BradG

Sorry stuffed up the image code, fixed now.

This is the biggest diorama I've built. The centre piece is the older Dragon IS-2 which is a very nice model still. It has a roughed up surface texture and the track links are impressive, being able to be linked together without glue and bent/shaped around the wheels. White aircraft ID stripes were freehand hand painted with the tank number being the kit decal. List of other items used are; - German solders from the Dragon Desperate Defence gen 2 figure set - Dragon Soviet Motor Rifle Troops Berlin 1945 - Verlinden Ruined house sections and sidewalk - Firestorm Hobbies bricks (repainted) - Unknown brand cobblestone street sections - Tamiya barricade set along with other Tamiya accessories (ammo boxes, cans, drums) - Eduard etched barbed wire I made the rubble by combining the bricks with a red and grey tile grout, HO railway ballast and soil sifted from mums garden. Base isan old picture frame I found laying around the house. I also did modify some of the figures slightly by adding different weapons, especially the bloke holding the magnetic mine, he was originally holding his MP 40. A nice touch from the Dragon figure set is they give you some empty pistol holsters so I put a pistol in his hand along with the mine, his buddy there is covering him with grenades. He was originally holding a K98 but I've put a G43 in his hand along with the appropriate ammo pouches. I also plan to put a tanker in the open hatch, but haven't been to the LHS yet to get some soviet tankers. I'll get to that though. Thanks for looking in.

Lock downs are not recommended even by the WHO and many virologists do not recommend them to combat pandemics. This idea to lock down came from the Chinese.

Doubt is the corner stone of all scientific advancement.

I can't help but laugh looking at the tiny little hooks holding the bombs on the devastator...and bombs on a devastator with a torpedo is another laugh.

I couldn't stand Fury, Apart from the fact it looked like star wars with all the coloured tracers, that battle with the Tiger was just rubbish. The whole thing about having to get behind the Tiger, like mate, you're in an easy8, you could penetrate a tiger at fighting distances let alone at 50 yards you'd blow right though the frontal plate!

Ironically the average age of a corona virus victim in the UK is 82.4. The average life expectancy in the UK is 81.16. Not saying the virus isn't dangerous, but it's more dangerous to those over 80 than it is to those under 40.

The good news is that although there is a second wave in Europe and the UK, the deaths don't seem to have spiked with the second wave. Gaz your maths is a bit off, 2.78% of 7.54 billion is a touch under 210 million (I think you missed a zero). However, I do agree that this virus is not as deadly as we are being told. Most people who die of this, have underlying serious health issues. Out here in Australia, the average age of a victim is 83 and around 700 of the 900 victims have been in aged care. The average length of stay in aged care in Australia for an elderly person is less than 3 years. I was also listening to one of the top people in the virus research field this morning, they said that for every person identified with the virus, there is at least 7 undiagnosed cases of people who are asymptomatic or have very mild symptoms. This again means the virus is not as deadly as we are being told.

I really hate rubber band type tracks, but at 50-60 dollars plus post for an aftermarket track set, I might as well just go and buy a Dragon kit with magic tracks in it and throw the older model out! It makes no economic sense to me the costs here.

Meanwhile we in Victoria still cannot go more than 5kms from our house. The curfew was dropped, only because the Liberal politician was making a court challenge to it. You wouldn't believe that after all this being the fault of the government (although they all have collective amnesia and can't remember who made some decisions), contract security was STILL being used to guard quarantine hotels.

One thing that seems to be eroding fast are our rights here. Now the government is trying (and probably will) pass a law that allows police, or anyone who is designated a Justice of the Peace, to arrest and confine a person indefinitely without charge and only on the suspicion they may break a law. Scary, scary stuff here in Melbourne. Imagine how that could be abused. Just think, an untrained person could be allowed to detain someone with no evidence of wrongdoing, without appeal and without question for as long as they want on a suspicion. Australia doesn't need to be invaded by China, we're going to turn into a Communist dictatorship by ourselves!

I use to just sticky tape a piece of white paper over my flash, worked well.

Not something like this but I've had people send me modelling items from all over the world that I've asked for ,without asking any payment or post. I always pay it forward by helping other modellers with their requests when I can for free too.

