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Thanks to a wonderfully helpful call with Barry Biediger recently, I now understand some of the fundamental basics of LED lighting. It's funny how the LED tech has made it so damn easy to wire up basic lighting that works well and lasts a long time. Because Barry is awesome, he followed up our call with some details that he was cool with me sharing with y'all. I'm also adding a few tidbits I've learned from Barry and others along the way that may help you. Wiring tips and tricks My current supplier of choice for LED lights and related accessories has been Evan Designs. They provide reasonably priced, high quality products, are quick to respond to questions, and ship fast. Recently, I picked up several different types of LEDs: Pico, Nano, Chip. I asked them how much different the amount of light each one kicks off vs. the other. They [...]

Unless you've been living on a moonbase (the kind without internet access) the last few months, you know that the IPMS USA continues to step on it's own feet in a Looney Toon sorta way. Every time a new issue involving IPMS flairs up, I can't help but think about Bugs Bunny bending Elmer Fudd's shotgun barrel back on him... so when Fudd goes to shoot the Wabbit, he instead blows his own head to smithereens. We continue to hear well intentioned members of IPMS leadership ask "what would you want to see change?" and we continue to see folks offer a laundry list of potential changes. As a follow-up, there is a near total lack of feedback and/or action about those suggestions. It's become a regular cycle: Issue happens Discussion flairs up IPMS leadership has to be shoved into participating in the discussion, if they participate at all Ideas are [...]

I can't learn anything from Sam Dwyer. OK, that's not at all true, but bear with me while I make a point. Sam Dwyer is a well known, immensely talented scale modeler who is so revered that people call him "The Sam Dwyer". His work is amazing. Per Olav Lund won a gold medal at Scale Model Challenge for "Men and Whales" and just thinks differently than I can. As the Sprue Cutter's Union podcast guys pointed out, he painted the water on that piece to represent reflected light off the bits and particles in the water. Amazing work. Jean Diorama does some absolutely amazing work in ways that I can't believe are possible with today's materials and knowledge. This list of amazing, talented artists could go on and on. The true masters of the craft that just operate at a higher level. The Lance Armstrong's of the scale model world. [...]

Let's be honest... how many of you have gone to a scale modeling convention and found yourself wandering the halls killing time after you've registered your models, put them on the tables, and finished shopping in the vendor hall? As much as I enjoyed my IPMS Nationals 23 experience, as much I as enjoy the local events, the focus is mostly operational and commerce based. Come in, register and set down models, shop, kill time, awards, home. Now, before you start screaming "I see my friends! I make new friends!" let me slow you down. Yes, I too am always excited to see the people I know and meet new people as well. Sometimes the folks I know introduce me to new folks. That's great and happens a fair amount. But unless I am completely comfortable introducing myself to random people I've not met before or unless I get an intro [...]

Recently, Mike Rinaldi posted a video (see below) talking about his experience at Scale Model Challenge and what he thinks about the state of armor modeling. He touched on a number of issues, but the one that has caused a hubbub in the modeling community was his position that our hobby, especially armor modeling, is due for the next round of "innovation". I put innovation in quotes because he doesn't really specifically mentioned what he means by that or what specifically he's wanting to see. Not really. As a community driven product development professional, I have a LOT of things to say on this topic! But rather than bore you to tears, I'll try to summarize with some level of value. The word "innovation" The first thing I do when people start talking about innovation is to understand what they mean, or at least what they are wanting to talk about. [...]

I've been modeling since the 8th grade (want to see a goofy picture of me at my workbench?) and for a long time I saved those models. Well, my parents saved them in their attic. After several moves as an adult, I finally decided to give up on storing these and took some (terrible) photos then tossed them. At this point in life, I really wish I still had them. Oh well. I'll share and describe them below, but a few thoughts as I look back at these models in this stage of life and modeling skill: My interests haven't really changed. Expanded, perhaps. But fundamentally, the work I was doing in high school is the same general type of stuff that fascinates me today. The techniques I was using were... rudimentary. But fundamentally, many of the same techniques from then are what I'm doing now. Just doing it slightly better. [...]