YW, Ken. Hope it works.

Russ

Hi gang!

Ken, sorry to hear about those lithographs. I don't know much about them, but know that they are collectable

I managed to finish the tank, but somehow it looks a little different than the box art.....

Just kidding! Actually, I was off work Tuesday, and decided to go wander around north Denver in the 99 degree heat! I visited Riverside Cemetery and managed to locate a great uncle and aunt who are resting there. I then wandered past the Colorado Army National Guard Armory and spotted this Sherman out front.

An odd thing was a park behind the Armory where there are these odd structures:

I found this was once the site of a smelting plant opened in the 1870's, and used over the years to extract lead, silver, cadmium, and other metals. They also left behind a toxic waste legacy that is on the Superfund list of contaminated sites. I think these were once used to support one of the furnaces.

I did actually get a little time in at the bench. Mostly I worked on the tank running gear:

The fender is held in place with tape and the slack in the track is taken up by a couple of balls of cotton. I painted the tracks with Testors Gunmetal metalizer in non buffing. I could probably add some mud and dirt to make it look better.

Thanks for the pictures Jim, pretty cool!   

And your tank wheels and tread are looking great!  Nice job!     

Ken

Ken: Hope you're able to get those lithographs repaired, gee you'd think the guy would know not to wrinkle them.... (sigh)...

Jim: Wow, those are great photos, and the Tiger is looking good!  

Looking good!

Always nice to see a Tiger being built....

Gamera

Ken: Hope you're able to get those lithographs repaired, gee you'd think the guy would know not to wrinkle them.... (sigh)...

Jim: Wow, those are great photos, and the Tiger is looking good!  

Thanks Cliff.  I will work on them when I get frames for them.  It still just makes my heart sink when I think about it.  I got a response from the guy on eBay.  He apologized and asked how much money I thought he should refund to me.  I answered him back 50%.  I will see what his reply is.

Ken

Just catching up on the thread and was sorry to read about your adversities with the lithos Ken. I guess the fact that the guy didn't know the value caused him to be careless. Regardless of what he thought the value to be he should have shipped them more carefully; that's just common courtesy in my book but......

Loved the C-5A with the pitot probe jutting out from the radome. I always liked the gloss grey and white paint scheme on that and the 141. Hate the grey; boring! If I were calling the shots I'd at least have them painted some cool late war Luftwaffe grey camo scheme, mottling or what have you. That is, if it had to be grey.

Jim, thanks for the Sherman pic. I know it may have not been the best tank ever but we managed to win the war with it and it earned its place in history for that. Still one of my favorites.

mikeymize

Just catching up on the thread and was sorry to read about your adversities with the lithos Ken. I guess the fact that the guy didn't know the value caused him to be careless. Regardless of what he thought the value to be he should have shipped them more carefully; that's just common courtesy in my book but......

Loved the C-5A with the pitot probe jutting out from the radome. I always liked the gloss grey and white paint scheme on that and the 141. Hate the grey; boring! If I were calling the shots I'd at least have them painted some cool late war Luftwaffe grey camo scheme, mottling or what have you. That is, if it had to be grey.

Jim, thanks for the Sherman pic. I know it may have not been the best tank ever but we managed to win the war with it and it earned its place in history for that. Still one of my favorites.

Hey Mike, I thought you would like that C-5A Galaxy picture!  The caption for it is "Maiden Flight".  And I totally agree with you about the paint scheme!  That is how I remember them at Dover AFB.

Well the seller on eBay gave me back half of my money.  But I still need to try Russ's idea to salvage them.  I am still blown away every time I think about it!  Unbelievable!  I sure hope it works!

Ken

Hey gang!

Just stopping in to see what's going on and I see not a lot happening over the weekend here. I haven't had a chance to work at the bench as much of my energy has been spent trying to rebuild the porch on the front of my home. Dry rot has been going on for sometime and it has literally collapsed and become unsafe. Even the temporary repairs I have done have now failed, and I'm having to build it fresh.

So much of Saturday has been spent tearing down the old one and Sunday I started to build the new one. What they say about not being as young as you used to be is no joke. I used to work in a lumberyard as a teen, and now hauling around lumber and all this now that I am in my fifties, I find it's seriously kicking my tail end! I don't remember this stuff being so heavy! This is on top of the extra time spent at work, and the normal house and yard upkeep!

Time during the evening spent at hobby work bench = 0!

