Sunday, March 30, 2025

Bionic Bust Out!

I've already told you the story of these models.

Pretty much hate orange, but this came out well.

This time I didn't have the presence of mind to take process photos.  I battled the dreaded "orange paint on white plastic" problem by assembling the full Steve Austin figure, masking the non-orange bits and spraying the figure a dark orange.  It's the same colour I used on my Scooby-Doo models a few weeks back and it's too dark and too glossy, BUT it did cover the figure with no streaks.  Once that was on, I overpainted with a matte orange acrylic and it came out pretty well.

I'm also very happy with the rusted door and the base overall.

Again, I cut and fiddled the "removable" panels that cover the bionic parts, making them look like his jumpsuit had ripped open.  It's not perfect, but it works far better than a part that covers the whole point of the model.

At least you can SEE the bionics!


The base wasn't particularly challenging and it came out nice once I painted and aged up the bricks and rusted down the door.  It's always nice to have a base with some character to paint and this one, while very basic, has lots of character.  It comes in plain white plastic and would look nice even that way, but I think I made it look pretty spiffy!

Probably the most challenging figure of all of the Bionic Man/Woman models, since the jumpsuit is orange and there's lots of little detail to paint.  The zippers, the boot laces, the patches and flag all came out pretty well, but I didn't spend a lot of time on any of them, just gave them enough detail to pass inspection.  I'm old and unless I bust out a LOT of magnification, stuff like that is just too much anymore.

I'm still pretty happy with this one.

Thanks, Uncle Jim.

Saturday, March 22, 2025

Not My Favourite Phrase.

This isn't here for the reason you think it is. 

Sure, I'm all in on Never 51. I'm pretty sure I'll never meet a Canadian who isn't.

I find "elbows up" a weird flex, since I've never once heard the phrase until all this stuff started.  Surely we could have found a better national battle cry.  Still, I'm for anything that makes it clear that we're us and we're damned well gonna stay that way, so there's that.  It's also odd that I've started using "weird flex" in my writing.

And I would have answered "Mandel", not "Meeker" and it's still a Canadian answer.  I'd have missed the 2 on 1 hockey question though, because I'm one of the rare Canucks who doesn't love (or even like) hockey.

But none of that is why I posted this:

  

 

The reason I posted this is to point out the sheer, totally mind-whiggin' weirdness of Mike Myers having whiter hair than the Prime Minister of Canada.

When the hell did that happen? 

Thursday, March 20, 2025

The Beginning Of The End?

Bugs Bunny is to Warner Bros as Mickey Mouse is to Disney, at least for most casual movie and television consumers.  There are folks out there that don't know much else about either studio that still know that much.  

So learning that Warner Bros might be looking to sell their Looney Tunes stake is shocking.

What the fuck, doc?

It stems from a report that Warner Bros might be selling a single Looney Tunes film, Coyote Vs. Acme, that they had cancelled as a tax dodge earlier this year.  It seems that they are looking to offload the completed film and that seems to have generated the buzz about selling the whole catalogue.

It's not totally insane, business wise, at least on the surface.  The just released "The Day the Earth Blew Up" has under performed in theatres, despite outstanding performances from Daffy Duck, Porky and Petunia Pig.  It's a fun little film, but it's not making the money the studio had hoped for.  Perhaps they think that the Looney Tunes properties have had their day and are looking to cash in and move on.

A title that implies a bomb.  Not the best look.

I am torn.  Part of me can't fathom Warner Bros without Looney Tunes.  The rest of me wonders if a new regime in charge of Bugs and company might be able to infuse the characters with new life.  

I honestly think that either way it goes down, Warner Bros might just be the next "Big" studio to get broken up and sold off, a la 20th Century Fox.  My brain boggles at the idea of Bugs Bunny or Batman moving to Disney, but with all the iffy numbers and news from Warner Bros lately, I can't rule it out.

One of these days...


Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Some Unsolicited Advice.

As a kid, I wrote a ton of poetry.  In High School, I took writing courses and one of the things we had to do was read our own stuff in front of the class at the end of the year.

