Working and Goofing or Golfing in NC USA

Finally, its Saturday again, this time the temperature went down to 46 deg F. My car is frozen in the overnight 29 deg F weather, which is mild. Milder when I arrived the Sunday before, which was 70 deg F. Can't play then though, after 27 hours flying and 6 hours transit without sleep, can't find golf balls and differentiate them from my eyeballs which can fall off anytime.Paid for morning game after 120km drive to north of Charlotte from Forest City on that Chevy Impala given to me which had faulty brakes that wobbles when hit hard and does everything but stop on ice! Morning game, as sun sets about 4pm, took to the tees at 10 am, but cost US$87 along with Kakis from the Factory and IBM, rental clubs and buggies on track day. Shitty US$199 set with old 270cc Callaway Warbird steel head driver that I started off with in the late 80s, steel shafted, suffered tremendously for the whole game, but I must say, the best part was taking pictures of this course, which I am playing for the second time. First time being Summer of 2006. Highland Creek.....one of the most tough courses in Carolinas trial.

3rd hole where alot of people died. Pin on a reverse slope mount, speed of greens about 11. I one on, 9 putted! &$#@% can't believe, my second putt, missed a 2 footer, break and ran off the green 7m away! Par 3 down hill over a creek surrounding 3 sides of the green. 3 koreans behind showed great displeasure, typical of them. After we finished this hole, we did not see them for the rest of the 15 holes. I think their lowest score here might be 15! I was the lowest score for this par three on my flight at 10 strokes! Last time I played here, I had 1 on and 7 putted in Summer and the reindeer danced all over my green making putting hell, but, the melting snow was even more hell!

My favourite hole, nice eh? I siamed the bunker laid up my third for an easy wedge to 5 feet from the pin for a bogey. Happy on this one.

This hole we saw two Zeroes and one hero. I hit a fourth to 10 ft and got bogey six, am the hero. Here, our friend from IBM, Abraham hit 3rd shot to try for green end up in the rocks on the left due to wind high up above the mount. Spent the next 3 minutes digging ball out of the rocks. Can't imagine 65 year old mad dog doing that for a used Titleist ball! Then asked for Mulligan some more. Dropped ball at the bunker fringe, hit one more time, clipped the rocks, dropped into the creek and floated away! Hahahaha...got the whole clowning episode on HD video!

Houses in Highland Creek has taken a beating from the US crisis, now these are going for about 200K plus since its hey days last year at 599K. Me and Eunice may look into buying one these days once we closed the 70 million tender.

This one is going for sale, double brick, 599K, 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 1 acre plot and 4 car out house garage. this type I like, bullet proof walls, plus I get to shoot who ever ass holes traspassing with a good 50m dash to the front door, so he can be sitting duck.

Cooking some grub in the hotel, my home for half a month. Never got the Jaccuzi room next door because kena grabbed liao. Every night the fat ass snored worst than a pig on slaughter, came through the walls, so I called his room every 20 minutes to give him hell.

While he wakes up, I get to sleep. Went to Aldi, which is 50m from my room, bought myself 1 pound worth of Alaskan King Crab! Can cook 4 meals. Only US$12. Whack the shrimps, championions, mixed cauliflower and broccoli with milk and chicken cube. Then steal some bread from the counter outside and whack 5 packets of creamer....wow....CHOW down. Better than the Bojangles, Chillis, Wendy's, Hardees, KFC, Macdonald's, Denny's, Ryan's, Fatz and Waffle House.

Good Old CHING CHONG CRAB CHOWDER! Best in the WULAGUM.

The food here in the South is cooked with 4kg of salt per litre of soup! Man! Instant kidney failure man after one month on this type of diet, any china man will become KIAM CHAI in no time.

Tamiya Con 2007 Junior

Dominique Lin Qun Xiong's Stuart, my son took my brother's ten year old Stuart and re-painted the whole model using the airbrush method and my new pastel method which he worked into the model to correct all the wrong paint fade tones brought on by the airbrush, which can sometimes be somewhat artificial looking.
The M1A2 is a good effort in toning, but he did not gloss the thing before he applied the decals. Thereby, the decals all had air trapped below the carrier film which showed up as silvery flint. Tip is to use Vallejo gloss, diluted 50%, coat it by glazing it on with first unloading on a tissue, it should only be moist and not wet, patiently, coat it 5 layers before applying the decals with Microscale SOl and Set. Once dry, rub and clean with ethanol. Blow dry and spray coat the whole model with Vallejo flat diluted 50% with water and 2 drops of glazing medium or soap water. The process is to coat little bit at a time, blow dry and then do it again, about 5 layers will be great, then, the M1A2 will stand a chance. Good effort, work on the tips and you are on your way.