Time spent snoozing on the couch in front of the TV.... too much!

jimbot58

Hey gang!

Just stopping in to see what's going on and I see not a lot happening over the weekend here. I haven't had a chance to work at the bench as much of my energy has been spent trying to rebuild the porch on the front of my home. Dry rot has been going on for sometime and it has literally collapsed and become unsafe. Even the temporary repairs I have done have now failed, and I'm having to build it fresh.

So much of Saturday has been spent tearing down the old one and Sunday I started to build the new one. What they say about not being as young as you used to be is no joke. I used to work in a lumberyard as a teen, and now hauling around lumber and all this now that I am in my fifties, I find it's seriously kicking my tail end! I don't remember this stuff being so heavy! This is on top of the extra time spent at work, and the normal house and yard upkeep!

Time during the evening spent at hobby work bench = 0!

Time spent snoozing on the couch in front of the TV.... too much!

Yes, not a lot happening at my workbench either.  I spent Saturday cutting up most of a huge branch that came down in my Mom's yard.  I totally agree with you Jim.  In my younger years that should have been an easy task.  Once I filled the bed of my 1 ton truck I was done for the day!  There is still more branch to cut up but I got most of it.  It was as big as a small tree all on it's own!

Sunday was spent with my step kids for Father's Day.  So that was a nice distraction.

I did get some work done at the workbench.  That front wheel bay has so much detail in it, it is a pain wiping away the excess wash in it.  I think I am getting close.  I might be able to get it finished tonight.

Ken

Jim: Sounds like a lot of work! Thing is you may be older but you're smarter now so you know to be slow and careful and not over-exert yourself- or at least that's what I tell myself! 

Hey Jim, I feel your pain....had to do some temp repairs on my fence this week end and am paying for it now. Can't take the pain meds from my doctor cause I have to work. (get too loopy)

I think our brains tell us we're still in our twenties and we believe it; then the body brings that illusion to an end!

mikeymize

Hey Jim, I feel your pain....had to do some temp repairs on my fence this week end and am paying for it now. Can't take the pain meds from my doctor cause I have to work. (get too loopy)

I think our brains tell us we're still in our twenties and we believe it; then the body brings that illusion to an end!

Amen to that Mike!

Ken

Well I just got done working on the servers at work.  So no time at the workbench tonight.  Hopefully I will get some time in tomorrow night.

Ken

Well, we all get old, even THE SHAT. Game looks lousy but I love the ad...

That was way too funny Cliff!  I loved it!  Thank you for sharing that!  Laughed my butt off!

Ken

Gamera

Well, we all get old, even THE SHAT. Game looks lousy but I love the ad...

Lol! That's priceless, Cliff!  Thanks!

Russ

The Shatner video was spot on. I'm not that far gone yet....but we're all going to be there sooner or later. I guess scale modeling should allow us happiness as well as frustration well into our "golden years".

Hi Everyone,

Well once again life gets in the way of the workbench.  For the last two nights our dog has kept us awake coughing.  I took him to the vet yesterday and $310.00 later their best idea was to put him on an antibiotic even though they did a CBC test (checks for elevated white blood cell count) that came back negative.

This evening when I came home from work I was lucky enough to catch him in the room while it was quiet.  He had not been coughing since I came home.  Then while I was looking straight at him he belched with a slight gurgle sound in which he immediately started coughing.  Eureka!  He has acid reflux!

So I spent the rest of the evening researching acid reflux in dogs.  What causes it, how to treat it, what dog food is best.  I sure wish I could have caught this before I spent the $310.00 for nothing!  I wish I could demand my money back!

It turns out that my wife and I are the culprits in his disease.  We have known that you are not supposed to feed dogs people food.  But we both have always fed our dogs from the table.  I have never had a problem before.  But here we are.

So he is off the antibiotic (it alone will cause an upset stomach, thank you for that contribution and charging me $310.00!).  No more table scraps.  Just plain old dog food.  Dog food low in protein and fat.  And if that doesn't work then I will CALL the vet and DEMAND a prescription for treating acid reflux WITHOUT another visit.  I think the $310.00 should be enough to cover it!

Ken

I hear you, Ken. I took my cat to the vet because she seemed listless and in pain. They recommended a suite of tests that cost me over $300 but nothing was ever determined. This was a modern day vet; the vet who originally owned the clinic could diagnose any problem with just an examination. The vets today are like people doctors - they don't want to depend on their training and experience - they want tests to tell them what to do. And they want to charge you big bucks for it. Someday soon, there will be few pets because people will not be able to afford them.

