| Today in History | |
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| May 12 | 1950 Bruce Boxleitner, actor, born (Tron, Babylon 5) |
| Latest Updates | Latest Edition Updates |
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Latest Edition Items (updated 05/09) |
05/09 Seven new Gallery entries have been posted tonight 05/08 Steven Lee has an in-depth look at the new SSOS Seaview model from Moebius Models tonight. 05/07 Jeffrey Griffin is back with a look at Gizmotron Models' 1/2500 Centaur-class starship tonight. 05/01 Ah, spring: when A young man's thougts turn lightly to flushing his sinuses out with a firehouse. Despite the ravages of too much tree pollen, eight new Gallery entries have been posted tonight. Been a very busy week in the Store: 1/2500 Daedalus came and went (more are coming), Stargazer's 1/144 Aries 1B came and are almost gone, and the brand new Moebius 1/350 Seaview came - and preorders are being filled. Not to mention a huge restock from MMI. Many thanks to Shawn Peterson and Marc Remy for their very generous donations to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 04/22 Two more entries in our latest on-line contest have been posted. We've had a massive influx of new stuff in the Store this week - check out the full list here. 04/16 The second entry in our latest on-line contest has been posted. 04/15 A full dozen new Gallery entries have been posted tonight. At last, all the work needed to get the house ready for sale is done. With luck, I'll be able to finally spend more time updating this site. 04/10 The first entry in our latest on-line contest has been posted. We had a big restock from Japan arrive today - check out the new kits and restocks in the Store. we also cancelled a lot of unpaid orders and put the merchandise taht was released into Pot Luck. 04/09 A full dozen new Gallery entries have been posted tonight. The house goes on the market on Monday; the broker's tour is Wednesday. It's gonna rain and/or snow between now and then - good thing all the yard work is done. Now to get the basement squared away ... 04/04 Another week has come to a close without much in the way of updates. Here's what's going on: StarshipModeler.com (aka "The Main Site" or what you are looking at now). We are getting our house ready to sell, so that we can move later in the summer (hopefully) and consolidate our businesses and our house under one roof. This will save us a lot of unnecessary expense - both in time and money. I have been doing nothing but painting, boxing things up for storage, and other work to get this place in the best shape possible. Unfortunately, all that time is time I have not been able to devote to this site. That will - I hope - change next week, after our realtor does her walk through. What's left after that should be minor work (knock wood!) and then I can devote my energies back here. Last week an unhappy congruence of technical issues and a denial of service attack (apparently China, or a buttload of servers there, has it in for StarshipModeler) knocked the site off the air for part of a day. The technical issues were quickly resolved, but blocking the DOS also blocked a large number of viewers in Australia and East Asia from being able to see the site. I'm not sure that's completely fixed yet - but we're getting access restored as we can. StarshipModeler.biz (aka "The Store"). This is my primary source of income, and what keeps all of StarshipModeler running, so it has had the priority of my effort at work. It's been a struggle some days, but I've managed to keep up the pace and ship orders within 24 hours of payment (and usually less). That won't change. StarshipModeler.net (aka "The Discussion Forums"). I am well aware of the problems we've been having over on the forums. Yes, they are dog slow for me as well. That problem is still being looked into; the problem with the "Debug Mode" messages should be fixed now. It's always something. But you know what they say: "That which does not kill you ..... only leaves you wishing it had." Many thanks to Rich Dula for his very generous continued support to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 04/01 Eight new Gallery entries have been posted tonight. Many thanks to Dave Rowe for his very generous continued support to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 03/28 Brian Willard has a quick look at Tamiya's AS line of spray paints in tonight's update. Many thanks to Søren Gundahl Nørremark for his very generous donation to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . Many thanks also to Steve 'WarpeD' Wilson whose timely suggestion has enabled me to recover all the missing 2001 Reference images that disappeared in our last move. 03/27 I've been catching up on site maintenance today, adding links and stuff, as well as adding some new stuff to the Store: 1/72 Destroid Spartan from John Moscato, Colonial Viper Landing Gear and Scarlet Viper Conversion from MMI, and Lindberg's plastic 1/48 SM-62 Snark Missile. 