Clunkmeister

Yeah you never can tell, can you... grrrrrr

it's what NATO referred to as the Bison C, or more exactly as the Myasishchev M-4. The "C" has a specialized search radar, reduced defensive armament, better engines, air to air refueling capability, and is capable of carrying all Soviet nuclear munitions. Like the B-47, it didn't have the range to run from the USSR to Washington DC and return, so like the B-47, it was replaced with a more capable second generation aircraft. But just like the B-47, it looks totally "Cold War" in it's nuclear flash white and grey paint.

Today I was going through invoices and marrying them up with work orders, and lo and behold I find a bunchy of parts invoices that don't coincide with a work order. hmmmmmm.. the plot thickens. I quiz my guys, and one of them tells me that the fill in manager I hired for when I was away had them work on his personal car all day Friday. Instead of the multitude of customer cars we had waiting. So a bit of forensic accounting and matching things up finds me out about $1450.00 plus the loss of the use of the bay and the loss of revenue from that employee. My employees are pretty darn trustworthy and told me that the Temp assured them that I had approved the personal time. One of my guys even stated it seemed a bit hinky to him so he tried calling my cell to verify the story. A search of missed calls verified his story. These guys never get it. When you're called in for an interview, the interviewer already has the answers to the questions he's going to ask the interviewee. Anyway, I fired him on the spot and rightly or wrongly, I feel violated, stupid, and incredibly used.

You got that right. I’ve always loved the Cold War bombers, especially the very early jets such as the B-47 and this one, The Bison C. Bother we’re extrelely capable but hampered by underdeveloped technology and neither, although close, never quite lived up to expectations. The B-52 and Tu-95 got it right with the next attempt.

SIR YES SIR!

I know, Smitty, but I’m going to work on my foiling techniques a bit. B-36 will be a bench hog. I need the Lanc done, tuck done, Helldiver finished, and September Fury as well. This will be much smaller and much more odd. But B-36 for San Marcos sounds cool, I think Omaha is a much more reasonable goal.

B-36 in good time, my friend. This one is too cool for school. It cries out Cold War! Not the most successful strategic bomber ever built, but still incredibly 1950s “Buck Rogers” looking.

I like big models. I like cool bombers and transports. But I like different. So, now I jump into my D-Day build of the WHITE 6x6, then finish the Lanc, and then??? Finish the USN Guppy of course, but after that, the glue sniffing starts. I love challenging builds. Builds that make be reach and leap for the handhold, not just step onboard and ride. Challenging + short run + resin = my kind of build. So, strategic bomber maybe? B-52? Nahh, too common. B-47? Nahh, I’m waiting for HPH, how about..... It’s a LARGE scale model, instead of a LARGE SCALE model, so it doesn’t belong in the big boy pages, but I don’t recall ever seeing one of these built before. Ever.

Larry, the death’s head Albatros, in my opinion, was the best of the bunch by far. I fell in love with the subtleness and I thought it captured the look perfectly.

That’s pretty decent to hear, Mark. It would have been one thing if he talked like that to me personally, but he called out ALL modellers. That was uncool. Plus, a few more stories have come out. One in particular of him berating his own employees in public. No bueno... Let your contact know that if he wished me to give a statement, I will.

For me it always depended on the person. If I knew the person either personally or from the forum, no problem, but otherwise you get an inspection in front of me after the non refundable is in my jeans. I can be a real dick when it comes to business and my money. I fired a guy today over being unable to follow my directions while running my shop. And I was completely out of shits to give. Screw with my cash, my family, or my business, and you’ll have an issue.

And you can make your own poor man's bubble bath.

Vegas looks like a great place for a convention, actually. One thing that needs to be kept in the back of everyone's mind is that many modellers are getting older, and walking that long distance from the rooms to the show areas gets harder and harder every single year. Last week, I saw plenty of older people with walkers and canes really struggling with the distance. Smitty, the hotel was laid out like Omaha, convention center across the streeton one end via flyover, and hotel on the other.

Pfft It’s down for maintenance, right?

Haha. Yes, ain’t that the truth. I’ve had to “fire a customer” at my business a time or two as well. Sometimes the complaining and never ending BS warranty trail isn’t worth the trouble.

Outstanding result, John! Truly outstanding.

That’s what matters, he’ll be made to pay. The community is a small one, and word gets around. I truly hope I was just the last straw of a long week of tough times, but I’ve vended many times before, and if you wish to sell stuff, you often end up letting stuff go at a ridiculously low price, especially at the end of the show if you don’t want to haul it home. I’ve had one reseller in particular, (anyone who sells at the Nats knows who I mean), who always comes around at the start of the show insisting I take $300.00 for a 10K table and then acts all indignant when told no, but he’s legendary...... But issues like this reseller are why I mostly buy used from Greg. I know him, he’s local, he’s honest, I know he’s gonna make money as it’s his business, but he treats me fair, he treats me with respect, and he doesn’t ever screw me over. In other words, I trust him. With that kind of relationship, price ain’t a big deal, but if he was set up at a show, I'd do the same to him on Saturday at noon and he knows it. But he also knows I’m no dickhead nor am I a scammer, and if I want it, I’ll buy it. And if I’m too low, he’ll say so and all’s well. But don’t slap new tags on and be a douche. That’s bush league garbage. I tried to talk to this bug a couple times as he was tearing down, just to mend a fence, but he shot me dagger looks every time, so someone had obviously pissed in his Cornflakes that morning. Because he was a short little bald headed turd, I so wanted to call him out as Napoleon, but keeping my lips sealed took a bunch more self control and didn’t spoil the Nats for others. The guy was so tightly wound that one poke would have popped him like a balloon The Tupolev I’ll get from Greg. I regret the Brabazon. I’ve never seen another.

I’d almost find more justice in having him spend $$$$ getting to the Nats next year but taking a massive loss because nobody bought from him. I don’t mind the personal insults, after all, I am what I am, but when he demeaned an entire portion of society? His customer base? No sir, heist me for good there. Plus openly changing the ticket price on boxes because I had the audacity to dare try and negotiate price on used goods, well, that was too much for this cowboy

He was right on the other side of the wall from Aires if I recall right. He had a lot of Amodel and other Eastern EuropeN stuff that he probably got by buying collections. Not a modeller by the way he degraded the lot of us.

Yes it is. A massive model.

Ooooh, I go away for a few days and miss the good stuff. Nice save, Carl! Awesome job!!

Yes they are. 100%

Yes, there was an Eastern European guy who was really decent, but he asked me to wait for Joe to return when I wanted to negotiate on both kits. I wanted the Tupolev, but the Brabazon was a decent price and right up my alley. I had never met or interacted with the guy once before in my life, and i can see why he has employees to deal with the public. Mark, thanks for that, and I’d love to hear his side of the story. If he’s feeling ground down after selling used products for a week at the modeling equivalent of a flea market, he’s in the wrong business. I’m sure he buys collections as cheap as he possibly can, and we’re all entitled to negotiate on used product.

It is what it is. He lost more than my money. He lost other sales, but most of all, he lost the respect of everyone who heard him. In other news I was able to pick up three overtree E-1 sets from Eduard for my 1930s conversions. And as everyone knows, E-1s are getting expensive and hard to find.