The Tamiya kit, from 2005. Just a test.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
What It's All About
Some might call it a weakness or dispersion of my energies, but I've always loved building models. I built until I was twenty, then art and women tore my attention away for a decade or so, then in 1991 my brother gave me Tamiya's Stuka zu Fuss for Christmas. Hooked again, since then I've built or completed hundreds.
I mostly like building 1:35 scale armour models, but I also build model aircraft in all scales, and I also enjoy building cars, and a few figures, and whatever else strikes my fancy.
I'm rather late to the internet, I've only really been active on it six or seven years and before then I used to hear wondrous tales about strange places where modelers would visit or gather to talk about their favorite pursuit. Strange tales and gossip about Missing-Lynx, Hyperscale and Track-Link would fill the air at our Saturday morning get-togethers. Names were dropped and if you're familiar with the hobby you know who these are.
As I grew more comfortable posting online I began to notice a definite lack in the quality of debate on many issues, some off topic but, mostly model related. When I became more assertive and outspoken about these issues, my posts would be deleted by admins and eventually banned altogether from a site. I am a Tiger after all... we can be ...unruly.
Now I understand why I was banned from several (not all of them!) sites. The bottom line is money.
Major modeling sites are cash cattle for their owners, be they private individuals or magazine publishers. All of those ads on your screen aren't there for your benefit (although if you're looking for a decent PE set for your SKIF T-55... I digress). The owners/admins don't want their advertisers concerned about bad behavior and possibly removing their ads (I mean large companies and wholetailers--- there is a spectrum). They want their members and visitors to play like nice little kiddies in their sandbox. Their admins/moderators were chosen, for the most part, based on good behavior, helpfulness, sycophancy, martinency, and often a wide streak of anal retentive sadism if not outright evil, and that makes things very tight on modeling sites. 'No fighting, we're in the war room', and all that. I'll leave the particulars as to why I was banned for another post.
What's a boy to do?
Well, since it's free, why don't I do this?
This blog is dedicated to modeling. It took me a while to decide what to focus on (I hear it's good to have a focus, it doesn't confuse people that way) and I decided to zero in on what I liked the most--- Soviet, Russian and Warsaw Pact subjects.
This includes the PRC,and any client states that use Soviet, Russian, WP and PRC equipment. Includes WWI, WWII, Korean and Vietnam subjects. It especially includes Yugoslavian subjects as I have Balkan ancestry. And of course it will include contemporary subjects. It also includes any adversaries, in context. You see I'm cutting a fairly wide swath here.
I will post on releases, build logs of my own (and commentary on others), the model industry, and the personalities, politics and gossip in and of the modeling fraternity, as well as of the outside world, where real technology maims real people. I'll do and post and say what I want here, and I don't care if you don't like it. But some of you will.
You're welcome to read and to participate if you wish, but I'll leave my comments moderated. I'll be libertine.
This is what I'll allow: constructive comments, praise, hate mail, swearing, threats, lambasting, rows with other commenteurs and threats against such (I may have to edit the more gruesome and unbalanced ones---sorry). Try to limit the racism please-- I live in Canada and while hate speech laws have recently been declared unconstitutional, it's an ugly and inelegant practice.
This is what will be ruthlessly deleted: Using my given name, off topic posts-- that is those being anything not relating to the blog as I will have others set up soon. It's best to launch the destroyer before the flagship.
As a signoff I'll post a picture and let you know what music I'm listening to. I know..., but it's an amusing gimmick
Suede-Dog Man Star-The 2 of Us
I mostly like building 1:35 scale armour models, but I also build model aircraft in all scales, and I also enjoy building cars, and a few figures, and whatever else strikes my fancy.
I'm rather late to the internet, I've only really been active on it six or seven years and before then I used to hear wondrous tales about strange places where modelers would visit or gather to talk about their favorite pursuit. Strange tales and gossip about Missing-Lynx, Hyperscale and Track-Link would fill the air at our Saturday morning get-togethers. Names were dropped and if you're familiar with the hobby you know who these are.
As I grew more comfortable posting online I began to notice a definite lack in the quality of debate on many issues, some off topic but, mostly model related. When I became more assertive and outspoken about these issues, my posts would be deleted by admins and eventually banned altogether from a site. I am a Tiger after all... we can be ...unruly.
Now I understand why I was banned from several (not all of them!) sites. The bottom line is money.
Major modeling sites are cash cattle for their owners, be they private individuals or magazine publishers. All of those ads on your screen aren't there for your benefit (although if you're looking for a decent PE set for your SKIF T-55... I digress). The owners/admins don't want their advertisers concerned about bad behavior and possibly removing their ads (I mean large companies and wholetailers--- there is a spectrum). They want their members and visitors to play like nice little kiddies in their sandbox. Their admins/moderators were chosen, for the most part, based on good behavior, helpfulness, sycophancy, martinency, and often a wide streak of anal retentive sadism if not outright evil, and that makes things very tight on modeling sites. 'No fighting, we're in the war room', and all that. I'll leave the particulars as to why I was banned for another post.
What's a boy to do?
Well, since it's free, why don't I do this?
This blog is dedicated to modeling. It took me a while to decide what to focus on (I hear it's good to have a focus, it doesn't confuse people that way) and I decided to zero in on what I liked the most--- Soviet, Russian and Warsaw Pact subjects.
This includes the PRC,and any client states that use Soviet, Russian, WP and PRC equipment. Includes WWI, WWII, Korean and Vietnam subjects. It especially includes Yugoslavian subjects as I have Balkan ancestry. And of course it will include contemporary subjects. It also includes any adversaries, in context. You see I'm cutting a fairly wide swath here.
I will post on releases, build logs of my own (and commentary on others), the model industry, and the personalities, politics and gossip in and of the modeling fraternity, as well as of the outside world, where real technology maims real people. I'll do and post and say what I want here, and I don't care if you don't like it. But some of you will.
You're welcome to read and to participate if you wish, but I'll leave my comments moderated. I'll be libertine.
This is what I'll allow: constructive comments, praise, hate mail, swearing, threats, lambasting, rows with other commenteurs and threats against such (I may have to edit the more gruesome and unbalanced ones---sorry). Try to limit the racism please-- I live in Canada and while hate speech laws have recently been declared unconstitutional, it's an ugly and inelegant practice.
This is what will be ruthlessly deleted: Using my given name, off topic posts-- that is those being anything not relating to the blog as I will have others set up soon. It's best to launch the destroyer before the flagship.
As a signoff I'll post a picture and let you know what music I'm listening to. I know..., but it's an amusing gimmick
Suede-Dog Man Star-The 2 of Us
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