03/26 Scott Scariot has built his second Alliance Dauntless-class starship for tonight's edition. 03/24 Ten new Gallery entries starst the week. Many thanks to Bruce Hearn for his very generous donation to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 03/20 I don't know what's going on with our ISP - this site has been down for most of the day. If it's up, you can see my kit preview of Games Workshop's new Baneblade super-heavy tank. [UPDATE: It was problems with a Microsoft Security Update on the server] Many thanks to Brendan Moss for his very generous donation to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 03/18 Eight new Gallery entries have been posted tonight. We got a big box from the UK restocking all the Fantasy & Science Fiction Modeller magazines (volume 1, by the way, is now out of print), plus PNT's Refit brass and some new stuff that will be going in the Store soon. 03/14 For the first time in weeks I got to be in the office for a full eight hours. I'm almost caught up on eMail, did a massive amount of housekeeping throughout the site, and have posted the theme and rules for our next on-line contest. 03/10 Six new Gallery entries have been posted tonight. I know updates here have been ... sparse .... over the past several weeks. I woun't bore you all with the long, drawn out story - suffice it to say there's been a perfect storm of too much work for Linda and no daycare for our 5 year old. It may get better next week. I hope so - I'm way, way, way behind in reading eMail and PMs, let alone anything else. If you've been waiting for a response from me on something, and you're not bleeding or on fire, please be patient. I will get back to you as soon as I can come up for air. 03/06 Tonight I take a look at the reissued Revell Cylon Basestar. We've had a huge restock from Japan, and have finally been able to add a host of new products to the Store. Many thanks to Alex Dumas for his very generous donation to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 02/29 Bill Human is back with his second Box of Stuff Challenge entry, and I have another installment in my online build. Many thanks to William Kline for his very generous donation to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 02/26There's a short update to my On-Line Build posted tonight. By popular demand, we've put some of the SSM Kit Factory 1/1000 Trek conversions for the Polar Lights Enterpise back in production, for a limited time. The Detroyat-class Heavy Destroyer is now available; the Larson and Loknar classes will be available next month (we hope). Marco Scheloske is back with a look at another of Skyhook's mini-dioramas, this time a scene from The Day the Earth Stood Still. I've also posted another entry in my On-Line Build. Many thanks to Sam Hake for his very generous donation to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . And speaking of Dr Who kits, Jim James has one mostly built already and sent in a review of the new Dr Who: Welcome Aboard from Airfix. Many thanks to Doug Cowles for his very generous donation to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 02/18 Six new Reader's Gallery entries start the week It's been quiet President's Day here, since I can't ship. However, late in the day our first batch of Dr Who kits arrived --- and are going fast. 02/14 I finally got all of yesterday's update posted, and have posted a review of Scale Solutions' nifty Rocket Motor SBS#1 engines tonight. 02/13 I've been trying to load Hobby News and Online Build updates all evening .... and if the server eventually cooperates, you'll be able to see them. (if not, I may be driving to Florida to whack it repeatedly with a hammer --- you might want to turn the sound off for this if you are at work). 02/11 Rich Dula kicks off the week with a look at Bandai's new Perfect Grade Exia from Gundam 00. 02/09 Nothing like 14" of snow to put a crimp in your plans .... I'm finally caught up shipping orders, though, and I've posted three new Gallery entries just to get something accomplished this week. Now maybe I can get caught up on eMail ..... Yes, I know the Store is offline and has been most of the day. The ISP that hosts it is currently dead in the water and working to resolve the issue. I have no idea when that will be (they do not either). Until that's fixed, I can't ship orders (let alone take new ones). 