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Moving...
3 min read
After seven wonderful years living in Maryland, we'll be moving in June to the Asheville, NC area.
Back in December, while Jackie was visiting her parents for Christmas, I was here alone. At about 2 am of the morning she was supposed to come back, I tripped over a box in the hall that I'd walked past a hundred times before (1/350 SMS Seydlitz lol). My head hit the hardwood floors with such velocity that I was dazed for a few moments. Then the blood started gushing from my head and into my eyes-- just like in the movies, everything was tinted red. Because of my bad knees, I'm incapable of getting up off the floor on my own and had to work my way over to the stairs to be able to pull myself up to be able to get to a phone and call the ambulance. I could have fallen down the stairs, but the fact that I'm here to tell the story shows I was lucky and made it.
Anyway, long, very scary, very painful story short, I broke my elbow and needed stitches near my temple where my eye had swollen shut. Jackie had to get a friend to bring her home from the airport and she was in utter fear for my continuing safety. We're pretty much all alone out here with most of my family living near Baltimore-- and even then, they seem to all be moving away. So, much to her relief, I decided we should move down to Asheville to be closer to her family. I'm gonna really miss it here, but I'm 46 now and not getting any younger. With my bones the way they are, people may as well call me "Mr. Glass" even if I'm not Samuel L. Jackson. 
So that's pretty much it. We already have a new house lined up and we move in June. All the main living area is on one floor. I'll have the entire finished basement as my new, extended, super studio (lol), so that'll certainly be an upgrade (God Bless Jackie!). But for day to day living, I only have to be on one floor-- and that's with carpet to cushion my landing if (hopefully not when) I fall again. We'll only be fifteen minutes away from Jackie's parents (not to mention her sister, my dear ivy-alive) so that's cool and will make for many fun holidays, get-togethers, etc. (we currently spend Christmas, etc. alone).
We've already packed so much stuff. Holding off on packing the finished models until the end. You know that'll be a lot of fun... lol
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Stranger in a not-so-strange land...
1 min read
So many apologies for being away from DA so much! Last year was just so insanely busy and I've been trying to get back to building models just for fun (crazy idea, I know). I have sooooo much DA to catch up on! Hopefully I can rectify that this year... Thanks for all the faves and putting up with my DA-absence!
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Maraudercon 21014
3 min read
I had a great time at Maraudercon on Saturday. Seeing old friends and meeting some new ones was great and it was wonderful that my father got to see some old friends too (possible for the last time). I received so many nice compliments on my work, which made all the long hours worth it.
Despite all the crazy hours working, I couldn't get the project done that I wanted to take... so after a lot of hand-wringing, I decide that just ONCE, the 1/72 Kshatriya would leave the house and go to a show (it's never left the house before, and it's never leaving the house again). The packing procedure for this thing was really complex/ scary, but Jackie and I figured it out. I'm glad we did as it got a LOT of attention at the show (it's so big, and the paint so noticeable, it could be seen from anywhere in the display room). People were actually searching me out to talk about it. lol I also took the Kongo and Hiryu (for a total of three models), and was happy they also got some kind words.
So, when the dust cleared from this show with almost 600 entries, I received: Silver (1/350 and larger ships) for the Kongo, Gold (1/351 and smaller ships) for the Hiryu, and Gold (space and sci-fi) for the Kshatriya. For the best in class awards, I got Best Ship Overall: Hiryu and Best Sci-Fi Overall: Kshatriya. Last but not least, I was also shocked to receive BEST OF SHOW. Amazingly enough, this was for the HIRYU! lol My worries of the little 1/700 aircraft carrier getting lost in the shuffle were unfounded (the head judge explained my use of tiny people to bring the ship to life was that extra little bit that pushed it over and made the decision unanimous among the judges). 
I also received a print of the B-26 Marauder by Shigeo Koike, which made for a nice little prize.
I also received a print of the B-26 Marauder by Shigeo Koike, which made for a nice little prize.And so with that, my model competition career comes to a close on a very high note. I may enter a show now and then on a lark, but I'm retiring from the hardcore rat race of building just to compete. I said that this would be my final year of competition-- and these awards combined with the awards I won in other competitions this year makes me retire a very happy guy.
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I also took the Volks SWS 1/32 He 219 to the Nationals and actually had to finish it there in my hotel room over the span of three nights. lol It didn't win anything, but I really didn't care because I got to show it to Mr. Shigeta (Volks owner) and the rest of the attending Volks staff (Mrs. Shigeta was there too!). They all seemed to like it and there is even a picture of me (sporting a crazy beard) with Mr. Shigeta holding my model on his personal blog! So cool! www.zoukeimura.co.jp/en/sentim…
I built it as a cutaway with even one of the engines cutaway further to show off the internal pistons, etc., so it took a LONG time to build. I'll post pics up here eventually, but I'm keeping it exclusive to Aeroscale for the next few months. If you want to check it out, it can be seen here... aeroscale.co.uk/modules.php?op…
I built it as a cutaway with even one of the engines cutaway further to show off the internal pistons, etc., so it took a LONG time to build. I'll post pics up here eventually, but I'm keeping it exclusive to Aeroscale for the next few months. If you want to check it out, it can be seen here... aeroscale.co.uk/modules.php?op…
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Contest Results...
1 min read
The Kshatriya got 1st Runner Up in the e2046 contest, so I'm cool with that. More importantly, I got TWO Golds at the 50th IPMS USA Nationals. One for my FSS dio and one for my Pinky Death Saurer, which y'all will see someday whenever the Zoids anthology is released. Considering I only took four models, getting two Golds is pretty nice (especially when one considers that this was an international show with almost 3000(!!!) entries).
I've got one more show in Baltimore in November and then I'm retiring from competition-- I figure I don't really have anything to prove anymore. I might enter something now and then, but my days of building specifically for competition will come to an end. Racking up awards was important early in my pro modeling career, but enough people know who I am now, I don't really need the advertising that winning awards brings.
After November, I can go back to modeling for fun again. lol
I've got one more show in Baltimore in November and then I'm retiring from competition-- I figure I don't really have anything to prove anymore. I might enter something now and then, but my days of building specifically for competition will come to an end. Racking up awards was important early in my pro modeling career, but enough people know who I am now, I don't really need the advertising that winning awards brings.
After November, I can go back to modeling for fun again. lol
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