The work on the Zimmerit is encouraging. Should use epoxy resin/putty, press it on with wet fingers, then use a 2nd largest screw driver from the spectacle set you normally can buy from any $1.99 type of lelong shop, push it in and up 0.5mm at a time, move 1.5mm away, then repeat it, then you get a very fine zimmerit pattern, 4 times finer than this, not so thick, as it is a type of past, to apply to scale this thick, the thing will slide off the surface of the tank while wet! Once done, dried and primed, painted, glossed, decaled, matted, it should be washed and slightly and lightly drybrushed with the same base tone added with cream 50% to give it a good contrast. Then, once again, you are on your way.

T34 Needs to work on painting the model. It is not painted at all, only the mud being brushed on. Lets work on making a nice paint job without weathering it first. Frankly, most weathering bby mud are done because we want to cover up some mistakes. So, do buy yourself a copy of Mig Jimenez FAQ, you will be in leaps and bounds in no time. Do ask mama for some budget and some spare 10 models to wreck first through experimentation though. It really worth it.

GENERAL COMMENTS

Well, the juniors are a new category at this second Tamiya Con. However, from the turn up, some 6 models, we know that Playstation and numb brains are the order of the day, not many youths are learning the art, nor interested in Engineering, therefore, Singapore Economy is at a dangerous situation where it will run out of true production capability soon from local cohorts.



My son took time to learn and observe the Bernard's shop models, read the Mig Jimenez book more than 10 times per lesson, I gave the fellow some old models to practice, some cheap, cheap, CHIEP CHIEP type.

Next up PSLE for him and GUNDAM....last year lost to a girl, the guy broke down.

Ho Say Liao

What in the world is this? Uncle and Aunties, mai kanchong, it is a 2mm thick aluminum alloy plate that you can't bend with your fingers! You need to put this into a vice and whack it with a hammer like you would with steel!

And its only 2% heavier than usual marine grade 5052 Aluminum.

We are working to put this into new generation cameras and computers. With the solid state hard disk technology, you can drop the laptop from the truck and it will still not break! Except the hinges, except the hinges, thats not my problem, I am only the body work man.

Cheers. Counting money anyone?

Tamiya Con 2007 Figures and Dinos

The category is normally pale, but this year seemed that the usual chaps like Ah Tan (last year's 48th Military cat grandchamp) and veteran Paul Quek (has yet to lose a battle in his life *$#&+. For people like him who believes in epoxy putty more than we in liquid cement, this Si Fu of Calvin Tan showed up with a small vignette) attacked this sleeping cat!

There some good entries and of course there are the upstarts, which are encouraging.


This is an interesting threesome of Triceratops, named Family Outing. The poor chap won nothing for his great effort. Never mind, we see you again next year, not me, but I will be a spectator, given the poor judging critirium and experience, which will likely kill the show, and bring the standard down hill since all the top pissed of players are fed up and may bow out, that is now a confirmed likely path of progression unless something is done by Stargek to rectify this secret squirrel thing about winners, judges and the damn one prize per person policy plus the price fixing at the showroom. Wanna give then give, most modellers are quite well to do type, not boys begging for some cheap thrills.

Grand Master Paul Quek earned my respect in the late 70s and early eighties with entries like Russian Bullfight etc.... this legend produced this epoxy putty sculpted on the potato faced figures Tamiya is famous to make and made it looked good. Some chaps told me the eyes are too big, what the heck......if you are screaming after the enemy in your fatherland and smelling sweet revenge for the 2.8 million Russians the German Blitzkreig took, your eyes will pop as well.
Simple, sweet and long time painting effort pays off, the grand winner Paul Quek.

The GIs with the T Rex won the most creative award. The Dino has good overtones but a little too dark, if it can be lightened abit then it will make a great diorama! The theme is killer enough! One advice, actually, its is damn good, if it joined the Diorama category, it would have won more money for the same price....bro, strategy sia! Tip tip liao, can share share booty next year since I never join.

1/16 scale Wehrmach or something, not sure who put in this since the whole competition is secret squirrel type.

This is Ah Tan's. Took alot of effort in building the base of foam and a lot of interesting stuff. Great T34 turret as well. Congrats to our brother!

Tamiya Con 2007 Dioramas

The Diorama scene is always an exciting category. There are the good, the bad and the worthy tries. It is an encouraging thing to see new guys trying out to make scenes which most model makers shriek in fear of attempting. Kudos for all who attempted in the category, the holy grail of model making. There are those that are first attempts, hope that the standards posted can encourage the up and coming ones.