02/05 I spoke too soon last Thursday.... I'll spare you the gory details, but suffice to say that last weekend was ..... unpleasant. Ah, well. At long last I may have finally beaten this ..... bug, whatever it was. I'm very far behind on eMail, so if you sent something in the last week and haven't gotten a reply - please be patient. I will get back to you as soon as I can. Hopefully I'll be caught up enough to resume regular updates tomorrow. In other news, the Revell Battlestar Galactica kits finally made it to us and we now have plenty of stock of the Vipers, Raiders and Base Stars. If you had a preorder open, but have not yet gotten the eMail notification --- just go ahead and order from the Store as normal. We'll sort it out later. Also, volume 8 of Sci-Fi and Fantasy Modeller is now available. Speaking of the Store - we've been getting a rash of odd error messages over the last week, and all seem related to Firefox. If anyone using that browser has (or has had) issues getting the Store software to work, please let me know so we can troubleshoot. Last but by no means least, many thanks to SueAnne Merrill for her very generous donation to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 01/31 Thanks to nearly 20 solid hours of sleep and a quart of Immodium AD, I'm finally back in the land of the living .... if still dog tired. To celebrate, I've posted Dec Sibley's Box o' Stuff Challenge entry SPKA Zornig Mutter. It's been a very long time coming, but when you see the pictures and text, you'll know why .... even if SF3D is not your bag (baby!), you have to be impressed with Dec's sheer ingenuity in making something so impressive from a box of junk. Many thanks to Arthur Anderson for his very generous donation to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 01/28 Last weekend, we went back to Michigan to visit my family .... and upon our return, all promptly got sick. Last week was not fun, and I'm still under the weather and subsisting on chicken soup and Tylenol .... but I've managed to (finally) get six new Gallery entries posted. 01/18 Seven new Gallery entries and the next installment in the On-Line Build end the week. 01/17 Tonight I have a look at VA Miniatures' new 1/537 Saucer-Mounted Shuttlebay - a conversion that fits the old AMT Refit/Enterprise-A kits. 01/16 It's been quite a while since we had an On-Line Build - so tonight, I've started one. 01/15 Tyler Robbins has a look at Monogram's classic Battlestar Galactica tonight. There are several new products in the store (kits and accessories) - and Starfury cannons are back in stock as well. 01/10 Justin Miller describes the long and demanding Project: Slave One Zero group build in tonight's update. Sad news to report: Chris Chulamanis, founder of EVA models, supremely talented model builder and just all-around good guy, passed away today after suffering a major heart attack after the new year. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends. 01/09 Tonight it's the Cylon Raider's turn for review. We've gotten restocks of several popular items into the Store as well, including Death Star Tiles Jupiter Station's 1/2500 Steamrunner-class. Check out the Store for full details. 01/08 I've just gotten my hands on Revell's reissued Colonial Viper and Cylon Raider kits. Tonight, I have an in-box review of the Viper. Hopefully we'll have our first shipment of these kits here and in the Store within a week. 01/04 Six new Reader's Gallery entries end the week. Many thanks to James Inkpen for his very generous donation to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 01/03 Six more new Reader's Gallery entries tonight. 01/02 They're not any easier or faster to format, but I have a LOT of Galery entries to post - so we start the new year with 5 new ones. Many thanks to Jim Lowe for his very generous donation to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 12/27 While I'm witing for the new carpet to be installed I've posted 6 new Gallery entries. Many thanks to Bob Kensinger for his very generous donation to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 12/24 Things have calmed down a bit, thankfully. There are 6 new Gallery entries posted tonight. Happy Holidays and best wishes for a safe and prosperous New Year from Linda, Sarah and myself. We'll be back on Wednesday. 