I LOVED doing this since I could pick what to read.  I don't like reading long form narratives in public as I read fast and tend to stumble over the words as my mouth tries to keep up with my eyes.  Poetry is different, since I can find the rhythm and it flows much more pleasantly.

One piece I read was a short poem ironically telling the reader not to laugh or make a show enjoying life.  I don't have the poem anymore, but I recall the last line being:

"Don't play in the parks or swim in the pools, don't laugh at all because laughter is for fools."

I was 14 or 15 and pretty proud of it.  I knew it was good when everyone was totally silent after I finished.  Then a girl said very loudly:

"You didn't write that."

Well, I did.  Unfortunately her comment really flustered me and I probably didn't defend myself too effectively.

Years later, in my late teens at a friend's wedding, I was asked to give a speech and I wrote a Shakespearean sonnet.

In the washroom later that evening, a stranger said to me:

"You didn't write that."

Well, I did.  In fact I incorporated the bride and groom's names into the poem.  That ain't easy in iambic pentameter!

Sometime not long after that, I just stopped writing poetry.  I honestly think in part, at least, because of those people questioning my authorship.  Defending that is exhausting and I didn't enjoy it.

No one (except my first girlfriend, who was showered in romantic poetry - I was 17 and horny, what can I say?) really ever encouraged me to write poetry, but I was good at it and probably could have done something with it if I'd stuck to it.

So that advice?  

If someone in your life has an artistic soul, even if what they produce isn't your thing, encourage them.  Humanity needs more poets, more artists, more dreamers, not less.  Sure, the chances of making a real living at these things is slim, but not pursuing poetry into my adulthood is one of my regrets.

Don't let someone you love give up a passion.  While I don't blame anyone for not being encouraging, think how grateful I'd be if I was a working poet and had someone in my past who had been my poetry cheerleader.  

Be that person for someone in your life.  You never know what the rewards could be, but you're a helluva lot more likely to enjoy them one day than if you help churn out another middle manager.  

Saturday, March 15, 2025

My New Wallpaper...

... which accurately reflects how my spirit animal would prefer to handle mornings.


I never bought into the concept of spirit animals until I realized mine was a sloth.  It turns out I was just too lazy to go to the trouble of buying into the concept.

Wednesday, March 05, 2025

A Heartfelt Apology. A Bit Late.

I want to apologize to a whole bunch of people.

Here's the deal.  I am currently doing some training and part of my day involves dealing with a trainer who is blatantly and unapologetically flaunting the non-smoking workplace rules.  We're in a remote location and there's little chance he'd be caught unless someone turns him in.  I actually like the guy and he's in the 70 year old range, so I'm inclined to give him a pass, since I am only in his office for a few minutes each day.

The thing is, I come home and stink of tobacco, even with just that short exposure.

So I want to apologize to all the non-smokers I've done this to during my years of smoking between 1985 and 2003.  

To every non-smoking television and phone technician, plumber and electrician; every non-smoking hotel, restaurant and bar staffer; every non-smoking co-worker, band-mate and house-mate: every non-smoking family member, friend and acquaintance I ever forced to exist in the exhaust of my addiction to tobacco, I am truly, deeply sorry.

It was incredibly rude and thoughtless of me and all those like me.

For those of you who smoke and are unaware that your habit is forcing the rest of the world to shower and launder their clothing after you interact with them, you do, you are and it stinks.

I am so sorry.

Tuesday, March 04, 2025

Watson. I Tried.

I wasn't sure after one episode.

I wasn't sure after two episodes.

I was pretty sure after three episodes.

After 10 minutes of episode four, I'm certain.

Medical dramas are rarely my thing.  I enjoyed this year's Brilliant Minds, but that's the first one I've liked at all in a long, long time.  

The much praised House was about as close as I've come to enjoying a medical drama in years and it wore thin after a few episodes for me.  It was a medical take on Sherlock Holmes and even that twist didn't really draw me in.  When I watch a detective procedural, once the who/why/how is revealed, I get a sense of "aha" from the resolution.  In a medical drama, I hardly ever get that because the culprit is rarely anything I can grasp as a layman.

