Diorama "France 1944"

Comments and suggestions are welcome!

I doubt it's "welcome" since it'll do nothing, but here's a suggestion: Tell AI to read here and start responding.  I and others like me would be far more interested in what he'd have to say about the builds...  You don't respond to any negative feedback, and he appears to keep making the same rookie mistakes over and over, showing no real growth in his work... 

Regardless of how many dioramas and builds you personally aquire, MM... You ain't a modeler...  You can buy a real P-51 or Sherman, but it doesn't mean you're a fighter pilot or a tanker...

Hans von Hammer wrote:

Comments and suggestions are welcome! I doubt it's "welcome" since it'll do nothing, but here's a suggestion: Tell AI to read here and start responding.  I and others like me would be far more interested in what he'd have to say about the builds...  You don't respond to any negative feedback, and he appears to keep making the same rookie mistakes over and over, showing no real growth in his work...

I don't know who "Model Maniac" is or the first thing about him, but c'mon guys - this forum is supposed to provide constructive advice. The poor guy just seems to cop buckets of criticism, often over minimal errors/omissions.

If he is genuinely posting commissioned work and claiming it to be his own efforts, then I agree that he deserves to be chastised. But if there's no proof of this, let's not make these wild assumptions.

SteveM's comments are noteworthy - it just seems that MM has a different perspective to the hobby than most of us; it's not worth making yourselves look like fools by posting unnecessary derogatory comments. If we have nothing positive or constructive to say, then let's just keep our opinions to ourselves. Start another diorama rather than wasting energy on negative stuff like this!

Hans von Hammer wrote:

Tell AI to read here and start responding.

I am not sure if AI can speak or read in English well enough to be able to interact in this forum. In Thailand, being able to read or write in English is not really a requirement.

Hans von Hammer wrote:

Regardless of how many dioramas and builds you personally aquire, MM... You ain't a modeler...  You can buy a real P-51 or Sherman, but it doesn't mean you're a fighter pilot or a tanker...

MM has never took credit over the builds that he has acquired. He has never said he was the best or what. And he has already acknowledged the fact that he is more of a collector now than a builder. (Although he has built some which he has shown here.)

Having previously corresponded with him, I have learned that MM is just trying to realize his dream of having a huge collection of models. Yes, maybe he is more into quantity than quality but hey, it is his money and most importantly, it is his dream.

Obviously he is not very strict about the works of his builders as far as quality and accuracy are concerned and he gets excited over every work that his builders submit to him. It is true that for most of us it seems that he is being shortchanged but the thing is ... He seems happy with them and I guess, that is all that counts.

 Based on our correspondence, I can tell that MM is really a kind hearted guy who just enjoys models. Yes, he has blown his top once or twice in the forum, but with the kind of comments (sometimes personal) that he gets who wouldn't?

I personally don't expect his posts to be the kind that the experts here make where I can see the best and most accurate models. But I continue to read his posts because I still enjoy seeing built models whether these are the greatest or the worst that I have seen.

Thanks so much for your kind comments, Lufttiger, SteveM, Geomodeller and Dwight-Ta-ala! I really appreciate them!

As for the request for AI's participation here, it's not possible. AI not only doesn't speak English, but also has no land line and thus no Internet connection.

As for quality vs quantity, Stalin once said that "Quantity is quality in itself", and he proved right during WWII. In AI's case, his works are of some quality and he has admirers worldwide. And after more than 8 years' building for me alone, he's become one of the most productive modelers in the world.
If anyone has enough patience, try counting the number of armors and dioramas that he has built from this menu:

http://www.geocities.com/~falconbbs/modelcnt.htm

As for credit that we've received, 90% goes to AI as builder. I myself take only 10% as photographer and webmaster.

Of all 6,400+ pictures taken over the years (my website will be 10 years old next month), I've never claimed any copyright or attached any name/watermark to any of them. They are in effect in the public domain, anyone can use them in anyway they want.
I think of all this as a public service given to modelers of the world - to match the BBS online service that I gave to Thai computer users for 16 years. I still retain the name "FALCON BBS" in my domain name (FALCONBBS.COM). Anyone remember using 1200 baud modem? or the Fidonet (inter-BBS mail network)?

The other day I read this in a mail forwarded by a friend. It very much reflects my personality:

"HUMAN BEINGS ARE SUCH SMALL CREATURES, AREN'T THEY?