12/19 It's been absolutely insane here this week - if you care to know why, the answers are here. A note from the Store: the Fine Molds 1/48 scale X-Wings are enroute to us and should be here by Friday (Customs willing). The Revell Battlestar Galactica reissues are in the USA now; our distributor should have them within the week. We've got a bunch of goodies in the works for the fighters, including lighting kits for the Viper (from Gilusions), paint masks and decals for the Viper, and a new cockpit for the Raider. Stay tuned! Many thanks to Dec Sibley for his very generous donation to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 12/14 Six new Reader's Gallery entries end the week. 12/13 Two more Model in a Month entriesare posted tonight, plus some updates to the Will Build For Others listings. We've had word from our Japanese distributor that the Fine Molds 1/48 X-Wings are due in to them today or tomorrow, which means we'll be getting our shipment early next week. 12/12 It's late, I'm still wrestling with database issues .... and let me tell you, I'd rather be wrestling with something/someone more female and maybe just a bit younger than I ...... but I digress. The rest of the hobby news is posted (I think - it depends on how sulky the database got just now). I have a whole bunch of kit reviews/previews to do but I'm fixating on databases now (since they're in use all over the site.) Wish me luck. Did I mention the Reivers of the Misplaced Extraterrestrial Shark Flying Wings were finally in stock? No? Well, they are ..... 12/11 Been ultra busy here. I have managed to post some hobby news tonight (not as much as I'd like because the databases froze up on me about halfway through - I'll have to continue tomorrow. Or later today, I guess, looking at the clock). Part of the reason I've been so busy is all the new products in the Store - check them out here. Many thanks to Paul Birza, Clifton Grant and Eric Lakie for their very generous donations to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 12/06 Some large images of the X-Wing filming model are posted tonight. Many thanks to Less Than Super Ostritch and Jeff Cupernell for their very generous donations to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 12/04 Moebius Models' new 'The Voyager' kit landed in the office today - and I have an in-box preview of it. 12/03 Votes have been tallied and the winners announced for our fifteenth contest: Wrecks. Congratulations - and thanks to all who entered! 11/30 Six new Galleries end the month. 11/29 Douglas Scott takes a look at Black Sun's X/F-302 Human Starfighter in tonight's update. 11/28 It's been a while since we've had a Model in a Month entry --- so tonight, we have two, thanks to Phil Gruver. Busy, busy, busy here - I'm finding it hard to keep up. See this thread in the Discussion Forums for news on the latest and greatest items just arriving, or coming very soon, to the Store. 11/23 Eight new Galleries end the week. Many thanks to Matt Jacobson for his very generous donation to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 11/21 Tonight I take a look at Bandai's limited edition EX-kit 1/144 scale YMT-05 Hildolfr, a weird cross between a tank and a mobile suit. There will be no update tomorrow, as it's the Thanksgiving holiday here in the US. I'll try to get something posted on Black Friday though. 11/20 Contest voting has begun. 11/19 Finally. All the Wrecks Contest entries that made the deadline have been posted. Contestants - please let me know if there's anything I goofed up on your entry. Voting will start tomorrow. 11/18 It's 11:00pm - 2300 - Sunday night and I've lost count how many new Contest entries I'm posting .... but it's a lot. And there are more to come. Tomorrow. Homer sleep now. 11/16 With just moments to spare before SG:Atlantis starts, I've managed to get five new Wrecks Contest kit entries posted. Whoo -hoo! While you look at those, I'm gonna go downstairs and watch Colonel Carter and Doc Kaylee (yowza!) ...... 11/15 Two new Wrecks Contest kit entries have been posted tonight. I've got all the images submitted so far formatted and ready to post, and just need to get the text cleaned up. Cal Dowling and James Logan, your entries arrived in the mail today. 11/14 Two new Wrecks Contest scratchbuilt entries have been posted tonight. CONTESTANTS - PLEASE NOTE! I'm struggling with the flu on top of all the other asasorted craziness of life. I have fallen behind with eMail and have not yet downloaded all the contest entries that have been sent in - let alone Gallery entries and article submissions. DON'T PANIC: all entries received before Sunday night at midnight will be posted - even if it takes me a couple extra days to post them. I will ask one last time once all entries have been posted if I've missed anything - before I open up the voting. So please - no panicked eMails .... at least until next Monday. Big shipment from Japan arrived today. Though they may not be in the Store yet, we have the Patlabor Cpmmand Car and EXTL Labor EX kits that have been scarce as hen's teeth since their first issue, along with new Votoms, Gundam, tools and Trek stuff. We'll have those added to the Store shortly. Last but by no means least, many thanks to Tim Farmer for his very generous donation to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 11/12 Five new Wrecks Contest diorama entries have been posted to start the week. 11/08 It's been a rough week here - our house was burglarized and we've been dealing with the fallout all week. Hopefully, we will be able to return to business as usual by tonmorrow. 