Watson is yet another medical take on the Holmes mythology that just didn't work for me.  I like Morris Chestnut, but the cast around him (except Richie Coster as Shinwell - chef's kiss that guy!) is so painfully "built by writer's room sub-committee" as to be laughable.  Making the sidekick the leader of this band of ridiculous misfits is a risky strategy and in this case...

Sidekicks are sidekicks for a reason.

Moving on.

Kevin Bacon - Going Where Many Have Gone Before

Kevin Bacon's next project is something called "The Bondsman" and if you find yourself having deja vu, it's because you're having deja vu.

From BleedingCool.com:

"Kevin Bacon's Hub Halloran is a murdered bounty hunter who's back from the dead after being resurrected by the Devil to trap and send back demons that have escaped from the prison of Hell."

Off the top of my head:

Brimstone -  Ezekiel Stone was sent to Hell for killing a man in cold blood. When a breakout of 113 of the worst souls occurs, the Devil tasks Stone with hunting them down and sending them back.

Reaper - Sam Oliver is a college drop-out who turns twenty-one and learns that his parents accidentally sold his soul to the Devil before he was born. Now he has to work for the Devil as a bounty hunter for escaped souls.

The Collector -  Centuries ago, Morgan Pym made a deal with Satan: his soul, in exchange for 10 years with his one true love. After she died, Morgan--desperate to avoid eternity in hell--agreed to become a Collector, charged with collecting souls from those who had made deals with Satan.

Wynonna Earp - Wyatt Earp's Great-Great-Grandaughter uses his cursed gun, Peacemaker, to return to Hell the souls of Wyatt's 77 kills who return to earth every generation.

Lucifer - A nice reversal on the trope sees Mazikeen, a demon trapped on earth, become a bounty hunter of fugitive humans for the last few seasons of the show's run. 

And I'm 99% sure there are at least a couple more series that I've seen that walk this same patch of ground, not to mention a bunch of Twilight Zone/Outer Limits/Night Gallery, etc. episodes with similar (if not identical) premises.

I haven't seen much about this one, but I'll be shocked if it gets more than two seasons.  This concept is one of those "hard out of the gate" ideas that rarely (Wynonna Earp being my favourite exception) has the ability to escape the "been there, done that" curse of the procedural.   

If you find yourself having deja vu, it's because you're having deja vu.

Monday, March 03, 2025

Wherever This Is...

...I want to go there!

However, I will definitely "forget" my bathing suit.

Monday, February 24, 2025

I Can Rebuild Him. I Have The Technology.

This past weekend was spent in my happy place.  

I spent most of it building the Six Million Dollar Man model I raved about last week.

It was terrific and I think it came out pretty well.  Even thought it's a "snap-together" model, I glued and puttied all the seams to get a look like my other model work.  The tighter fit on the snap-together seams was actually a problem at times, since the putty would get squeezed out of the joint rather than filling it.  I got there in the end and I'm pretty happy with the build overall.  I took pains to recreate the missing hand and I also cut the "removable panels" to (hopefully) look like his sleeve and pants leg had been ripped to expose the bionics beneath.  

A good look at those exposed bionics.

One of those hands was custom made this weekend.

And I reiterate: "Hoisting the gorilla" is NOT a metaphor.

I think he came out pretty well.  He's taken pride of place in my living room and the other four models from the series will join it when I can find the time to put 'em together.  

It really was a lot of fun and I had a lot of warm, wonderful moments that felt like my Uncle Jim was peering over my shoulder while I worked.

While I can't go back and thank the man for the part he played in making me who I am and who I still strive to be, I can share his my joy at recalling his love with you, dear reader.  I hope you have an Uncle Jim in your life and more importantly that you are an Uncle Jim to someone in yours.

Sunday, February 23, 2025

Now This Looks Right.

A lot of digital ink has been spilled regarding the costume that the new Superman, David Corenswet, will wear in this summer's Superman movie.  The reviews of the outfit are decidedly mixed and I'm not 100% convinced either way.  I like the cape, I like the updated "S" and I'm happy to see the trunks back but the overall effect is not the streamlined look I would prefer.

