RIP Roger Corman Recently updated !
I must have something Corman in the house that I can watch in his honour.
A little bit of the commute Recently updated !
I’m experimenting with timelapse settings, for possible future projects. Here’s a very quick bit of my commute.
Saddleworth Model Railway Show 2024 Recently updated !
The smallest of the model rail shows I’ve been to so far, but still worthy of its own video. The journey to and from the venue was an adventure as well, on one of the first properly sunny days of the year.
Kaiju No. 8 Bandai Figure Rise Standard Kit Unbox and Build
I binged the Kaiju No. 8 manga before Christmas, and now the anime has been added to my must watch list. So I had to have a figure.
I’ve made other Bandai models, but this is my first from the Figure Rise range, and I’m impressed. I got it from Hobbylink Japan (affiliate link).
K Scale Models 1:144 Linear Tank Diorama Build
I’ve had this Linear Tank kit sitting on the shelf for a while. It was time to build it.
It became one of those ‘simple’ builds that took ages, not least because I had to wait weeks for a dry day to prime the base.
Linear Tank 3D printed model by K Scale Models, who is also on YouTube.
Rail Road 2024 Model Railway & Transport Show
My first time going to this show, which is held to raise funds for a Scout troop, so has a different feel to other model rail events. Many of the layouts were more about fun than realism, and the trade stands mixed in with sweet and craft stalls.
Street Machine magazine August 1981
Another dip into the vintage magazine pile pulls out this early 80s issue.
Easter classic car show in Ashton
Just a small gathering of classic cars that I happened upon on Saturday. Little events like this are those lucky coincidences that I enjoy about taking the occasional random trip to parts of Greater Manchester I don’t normally visit.
Unboxing Monogram Firebolt Rocket Car – Jet powered toy
When I was younger, I put firework rockets in toy cars and jumped them off a ramp. Little did I know that model companies had made kits especially for rocket power.
I found this on Ebay, and had to get it and find out more.
Hope for hops
There are fears for the future of British beer, as hop yields fall due to climate change. But there are scientists on the job, breeding more resistant strains, as well as looking at possible future flavours.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68636451
Hot Rod & Custom UK Magazine August 1979
Let’s have a look at the state of the customising art in 1979. Another vintage magazine, full of old school builds and fascinating how-tos.
One day,Vladimir Putin will die.
And the power struggle between those who would succeed him will be intense. As this article outlines, Putin will likely stay in office until he expires, if only for his own safety. He has built a power structure around him that leaves no clear contender for the throne when he’s gone.
Obviously, we’ll celebrate when Putin dies, but we should also be worried about what comes after him.
Greener solar power
As large scale solar schemes become more common, planners need to think about their effect on the land they are built on. Introducing the concepts of agrivoltaics and ecovoltaics.
RIP Akira Toriyama
The Dragon Ball creator died March 1st.
Still searching for MH370
A quick guide to why, ten years on, the missing airliner still hasn’t been found.
Universal Model Show 2024
I got footage of every display table at the recent Universal Model Show, if not every model. This is the full length video of the whole lot. Shorter cuts by subject will follow as they’re edited.
James Cleverley doesn’t live up to his name (part 3452)
The Home Secretary wants to make it harder to hold a demonstration, calling for longer notice periods for larger marches. He wants a quick response to government failure or international outrage to be impossible.
He also said that he didn’t think there should be any more marches against the genocide in Gaza, as they’ve ‘made their point’. Which is a stupid argument. As long as civilians are being bombed and starved- and this country isn’t doing anything to stop it- the point hasn’t got through, and needs to be made over and over again.
On yer Ebike
If I was in a permanent job, rather than working as agency staff, I would long ago have got myself an ebike through the Cycle to Work scheme. I may have ridden through most of the winter, too, rather than putting of getting back in the saddle for far too long.
Schemes like Cycle to Work may be relatively expensive as ways to cut carbon emissions, but they have many other benefits that more than make up for that. The authors of the article below have considered some of them and looked at ways to increase uptake further.
The age of the electric bubble car
It’s all well and good seeing more electric cars, but when they’re all as overweight as their internal combustion counterparts, the gridlock on the roads won’t go away. What we need are fewer, and smaller, cars on the street.
Which is where cuties like the Micolino and its new, even dinkier, Lite sibling come in. Microcars for the usually short drives that are most common in cities.
More designs like this please. They’ll free up so much space on the streets, and have the added advantage of making everywhere look like an anime.
https://www.theverge.com/24083014/microlino-lite-microcar-moped-license-price-specs
Rainy day 30 Minute Mission build
The weather has been getting in the way of priming my two works in progress. So I dug out a mecha to build.