11/02 We had some issues with the ISP over the past couple days but they're fixed now - and so I can upload the dozen new Reader's Gallery entries that end the week. We've received a massive shipment from Japan, plus some materials we needed to finsih other projects, so look for a whole new bunch of goodies in the Store by Monday. 10/31 There are two new entries in the Wrecks Contest posted tonight. 10/30 Slowly but surely, I'm getting the first Box o' Stuff Challenge entries posted. Tonight we have Dennis 'duck' Dilmore's Escort Carrier. I've also had time to post more instruction sheets to the Instruction Sheet Library. Over in the Store we've got a new 1/2500 scale Trek kit, the Endeavour-class Starship, and some new decals too. 10/29 We start the week off with a quick video tutorial on filling seams, in this case with baking soda and superglue. 10/26 Eight new Gallery entries end the week. IMPORTANT CONTEST NOTE: I have heard the wailing and gnashing of teeth ..... and I have relented. The new deadline for the Wrecks Contest is Sunday, 18 November, at midnight. 10/25 For the first time in a long time we had daycare - and I had the whole day in the office. Yay! There are three new entries in the Wrecks Contest posted tonight, along with some more Hobby News. All the entries in the Other Guys and Heroes contests are now fully available again, accessible through Reader's Gallery. Plus I cleared up a truckload of housekeeping throughout the site (mainly link fixes). 10/24 Joe Jimenez has finished his Wishbone Fighter from Blue Moon, and has a lavisly illustrated article on the work in tonight's update. Many thanks to Dan Boone for his very generous donation to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 10/23 There are two new diorama entries in the Wrecks Contest posted tonight. We've had a restock of decals in the Store, as well as several new kits from TimeSlip and Odyssey Slipways. Check them out here. 10/22 I spent much of Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the iHobby trade show in Rosemont. I've posted my observations and some images to my blog. 10/18 More pictures from the Star Wars props exhibit at Chicago's Museum of Science & Industry have been posted. Tonight we have the Blockade Runner and an ESB version of the Falcon. 10/17 The first new pictures from the Star Wars props exhibit at Chicago's Museum of Science & Industry have been posted. These include an AT-AT (not much bigger than the new Revell kit), Star Destroyer and a huge Trade Federation Tank. 10/15 Tonight I take a look at the newest Space In Miniature booklet: SIM 7: Apollo Lunar Module. I had a lot of fun with Starship Modeler crew this weekend, and we took a ton of pictures at the Star Wars exhibit. I'll start posting the best of these this wek (I hope). 10/11 More hobby news posted tonight - and I've almost cleared all the news from my inbox! There will be no update tomorrow as I'll be shuttling people in from the airport all afternoon. Many thanks to Chris Binnett for his very generous donation to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 10/10 I am buried in work here, and preparing for the weekend's festivities, but I have been able to (finally!) load some more hobby news. 10/08 Another Wrecks Contest entry starts off the week. 10/05 Tony Agustin has a new photo-essay on building his 1/48 scale Viper Mk 2 vignette to end the week. 10/04 I'm still not operating on all thrusters, but I have managed to post eight new Gallery entries. 10/03 Under the weather today, but I did update the AT-AT review to reflect some new info I was made aware of. 10/02 I was buried in a Store restock yesterday - a perfect storm of domestic and international dealers. See the Store or details. Tonight, I review the brand new Revell AT-AT 09/28 Eight new Gallery entries end the week. 09/27 It's taken me a while, but I've finally finished revising the Hobby News page to make it (hopefully) less cumbersome for me to update and you to find things on. The first few news items are posted - more will be coming (including old material from the old page) in the next few days. 09/26 Finally resolved the problems I was having uploading files, and have posted Brian Miller's conversion of the ERTL Millennium Falcon into a YT-1300 Freighter. 09/19 I've managed to post another Wrecks Contest entry on my way out the door this morning. 09/18 Good news/bad news today. The good news is I have pretty much completed the re-vamp of the Hobby News section, which will make it much easier for me to keep that updated. The bad news: I ran out of time to add any actual news to it! Hopefully I can do some tomorrow. If not, then this is probably all I will get done this week. Tomorrow afternoon I leave for Michigan to help out with some family issues, and I'll most likely be gone until Saturday. 