Out here we're now finding that the estimates on deaths and how many hospital beds would be needed was in error by a huge percent. So they punched all this data into the computer modelling and got information out the other end that was 300% in error. Our governments then used this crap to impose draconian restrictions on us. More cases of the gestapo, I mean Victoria Police harassing people sitting on benches, one woman 38 weeks pregnant was asked why she was in the park. Clearly she was out walking, but needed to sit down for a moment, but the police kept dodging the question on if she was allowed to rest for a minute while out walking. We are wrecking Australia and destroying our civil rights for nothing. It's actually very scary, especially to see people cheering on these things. In fact, I'm under the threat of being banned from one website if I criticise police, because some of the admin and friends of admin are in emergency services. Mind you, not break any rules, just post genuine concerns about law enforcement's behaviour.

Police have really gone mad with power. Mums friend up the road was harassed by the police driving by for standing on her porch yelling/talking to the neighbour over the road. There have also been a case of police threatening to shoot a person who was outside putting his bin out after curfew. One of the head cops held a press conference that called anyone who opposes these lock down laws as "batshit crazy"...gee I'm sorry if I like freedom! It's also very troubling that our curfew, from 8pm to 5am, was not put in place because of medical advice, it was put in place because police suggested it would make things easier for them. This is scary, a curfew is a serious curtailing of people's rights and should only be imposed on people for VERY good reasons, not because it might make the police's job easier.

Our partner club is a baseball club; we use the ground and facilities in Summer, they in Winter. I can and do, plonk infront of the TV for all 5 days of a test match and watch every minute of it. Best ever was the 1999 World Cup in England, where we drew the semi final and then spanked Pakistan, I watched the whole thing live and just lived with no sleep at school for several weeks. I actually remember sleeping at lunch times lol. That's also the world cup that gave rise to the famous spray by Steve Waugh; "you just dropped the world cup".

Not to mention cracking one through the covers. Although my driving isn't my strong game, I really do love a pull...shot and I'm what you might call a compulsive hooker.

Yeh sorry about that, I tend to forget that cricket has a language of it's own.

I'll have to duct tape my box on.

Looks like we will be locked in our houses for an additional 2 weeks down here. That leaves cricket season due to start 6 days after lock down ends. Have no fixture, have nothing at all plus I have no pants, jocks, no bat stuff and I haven't even oiled it. ugh.

Mum decided in her infinite (or is that non existent) wisdom to get another cat during lockdown. We already have a 10 year old Tonkinese called Mylo, but she went out and bought a 5 year ex breeding female named Simone. Dad and I both warned her that this would not be good and Mylo would react badly. Fast forward 2 days, we have Simone chasing Mylo, claws and fur flying, hissing, growling and a general "I will murder you" vibe coming from Mylo and poor Simone hiding. Of coruse mum has the shits with me because apparently "I told you so" is something she didn't want to hear. Anyways, anyone know any good ways to get the cats to like each other?

Haha no, I'm a good distance from Williamstown.

About 20 minutes ago our doorbell rang, hmm that's strange, no one is supposed to be out. This bloke says "urr Hi, I was kinda drunk last night, drank from your hose then passed out on your lawn, I had to get taken home by the ambulance because I was too drunk to walk, I've also lost my car keys somewhere around, have you seen any keys this morning?". Apparently he was driving home drunk, needed a drink, stopped outside our house and proceeded to have a drink, pass out where either someone rang the cops or the cops found him. I never heard a thing. He copped a 1700 dollar fine for his effort (out without a reason during curfew) and now can't find his car keys....sigh....

Just imagine if someone buys the molds and releases them again at half the original retail price.

I still believe that Sweden had the only viable response; protect the old, protect the sick and protect the vulnerable, but the rest of society had to get on with things. They now have almost no deaths as the reach herd immunity. Unfortunately in Australia, our governments were so incompetent they couldn't even protect the old and sick in nursing homes, absolute disgrace. Anyways I saw something in all this that made me laugh. A little while ago, the local councils went nuts with power and closed play grounds and filled up skate parks with soil to stop kids using them. I seriously doubt a few kids using a skate park was going to spread the virus, but you know, give petty bureaucrats a sniff of power and this is what happens. The funny part was I saw a bunch of kids out there with shovels; they'd taken the soil and made themselves a dirt bike track. I had to laugh, you matched wits with a bunch of 10 year olds and lost!