Wumm

Tsk tsk... *Space Force* Luckily, Santa's been through our airspace already.

Merry Christmas to Mariel and Family Mike... May the Joy and Wonder of the Season carry you through the New Year. S

OK well, since Gus is the expert here on Climate Science and Eucalypt Forests... Perhaps he'd like to inform us all as to his opinion the appropriate width of a Fire Break in a stand of 25 metre tall Gum Trees on a 45 degrees Celsius day with a 50 kph westerly wind? Because people are losing their homes and their lives here.

Thanks Jeff, We are fine here in Brisbane. A fortnight ago over the course of 3 days we got about 9 inches of rain, and it's drizzling at 4:30am after a day of the smoke hanging low yesterday and ramping up the humidity. But here isn't where the rain is needed, it's out West and down South at the moment. Despite the parks and lawns greening up though, the ground litter from trees shedding their bark remains, and gives an idea of what most of the scrub is like out there. I too am a big proponent of letting Folks do what they need to on their own land. I know a family in Southern New South Wales who have the Murray River running through their land; but have no water allocation, so can't use any of it. It's bone dry out there and hasn't rained for months. They can however apply for a Government loan to buy water and have it trucked in. So, they're limited in how much land they can clear for Fire mitigation, and have precious little water for crops and their own use, let alone to save the house if it comes to that. The completely ironic thing, is that they limit the amount of clearing you can do in the name of Environmental concerns; but when it all burns down it releases double the Carbon into the atmosphere anyway. Plus you lose everything. Madness

"Don't expect a Fire-Truck" is invariably the final advice for Bushfires. Usually, there is a period of "Watch and Act", meaning take heed of the fires approaching your area, and put your Fire Plan into place... This is whatever you need to do to either ensure the premises or property is as safe as possible; plan your possible egress and secure the valuables, pets and loved ones to be ready to go at a moment's notice. "Don't expect.." usually comes after "Leave now", which is the final warning to either leave or prepare to stay and fight the fire. It's a little poke to say, "If you wanted to leave, it's too late." I grew up in Rockhampton in Central Queensland, on the Tropic of Capricorn. Every spring, after the usual dry Winter, without fail there are fires on nearby Mount Archer. Parts of the Country have been ablaze since August. Typically now that the fires have Sydney under a blanket of smoke, the Prime Minister has been blamed and shamed for taking a week-long holiday that had been planned months in advance. As if it's his exclusive job to micro-manage every problem that comes along. Successive Governments have pandered to Green Lobbyists in the name of the Environment, and now we are reaping the Whirlwind. Pastoralists and Land-owners are prevented from clearing their own properties or creating sufficiently spaced fire breaks, stopping the fires from spreading when they're discovered early and while they are still manageable. Much like this fellow, who was fined almost a Million dollars for doing exactly as he was told: https://www.beefcentral.com/news/qld-landholder-hit-with-record-1m-penalty-for-making-fire-breaks-too-wide/ A ten metre wide fire break is pitifully inadequate when the trees are 25 metres high and the flames are moving through the canopies. Once it's out of control, and into the Towns, the two metre easement to your Neighbour's house might as well be a lit fuse.

Very interested in your impressions of the Meng Panther Carl. It's significantly cheaper than the Takom or RFM offerings in my neck of the Woods, and a full interior isn't one of my must-have options. That's if you've opened the box already. Ah, who am I kidding? We've seen your bench, you've probably already clipped sprues already!

Just a short update... Josh is back safely, his 12 month deployment done after a surprise fortnight break mid-year. So, job well done, and home now for Christmas to a very relieved Wife, Daughter and Family. S

The SM79 came up in conversation here recently, so that's a positive. I must admit, I never thought we'd see a 1/32 IM kit of her. Good times!