This year saw the major upset! Chin beat my entry into smitterines! Man, was I blown off by the sheer magnitude of his entry. Man, it might have weighed something like 100 kilos! And the cost must be astronomical to pull it off. Diplomatically speaking.....to tell the truth...how dare you CHIN to hammer me......don't talk to you then you know....! Hahaha....

This is one great effort, unfortunately, the tank dates are wrong with the Leopard A4. This Leopard 1 is made in the late seventies and early eighties, but the soldiers were in WWII uniform. Had he made the soldiers with modern day ones, it may pass off as one of those post cold war or cold war skirmishes. Wasted....but great building and the details on the cables etc.... good effort, hope to see him more often at M Workshop when we come up with our really good competitions.... for medals and honour men!...ahem... and ladies, especially the Gundam chaps....

Another great effort by a relative unknown model maker. Take up a course with Bernard on the figure painting and go to Calvin Tan's blogspots and Euromilitaire websites, you get heaps of tips and pictures to oggle at that will help you paint figures better. Would had been the Grand winner had it not been let down by the figure painting and the weathering of the tank, otherwise, it was a great effort. Keep it up brother, see you around M Workshop. Look out for me when you are there.

My brother in arms, win again, I say man, win in Beetle Festival and win again here. Very beautiful model in a difficult scale 48th.... simple and sweet beach partying type of look...deserve it bro....

Last year's Champion with the Afghanistan diorama is back. Ah Wong with the kids fishing is cute diorama with a great story. Could have beat the daylights out of me had he had more time to finish bashing up his Panzer a little bit more.....alamak....next time take more time lah...don't always concentrate make money...must have life for hobby also bro.

My entry, difficult for people to accept this new way of hand painting glazing method invented by me. Spud has asked me to write the article on how to do it for Tamiya Magazine, never got down to doing it as I am now preparing the joint venture company in the US to supply armour for General Dynamics Land Systems....so very busy....but moving to the US also has its advantages, as the owner of Accurate Miniatures is only 5 miles from my place in North Carolina. Maybe can play golf and work on some new masters for our friends in the hobby. The painting gives the chippy look of a white washed tank but also a 3D effect of smudged on paint plus the overtones of dust. Ee and Alex had come to my place a few times for demo, heard that they murdered their models.....oops.... read my article on latest missing lynx, that will help, but all my work in Tanx Heaven are lost since Kees Van Der Pols shut down the website....one of the best on earth...,moans its lost man. Hope he finds enough time to resurrect it!

My soldier from the German end of the bargain is from the new Gen 2 series from Dragon plus a converted Hornet head. The Hornet head has a lot of details and really easy to paint compared to the hopeless Tamiya ones on the SU122.....vomit blood man, but can't find Russian soldiers, so squeeze balls and have to live with figures with face made like shepherd pie, AKA Tamiya figures, aka SUCKING in fine definition!

Then, there is this, the grand Dame....Chin and his 5 kings cat claws left me with tatters to piece together, made piece meal out of me! By sheer magnitude man.....madness redefined! so much for friendship, must find chance to accidentally drop things in his shop, especially on his models when he is not looking, to get back some dignity whatever that is left in here! Can't beat a good man, much less a mad man!

See How SIAO can a man get?

Tamiya Con 2007 part 1

Well, as per last encouragement for everyone out there in model land, I have asked for all guys to support this year's Tamiya Model Con. As usual, the contest is surrounded by controvesy.

First, the panel of judges are more secret than MSD agents or CIA assets in Russia during the Cold War. The usual prime suspects are :-

1. Suresh - Singapore Famed figure painter - trust his judgment please, he is the only known hobbyist model maker in the panel

2. Robin of Robin Models - I know this chap for 30 years, he is in military mock up business and has yet to weather his first model. Strictly not a realism guy.

3. One sale rep from Tamiya unfortunately

4. Two other secret squirrels...unlike Hobby Japan which I have won a prize (last year I entered same Tamiya Con, my Hobby Japan Champion model won nothing! ) They have a panel of 12 judges all having their photos taken and shown to the public so that they can't become blameless by are accountable to their decisions. Such is called fairness.

Then, there is the unspoken 1 prize per person type of thing that carried forward from last year. From Last year's experience now re-occurring, confirms it.

