If you’ve been following the blog you might already know that I’ve had a couple of recent visitors here at the Hawk’s Nest…Billy Crisler editor of Aerospace Modeler Magazine; Greg Drawbaugh of Draw Decals and Steve Williams of Windsor, Great Britain who is an avid aviation photographer.
<-There has been some question as to the state of Aerospace Modeler, well it is alive and the only way that it would cease to exist is if the owner and investors walk away…which is something that isn’t likely. Billy reported to me that everyone who saw him at the Nationals was supportive and had a chance to preview issue number nine, which is spectacular! I suspect that in a few weeks we’ll all be seeing the next issue, whether in our mailbox or at our favorite LHS.
Greg is pleased to announce that his recent acquisition of the Thrust line of decals and resin products is moving forward to be released under the Draw Decal banner. Greg like me, saw an opportunity to save a viable line of products that otherwise might have disappeared. Way to go Greg! ->
Greg and I met this nice gentleman (Steve Williams) while at AirVenture on Friday. We sorta met under the shade of a Stearman biplane’s wing, way out on the south end of the field. It was a hot sunny day and shade under any wing was prime real estate. Fortunately, the Stearman’s wing was high enough to sit under without hitting ones head constantly as we turned to look at aircraft approaching from nearly every direction.
The three of us were quite comfortable until without warning two people showed up and plopped their lawn chairs right down amongst us. How rude! After a short while others came and joined them…which we now deciphered was the first two owned the aircraft. They could have said something like…”Hi, we’re taking aircraft owners privilege here…the aircraft and the shade is ours to enjoy.” and we would have been happy to move elsewhere…but they just moved in and sat where we were sitting.
Anyway the crowd continued to accumulate…seems they had a lot of friends, which is one of the reasons folks come to EAA. The aircraft flying were staying further north, so we opted to move towards that direction and setup elsewhere. During the course of our conversations Steve had a tough decision to make…stay for the Warbirds or catch the tour bus back to his hotel. Learning that his hotel was a hop skip and a jump from my home, I invited him to hang out with us and we’d get him back after the show. That evening we extended the invitation for him to stay for dinner. To quote Steve in a recent email to me:
Hi Gerald,
I wanted to thank you for the enjoyable evening last week. It was a real treat to visit your wonderful home and see the den (I’m very envious). Pizza was hot, beer was cold, and the company was excellent as well!
What a great way to relax after an airshow. Thank you again for your hospitality. Please pass on my thanks to your wife.
Warm Regards,
Steve
As I told Steve he is welcome anytime. The whole time we were together on the flightline, I was suffering from camera envy…his Cannon setups were fantastic!
In the past week or so the airspace over the Hawk’s Nest has been rather busy. Caught some images of a KC-135R flying overhead with my new camera…succumb to purchasing one after spending time with others who were properly equipped for what I wanted to achieve. Though my photographs of AirVenture aren’t too shabby. Anyway this was my Monday distraction last week as it made several touch and goes.
August is almost half gone, which means there are only a couple of weeks of summer left. Where did it go? As much as I have enjoyed the warm weather (air conditioning helps), I am looking forward to the explosion of color that autumn brings to NE Wisconsin. Which also means the outdoor chores will begin to ease, freeing more time towards modeling. I hope!
Several projects are underway that have taken a lower priority on the task list. Battle Damage, Tinkle Bug, Workbench 101, Perfect Seams and Informational Tutorials related to our products. Business has been slow this year, which is somewhat expected given the economic situation around the world. What’s been taking my time? Well, several other irons are in the fire, many related to projects within the hobby industry.
We’re feverishly working to create a new informational consumer website for the Hobby Manufacturers Association. We hope to unveil it at iHobby in October…fingers crossed! This site will help those not familiar with the various hobbies our industry supports. By providing them information and resources to learn about such things as Plastic Scale Modeling and where they can source them. This should be a boost for the LHS owners.
Writing also takes a great deal of my time. Not only am I penning articles/columns for my blogs, but for other resources as well. I even find (or make) the time to work on a couple of novels I someday want to have published. Add to that, wanting to have some resemblance of a “normal” life to enjoy family and friends it does take up most of any spare time that might be left.
So I apologize if the blog posts are not exactly centered on modeling related topics which some have recently unsubscribed giving that as their reason. The topics will shift back as the “modeling season” returns. For those of you in the northern climates know, winter is prime modeling time. After all who wants to be outside in the cold other than the times when you want to participate in winter sports?
Our Photo Contest is in full swing and the deadline to enter is fast approaching. Get your submission in soon in order to qualify to win fantastic prizes… including a $100 Gift Certificate from Sprue Brothers Models. Submit your photos of models finished in our products…NOW!
There are a couple of modeling events this fall, so that too should motivate me into spending more time in the workshop building and sharing modeling with others. Our club meets tomorrow night, already some have sent notes that they too haven’t done much modeling over the summer…maybe this will kick us into the “modeling season” again.
We just picked up two new bicycles…I guess I am going to start getting more exercise from this point forward. A healthy body does promote a healthy mind, one that can focus on details such as modeling. Besides It does help to reduce our consumption of gasoline for shorter trips. It is a nice way to relax and enjoy the community…already been riding around to snap pictures of things one just passes by in a car hurrying to get somewhere else.
Until next time…Happy Modeling!
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You spend hours searching the internet to find reference materials for current or future modeling projects. Some even (old school) will visit their local public library to search…wait for it…BOOKS! In a blink of an eye the book will go the way of the LP record, Beta Video Tape and the 8 Track Tape.
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