 

Somehow, this just looks bulky to me.

The most recent picture to surface, on the other hand, looks EXACTLY right.  Nicholas Hoult's Lex Luthor looks like Lex Luthor to me:

That's Hoult on the left.

He looks like someone who would be willing to go toe to toe with an all powerful alien.  As he should.

Now we just need to see him in his Iron Man Power Suit.

Love. It Takes All Kinds.

 

If it works for you and you're both consenting adults, who am I to judge?

Tuesday, February 18, 2025

So...Pluto And Back...FOUR Times...

In the 1970s, the BBC produced a show that has been making waves ever since.  You could say, it's connected to today.

The show?  

Connections

Ah, that leisure suit.  He actually burned it, years later.
 
James Burke leisure suits his way through history, connecting the discovery of the "touchstone" or chert, which is used to test the purity of gold, and similar ancient, seemingly minor discoveries and inventions, through several dozen fascinating steps (Connections - get it?) to the Space Shuttle.
 
We watched it in high school in the 80s and I have since watched it a half a dozen times over the years.  He made two more "Connections" series as well.  A terrific way to learn about stuff you'll never need to know and very, very entertaining.  At the end of it all, you'll have a much deeper appreciation for how human history and innovation unfolds and affects your life every day.

Some of the best television ever produced in my opinion.

He's back, just recently.

2023 saw the release of "Connections with James Burke" and I missed it, somehow.

I'm catching up now.  He just dropped this little bit of "holy shit, that's amazing!" on me:

"Okay, now the amazing bit.  There's about two yards of DNA in almost every cell of the human body.  With the body consisting of about 37 trillion cells, that works out to about 46 billion miles of DNA.  More than enough to stretch all the way to Pluto and back, four times."

If that isn't interesting enough to get you to look up James Burke and check out his previous work on the original "Connections" I cannot help you.  The man and his work are priceless treasures.  For me, Burke is right up there with Attenborough and Sagan.  

And it's all done without a leisure suit in sight.

Monday, February 17, 2025

Let Me Tell You About My Uncle

The picture directly below is not a picture.  It's a vivid memory.

"Hoisting the gorilla" is NOT a metaphor.


Almost 50 years ago, my parents sent me to visit my Uncle Jim in Toronto.  I think I stayed with him and my aunt for about a month.  They were an older couple who had never had children.  My uncle was retired on medical grounds with terrible, debilitating arthritis that gnarled up his hands so badly that even a simple handshake was painful.  He had been a lineman with the hydro-electric company, so I suspect he had once been very talented with his hands.  

My Uncle Jim was the kind of adult who talked to children, not down to them.  He would ask about my political opinions and earnestly listen to whatever nonsense my seven year old brain believed about politics.  He never laughed, just nodded and asked more questions.  When he took me somewhere like a museum or a mall, wherever I wanted to go, whatever I wanted to see was fine by him.  As a kid, I was used to my parents busy lives, meaning if we went somewhere, I got dragged along.  What they needed to do always seemed more urgent than what I was interested in, so trips out with Uncle Jim were a joy. 

I wish I had realized how special he was at the time.  

Uncle Jim is one of the few people I'm related to that I can honestly say I have great respect for.  The reasons for that are many and personal, but for this story to mean anything, you need to understand he was my favourite uncle and for good reason.  He is someone I dearly wish was still around to talk to, laugh with and ask advice of.  Plus, he never once missed a chance to sneak a five or ten dollar bill into my hand when we would part ways after a visit.  In those days that meant comic books and candy for days!

Uncle Jim took me to my first baseball game and if you've been paying any attention at all around here, you know how much that means to me.  It was the first year that the Blue Jays existed and I've been a fan ever since.  That was back when they played at old Exhibition Stadium, on a diamond that had been cobbled together on the field used by the Toronto Argonauts, the city's football team.  I didn't see another live game until the 21st Century.  