When time came for redeeming the prizes, the prices are adjusted upwards so that your 25% gets you the same model you would at the dealers' places. For instance, the Challenger 2 Desertised is marked well over $70, while at Chin's you get it for $40++, the price discounted model costs more than the dealers. I redeemed one FAMO for $74 and was told that it was tag wrongly, I need to cut off $84 from the price money instead. I could have bought it for less than $55 at Chin's....such is not healthy

Not sure if this kind of behavior will sustain the dying hobby, looks set that it will end, especially people like me and Ee will bow out finally joining the ranks of Calvin Tan, Bernard Cher, Dinesh Ned etc....never to take part again on the local scene but keep our eyes peeled for Belgium.

Part one of today's coverage is on Aircraft.

Well congrats to the hard work done on the metal skin bro, this is one mean model. Deserve to win, he's got resin all over the inside and out and lots of hours scraping the metal skin on.....Kudos bro, people like you really promoted the standards of the hobby one notch. Love to see you more often.

The one who got away because of the 1 prize policy (unspoken). This top model in Prop Fest and article now published in Russia and soon in the UK was mocked at and not even mentioned. Sad case though. I am really proud of this model, my best yet, even by Brett Green and Brian Criner's standards. However, not good enough for our Tamiya distributors. After 35 years of support, alas, I am driven to support Dragon and Trumpeter.

One guy told me that he witness the judges laughing at the model....hmmm... well...everyone is entitled to their opinions, so long as the press and the greater European and AMerican community loves it, its what matters.

Other winners are:-

P51D by Viper

ME109 by Captain Rusher. Got free car parking some more across the road, how convenient!

Block 50 F16 CJ by new comer to me. Plain finishing, no weathering on this spanking new jet.

Don't know this guy too. Not bad his work.

But the spirit by our good friend who never fails to show up with huge support came running with an intruder with bombs, a flying Jap over water with shadows, great spot bros.

Lets all get involved in Tamiya Com 2007

Guys, Tamiya Competition is on again, 2nd year in a row, this time in Millenia Walk in August. Lets all get involved and bump up the entry numbers and make this a truly world class event that Singapore model makers are famous for in ebay. Lets put in our best foot forward to support the event and to inject new life into this once dying hobby!

My son Dominique is trying to outdo me, at 11, he has two prizes under his belt, two years ago with consolations in the Gundam Asian Cup Junior Category, which I gave him a budget of $22 to make. Then last year 2nd in Gundam Asian Cup again, now with a Budget of $50 and armed with the model kits that he won the previous competition, he summitted a diorama.

His old man won the Junior Overall Champion with a 1/32 scale F5E from Hasegawa, then, which took me 6 months to save up to buy. Back then in 1978, it was $33 bucks from Howah International in Serangoon Road. My pocket money at 13 was only $1 per day! Budget goes at $0.20 for bus round trip to school, forget the feeder, it didn't exist then, and a good 2 km walk was the lot for the day, everyday.

$0.50 is set aside for lunch and drinks, that left me with savings of 30cents per day, 100 days of hard savings and 1 week part time job stint at the biscuit factory, I was able to buy it and two air supply cans to spray my Microscale Decal loaded TOPGUN Aggressor model!

At least he had a coach, as for me, I just walked 6km over to Morgan Hobbycraft Centre in Katong and watch what others display there and work to imitate, then I also founded the Tanjong Katong Model Society amongst the students and I need to constantly trounce those chaps in order to command respect! Had 13 members on the first year, we met on Saturdays. Some of these guys are still at it brothers! Some 30 years on!

I am happy that his work is getting neater with practice. Now we see he took my work desk, didn't bother to clear my work, which is a figurine of SS Troop 1/16 scale in SS Oakleaf Spring Camouflage. This guy didn't even put news paper and spray all over my work. After this photo, I rushed to keep my work before it becomes mutilated.

This is one of the old models that we found and gave him as a present, since my brother and me have about 500 kits unbuilt between us, we decided to give him a go at it. His one tone, washing finish was less than desired at first, so he is now doing his toning, which he learnt for 3 months from me to complete his Gundam project last year, now he is working on the Stuart again, repainting the thing. This chap used to be lazy and lacks concentration in whatever he does, the hobby has helped in sharpening his focus. I am happy to watch him work.

With him on my work desk and my 600 bucks chiropractic chair, I have to now squad in low lighting on the living room coffee table to work on sculpting and modifying my SS truppen in Oakleaf spring camouflage reversible outfit.....I am looking forward to the MP44, a weapon I loved very much and way ahead of what the allies have back then.

After the photos are taken, I scurried in horror to keep my work! This guy is raining desert yellow all over my figure!