It seems like every single post I make documenting my progress on the TBD-1 Devastator attracts questions I’ve already answered at least five times. In the interest of not posting a short novel with every single pic, not answering the same questions over and over again, and trying to remember that I’m the only one…
Category: Builds
Focus Points for 2024
As 2023 races to a close, I find myself looking to 2024, and what I want to accomplish. I don’t particularly subscribe to resolutions. I hate goal-setting at work. But I think it can be useful, especially after a year of systemic breakdown, to have some kind of direction in mind. Besides, from bitter experience,…
2023: well that happened
In order to understand my 2023, you really have to start with my 2022. 2022 was the year the wheels kinda-sorta came off my life. I spent months going to various specialists trying to get to the bottom of mystery pains. I left one job for another, and got tossed aside in layoffs six months…
Theory of the Case
In March and April of this year (2023), things got bad. Life felt unrelenting, work was stressing me out, and I could feel myself bogging down on the Wild Weasels. And the AK FJ43. Every time I’d fire up a build and intend to just kinda plow through it, I’d fall into some kind of…
Spit Take
So I’ve tried to write this review a few times now. And every time I do, I end up on some weird tangent talking about Kotare’s place in the larger modeling community and how I’m bored with standard reviews and how 2023 has been a motherfucker and basically just keep going in circles. But I…
2021 Wrapup
Every year around this time, I do an end of year wrap up. It’s become something ceremonial for me, kinda like boxing up and tossing all the detritus of a build after it’s completed, or tagging, sorting, and organizing photos after a trip. It’s a way to wash my hands, clear the decks, or whatever…
No Mo Rainbow
When I first conceived of the idea of Tank the Rainbow around the end of 2020, I knew that it would be a tough thing to get across to people. Hell, it was tough enough working out for myself what exactly I wanted it to be. There’s just a lot to explain at once. Hell,…
Stupid Bogey Tricks
Using magnets to overcome later handling frustrations with VVSS suspension bogeys.
2020 Wrap Up
Holy shit we made it to 2021! Since I’ve already gone and done a 2020 wrap video, I’m not going to belabor everything by typing it out again. If you’re in a TL;DW mood, here’s the gist. Five completions this year – the P-47M Thunderbolt, A-6E Intruder, Eduard P-51D-5 Mustang, Tamiya F-51D Mustang, and Rye…
Pony Bash – 1/48 P-51 Wrapup
It started with an idea. Build an Eduard P-51 Mustang. There was a bit of a pony fad going on over in SMCG at the time, and with all the discussion around the kit, I just had to see what it was like for myself. Then it grew into something else. What if, in addition…