Sorry for the rant

Russ

Striker8241

I hear you, Ken. I took my cat to the vet because she seemed listless and in pain. They recommended a suite of tests that cost me over $300 but nothing was ever determined. This was a modern day vet; the vet who originally owned the clinic could diagnose any problem with just an examination. The vets today are like people doctors - they don't want to depend on their training and experience - they want tests to tell them what to do. And they want to charge you big bucks for it. Someday soon, there will be few pets because people will not be able to afford them.

Sorry for the rant

Russ

No apologies necessary!  I totally agree with you!   

Ken

Yeah, you think the vet would look for the simple explanation first before charging you an arm and a leg for medication, oh well...

Sounds as though you spoil your dog as much as I do but I too have stopped with the table scraps as it really isn't good for them; it makes us feel good though I think. As far as the tests are concerned, they rely too heavily as you said and seem too afraid of making a mistake perhaps. Medicine, IMHO is truly more of an art form than a science and it will never be 100% effective until human error is factored out...and that ain't happening anytime soon!  BTW love the rants; it's therapy.

mikeymize

Sounds as though you spoil your dog as much as I do but I too have stopped with the table scraps as it really isn't good for them; it makes us feel good though I think. As far as the tests are concerned, they rely too heavily as you said and seem too afraid of making a mistake perhaps. Medicine, IMHO is truly more of an art form than a science and it will never be 100% effective until human error is factored out...and that ain't happening anytime soon!  BTW love the rants; it's therapy.

I hear you on all points there Mike!

I didn't get to talk to the vet directly today (almost as bad as a regular doctor!) but through the receptionist was able to find out that I could use Pepcid.  I thought for sure it was going to do the trick.  For extra measure I went to PetSmart since they have the largest selection of dog food and asked for advice on what to get.

Well as I sit here, I can hear my poor dog coughing.  It doesn't seem to be as frequently as it was before, but he is still doing it.  And it seems that he does it most when he is trying to sleep.  So I started doing more research.

And now it is looking worse than simple acid reflux.  We have known that he has had a heart murmur.  He has had it for many years.  We asked when he was first diagnosed what we could do for it and the reply was "nothing".

Now he will have to be tested to know for sure but it looks like he may be suffering from chronic valvular disease.  Chihuahuas are on the short list of breeds that are most often affected by this disease.  So it looks like I will need to take him back to the vet and ask that they test him for it.  More money.

They cannot cure it, but they can treat it.  From what I read the most common treatments are for fluid retention and high blood pressure.  The drugs I don't think are expensive, since they are pretty commonly used for humans.

Ken

Ken, sorry to hear your going through all that with your little pet. The little pekinese of my mom's also had a murmur.  The problem with the vets is that every one of them diagnosed it differently. They couldn't agree, as one would say it was a 1 (scale of 1-5 I guess) and the next vet called it a 4. As far as the expenses, I think they just take advantage of people. It's the same with people doctors. No one really shops vets or doctors for the cheapest one. You end up paying what they charge.

Hope he turns out ok.

Not a good week here so far. Between starting out already beat from the weekend project, it's just been busy, busy, busy at work, and of coarse the extra hours. Then to top it off, I tripped and took a tumble at work. Not only did I bruise the heck out of my wrist and hand:

I also landed on flat on my chest and bruised or sprained my ribs. I don't think I fractured any, as I have cracked a couple of ribs in the past and know how painful they are. Still, I am unable to sleep as it's difficult to get comfortable.

That aside, I did sit down at the workbench and did a few things. I finished adding the wheels and tracks to the Tiger and then drilled some holes to pass a brass rod through to hold the top down and snug up the track.

I also added some CA after I took this to hold upper and lower tracks in place.

I don't think I need to paint the rods as the fenders completely cover everything up:

I will be able to slide a thin piece of flat styrene up there to mask the running gear when I go to paint. There are only a couple more pieces to add before painting.

Just for fun, I pulled down the Sherman tank kit, just to see how it might compare-these two, and the Tiger I I have make up my entire 1/72 tank collection, besides the finished Panther I built earlier.

Well off to bed to do anything besides sleep. I have some stronger pain meds, but afraid to try them in case I oversleep. This Friday night, I won't need to worry about that!