Glad to hear that your Friend is OK... Condolences to those who were lost on Monday, the injured and their families. It's probably of little consolation, but they were on the trip of a lifetime and doing something they loved. I reckon I'd rather go that way, that have a concrete slab fall on me at work or something similar. My Wife and I snorkelled Hardy's Reef in the Whitsundays this April just gone; there was a Shark attack there only a month earlier. So we were aware of the danger, but didn't let it intrude on the experience too much. I wonder whether those Tourists embarked on an active Volcano were fully informed of the potential dangers they faced at the time.

Heavily influenced our XA Falcon Hardtop... After the US dropped the Falcon, Ford Australia continued to run with her right up until production ended in 2016.

It's a gamble... Take an iconic name; and trade on it to introduce something that's at odds with most people's perceptions of what it stands for. Our GM subsidiary Holden did something similar here. Holden had the Commodore (Pontiac G6 / G8) for nearly 40 years, a rear wheel drive sedan and wagon with n/a V6 and V8 motors. When local production ended in 2017, they replaced it with a front wheel drive V6 and turbo 4 variant of the Buick Regal... But kept the Commodore name. Unsurprisingly, it has not been a success. Now, for something completely different... When I drive around random corners and find Rare Bears like this just parked up a'mindin' there own business, I feel a little bit electrified myself! S

I say, That woodwork looks very nice Doc!

I would offer Ernesto... But unfortunately I'm about as far away from you as it gets! S

OMG, I just realised... Apparently, I've been banned from LSP!

By the way, Dad was a CSM. So one down from God I guess. Only never tell him that!

In that case, I should probably give it a rest. Imagine the stink were you to have a dedicated LSP-bashing thread? S

I realise that Ernie... But having known Matt, I know how he operates. My Dad was also in the Army and I know how it works. "Do as I say , not as I do. Don't allow any backchat. Present a united front to the Ranks... whether you're right or wrong. Follow through with the Objective... whether you're right or wrong." There's a Member over there, who's also on this site. They were having significant trouble with him because he would always refer to Hyperscale as "Hyperwhinge". Rather than moderate his posts or even ban him for these consistent breaches, they wrote a glitch into the site that whenever he wrote "Hyperwhinge" it came out as Hyperscale. The particular individual is a Doctor by the way. Old Boy's Club, and all that. P.S. - The friend you knew is gone. He believes in defamation without evidence now. Pity.

Firstly, thanks to those of you who have expressed their compassion on the matters I highlighted above. It is a comfort; and completely consistent with the vibe that exists here, that makes this the fantastic Modelling site it is. The Large Scale Planes site often treads a very fine line, and I predict that one day it's going to seriously backfire on them. In the pertinent thread, JH in my opinion defamed an un-named individual. His comments implied that the said individual (whom he does not know) was being paid for his work, was being deliberately evasive in his dealings, and was therefore unreliable as a Designer. DJ then interjected, claiming that he knows the individual personally, that he was responsible for bringing the individual into the project, and that JH's assertions were wrong. At this point, JH had an opportunity to retract his statements or apologise. Rather than do this, he instead doubled down, claiming it was what he was told by the Company, rather than a specific individual (which seems unlikely - if you're defending a position due to a third party's information, you name that individual.) Furthermore, an LSP Staff member specifically defended JH's position... Subsequently, another LSP Staff member suggested that JH was being picked on, and that everyone should move on - this comment was liked by 3 other LSP Staff members. It matters not if JH got the design team together, nor if others disagree with his position. He should not be allowed to defame others without evidence. The discussion should stand be allowed to continue on it's merits... Otherwise why have a discussion Forum at all. You would think that a Carriage service like LSP would want to ensure that false assertions are not being made with their express consent. 5 Staff members siding with JH strongly implies consent. The Large Scale Planes site is registered in Australia. The man paying the bills is listed at an address in Victoria for those wishing to do a simple search. Recently, Australian Law was clarified so far as defamatory statements made online. By actively participating in this thread with possible defamatory statements made by a Forum member, and specifically endorsing those comments, LSP Staff are in my opinion opening themselves unnecessarily to possible legal action. https://corrs.com.au/insights/innocent-dissemination-and-secondary-publisher-defences-no-longer-available-to-owners-of-facebook-pages-nsw-supreme-court They can consider themselves warned.

