Random thoughts

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. [...]

With a blog title like that, I feel like I need a crazy Hunter S. Thompson level story to tell. This is not that story. Well... maybe? Nah, the drugs in this story are of the prescribed variety. A few months back, I started taking Zoloft every day. If you're not familiar with this particular SSRI drug, it's prescribed for depression and anxiety. I'm not positive about my potential depression, but oh boy have I suffered my entire life from anxiety. You know that show "Dexter" about the serial killer who calls his desire to murder his "dark passenger"? Well, I have one of those dark passengers too. Mine isn't of the "let's kill them all" variety (unless they are not using their turn signals, and then that's a different story all together). My dark passenger is a voice in my head screaming "YOU AREN'T DOING THIS RIGHT!! YOU REALLY SUCK [...]

As you may know if you follow this blog, I have a certain obsession with learning all I can about insulation foam. Yeah, we all have our nerd lusts. When I started working on my latest project, the Model T vignette, I played around with a few materials to build the vignette base. Here are some thoughts on my findings. Foam sealer/texturizer Deluxe Materials Foam Armour Thick water based resin that sets to produce an attractive, durable, scratch resistant coating on foam to prevent dings, wear and disintegration. It dries to a surface that can be painted and glued easily and will reduce damage. This stuff brushed/spread on clear and has a bit of a rubbery texture when dry. I gently sanded it and was surprised it actually sanded. I didn't expect it to be that hard. As you can see in the picture, there was some waviness to it, but [...]

If you don't follow The Modeling News (https://www.themodellingnews.com/), you absolutely should. I lose track of this site from time to time and am always surprised by how much time I can just spend browsing the content. They have mostly updates about product releases, but also share links to Kickstarters, build logs, etc.

Ode to the paint mule That sacrificial lamb that helps you avoid looking like a fool. You've saved us from stumbling many times And ensured our paint job isn't missing a sign. Over and over, we add layers of paint Learning what's good and what ain't. A quick shot of oven cleaner And we're starting over making our skills even meaner. I have a couple models that never made it past the build stage, as well as a few upper tank hulls that I picked up for free in a hobby shop freebie box. I use these as paint mules ... models I use to test my various paint and color techniques before I airbrush them on a real models. I'm a bit of a perfectionist so I like to make absolutely sure that my technique is tested and dialed in before I spray the real model. I start with a [...]

In 1996, I graduated college and started at a small web development shop (i.con interactive). I was employee #3. Within a few months, I was leading a small team, and within a year, I had a robust team up to 20+ live projects/clients, and was inventing new web design ideas and work processes every day. There were weeks, sometimes months where I was sleeping 4 hours a night in order to get meet deadlines. And I loved it. I left i.con and went to NVision Design. I got more sleep there, but we were blazing new trails and learning new skills literally every day. After 4 years of the start up game, I went to LEGO and established a net new relationship between the company and the adult LEGO fans. My work landed on the cover of Wired Magazine. After LEGO, I started and sold a small 35 person agency. What's [...]

Congrats! You've bought your first 3D printer and you're ready to get started. This post is the one I wish I'd have found when I started 3D printing more than a year ago. Let me start this post with a basic sketch of what resin 3D printing is all about. Liquid resin is put into a "vat" The vat sits on top of the "screen" The screen is a UV light source that lights up certain pixels based on the instructions in your CTB file for the model you're printing. You create this file with a "slicer" program. That program basically takes your model (the STL file) and "slices" it into hundreds, if not thousands of layers. The 3D printer looks at the CTB file, grabs layer 1, and lights up the screen pixels to match. The "build plate" is that flat metal surface that moves up and down on your [...]