Hope you're better soon Ben. 

I did start in earnest on the Shimakaze over the weekend. Hopefully some photos soon. 

Nice work so far ICAR01, glad to see somebody still posting on the GB. Thanks for the thoughts SCOTTRC, its appreciated. I had a white five piece Slingerland drum kit many years ago. It's nice seeing you behind it. You are soooo right when it comes to maintaining through exercise. Everyones muscle and tendons shrink and tighten as we age and exercise is really the only solution to keep us all going. Getting old is not easy but better than the alternative.

It's a shame how we get beat up over the years and degrade our ability to do the little things. Nice to see you there Scott.

Ben,

I'm thinking of ya and pray you can overcome your tendonitis.  I have been experiencing it quite often the past year.  Three decades of drumming and mousing (CAD Drafter by trade) seems to be catching up.   Below is a pic of me at of a community performance before my hand started acting up.  

I sliced my left index finger open a few years ago and had to have surgery to fix the tendons and it has really devalued my playing ability since I can no longer feel and adjust the pressure on that finger against my thumb or stick. Its also a reason why I have been away from the modeling bench.  Its hard to keep hold of tweezers and that is also my airbrush finger.  So lots of excersies and change in diet to keep down the inflamation, except its hard to stay true to a good diet.

As Red Green says, We are all in this together, keep you stick on the ice.  

Scott

Nice work Ikar! Yeah, she looks good on the 'water'! 

I wish I could get better shots, but just don't have the right lens yet.

That looks great on the "water". 

My Mother died in the late 80s a little over a year after I got here from Okinawa.  My Father died aboiut 10 years ago.  But I did find out a few things abouit hi that he never had mentioned before, especially about being in the OSS near the end of the war.  That explained being assigned to Patton while in the Air Corps.  I did manage to get a copy of most of his military records and have them safely stored.  I still have ot get my wife's and mine though.

Anyway, I finally got some more work done on the Kagero.  Sorting though three sets of instructions and PE can get to be a bit much but I try.  It's not always easy to see what I need to but sometimes I get lucky.

Those aircraft can drive someone nuts but at least you don't have little pilors to paint with little goggles.

Sorry to hear about your moms guys. I lost my dad about three years ago but mom is still healthy. So I guess I've got that to deal with in the next decade or so. 

That's the biggest thing that sucks about getting old- you start to lose everyone you thought would be around forever... 

No worries guys,my stuff is packed and probably won't see the light of day for a few months yet.

Scott, Whirlpool just isn't waht it used to be. I guess the Whirlpool repairman passed or quit. LG and other fancy titles have out preformed them. Sorry about your mom. We did that for my mom back in 2011. She passed for the same lung issues that I got a transplant for. Sucky disease. Thanks for the good wishes, I'm going to need them. My wife and I are better friends appart than together although we know that, it's still hard to help her move into a much smaller place. If the prices here were more sane she could get someplace with some nice room. Maybe one day things will work out and she'll decide to come down and rent out her new place. Not counting on it though.

Ben, take it easy. Can't have you working on PE with a bum wrist.

My apologies for not being active in the GB lately. Since my last update I was asked to play a percussion performance for a large group only to find that I haven't kept up on the daily exercises as I thought I have, so the end result has been an excruciating case of tendonitis in my right wrist, basically loosing use of the arm for the last two weeks! I've been able to see my doctor to ensure nothing it broken. Between my gout, arthritis, and now severe tendonitis that makes my right hand bigger than two of my left. The whole time waiting for the appointment I was doing the RICE thing, Rest - Ice - Compression - Elevate. I got steroids to get the swelling and pain down but they are now over, and some swelling and pain persists. Going to the doctor again this Thursday. Till next time, hopefully with a real update.

Ouch Scott, I don't think there's any such thing as cheap repairs anymore.

Good luck!!!

Ben,

Your research and patience is paying off.  Looking great!

