Clunkmeister

And how some of you see me...

Then with my lovely lady, and Merry Christmas, by the way.

OK, I’ll bite. This is the everyday me.

Mr. Leveling Thinner is a retarder. I use it in everything, and it’s a magic combination. Use through your airbrush and it’ll take your finishing from great to World Class.

Which I wish someone would give us a decent modern short nose 190. Say, an A-3

I’ll be in for one as well. It can compete for ugly with the “Family Model” Skyraider. That is one ugly aircraft.

I can’t even imagine trying to move a warship around with mono line rigging. It’d last 10 seconds with me and my ham hands. Uschi’s stuff is exactly what you need.

No, because it uses very long, aerodynamic slippery boattail bullets. And the caliber is too small. Wouldn’t have enough kinetic energy to knock something down at that distance. No ridges or slices in the bullet itself to give it drag. The bullet’s actually shaped like the Stiletto research aircraft. Not exactly a lethal shape. A typical 5.56 in an M4, M16, or AR15 is done by 800 yards. Even a 308 or 7.62 NATO is done by 1000 yards. This one’s still flying straight. If you got shot by one, as long as it didn’t hit anything hard, it would just poke a small, clean hole through you. Like getting poked by an awl. No tearing, no trauma, nothing. The bullets we use aren’t designed for anything but competition. Hunting with them would be pretty darn cruel. Plus, this rifle weighs about 26 lbs. it’s heavy to be steady and absorb recoil. Think Olympic competition rifle in a larger caliber. As for the 6.5mm Creedmoor and PRC. The Creed was developed by Hornaday in 2008 as a specific long range competition round. It worked very well. Then, in 2012, they lengthened the case and gave us the 6.5 PRC for a bit more oomph waaay out there. It’s a fascinating sport, but crazy boring to watch. As intense as sporting clays and trap shooting, but more cerebral. Mathematical calculations in your head are required before every shot. You have a spotter with a spotter scope to call hits and misses only. No corrections. That’s up to the shooter to figure out. You have to hit a 12 inch square steel plate at distances between 300 yards and a mile away. You can’t even see the thing past 800 yards without a scope. Past 800 yards you start thinking about not only wind drift and bullet drop, but gyroscopic effect of the bullet’s spin, the earth’s rotation, mirages, differing weather patterns between here and there, it’s freaky. At those distances, the bullet is in flight for up to 3 seconds or so. The rifle barrel is 28” long and absolutely free floating to avoid pressure spots for harmonics. The muzzle uses a brake to dissipate gasses away from the tail of the bullet as it exits the barrel. The action is the old style Mauser or Enfield style manual bolt. No self loaders to add to mass moving around. Like I said, good for absolutely nothing but target shooting. I wouldn’t want to carry it around all day.

Started as a 6.5mm Creedmoor, then I opened up the chamber to 6.5mm PRC. That’s Precision rifle cartridge. Basically a 6.5 Creedmoor Magnum.

It’s a competition rifle. Not much good for much else but ringing the dinner bell from a mile away. The bullets are shaped go fly straight, not tumble, and to stay supersonic for a very long distance. It would be absolutely useless as a weapon of war. But to allow one to hit very small targets from a very long distance away, it does an absolutely perfect job.

Neat projects Pete. Cool 1:1 and cool build as well. Exquisite work as usual!

It should knock the dandruff off a fly’s left rear leg at 1300 yds.

Well, this ain’t a hunting rifle. It’s a 1500 yard Precision shooter. My dog will hopefully not insist in coming with me while I use this one.

Spent a couple hours setting up a new riflescope and doing a boresight with a laser. Does that count as bench time?

Mike, I’m the reverse of you! I stayed away from wood ship models because of my limited wood skills, the crappy kits that were out, and the preference toward aircraft. Now, with the new breed of ship model companies like Vanguard Models, I’ve completely embraced 1/64 wooden sailing ship models. They’re a pleasure to build!

Let me offer my .02 worth. Ive used them all: Testors dullcoat, Tamiya, Alclad, etc. Alclad NEVER, EVER DRIED! It always stayed somewhat tacky to where if you had to hold and move the model onto a table, your hand would ever so slightly stick. Other than that, it was great. Testors dullcoat decanted a day sprayed along with Tamiya were “OK”. It was always a crapshoot whether they would leave white spots, no matter how much care you took. But the i was tipped off about ModelMaster clear lacquers in the bottles. I mix them about 60/40 with Mr. Leveling Thinner, applied through my airbrush, and it’s absolutely idiot proof. You can apply so thick it almost runs and it’ll dry Super clear and rock hard within a few minutes. The first few times I used it, I was anally careful, and it was perfect. Later on, I took an old 109 test mule and sprayed it thin, thick, runny, you name it, NO WHITE SPECS, NOT THEN, NOT EVER. I apply it over everything, even Mission Paint, and it’s flawless. It IS lacquer, so I’m still very, very careful the first light pass over decals and Mission Paint, But for 6 years now, I’ve had zero issues. None. try it, it works. They are truly amazing clears.

Beautiful work as usual, John! Stunning!

It’s nice to have a resin manufacturer who listens. Harold is one, Reskit is another.

Holy Schnok knockers, Batman! This is looking mighty juicy this year!!

Phil, I’m looking forward to seeing you work your magic here. This ought to be good. The ZM kit builds up into a fine Mustang, and I’m really looking forward to seeing it come to life.

Beautiful builds! Flawless!

I knew these when they were new. Awesome vehicles, actually. A two horse Amish buggy was faster, but as far as I was able to find, it was absolutely impossible to get a Niva stuck. Period. Plus, they had a heater that would melt the driver, even in -45 weather. Plus, the Ladas seemed to be the only thing that would start and run in those temperatures. Truly AWESOME vehicles, and I’d LOVE to find a decent Niva goal, because I’d own it in a heartbeat. We were given some horrible ComBloc vehicles in the 80s, and we laughed at the Yugo, Škodas, etc, but the Ladas were not one of them. I’ll go out on a limb and say the Niva was the best small 4x4 available in the 80s. At least in Canada.

Looking great, John. Flawless work as usual

Hahaha! I contemplated that exact kit as Grand Prize. Thank you, my friend! I’ll try to call you tomorrow, not just a butt dial either.