interesting aircraft diorama subject

I've never have the opportunity to view a test flight of a modern aircraft. Some of the capabilities with these days are pretty amazing.

One subject example is the Lockheed-Martin F35B, a short-take-off-vertical-landing (STOVL) single engine, heavy weapons capacity variant of the F-35 Lightning. It's the world's first supersonic STOVL stealth aircraft in aviation history.

Kitty Hawk has a 1/48 scale model of the F-35B on the market that looks terrific but is NOT for the novice builder.

Here is a link to the real thing undergoing flight tests from the deck of an aircraft carrier.

http://youtu.be/FAFnhIIK7s4 It was designed and being built for the U.S. Army, Navy and Marines interested in a short-distance-takeoff-vertical-landing package that can handle a large array of weapons. This aircraft will also replace all of the UKs military aircraft.

Before you rush right out and pony up your $40-50 for the kit you best read this build report as reported on Cybermodel Online

To crown or not to crown

Additionally most of my model railroading has been in the late 1800s to early 1900s in the prior, pavement wasn't much of an issue. In the early 1900s pavement started to become a road improvement. But the crown was not evident in most photographs I have found before 1930.

Getting Youth Involved
In Model Railroading

It is fine for us "well healed" old foggies (not always so well healed), but most often the target of promoters and advertisers trying to reach modelers.

In this issue Ron interviewed Dustin Fisher from operation Christmas Train Set. I think you'll find it very interesting.

He also includes a build project of a laser kit from the folks at Imagine That Scale Models which provides the opportunity to acquire laser cut model kits at a reasonable cost. Here is an example.

Conflicted Over Your Modeling?

When I first saw a bubble packed ready made Woodland Scenics finely detailed building -- I scoffed. Why would I pay someone else to build my hobby? Well Dun Me? I don't scoff no more. Why?

Laying before me is a single N Scale Platform for a Super Trains. And .. Oops...I am already into it for over 20 hours...I am no where near finished with it, There are at least three more to build...

Well it seemed like a good idea at the time... How'd I know it would take so long? I had never made one before....cause it's not from a kit. No one perhaps has ever built such a platform with such detail. AND ....

While I had considered that I might spend upwards of 300 hours on the total array - Super Station with adjoining Canopies and track...

My earliest as of Today; estimates that the total diorama will be well over 1,000 hours.

I once snickered at people who just continue to amass and collect, seemingly never getting around to building anything. Nor even beginning a simple oval....

Yet here I am so far the other side of that reality...I am in an opposite way ? Perhaps Far Worse. Am I ever going to get my track all laid and in operation?

i have become nearly like one of those people who build Doll Houses... Yet I am obsessed for doing the same detail in N Scale.

Cause...

I am having a very good time attempting to make my own prototype buildings to the intricacy of Woodland Scenic Ready Mades.

Yes, so amazed I was at this bubble packed phenomenon...I was personally challenged, perhaps on some far dark recess of my mind.

This Side Hobby has taken on a whole other dimension .... and while I have bought upwards of 50 built kits in a box from a guy without a layout for $50...(Yes $One Dollar Each) I have walked myself into my own sense of dis-reality. I now believe it is possible to spend upwards of 500 hours on just one single N Scale building.

How does one value such a building for resale? Certainly not at $1 each.

Would it fetch anywhere near it's labor value on eBay? Even at $1 an hour?

The Truth is I have no justified defense in any of this. i can't justify the time nor the money I have already spent, even at used discounts.

If I was to be brought before a Tribunal over my N Scale Logic...I would have to plead at best Nolo Contendre.

(Nolo contendere- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nolo_contendereNolo contendere is a legal term that comes from the Latin for "I do not wish to contend." It is also referred to as a plea of no contest. In criminal trials in certain U.S. jurisdictions, it is a plea where the defendant neither admits nor disputes a charge, serving as a...

So sorry for defending any of this? One way or the Other? So when friends, associates or even family ask me why I model N Scale....and as they say...Play with Trains....

I just answer Nolo Contendre.

Which sort of kind of works...cause again they have no idea what I am talking about. And perhaps just think I am crazy to spend so much time on just one building.

Conflicted

I was offered an exquisitely made and finely detailed N Scale Prototype today ... One which most likely has at least $100 in materials and over 500 hours in skillful labor... For $500. I have no defense in not buying it immediately. Yet, I also have no defense if I was to buy it. There is still a strong part of me which wants to do it all by myself....that is unless I can steal it for an under value price.

Consider our true debt ALL OF IT

We look at debt as an $18 trillion debt owed by the federal government. How about if we add in state debts, city debts, blank debts, real estate debt and individuals credit card to say nothing of car loans.

(B)This is when they say that a nation is finished:(/b) 1. When a nation owes a debt that it cannot pay: If, as the Bible says, the borrower is servant to the lender, then we already belong to China. 2. When the nation’s leader shakes his fist at God: Some Christians hold to the fantasy that we have a president. We do not. We have an activist in the White House. Obama is shaking his fist at God. He feels no accountability to our constitution. He stands with Islam and not Christianity or Judaism. He is reshaping America. He is dismantling our greatness because he despises the America that was once one nation under God.

(B)If you want God to save America then do this now:(/b)

So you want God to spare America. This is an honorable desire. It is very near to the heart of God. No one wants to see our nation rescued more than God does. So let’s take our first step. Let’s revisit two verses as if they were old friends with something new to say:

Hebrews 11:6 "And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him." Above all he wants you to believe he sent His son to die for your sins. 2 Chronicles 7:14 "If IfMy people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

Both of these scriptures feature preconditions. They tell us we have to do something first. In the first verse we are instructed to come already believing. We are not here to ask God to show us He is real. We are here to show Him we are real. In the second verse we are ordered to humble ourselves and repent. We are going to intercede not just for our own sins but for the sins of a nation.

We desperately need a good definition of the word intercession. We have abused many words but none more than this word. Intercession means for you to stand between God and a disaster. In many instances, true intercession means facing the rightful fury that God feels toward a nation. To say that God is not pleased with America is an understatement of galactic proportions! For pastors to downplay sin and teach people that America is favored in the eyes of God only accelerates our doom. Furthermore, any assumption that America is somehow entitled to mercy is deeply offensive to the Holy Spirit. Billy Graham said “America is now worse than Sodom and Gomorrah.” We deserve judgment and you dare not approach God unless your realize this.

Until Next Month