BTW, on appliances, don't get Whirlpool, I put in a new kitchen in 2015 and the fridge is rusting and leaking, dishwasher plastic is cracking and the stainless is rusting, the stove knobs have cracked and fallen off and they want $25 bucks eack to replace them, the PCB control panel frame broke and the whole panel fell out, but I was able to 3D print a replacement and forego the $150 they wanted, and the microwave door it cracking apart.  The so called 10 year warranty was a joke since it has a $100 deductable on each part. 

My old appliances were from the 1960's and 70's and didn't have any issues other than they were dated.

Sorry for the rant.  I'm glad you are building the Yamato, its giving me inspiration to build the Mushashi.  

Scott

Hi guys, 

Just checking in from life, which BTW is about the same as everyone else's with house problems and family issues taking priority over hobbies.  Steve, I wish you well on your move and new adventure, its not not as easy as it was when we were younger.  It will be nice to have you in Texas.  My Mushashi is packed somewhere in my basement and will probably be there until I finish clearing out all my mothers stuff that got stored.  I had to put her in a nursing home a few months ago and am cleaning out her apartment and the two U-Haul loads of stuff I moved from Montana to Kansas last summer.

I look forward to all of us getting back to our benches soon.

Scott

Challenging? How about friggin' insane!

All joking aside love what you're doing here! Wish we had a SUPER BIG thumb's up emoji! That's what this deserves.

Love the work put in Ben. I like that Pete with the camo

Yeah those are amazing Ben! Knocks me out that they can work so much detail into something so small. Are there PE scarfs for the pilots?

Yeah, Hase makes some sweet AC for their ships. No I don't see anything wrong with the Jake but what I do see is a lot of work to get those folded wing streight!

Yeah, comming out of hibernation becomes a lot harder after 60.

I'm in the process of packing and moving out of state and it's certantly not as "easy" as it used to be.

Good work Ben, looking forward to seeing more

I'm not sure which seemed to take longer, waiting for the replacement aircraft for the Yamato or waiting for spring weather to arrive. And now it seems like it was a tie as both are now here. I also found out once again that jumping into yard work right after being sedentary from a long winter wears you out and actually makes you a little sore. My mind recalls a time just a couple years ago (when I was 25) that I could work in the yard or do physical stuff all day and not tire. Now just a few years later (63) my stamina, knees, etc. still appear to be in hibernation. Seriously, it is funny as you age that your mind thinks you can still do something you did 40 years ago, but your body persistently reminds you that you can't as easy as before. Still, I've always said it is better to wear out than rust out; little did I know when I started saying that, that both options are really crappy as either way the things that use to be simple aren't simple anymore.     

So back to the little aircraft. We already decided which type of aircraft were on the Yamato. I also decided to purchase replacement aircraft as those that came with the kit are not as detailed or accurate as those I purchased. Here is what the box looked like:



Right away when comparing them you would notice that the kit aircraft did not have any surface detail, were the Hasegawa tooled aircraft have separate features, engraved panel lines, etc. Here is how they arrived in the box:



The first thing you realizes from opening the box is "Holy Cow there are a lot of small parts"   . Where the kit aircraft had anywhere from 4 to 7 parts for each plane; the Hasegawa aircraft start between 10 to 14 parts and can add up to 8-13 more pieces if using PE.   



Another reason for buying the Hasewaga kit was the much better decals:   



Completing the E13A1 Jake's were straight forward, but very small. As you can see on the instructions, they give you three choices of propellers (two plastic and one PE):   





Nearly everything had to be assembled with tweezers as the parts were to small for fingers. Here are two Jakes assembled and ready for paint. I still have to attach a clear canopy and some extra PE after paint and decals. If you look close you can see some of the cross bracing and wing hinges already added. Tell me if you see anything strange with the assembled aircraft(?).





