchase, that the #10 lens was much too strong of a magnification. Luckily I had a #4 lens on a shelf and after a quick swap out, I realized that this was a better lens for me.
Finally, I also tested a pair of flip up magnifiers (like flip up sunglasses baseball players use.) I’ve had these for a while. I picked them up at a show. I picked up a set a long time ago, but they were made a glass and proved too heavy to wear comfortably. This set is made with plastic composite lenses and is so light that they really have add no noticeable additional weight to my glasses. As for magnification, they are a very comfortable magnification. I think they may be a +1.5 or a +2. In any event, they turned out to work better for me than either of the head mounted items. My model room has tons off light, so I really didn’t need additional light and, of course, they flip up very easily when not in use and don’t get in the way either of the head mounted items do, especially when you turn your head. I was surprised, but I think these will be the items I use for vision magnification when modeling in my model room, where light isn’t an issue. No, I just wish I know what vendor I got them from or who made them.
I’ve been wondering about this as I’ve watched the traffic numbers for this blog ebb and flow. I really am not greatly concerned with traffic as this blog serves as much as a place where I keep notes on things I am interested in. However, visiting the blogs of modelers like Jeff “Inch High” Groves, Jim “Cranky Canuck” Bates and Tommy Thomason, I realize that my stuff just doesn’t have the same quality.
Each of those blogs, and many others are different in their own way, but all have a mark of quality. They make me muse on what makes a good (modeling related) blog post. One thing these sites all do is make use of photos. I don’t do that enough. Also, all of these sites go deep on history in many of their posts. Those are some of the best posts. I’d like to find more time to devote to posts like that, but until I get better organized, I don’t know if that will be possible.
Sword recently released a new kit of the F3H Demon. Tommy Thomason over on his Tailhook Topics blog has a great review of the kit. I picked this one up at the LHS recently.
Jeff “inch High” Groves pays me a high compliment on his blog today by blaming (or crediting) me with being responsible for him blogging. I’ll gladly take the credit. My legacy in modeling is now done.
Follow this build on 72nd scale forum. You won’t regret it.
This is the way all blogging should be done.
Blogging by the fire