09/17 Today I linked back all the Legs Contest entries into the Reader's Gallery. Seventy-eight enteries there too. 09/13 Eight new Gallery entries end the week. 09/13 I had not realized that some of the recent contests were not in the Gallery - I'm starting to fix that. Today I linked back all the Star Wars Contest entries ... all 78 or so of them We've added a bunch of new decals and limited edition kits to the Store today as well. 09/12 There's another Wrecks Contest entry posted tonight, and I've finally broke the code on the YouTube thing for Terry's demo. 09/11 Wasted the entire day trying to convert and compress last night's video, with no luck - me and video editing are like a monkey with a football. For some reason, the sound just disappears no matter what I do. The file is too big for YouTube (and a pretty hefty 115 MB download). 09/10 If I've managed to figure out YouTube, the video of Terry Miesle's Masking with Parafilm demo will be online tonight.(otherwise, the video is available as a direct link). Many thanks to Terrence Jearum for his very generous donation to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 09/07 Well, it turns out all the Atlantis rollout pictures I decided to start a brand new Space Shuttle Reference page with aren't from NASA but from Phil Broad's 'Real Hardware' website. I've removed them. I still have plenty of images, but I'm going to be triple-checking their origin before posting. Sorry about that. 09/06 Six new Gallery entries are posted tonight. 09/05 There's no room to move in the Pan-Galactic HQ - we've had a BIG shipment arrive from Japan. There's a bunch of restocks and several new items - including our first batch of the Platz 1/1400 scale Star Trek ships (repops of the ERTL kits - with fine new decals from Cartograf). 09/04 Dec Sibley is back tonight with a look at the new book on British Secret Projects- Hypersonics, Ramjets & Missiles. 08/31 Six new Gallery entries and another Contest diorama entry have been posted tonight. Many thanks to Andrew 'Scotaidh' MacDonald and Erik Hofbauer for their very generous donations to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . There will be no update on Monday - it's the Labor Day holiday here and I'm going to take the opportunity to play with my kid. You can still find some wholesome modeling goodness to peruse here though (look under 'Sneak Peeks') 08/30 Having some problems with the server that prevent half of my updated pages from actually being displayed, and am trying to resolve that issue. Meanwhile, I added another entry to the Wrecks contest tonight. 08/29 It's another week of running to stand still here. Four days of being chased around the upper Midwest by violent thunderstorms put us four days behind - and lack of daycare isn't helping. I am making progress- it's just not very linear. Box o' Stuff Challenge packages are going out this week. Participants have already started posting their progress. The 'Novel Modeler' monthly book club is taking shape, with selections for September's reading announced and being voted upon. Guidelines for follow-on selections were posted today. We've had some new products show up at the Store as well. Cheetah Productions' premiere offering is a set of 1/1400 scale phaser strips; they're small but very well formed as well as inexpensive. Also available are Kotobukiya's Mechanical Chain Bases, which can be linked to make all sorts of interesting vignettes and displays. We've also received some options parts (weapons and sensors) for the Armored Core mecha kits. I've been colllecting these with an eye to converting the weapons for use with 1/6 scale figures -- all you really need to do is add a bit to the handgrips and voila: futuristic laser-shooty thing. Can't beat that with a stick.... I hope to resume regular updates tomorrow. Wish me luck. 08/22 Adam Catt has another look at Sci-Hi's new 1/72 Colonial Viper Mk7 tonight. This may well be the only update this week. I was on the road earlier in the week (in Madison, WI, helping the housemate of a friend currently deployed to Iraq bail out a flooded basement), and I'm on the road again tomorrow (presuming the Biblical floods we've been sufferring allow such travel). But fear not: you can still get your daily dose of sci-fi model building goodness over on the Discussion Forums (which are back in full swing - and by now the DNS change should have filtered through the entire 'net so everyone, even those deployed to Afghanistan, can see 'em). I highly recommend the "On The Bench" forum in lieu of the Reader's Gallery that I won't be able to update this week. And if you still can't see the forums on the new ISP (and if everything is locked down, you're still seeing the old forums) , please let me know. You may also want to glance through my blog, where I've been posting some sneak peeks and project updates. You can select to view only the "Scale Modeling' category - and I suggest that you do - and thus be spared exposure to the trivia of my mundane existence as well as the profoundly ignorant and barely intelligble political gibberings I can't resist muttering from time to time where no one will hear/read them. 08/18 The Forums are back up! Important note: you will have login problems until you clear your browser's cache and cookies. Please read the notice at the very top of the board for details. 