That was one of many, many wonderful memories he gave me that summer.  My aunt was still working at the time, so it was pretty much the two of us for the whole time I visited.  Museums, subways (something we didn't have where I grew up), parks and most especially, the TOY STORE in the Eaton Centre.

Uncle Jim was one of those wonderful grown ups that didn't really know how to say "no" to a seven year old boy when he set his heart on something.  Looking back, I know that he and my aunt weren't wealthy, living in a small one or two bedroom apartment, probably just managing with his pension and her wages, but I'm pretty sure that every time we hit that toy store I came home with something and probably not something cheap.  I know my parents had money trouble during the recession in the late 70's and I'm pretty sure my aunt and uncle were in a similar boat, but to my recollection, that man denied me nothing.

Back to that picture above and the memories it evokes.  In my childhood, few figures loom larger than Steve Austin, the Six Million Dollar Man.  I have more than a few recollections of running across the school yard, jumping off a wall, throwing a pretend punch or lifting something "heavy" while making the "da-na-na-na-na" sound that accompanied all of Steve Austin's "bionic" action sequences.  Between Batman and Steve Austin, I was convinced I'd grow up to be a superhero.

When I saw the Six Million Dollar Man models in the store, I was instantly captivated.  I needed them.  Even if I'd never, ever built a model.  I recall my uncle teasingly telling me that I wasn't old enough for them, since they're "8 and up" but I eventually "convinced" him.  Thank goodness they were snap-together! 

My uncle, bless him, bought me the one above.  And the paint.  And brushes.  I can only imagine what the model, half a dozen or more jars of Testor's model paints and some brushes set him back, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't in the budget.  

We brought it home and I set to putting it together.  I clearly recall getting stuck and being unable to get the gorilla's head to snap in as it was meant to.  Pretty sure there were tears.  Remember, Uncle Jim could hardly use his hands, so he could really only offer encouragement to me as I navigated building my first model, ever.  Eventually, I got it all put together and I think I painted it that night or maybe the next day.

I was hooked.

Over the course of visit, Uncle Jim bought me the entire set of four.  I distinctly recall running up against my first frustration with paint colours as I learned that orange didn't cover very well when applied by brush to plastic when I built this one:

To this day I dread any red, orange or yellow parts of a model build.
 
You know when you listen to an old person tell a story and there's a hitch in their voice when they recollect a particular part of the story?  In my internal monologue, I had that hitch when I was reminded of these models one night a couple of months ago.  I don't recall what triggered the memory, but it popped up and wouldn't pop down again.  And once again, there were tears, for entirely different reasons.
 
I was on a hunt and over the next month or so, I found all four of the models in the series:
 
"Wrestling the alligator" is also NOT a metaphor.

 
Okay, so "Bonking the Biker" might actually be a metaphor.

In my quest to complete the set, I also discovered that there was one more that I'd never seen:
 
And "Fixing her bionics" is DEFINITELY a metaphor.

The Bionic Woman only got one model in the same style, likely because the model company assumed that model building would be more a "boy" thing than a "girl" thing.  They probably would have sold more of these if they'd put her in an action pose like the four Steve Austin models, but it was the 70's and I suspect  model and toy companies hadn't really figured out how to handle female action stars yet.  In the time, I likely would have thought the same and left the Bionic Woman model on the shelf, regardless of the pose.  I was seven, so I've forgiven myself the schoolyard sexism.  I bought one of these before any of the other.
 
Times change.  Plus, it has a cool backdrop AND you get Oscar Goldman in the kit.  Not sure why the boss would be handling Jaime's bionics instead of Dr. Rudy Wells, the bionic technician, but there it is. 
 
I was very lucky to find all but one of these intact and in the original cellophane.  It wasn't cheap, but I did get pretty good deals on them, thanks to a little digging and haggling.  The only one that wasn't still sealed was the first one, with the gorilla and the tears.
 
