Six Months

Six months of glorious blogging. In honor of our six-month anniversary, I’d like to thank my loyal readers, commenters and anyone who thought about vandalizing my blog and then did not.

Thank you all.

I’m planning to spend some more time in splendid isolation during the month of July, working to put the finishing touches on my magnum opus (that novel I’m writing–yes, it’s a real thing). So you can expect me to suspend publication for a week (or so) fairly soon.

My goal here has been to demonstrate and educate, as those great musicians, the rap community, would say. I won’t add any more words that rhyme with “masticate” but you get the idea. I’ve been trying to do something weird and (to me) wonderful–to show that plastic model kits and airbrushes are not a conjoined pair. You can have decent plastic models without the airbrush, and if you live with other people with health challenges or have them yourself you may find my methods to be better than spraying paint. My situation is particularly challenging, but not that unusual. My lungs will not take the beating they would receive if I sprayed paint without a mask, and I don’t like to wear a mask. I live in a place where it’s very cold in the winter–so a spray booth that exhausts to the outside would not be a good idea, and wouldn’t be practical, really, for the simple reason that I live in a condominium and can’t knock a hole in the exterior wall, even if I wanted to.

I prefer my methods to spray-painting. It’s easier, simpler and more fun. But as I have tried blogging about it I have learned something that I would have rather not known–that spray painting is deeply linked to some kind of cultural mechanism, particularly in the U.S.–that says that technology, even harmful technology, is good and proper. The same guys who really, really like airplanes and other technology are inclined to like airbrushes, for many of the same reasons.

Sometimes I feel like a non-traditional music director at a church where the choir feels that traditional hymns aren’t a part of their religion–they ARE their religion. When I suggest that contemporary Christian music might be more fun, I get a stony silence and the impression that I just walked into Lovecraft’s “Shadow over Innsmouth.”

Outsider.

Mark Twain said that “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” I’ll keep on blogging away, but always with an eye cast over my shoulder at the inhabitants of Innsmouth, just in case.

Have a great summer and if you’re in the U.S., don’t blow your fingers off.

 

4 Replies to “Six Months”

  1. Congrats on your anniversary! I’ve really enjoyed your blog and your philosophy has really had an impact on my building. I can honestly say that over the past couple of years I have built more models due to taking up brush painting. I used to feel inadequate as a modeler because I was without an airbrush setup. It held me back from building certain models and finishing some models I had started. I have built many more 1/72 planes than I ever would have and I finished a 1/35 scale tank. I have even brush painted some 1/48 scale aircraft! A big obstacle I was able to overcome was realizing that I could hand paint canopies! That was a big mental block that held me back. In addition to your blog, I was also strongly influenced by many of your posts and others on the Airfix Tribute forum. There are many good brush painters on there who hold strong to the philosophy of Dogma 72. The first post in your portfolio on the ATF was very powerful to me. (I think that is where I first found Dogma 72.) I do have to admit that I haven’t given up completely to the brush. I still use rattle cans for primer and on my automobile builds. However, I do it outside the walls of my house.

    So, thanks again for starting this blog and helping me work down my stash. Good luck on your book/novel/opus. Please let us know when it is completed and ready for purchase. Have a great summer!

  2. I have to agree, while I still use my badger 155 to lay down any primer, etc rather than rattle cans (tight arse you see), I virtually only use brushes now for painting, and while I still use the evil enamels, I have been using more acrylic paints in my brushing, with the many tips given by you having been a massive help. I enjoy the blog, and have read pretty much all of your entries.

    Just to not help you finish your novel, I have been watching this whippersnapper in action too. Another hardcore brush painter, he however still uses the evil enamel from time to time.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbV_ORs6160

    Good to see the younger generation taking up the challenge. And he has a few ways of doing things I will be adding to my skillset.

    1. Removing the word “airbrush” from the phrase “model building” will not be easy, since, as the famous line from “Forbidden Planet” states–the blasted thing’s invisible!

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