Son Of Medicine Man

mikeymize

Sounds as though you spoil your dog as much as I do but I too have stopped with the table scraps as it really isn't good for them; it makes us feel good though I think. As far as the tests are concerned, they rely too heavily as you said and seem too afraid of making a mistake perhaps. Medicine, IMHO is truly more of an art form than a science and it will never be 100% effective until human error is factored out...and that ain't happening anytime soon!  BTW love the rants; it's therapy.

I hear you on all points there Mike!

I didn't get to talk to the vet directly today (almost as bad as a regular doctor!) but through the receptionist was able to find out that I could use Pepcid.  I thought for sure it was going to do the trick.  For extra measure I went to PetSmart since they have the largest selection of dog food and asked for advice on what to get.

Well as I sit here, I can hear my poor dog coughing.  It doesn't seem to be as frequently as it was before, but he is still doing it.  And it seems that he does it most when he is trying to sleep.  So I started doing more research.

And now it is looking worse than simple acid reflux.  We have known that he has had a heart murmur.  He has had it for many years.  We asked when he was first diagnosed what we could do for it and the reply was "nothing".

Now he will have to be tested to know for sure but it looks like he may be suffering from chronic valvular disease.  Chihuahuas are on the short list of breeds that are most often affected by this disease.  So it looks like I will need to take him back to the vet and ask that they test him for it.  More money.

They cannot cure it, but they can treat it.  From what I read the most common treatments are for fluid retention and high blood pressure.  The drugs I don't think are expensive, since they are pretty commonly used for humans.

Ken

Wow, hope it isn't that serious, Ken. It also could be some kind of food allergy. Have you changed dog food recently?. Hope your pet gets over this problem.

Russ

Ken: I'm sorry to hear about that, I do hope you find out what's going on there. I know how it feels to see your pet suffer.

I think the battery of tests though is something vets like doctors have been forced into these days. Modern society is so lawsuit happy it seems you have to cover your butt every which way just to stay in business.

Jim: The Tiger looks great! I'm impressed you can get anything done with the banged up wrist though. At least working on something takes your mind off the pain from your ribs. You can smear a little mud on the tracks to cover the pins but since the skirts cover them, as you said you really don't need to add anything. Hope you feel better soon.

Cockpit is in the Apache and she is sealed up. Normally I've had good luck with Academy kits but some of the parts here fit is horrible...

Well, I couldn't stand it anymore. I had to go in and see the Dr. They took a dozen x-rays of my chest and my wrist. There were no broken bones showing, my wrist sprained only. As to my ribs, most likely a contusion or possible the cartilage is bruised, or could be broken. This will not show on the x-ray. They put me on light duty and the boss tells me that he will not be able to put me to work in the warehouse until I am released. I may get a mini vacation on workmen's comp. Healing time: cartilage or bruising: 4-6 weeks. Fractured bone that does not show on the x-ray: 4-8 weeks!  Not sure how that will work money wise. In the mean time, pain killers, ice packs, and try to figure out how to sleep sitting up.

Here is the kicker- x-rays show fluid in the sack around my heart. Unlikely that it is related to my injury, and I have been instructed to see my own Dr. ASAP! Tomorrow if possible! Not sure if I will sleep sitting up or any position!

I really think my days doing strenuous warehouse work is coming to an end!

I'll keep you guys posted...

jimbot58

Well, I couldn't stand it anymore. I had to go in and see the Dr. They took a dozen x-rays of my chest and my wrist. There were no broken bones showing, my wrist sprained only. As to my ribs, most likely a contusion or possible the cartilage is bruised, or could be broken. This will not show on the x-ray. They put me on light duty and the boss tells me that he will not be able to put me to work in the warehouse until I am released. I may get a mini vacation on workmen's comp. Healing time: cartilage or bruising: 4-6 weeks. Fractured bone that does not show on the x-ray: 4-8 weeks!  Not sure how that will work money wise. In the mean time, pain killers, ice packs, and try to figure out how to sleep sitting up.

Here is the kicker- x-rays show fluid in the sack around my heart. Unlikely that it is related to my injury, and I have been instructed to see my own Dr. ASAP! Tomorrow if possible! Not sure if I will sleep sitting up or any position!

I really think my days doing strenuous warehouse work is coming to an end!

I'll keep you guys posted...

Len