The "Fight for Survival" (that's the one with the gorilla) kit is one that runs into the hundreds of dollars if you can find a new one, so I had to bite the bullet and buy one that had been previously assembled.  It was cheaper because someone had decided to glue the snap-together model.  Thanks to that, I got a good deal.  Fortunately, with a little gentle persuasion, (almost) everything pried apart easily thanks to old, brittle glue.  I did break the two posts that snap the gorilla's feet into his body, but I will be able to make an invisible mend there and thanks to the weird way they modelled the legs and feet, I would have had to putty that seam in any case.  It looks like he's a dude in a gorilla suit with shoes shaped like feet under his pants otherwise.
 
And Steve is missing his right hand for some reason.
 
This is gonna be fun!

I'm a lot more skilled and a lot more patient than I was back when I first built these with my Uncle Jim.  There's a removable panel on the arm and leg of each Steve Austion figure that you can pop off to expose the "bionic" part inside.  I plan to do a little modification so it appears that Steve has ripped his pants and jacket to expose his bionic parts.  
 
I plan to do these with putty and glue and then paint them and display them as a tribute to my uncle.  They might be snap-together models meant for the younger set, but they're pretty well detailed and with a little effort I think they'll end up amazing.  I'm at least certain that they'll be better than what I built back in 1977.
 
It is funny that these days I invest a lot of time building figure models yet I've never associated that passion with the models I built as a kid, since I built tons and tons of cars, boats and planes in my later childhood and into my teens but not one figure model.  I thought of it more as an extension of my miniature painting hobby but it turns out I was just going back to the beginning.  Go figure.
 
I am not certain, but I doubt that I brought the originals home.  Pretty tough to pack plastic models in a suitcase.  I'm reasonably sure that they got tossed sometime not long after I left.  I don't think they went with the decor. 
 
I can't blame my aunt and uncle for not hanging on to them, but I like to think that Uncle Jim was proud of my seven year old's ambition for doing the whole set and I'd love to be able to show him what I'll make them look like now.  I know he'd be fascinated with the process and I hope that my rediscovery of something he gave me in childhood would bring him something like the joy he gave me all those years ago.  
 
So what's the first step?  Gotta replace that hand.  It turns out that the gorilla's feet are almost identical in size to Steve Austin's hands.  So:
 
It's not perfect, but it's a great starting point.
 
A little epoxy putty mould gives me a place to start.  I plan to build the whole model and then cast the hand from more putty.  While it's still soft, I'll sculpt it a bit so it looks like the left hand above and then glue it in place.  It's on the underside of the gorilla and I plan to display these high up, so it'll need to be convincing.
 
I have trouble drawing or painting hands in two dimensions.  Sculpting one in 3D is a first for me (I did manage a "hand" on my Green Goblin miniature in my chess set, but it was more luck than skill) so this will be an adventure.

I hadn't even thought about these in many, many years.  I build a LOT of figure models, but somehow it never occurred to me to look into these.  Now that I have, I'm itching to get started.  I'm already having fun building them in my mind, so it's going to be a great few weeks while this progresses.

Thanks, Uncle Jim.  Again.

Sunday, February 16, 2025

The Gorge.

I watched the new movie "The Gorge" tonight.  It's a pretty creative horror sci-fi story with two fun actors in the leading roles.

Some cool monsters, fun fight scenes and even a little lovin' in the mix.  It's a solid sci-fi thriller with a little horror mixed in.  Definitely worth a watch if you've got a couple of hours to spend.

The part worth blogging?  Aside from Anya Taylor-Joy's sexy Russian accent?

At one point, one of our heroes gets in a horror movie spot and is about to die.  We've seen this in a movie like this a million times, right?  Well, in my humble opinion, the way that our hero might get got is literally the worst way to go I've ever seen on film.  Sloooow and YIKES!

I'll take every one of those million ways to go over that one, every time!  

These two have chemistry.  

 You'll find that slightly funnier once you watch the movie.

Scooby-Dooby...Dum?

You may recall the Scooby-Doo themed models I built last week and how I was lamenting the lack of a challenge in the two builds.