08/17 Six new Galleries end the week. The Discussion Forum move is taking longer than anticipated -- mostly because the connection is slow and there's a mountain of data to transfer. I hope to have it completed by 7pm or so tonight - wish me luck. We've gotten a restock on the Model Design & Blueprinting Handbook today --- on of the last from the printer. If you missed the first run, here's your chance to get this must-have book. 08/15 Jeffrry Griffin is off on another overseas deployment, but before he left he sent in tonight's review of VA Miniatures' 1/2500 Klingon Warlock-class battlecruiser. 08/14 We're back from a short (too short!) beach vacation and finally caught up on things. So, tonight we have Darren Bertrand's detailed look at Sci-Hi's new 1/72 Colonial Viper Mk7. We've also had a few items restocked in the Store. All issues of Sci-Fi and Fantasy Modeller are back in stock (this is probably the last of volumes 1 and 2 that we can get), and Madman Lighting has sent us some more Starfury Lighting kits. 08/08 Robb Merrill has a look at the new Bandai 1/20th scale Scopedog Metal Spec version tonight. The Discussion Forums are definitely moving to a new host next week. If you misssed it, here's the essential information. We had a huge shipment from Japan arrive today, and even though it wasn't everything I wanted, it was still filled with sweet, sweet hobby goodness. Here's just the new stuff: Votoms Gundam Armored Core
08/07 Today I take a look at Retrokit's Martian Tripod diorama kit. 08/06 Two new Wrecks contest entries have been posted tonight. In the Store, we have recieved a limited restock of Honneamisse's nifty 1/1000 scale Macross Oberth-class Destroyers and a not-at-all limited restock of ProCreate epoxy putty. Many thanks to Saturn 'calculon' Padua for his very generous donation to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 08/03 Two new Wrecks contest entries and six new Galleries end the week. I've had a look at the first test shot of the forthcoming Revell Colonial Viper. You can read my assessment here. 08/02 Two new Wrecks contest entries have been posted tonight. Many thanks to Rupert Chang and Scott Murphy for their very generous donations to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 08/01 A new Model in a Month submission and the first Wrecks contest entry have been posted tonight. 07/31 Mark Yungblut has a tutorial on painting figures with oils in tonight's update. 07/30 Tonight we kick off our next contest: Wrecks. This one will run until November - you can read all about it here. Also, Dale Rollinson has sent in a quick look at how he tackled the seams on Bandai's pre-finished Enterprise-A kit. Many thanks to Kevin 'Corsair' Iutzeller for his very generous donation to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 07/27 Six new Galleries end the week. Many thanks to James Weaver for his very generous donation to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 07/24 I'm back, and catching up on two days of missed work, missed eMails, etc. While I'm doing that, Jay Chladek has sent in another, more detailed look at FineMolds' new Y-Wing. Several new items have been added to the Store, including the latest edition of Sci-Fi & Fantasy Modeller. Many thanks to Peter Hicks for his very generous donation to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 07/23 If you're reading this, it means the site is finally back online. Why it was "service unavailable" is something I've been trying to find out all day. Carlos Zangrando has sent along some more decal art for various Star Trek and Star Wars models, including the Revell Venator-class Stardestroyer. You can see them all here. It's unlikely there will be an update tomorrow and I know there won't be one Wednesday - I'll be having some (routine, outpatient) surgery. 