And now, not only are Slander and Personal attacks condoned over there... But defended by the Staff! But what else would one expect? The short version (for those interested)... In the mid-2000's, I visited Melbourne for Model Expo and stayed at Matt Gannon's Mother's house along with Mike O'Leary (LSP_Mike). I left a significant amount of resin detail sets there, somewhere in the vicinity of $600-$700 worth. I tried at various times over the years to meet up with him again whenever I went to Melbourne, or have him return them to me by post. All to no avail. By early 2015, my former Partner was very sick with Breast Cancer and MS, and she was struggling financially despite me giving her a third of my take home pay every week. I emailed Matt to try to get these sets back so that I could sell them at the local swap meet here in Brisbane, and he conceded to do so and asked me to send a definitive list. I did so... And at that point he "went dark" (as Jennings so eloquently puts it) me, and then banned me from LSP... This after being told to "f*** off" in a PM by LSP_Ron of course. Karen took her own life in June 2015. Leaving aside that I considered him a friend, one might hope for just a slight amount of compassion or Humanity? Apparently not... What a fine bunch of Country Gents they are, the lot of them.

Nah, no Politics... If it was political, I'd be talking about the Tesla Battery out in the South Australian desert. I like this Cybertruck variant though... !

Sounds like an inside job... What are the chances of someone randomly breaking into a Storage Unit; finding only Model kits inside and knowing what had value, and what to leave behind. Someone knew what he had, and knew exactly where to find it.

I would be reluctant to wrap my Dog's doo-doo in the pages of the kind of tripe dolled out by The Guardian (were that even possible). The Guardian's rampant Left-wing rantings on the "Climate Crisis" verges on Religious fervour, and is so far removed from actual un-biased Journalism that it's becoming a laughing stock. Take this recent example... https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/26/australias-science-academy-attacks-cherrypicking-of-great-barrier-reef-research?amp_js_v=a2&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQCKAE%3D#aoh=15751073267547&amp_ct=1575107328588&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From %1%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2F2019%2Fnov%2F26%2Faustralias-science-academy-attacks-cherrypicking-of-great-barrier-reef-research A report about a submission to the Australian Senate, where Scientists believing in the Climate Catastrophe urged the Government not to listen to cherry-picked data that didn't fit their narrative... And named Dr. Jennifer Marohasy as one of these. The trouble is, Dr. Marohasy's own report to the Senate was debunking another report by a Dr.Clark who claimed that a particular reef contained only dead coral... Dr.Marohasy found abundant live corals in the area, and supposed that Dr.Clark had only bothered to survey 20metres of reef where the coral was dead, and therefore fit her own biased narrative. https://jennifermarohasy.com/2019/11/why-deny-the-beautiful-coral-reefs-fringing-stone-island/ Apologies if this is a little confusing, but the Great Barrier Reef is a passion of mine and my Wife. We were recently on Heron Island in the Capricorn Group; where we observed abundant sea and coral life, and took water samples for analysis which showed low Phosphates, undetectable Nitrate levels along with the expected low salinity levels from Heron's proximity to the mouth of the Fitzroy river (the largest water table emptying into the East coast of Australia.) Ergo, the reef is not only surviving despite run-off, but thriving. Science isn't about consensus and Peer review. Science is all about finding out why the emperical evidence and the anomalies don't fit your theory. As for the Geeta Thunberg's of this World... Perhaps she should start by staying at home and attempting to do something about the more than $13 Billion of Mineral Oil and Fuel exports that Sweden pumps out every year, rather than telling the rest of the World how to live their lives?

Wow, that was quick! I have been granted a leave from Honey-doo's this afternoon, so I'll do my best to cobble something together as a rough guide.

Thought I would at least like to try the AK pencils. Picked up a 5-pack of greens and browns to see how they fare against the Art Store type ones I currently use. Anyone interested in a short tute?

So... Wealth Arab nation making billions from crude oil exports intends to purchase ONE electric vehicle. That's a bit rich