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Ernie, I know you were hoping for bench time but that's not the way to get it. Glad to hear you're mostly on the mend. My niece caught it at New Year's. She's eight and had only gotten her first shot so there's a bit of concern. She's having to isolate at home which is making things challenging for her parents as they've got to keep two young kids occupied and interested. Meantime my sister-in-law is quadruple vaxxed as she's not only an organ transplant recipient but an ER doc. She is so burned out, she skipped Christmas. Carl

Wait, I thought we had a "The dog ate my model" section already. And welcome back Ryan! Carl

Nice save on the mantlet and Kaiser is adorable. Same here but with our own pup Jimmy. He gets the idea but isn't quite there yet.

Stumpy/Black Knight is looking more like a ship now. Need to build the arms/carriers next. Carl

That looks amazing. Carl

Great looking plane you'll be flying Frank. And great to hear about your flight to EAA. Carl

Same here Rob. I get a kit because I want to build it. Their subsequent value is less of an issue since more often than not, they go down down in value rather than up. Carl

Looks great there Gus. Built one of these a few years ago. OOB is the way to go. Carl

Plugging away at the SDF-1. Just call me Stumpy... or "it's only a flseh wound"

A nice start there Gaz. I've used Atak zimmerit a couple times but haven't tried the Cavalier stuff. It does have a nice unevenness to it which adds character. Carl

Great to see you back Frank. Being in Wisconsin and (soon) having your flying license, does that mean you'll be spending a bunch of time at Oshkosh? My sister lives about 20 minutes north of the airfield so when we went to visit her we times to coincide with the EAA show. Carl

I'd like to be added to the draw Hubert. And thanks again for your generosity. Carl

Same here. That's why I still plan to build the couple Fisher kits I have in the stash. Carl

Martin, I bought this years ago from HLJ for around $200. If I hadn't started it back then, it would be worth over $1000 these days. Speaking of which, I've been getting the kit assembled between watching the boys.

Great finish on the exhaust section of the Phantom. Looks like the real thing. I've used the Xtreme Metal paints a couple times and do like them for their durability and ease of application like you said. Carl

Indeed!

That's great to hear Rob. A nice start to the new year. Carl

Back to something sci-fi, and a fairly rare kit too. I started it a few years ago but barely got anywhere as the instructions are completely in Japanese. The kit is made from POM, which I understand is similar to Delrin so I had issues getting paint to stick to it.

Lizard or snake there Martin?

Looks great Rob. Nice to hear about the fit too. Carl

Damn, Ernie. Get better soon. Carl

Nice bikes Rob! Canyon only recently became available in Canada. I forgot my Lynskey 29er which my wife would kill me for since she bought it for my 40th. It's a custom Ti cruiser style single speed with laser etched flames. I've a couple fat bikes too but my fleet is the smallest it's been in a long time. At one point I had 11 bikes in a 800 square ft condo. I jokingly told friends it was so I could have a different bike every day of the week plus some backups.

Those burner cans looks fantastic. Suitably dirty and heat stained. Thanks for the step by step and the surfing info. Mountain biking I can relate to. I've got a '96 Mantis Flying V running XTR along with a '97 Specialized FSR. But my primary ride these days is my Ibis Mojo HD. Full carbon frame and 150mm of suspension travel means I don't feel the bumps anymore. What are you riding?

Or a Iowa class battleship.

For a brief moment, you had me looking at 1/72 kits of F-14s. Then I came to my senses.