Haunted Dimensions

Paper models of the Haunted Mansion. Woot! MORE projects!

Throwing in the Towel

I don't give up on projects. I will put them on hold indefinitely, or put them away for a re-think, but giving up is something I don't usually do. I have an N-Scale craftsman building kit, for instance - "Watt Moreland Waxworks" - that I started eight years ago and am only about 25% through (it's a bear of a kit with a million tiny parts, each of which needs its own colour of paint - that and I've had plans to add light and sound to it which need solidifying...I can work on it for a week or so and find I've spent the whole time doing shingles on a tiny section of roof). But I'm in no race to finish it - never am with anything - it is a hobby after all.
Unfortunately, sometimes I do come up against a deadline (Halloween) and while I do work well under pressure - this time I've had it - there's not much I can do to finish Boba Fett on time and under budget. I think this was a project where my ambition was greater than my ability, or I just made some bad decisions in the construction process re: materials and methods. I'm sure #1 would have been happy with something that looked vaguely Boba Fettish ( I've paused for a minute to see if I can think of a joke to go along with that... but not this afternoon - it's not there), but I really wanted a proper "bucket" - as it is referred to on the Star Wars costuming forums. It looked simple enough, and the prototype I put together looked OK, but the finished product needs more work than I can put in this weekend (keeping in mind I've been on this for a month now). And I know now what I should have done and I should have experimented with different materials. But that's hindsight and #1 needs a costume. He's happy to go as "Link" again, which is good and we have all the pieces from when he went two years ago ( although some are a little tighter than they were). That and I promised he could use my ipod and speakers to blast the "Zelda Theme" from behind the shield I made for him.
I don't know if I'd try to make to Boba Fett costume again - it's one of those things it would have been nice if #1 had had a part in making it, but he's still clumsy with the scissors, and there's no way in heck I'd let him cut some of the cardboard I was using with a utility knife. Maybe in a few years time.

This Week....

Three things of note:

a Don Martin Collection - The only reason I read (past tense) MAD magazine. OK, Sergio Aragones, Spy vs. Spy and the occasional movie parody. But Don Martin was my hero. If I don't get this for Christmas, I'll be buying it myself. Why? Captain Klutz, Demeaning Plebney, Fester and Karbunkle, SHTOONK, DAWK and NATIONAL GORILLA SUIT DAY!







This video of the "Code Monkey Dance". There's a lot of dancing on You Tube, lots of it NSFW, but this one is pretty good. Worth watching for anyone who works in an office - I think a lot of jobs are equivalent to being a Code Monkey






Guess who wants to be "Boba Fett" for Halloween this year? ( no- not me, I wanted to be "Shaun of the Dead" but I couldn't find a cricket bat ).

Girl Genius

I first met Phil Foglio at the Comic Shop a whole bunch of years ago. He was publishing an illustrated version of Robert Asprin's Myth Adventures. I keep buying his stuff and love reading Girl Genius online. This particular short adventure had milk coming out my nose... "Fools! I will destroy you all! Ask me how..."

Much Better

Toothpaste = buffing compound.
And it's Minty Fresh to boot!

You call this gloss red?

The original title for this was "We're painting the rockets red!We're painting the rockets red!..." but I figured few would get the "Alice in Wonderland" reference...

I've been building rockets again. mainly because my workshop is in a shambles and I need projects that can be built at the dining room table. Rockets are mostly paper and cardboard, and white glue doesn't stink. The painting can be done with a few light coats of automotive primer in the carport (white - seals the balsa nicely and covers most of the grain) and a cheap can of enamel spray paint all on a Saturday afternoon. This one, being a replica kit of one of my favorite rockets from when I was 12 - Der Red Max, I thought I'd get a good can of automotive paint. Gloss Honda Red. Have to wonder why it shows up as "1976 Mustang Badly Faded Red/Near Pink". Think I'll stick to Home Hardware for my paint.

Another reason for rockets - two or three colours - max. Model kits you could build in an afternoon, but you'd spend twice as much on paint as on the kit itself. Plus you could never get it to look like it looked like on the box. And rockets fly. True, they also get lost in trees or auger into the ground - but you can always build them over again.

The Call of 'Tulu

"the newly opened depths...It lumbered slobberingly into sight and gropingly squeezed Its gelatinous green immensity through the black doorway.... The stars were right again, and what an age-old cult had failed to do by design, a band of innocent sailors had done by accident. After vigintillions of years great Cthulhu was loose again, and ravening for delight."

HP Lovecraft 1926

"Bad 'Tulu"
CB Lavery 2007