There was one challenge that I put on myself.  The bi-plane model came with a Scooby-Doo snap-together figure that was wearing an old-timee flight helmet and the Mystery Machine came with a plain old Scooby-Doo figure.  I decided that flight helmet Scooby would be my Scooby and that the plain Scooby figure would be remodelled as Scooby's dim cousin, Scooby-Dum.

I wasn't 100% sure I could pull it off.  Sculpting is always a bit hit and miss and it's been a while since I tried anything like this, so I warned you I might not pull it off.

Ta-da!

The figure comes like this.

A little grey spray.
 
I used epoxy putty to model a saggy right cheek, a couple of snaggle teeth and a little pork-pie hat.  All in all it was a fairly simple mod.  I didn't even need to sand or smooth the putty.  It just went pretty smooth, start to finish.

Scooby

Dooby

Dum!

I think he came out rather well.  I hope you agree!

Monday, February 10, 2025

Not Models. Well, Not Exactly.

Somewhere along the way, in my collectors' frenzy, I added two Scooby-Doo "models" to my collection.

These are snap-together models.  For any reasonably coordinated child above the age of 8 or 9, they're basically "some assembly required" toys.  They're not on sprues like normal plastic models, so there's nothing to cut.  They're modelled in several colours of plastic, so there's no painting required either.

They come with 3 pre-painted figures each and the figures are articulated like action figures, if not quite so mobile.  Again, these are more toys than models.  I am used to building models that take a LOT more skill and time to build, so these were about as challenging as elementary school arithmetic.

They come like this:

It's not super obvious, but the colour schemes DON'T match.

It's truly odd that they chose to model the bi-plane in the same turquoise blue but instead of the lime green they went with an olive drab.  The wood struts and landing gear would be okay if only they hadn't used RED on the engine cowl instead of the obvious choice of orange to match the Mystery Machine. 

Being me, this meant there was something I had to fix.  I like fixing stuff.

Half of these parts are the wrong colour!

So I did this:

I was amazed to find such good colour match in spray paint!

I spray painted most of the parts since you lose the brush strokes that way and it looks more like the plastic finish the "model" came with.  The only hand paint was the two wheels as I couldn't mask them well with the tools I had on hand.  Since I had to paint one piece orange, I decided to paint all the "wood" coloured pieces orange as well.
Aside from the tail, the piece in my hand is the only one with two colours on it.
I had to mask it and paint just the little portion of lime green on it.

The assembly went quickly once everything was dry.


I had to stop here to paint the inside of the middle wing strut.  I missed it on the first pass.

It was a good time to assemble the figures.

And there you go.
 

The only brush painting was done to the wheels, both the green and the little flowers.

The upper wing has an odd hole in the middle of it, so unlike the box, I decided that Velma would take the rear seat (I'd trust her as a pilot over Shaggy, any day!) and I now think of that odd little hole in the wing as the "Scooby Slot."  Besides, getting stuck in the wing seems very, very Scooby.

The Mystery Machine was another story.

A much, much shorter story.

No cutting, no glue.  No challenge.

Everything goes pretty much exactly by the book.

I took a pic before the stickers went on, just in case...

However, nothing went on too cockeyed.

It looks pretty good!

I figured Daphne should drive.  I'm progressive like that.

From start to finish, the assembly took 23 minutes, including applying the stickers.

You'll notice that the Scooby that came with the Mystery Machine isn't in the van.  I'm going to try to paint him as Scooby-Dum since I already have a Scooby-Doo in the bi-plane.  

If you don't see pictures up soon, it did not go well. 

That little red hat will likely be the toughest part of this whole build.

Stay tuned! 

Super Models!

I tend to do my hobby stuff in batches.  Models, particularly go this way, since it takes time to set up an area to work in, get all the paint, glue, brushes, knives, files and putty out and once you've done all that, you might as well tackle that other model that's been sitting on a shelf for a year or two.

I have a new model binge underway right now.  I found something I wanted to build and once I picked that up, I was reminded that I had two older models still half built.

Back in the way, way back, a company called Aurora issued a bunch of models of Marvel and DC Comics characters.  Those original Aurora kits are worth several hundred dollars a piece if you happen to find one unbuilt somewhere.  In the early 2000s, a company called Moebius reissued those at a much more reasonable price and I've built Superman, Batman, Robin and Green Lantern kits and documented them here at the blog.

