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(Road) Testing 1, 2, 3...

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  • Member since
    February 2003
(Road) Testing 1, 2, 3...
Posted by Jim Barton on Tuesday, August 16, 2005 10:58 PM
This all started when I set up a small workbench for modeling outdoors. You see, here in Phoenix, especially in spring and fall, the weather is often terrific for modeling outside! (In the summer, of course, it's too hot!) So I like to set up outside when I have the chance. The trouble was determining what exactly to bring to the outside workbench. I would bring out what I think I'm going to use for a particular session and set to work. Ten minutes later, I would realize I need the wire cutters and have to go in and get them. Sit back down and work on the model for ten minutes more. Now I gotta check something in my references! Go back inside and take a look. Outside again and after another ten minutes, it's time to open the flat black paint. "%*$#, I forgot the PAINT STIRRERS!" Go back inside and get the stirrers!

So, fed up with bouncing up and down like a Jack-in-the-box, I made a new portable tool box and I also found some compartmentalized plastic containers perfect for holding scrap plastic, small parts, bits of metal and wood, small sub-assemblies, you name it. These containers were nice and compact in size and I quickly decided I would like to be able to take my model with me on the road someday.

That "someday" is tomorrow night. I'll be driving to Orange County, California for a few days and my portable tool box is ready to go. The model and all those nice little bits and pieces of scrap styrene and subassemblies and so forth fit beautifully in a large ice chest Mother gave me last year. All I have to do is throw it in the car after work tomorrow and I'm out of here! I'll be coming back late Saturday night (the 20th), although I probably won't be on these forums until later next week. I'll let you know how my portable tool box worked.

"Whaddya mean 'Who's flying the plane?!' Nobody's flying the plane!"

  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, August 16, 2005 11:01 PM
O.K.
  • Member since
    February 2003
Posted by Jim Barton on Monday, August 22, 2005 6:30 PM
Got back from California Saturday night. I worked on my model twice while I was over there. The road test worked out beautifully; indeed the model survived the California trip better than I did. (I caught some bug when I was over there and had to stay home from work yesterday AND today, but I'm starting to feel better.) I even took the model and showed it to the boys at IPMS Orange County!

Aside from that, I went to the art shows at Laguna Beach, saw an old girlfriend, took a side trip to the mountains, went to a model contest in Ontario (California) and (this will turn on the music and guitar fans) went to the Fender Guitar Museum in Corona, a town near Riverside. A fun trip, except for picking up whatever it is I've got!

"Whaddya mean 'Who's flying the plane?!' Nobody's flying the plane!"

  • Member since
    February 2003
Posted by Jim Barton on Monday, August 22, 2005 7:27 PM
Oh, one thing I forgot to mention...met Duke Maddog at the IPMS meeting in Orange County.

"Whaddya mean 'Who's flying the plane?!' Nobody's flying the plane!"

  • Member since
    June 2003
  • From: Rowland Heights, California
Posted by Duke Maddog on Monday, August 22, 2005 7:29 PM
Jim your model looked good too. I don't remember if you also showed your road box, but that would have been neat to see as well. Sounds like you had a great trip.
  • Member since
    February 2003
Posted by Jim Barton on Monday, August 22, 2005 10:58 PM
Thanks, Duke! I didn't bring the road toolbox to the meeting, but it's basically a second set of the same tools I use at home placed in a small green fishing tackle box that my dad gave me for Christmas 30 years ago. You probably saw the bigger plastic container that held the scrap plastic, spare parts, etc. And it all fits inside that big blue ice chest, except for the toolbox, which is simple enough to carry separately. I'll definitely start taking the model on the road if I'm away for more than one or two nights.

"Whaddya mean 'Who's flying the plane?!' Nobody's flying the plane!"

  • Member since
    November 2003
  • From: Oklahoma
Posted by chopperfan on Tuesday, August 23, 2005 12:01 PM
When I was traveling this great land, as an Interstate Processed Poultry Relocation Engineer (Chicken Hauler), I used to carry 5 or 6 kits on the truck. When I would stop, for my D.O.T. MANDATORY 8 hours sleeper birth time (yea, RIGHT!!!) or when I was being loaded or unloaded, I would work on areas of the kits that I didn't have to worry too much about being destroyed in transit. Then when I would get home for a day or two, I could work on the more intricate parts and grab another kit or two for the next trip out.
Sometimes, when I had a layover, I would drop my trailer and bobtail out and try to find an LHS and make any purchases that I just couldn't live without. It sure made the time go a lot faster.
Randie [C):-)]Agape Models Without them? The men on the ground would have to work a lot harder. You can help. Please keep 'em flying! http://www.airtanker.com/
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