[The health of local hobby shops, another perspective...]

MidSouth Hobbies is hoping to make the reopening date of 4/1/12, but it's going to be tight. They've emptied most of the old shop, although they still have one very big thing to remove - their main slot-car track. [They've got two, one a plain oval, the other quite complex.] Getting the new shop ship-shape is going to take a bit of doing if they hope to be done in two days! In a couple of these pictures, you can see the owner, Emmo Hein:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a pic of the track that still needs moving:

 

[The health of local hobby shops, another perspective...]

MidSouth Hobbies, in Memphis, TN, continues to rock the local hobby world. After about three weeks, the expansion is getting close to complete. They are moving across the parking lot, and more than tripling their space.

 

Link http://www.facebook....237784242943558

 

This picture illustrates it well:

 

 

If you don't "do" Facebook, there are far too many pictures to share, all great. And all feature local guys who shop at MidSouth Hobbies, lending their expertise and their backs in getting the new location up and running.

 

For those who refuse the Facebook, a number of pics follow which I took from the page. MidSouth Hobbies is the finest model shop I've ever been to, and like a good and healthy shop is close to the street, close to the modelers. And they feature stuff with a better profit margin, like RC airplanes, slot cars [and you can see men from the local club moving the track], railroad, books, balsa, and a new line of merchandise, gaming miniatures [WarHammer and D&D, plus a great selection of old tabletop gaming wargame stuff]:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pictures from the old shop across the parking lot:

 

 

 

 

[What ONE Model Must You Build in 2012?]

Ventura, 48th scale. I was on a tear of finishing a model roughly every two weeks only six months ago, which had lasted about four or five years. But ever since losing my job, getting a new one, getting worked like never before at the new one, moving to a new place, new girlfriend.... I'm off pace. But the Ventura is a kit I've been showering wish-lists with for years, and I will finish one this year.

[Enterprise NCC-1701 from TOS]

Well done. Interesting choices. It's your model, so make it however you like. But trying to suggest that the model used in the original series looked like this is rewriting history to justify your choice, and that's not cool. Nice model, and yes, it looks like the Smithsonian model, but the OS Enterprise was definitely NOT painted like that.

[Back Online]

Count me among the "bleh" crowd. Why do forum software people have to doll up forums as if they work like touchscreens and a McDonalds?

[1/48 Sea Hurricane - DONE!!]

How does a Fellowship Build differ from a group build?

[I totally cannot find my ipms number]

David, old man, the best you can hope for is that no one who knows you in the 1:1 sees this, to dangle it in front of you and mock you mercilessly time and time again. You can only hope.

[Acrylic Paint Peel!!!!]

I don't understand the difficulty, so maybe I should just avoid further comment. I use almost exclusively acrylic paints and must be holding my airbrush right and modeling under the correct moon phase, because I simply don't relate to the problems being ascribed to them here. On the other hand, I find enamels intolerable due to thickness, orange peel, and refusal to dry. I love lacquers but loath mixing them. So.... I guess I can't add anything.

 

I don't, I should add, use acrylic primers. If I use primers at all, I use exclusively lacquers. I don't usually use primers though, unless the plastic is obviously going to be problematic. For instance, I don't use primers for most Hasegawa, Tamiya, or Monogram kits. I do use primers on short run kits.

[Thinning Mr. Color]

As said above, Mr Color Leveling Thinner works best. The retarder makes all the difference. You could try adding naptha to regular Mr Color thinner I suppose. I've also picked up some acrylic lacquer retarding thinner at a local auto paint store and it seems to be identical to Mr Color Leveling Thinner. If you try to find it where you are, make sure you phrase it as I do -automotive acrylic lacquer retarding thinner. The retarding agent in all of these is naptha.

[charts for ''FS'' charts and paints to match them with]

Another handy tool: http://www.paint4models.com/

 

And the Federal Standard tool: http://www.colorserver.net/

[What is the best hobby shop in the USA?]

Midsouth Hobbies in Memphis, TN is simply one of the finest around, but it never gets mentioned in one of these threads unless I post, so... post. I've been to a few above, and Midsouth Hobbies has a couple of them beat in terms of inventory and staff.

[Haven't always been the "joining" type, but...]

I joined up with a club here in town, after years of urging, so I figured why go half way? Joined up with IPMS too. I attended my first Nats last year, but I've been actively modeling on and off since I was a kid. Usually in phases, but the current phase has entered it's third year, so I think I'm back in for good. Been on all the major forums for about ten years.

 

Howdy.