Sometime during that build phase, I also bought the Wonder Woman and Superboy reissues but never finished them for a bunch of reasons.  

Ta-Da:

A very vanilla build.
 
The Superboy model comes with a very cute Krypto and a dragon (?) for some reason.  It was the 60's.

I did zero customization on this.  My only "GB touch" was to choose purple and pink for the dragon.   

The Wonder Woman model also has an odd choice for her opponent in the form of an octopus.  Not sure why an octopus would ever attack Wonder Woman or vice versa, but there it is.  I also made it purple.

Keep an eye on her lasso, folks.

I did one custom thing on Wonder Woman.  She came with a two piece plastic lasso that was meant to be painted gold.  It didn't fit terribly well and it was, frankly, boring.

This model was designed in the 60s and reissued twenty or so years ago.  We've come a long way since then.

You can now, reasonably cheaply, do this:

Not boring!

My kitchen display area continues to evolve...

 

I bet you don't have as many superheroes in your kitchen!


All of these pictures should be set up so you can click to a larger version.

I have a handful of models in progress right now, so there will be more of this sort of thing soon!

Sunday, February 09, 2025

Highbrow Speak Of The Week

My absolute favourite show at the moment is a BBC production called The Cleaner.

Greg Davies plays Paul "Wicky" Wickhead, a professional crime scene cleaner who finds himself meeting the most eccentric, interesting, loony characters at every job site he visits.

The writing is crisp and the guest cast is among the best of British cinema and television, including Helena Bonham Carter, David Mitchell (Upstart Crow) and Stephanie Cole (Still Open All Hours) who get to play in a weird sandbox here.

It's a treat that you should definitely check out.  

Usually when I include a quote from a comedy, it's something witty or weird, but this time, it's surprisingly inspirational.  Something that Wicky hears from a theatre owner that he (and I) really likes.

Turns out the quote is something that a British politician, Sir Henry William Forster, wrote in a letter to Seymour Halpern who had written to him to ask for advise on how to live a successful life.  Forster included this quote that he had seen written in chalk on a wall once and it is truly magnificent.

“Do what you can, being what you are, shine like a glowworm if you can’t like a star, work like a pulley if you can’t like a crane, grease the wheels thoroughly if you can’t drive the train.”

Again, watch The Cleaner.  You won't be sorry.

Friday, February 07, 2025

Speak Of The Week - The Next One

So I started watching a new (to me) show called The Cleaner.  It's a British comedy about a guy who cleans crime scenes for a living.  I have high hopes and the VERY first scene already has me laughing out in the loud.

After being shown into his next clean-up job, he discovers it's a white kitchen literally covered in sprayed blood.  With dinner plans all shot to hell since he's starting at 3 in the afternoon, he's understandably not happy.

He asks the cop who escorted him in:

 

"Jesus.  What happened?"

"A woman stabbed her husband."

"What with?  A combine harvester?"

 

I think I'm in love.

Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Speak Of The Week II

From today's episode of The Repair Shop - On the Road.

The repair team travel to Scotland to find items to repair, including a 180 year old book, handwritten by a famous military bagpipe player.

 As Dom and Will sit down to discuss the book, this happens: 

Will:  "Have you ever played the bagpipes?"

Dom:  "I have.  Because Pete repaired some."

Will:  "He did?"

Dom:  "Yeah.  He did.  And he let me have a little...I don't know what you'd call it.  A blow?  A puff?  A squeeze?  A fiddle?"

Will:  "And then did you play on the bagpipes as well?"

 

Bah-dum-bum.

Monday, January 27, 2025

Speak Of The Week Circa 1976

From Ronnie Barker's shopkeeper, Albert Arkwright, in the British comedy Open All Hours.

After another unsuccessful bid to bed the nurse he lusts after, this time on Lover's Lane in his new (if very tiny) delivery van.

"I thought I'd pulled it off this time.  Fortunately, it's just bruised."