SO DON'T BE TOO WORRIED ABOUT EVERYTHING, TREASURE EVERY MOMENT, DO WHAT YOU WISH TO DO.....

BROADEN  YOUR VIEW, BROADEN  YOUR MIND,

DON'T WORRY TOO MUCH  ABOUT THINGS THAT ARE BOTHERING YOU,
DO TREASURE  YOUR LOVE, LIVE SAFELY AND PEACEFULLY,

ALWAYS BE HAPPY TO WELCOME THE COMING OF THE NEW DAY.......  ENJOY  THE SUNSHINE ..

ALWAYS LOOK AT THE BRIGHTER SIDE OF THINGS..... "
 

Model Maniac, you know that I have "come fiull circle" with you--I was first a very strong critic, and then, after some conversation, I have become a supporter of what you do here; I may not quite understand your motivation completely, but Iif you have fun doing it, then so be it.

However, in this last post you speak of "BROADEN YOUR VIEW, BROADEN YOUR MIND"

Well, that's eactly what this forum is for--to learn, to freely exchange ideas, to "broaden our minds" to different techniques and to learn from each other. You might have noticed that I always try to post all of my work with tutorials of some kind, to show how to do this or that.

I just want to say that I was very disappointed that, when asked, you made a member here promise not to tell how your builder achieved a certain modeling technique, and would not post it here in the public forums, but only in private message.

In my opinion, that goes against the very spirit of the forums. I am disappointed that, while you would take "kudo's" and compliments--as well as valid critiques and criticisms from all here,--which teach and expand your mind--that you would not give back in a reciprocal manner.

This was a poor decision on your part, and one which you should reconsider.  

Alright, the doog. I appreciate your support and I've reconsidered my stance. Here's the technique to do running water in the "Russian Tankmen At Rest" diorama:

AI used a lump of playclay (can be found in stationary store), place it on a table and used any small tubular object (such as inner tube of ball-point pen or 2-3" nail) to pierce through the playclay vertically to create a circular hole. He then used a syringe to dispense clear resin into that hole. When resin dried up, he got a thread of straight, clear 'water' about an inch long. He put that into its position in the well and dispensed more clear resin into the well. That's it!
 

so I was pretty close

it can take a long time to dry however. maybe the clay has enough porosity and trapped air to help the drying.

bspeed wrote:

it can take a long time to dry however. maybe the clay has enough porosity and trapped air to help the drying.

That depends on the type of resin you use.  You can get it as quick as a one minute set time.  You just have to look for it.  The porosity of the mold material has nothing to do with it.  The resin actually doesn't dry but chemically sets and hardens. 

I encountered the problem of the ends drying first and the middle did not dry, when I tried "this" in a similar fashion, using testors window glue stuff, and a small diameter plastic tube. never got the middle to dry. so the testors was not the right kind to use..  since it must depend on Air, not chemical reaction :)

"Better living through Chemistry"

Model Maniac wrote:

I still retain the name "FALCON BBS" in my domain name (FALCONBBS.COM). Anyone remember using 1200 baud modem? or the Fidonet (inter-BBS mail network)?

Yes, I ran a 2 line system, with a lot of Fido echo areas. Remote Access "RA BBS" software.

it's name was "Wagon Trails" :)

the days of Desqview for multitasking!

good times...kind of ....in retrospect, a BIG waste of $$!  7 CD scsi tower that was about $3K

I see you were also  a RA board, and Frontdoor, as was I.

So we are like brothers, you know

the doog wrote:

Thank you, Model Maniac; I'm sure there will be people very pleased with that information!

You're welcome, the doog! I hope the information would be useful. ;-)

bspeed wrote:

Yes, I ran a 2 line system, with a lot of Fido echo areas. Remote Access "RA BBS" software. it's name was "Wagon Trails" :) the days of Desqview for multitasking! good times...kind of ....in retrospect, a BIG waste of $$!  7 CD scsi tower that was about $3K ... I see you were also  a RA board, and Frontdoor, as was I. So we are like brothers, you know Smile,Wink, & Grin

I'm glad to know fellow sysop! (system operator). I had only one line which was busy most of the time even between 2-4AM! At one point in time my users could choose to load one of the three BBS softwares -Lynx, QuickBBS and Remote Access. I myself love QuickBBS the most. I also spent a lot on hardware during 16 years of operations - computers and peripherals were much more expensive then than now. I think the total was some $10K.