Now it was time to begin assembly of the F1M2 Pete sea plane (bi-plane). Once again the parts count and detail are all there and assembly was logical but tiny. Here is the instructions for the F1M2:





Check out the panel lines and cockpit openings in this photo:



That is as far as I got today, but hoping for more progress tomorrow. 

Ben / DRUMS01

That's how we ended up in Florida.  Returning from Okinawa it was my wife's decision because her family wasaround Orlando.  Besides, I was still a bit screwed up from the treatment I received from my final squadron commander at Kadena to argue the point.

If you're ever in town, the offer still stands.

I just received a kit of the 1/35th scle type 96 tripple AA gun from Pit Road.  I have never built anything of theirs but it looks good and each sprue in packed in plastic and then all in plastic.  I'm going to order the PE set of it when I can find it.

It looks promising.

Yeah, the first was VERY hard, the second not so much. This one is more a business decision.

There won't be a forth!

Yeah, know that feeling.  Mine is down about 5% from July/August.

Took me a couple years after the first one passed.

Thanks guys, we will both be happer with less stress. 

Ben and Steve.... here's hoping things will get better and work out for both of you.

Sorry to hear about that guys. Although it does make me feel a little better, that I'm not the only one here.  I've been wondering more and more about if we're living in 'clown world'. Seems everything is bat-guano insane these days. Maybe misery loves company? 

Hope things get better. 

Oh my Ben! I'm glad to hear you're doing better. No worries about the time frame, the GB doesn't have an end date because ships take so long and people have lives.

For myself,  my wife and, at least for the moment, are separating. No worries, it's been coming for many years and we are amicable about it. I'll probably be morning to Texas. I was thinking Florida at first but I was raised in Texas,  plus the only family I have is in Texas so.......

All but one of my WIP's are being packed awaiting the move.

See so like happens.

My apologies everyone for not providing any updates lately. The build is at the point now of adding the rigging and the little aircraft and it will be done. Course I cannot do the aircraft until they arrive, which I hope is early this week sometime(?). Since the last update I have had both an intestinal bug and a sprained right foot which stole my motivation. While both of those situations have improved greatly, I still do not have the aircraft.

So I've spent some time working on the display base. I've decided on using a furniture grade laminate wood painted black with some after-market name tags that have a mostly white background so they are really visible on the black base. The reason for the black base versus anything else. Well, the Tamiya base is OK, but I think it is a little too small IMHO. I looked at a stained wood base but I thought it was lacking when sitting the Yamato on it. So, in my opinion the dull black compliments the colors of the ship.

I also have to be honest with you all, since the invasion of the Ukraine, it has taken a little of my modeling motovation away. My employment prior to retirement was working for the U.S. Government as an Emergency Services Manager specializing in emergency operations, continuity of Federal Government, contingency planning, communications security, and personnel and force protection which included anti-terrorism, physical security, evasion and escape planning, etc. With this war being so much in our face at near real time and considering the devastation and suffering , I cannot help but have myself being taken mentally into this to some degree. Since we only get part of the real intel, I begin thinking of what might be really happening in the daily threat briefs and mission planning.

Other things in life has pulled me away from modeling too. In the last two weeks we have purchased two large area rugs (9X12 and 10X14), one for the living room and another for the formal dining room. At the same time the control panel / mother board for our kitchen stove went out and two days later the above the range microwave handle broke in a way that is non replaceable (both Samsung), so there were two more purchases as well. So, being the person that I am, I have to research what is out there; which is rated the best (within our budget); what options do we want, where to purchase it that offers the best price, etc. So all of these things have temporarily pulled me away from the build for a couple weeks.

I hope to have the Yamato done within a week of having the remaining parts. Till then, stay safe, be strong for your family, live and love well, and model something.

DRUMS01 / Ben

Ben: Sounds reasonable to me. Like where you're going with this. 

Looks like you covered it Ben. You probably know more about the Yamato's seaplane complement the 80% of the folks who say they do. The Yamato is a tough nut to crack for reasearch. Nobody knows for sure