07/20 Six new Galleries end the week. 07/19 Now that the initial crush of orders have been shipped, I can finally take the time to look over the new Fine Molds Y-Wing. 07/16 The Fine Molds Y-Wings are in - and all I've done all day is ship them. If you pre-ordered one, and did not get the eMail notice we sent out this weekend, please just go to the store and place your order -- we have enough to meet all preorders. Also new are Wave's 1/20 AFS mkII fighting suit from SF3d/MaK3000, and we've had a pile of restocks as well. A new Box o' Stuff Challenge is forming on the boards - the deadline to enter is August 15th. Check out the details here. Speaking of the Forums, we will be moving them to a new ISP as soon as we dig ourselves out from under the Y-Wings. One problem we are running into with the move is that the new host does not (yet) properly handle "non-standard" characters - like ®, $#153;, ö and the like. If you have one of these characters in your forum handle, eMail me immediately so we can fix it. Many thanks to Benjamin Wilcox and Andrew Gorman for their very generous donations to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 07/12 Peter Ong has a preview of Whitworth Sculpture Studio's Sky Armor Suit figure in tonight's update. If you have pre-ordered a Fine Molds Y-Wing kit through the Store, please read this thread on the boards. We expect to have our first shipment on Monday. Many thanks to William Kline and Gerald O'Brien for their very generous donations to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 07/10 Rich Dula is back with a tutorial on using Silly Putty as a masking medium tonight. Many thanks to Dec Sibley for his very generous donation to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 07/09 Terry Miesle starts the week off with an in-depth article on painting and detailing Banda's EX Cosmo Zero and Black Tiger space fighters. Many thanks to Frank 'macfrank' Henriquez for his very generous donation to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 07/06 Five new Gallery entries end the week. 07/03 Lionel Kong is back with his build up of the Fine Molds Jedi Starfighter tonight. There will be no update tommorrow as I plan to celebrate the Independence Day holdiday with my in-laws. Many thanks to Rommel Calderon for his very generous donation to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 07/02 It's been a while since we've had a kit preview, so here's a look at the new Kotobuliya Jigbachi AV attack helicopter from Ghost in the Shell 2. 06/28 There are two new Model in a Month entries posted tonight, and the Jigabachis showed up today. 06/27 In between power outages (darn thunderstorms!) I've managed to get more Hobby News posted. 06/26 I hadn't realized how much hobby news I have not posted --- I've started doing that today. 06/25 Well, let's try this again. We'll start the week off with Bill 'Butters' Human's Century Kestrel - his entry into the Box o' Stuff challenge. Now that things have calmed down and the drugs have done their job, I should be able to resume with a more normal update schedule.... 06/20 Still wrestling with the forum move (why can't anything eer be easy?!) and a sinus infection, not getting much else done, alas. Many thanks to Eric Jager for his very generous donation to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 06/18 Matt Jacobson's Box-of-Stuff entry, the Klingon 'Steel Puffin' starts off the week. Many thanks to Joe 'kitbasher' Goss for his very generous donation to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund . 06/15 Four new Gallery entries are posted tonight. FORUM USERS - I am almost at the point where I will be moving the whole kit-n-kaboodle to a new server. You can help make this as painless as possible if you go through your Private Message folders --- especially the "Sent Box" ---- and delete anything you don't absolutely need. I may have to reduce the size of PM boxes in order to get a database small enough it doesn't time out when I download/back-up. So please - get rid of anything you don't absolutely need. (Before I'm forced to get rid of it all for everyone). Many thanks to Kenneth "Cydonia" Darden for his very generous donation to the Starship Modeler Operating Fund - and Andrew "scotaidh" MacDonald for the other thing. 06/14 We've all been sick here this week. Finally, I feel well enoughto get back in the saddle - and start posting reviews again. Tonight, Marco Lacava tells us his experiences building MMI's SR-43 Hammerhead spacefighter kit. 06/08 Ten new Gallery entries end the week. 06/07 Chris Lemke has a look at Mini Model Madness' Valley Forge kit in tonight's update. 06/06 I'm working on moving the forums to a new ISP this week, and Linda is reworking the shuipping calculations for the Store. While we are doing that, there's a new Model-in-a-Month entry for you to look at. 06/04 Still kinda scatterbrained after Wonderfest - I have a new article on handling clear parts posted, but I left the disc with photos home. I'll get those up shortly. |
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