Tuesday Wrap-up

Last Friday, we went to the Ann Arbor Art Fairs. It was beautiful weather and we all had a good time. The gyro went down smooth.

One booth of note was that of John Chumack, astronomer, telescope maker, observatory expert, and photographer extraordinaire. Here are a few links to his work and his observatories.

http://www.galacticimages.com/

http://www.galacticimages.com/equipment_scopes.html

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Check out singer/songwriter Brian VanderArk at his website. We have a minor connection to Brian through my brother, John (aka “Boo”) who was working for Brian’s band The Verve Pipe back in their heyday. We met Brian a few times then, and have run into him occasionally when he comes to Ann Arbor for shows. J and the boys met up with Brian, his wife, and their young daughter during Brian’s family’s recent visit to AA for his “Sonic Lunch” performance downtown. We have his latest CD (called “Brian VanderArk”) in the car, and the kids know which songs are the ones they like the best. They call out the numbers of the tracks from the backseat – “Play #2! Then 3 then 6.”

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M’s working on his PT-109 boat and doing a good job. His painting has come a long way. He will paint and assemble as much of this as he possibly can – I’m going to stay more hands-off this time and let him do it. I painted the hull of the U-505 sub we built together so it would look its best, but this model will be as much of M’s work as possible.

I’m working on the USS Arizona model. Unfortunately I made a big mistake with the paint on the hull. I used the enamel paint without thinning it, and I have wavy brush strokes over parts of it. I sanded it a little, but you can’t sand too much or you start to “erase” some of the detail lines. So I have a less-than-optimal hull to begin with. Rats. Maybe I’ll slice the bottom off and put it in a “waterline” display, where you only see the ship above the waterline. I’ll go ahead and blame my local hobby shop for this paint problem. (I’m not really blaming them, but it’s a good introduction to my next paragraph…)

The aforementioned hobby shop, Ryder’s, is phasing out their acrylic (water-based) model paint stock. (Why? Probably something to do with money.) Acrylic paints are FAR easier to brush on than the enamel (oil-based) equivalent, and being able to have a cup of water handy to clean a brush is a big time-saver. The acrylic isn’t as thick as the enamel, either. Having to use paint thinner to clean the enamel paint off of tiny brushes is a pain in the neck. Since Ryder’s is the only hobby shop in town, it looks like I’ll have to find another place to buy the paint. I might even have to buy some online, which I don’t want to do. But I’m not going to start another model without acrylic paints. If the Arizona hull’s paint had been acrylic paint, I wouldn’t have the problems I’m having.

I’m also thinking of how much M is enjoying making models lately – he should be able to do most of the painting himself, including cleanup, and I shouldn’t always need to be around when he’s working on a model. The slow-drying model cement, while not always the best or fastest choice, is usually adequate to use, and he should be able to manage that himself. (The two main types of super glue, liquid and gap-filling, are my first choice 95% of the time, but I’m not letting him loose with those yet.)

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A brutally funny Wondermark comic for the lover of dark humor.

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Happy Tuesday, everyone.

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