https://artbycacciapaglia.substack.com/p/10th-anniversary-party-at-sng-studio?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email#media-16eb3057-da8a-4ea3-b22d-673183aed74f

Yesterday was an interesting Monday. I got my MRI results back and they found a small little thing in my bladder. So I’ll be in and out of seeing the doctors for a while. 

It will have to be removed. I’m having a Cystoscopy procedure today. It’s likely it’s not cancer. But I have been living with the discomfort of this for a while now and either way it will be a relief to have it removed. Whatever treatment follows after that follows and I should be down with it.

So writing here may be sporadic at times. We’ll see. But if it gets a bit quiet you’ll know why. Not to worry I’m just dealing with it and I’ll be OK.

Moving on to more fun details of life Mark Helmick brought over a first cut and particle assembly of the Steve Neill’s Garage 1/32 kit. He did a bunch of trail fitting and this is going to be one great little kit. It will have options available too.

Like garage tools and equipment due to my latest acquisitions of a resin printer and a PLA printer. 

Both were gifts. One from my good friend Carl Soto and the resin printer was a 10th anniversary SNG Studio gift from my very long time friend Dave Wooten of Smith Brothers Hobby Center.

It’s my hope between the laser cutter, resin printer and PLA printer I’ll be able to put out some nice model kits, figures and more. It will take me some time to get up to speed on all this. I already have the PLA printer ready to run tests soon.

I did a maiden flight with electric power of my all scratch built, hand cut, Aquila Grande at the field last Sunday. It flew very well and that’s another one under my belt for now. 

I’ve started back to the wood built F4U Corsair also given to me by Dave and hope to get that one flying soon too.

At SNG this week my main drive was to finish up the Communion Visitor mold and produce a first test product to see how well it would all work. I opened up the mother mold on Monday. It came out well. I removed all the clay and cleaned up the mother mold. I placed it back over the sculpture and registered it and aligned it placing the two halves around the sculpture.

Then I clamped it all together and poured the silicone rubber into the opening at the top and waited overnight for it to set up.

Tuesday I opened the mold and removed the clay sculpture. Cleaned the mold and cast up a first bust in 2 part resin. It turned out very well.

Wednesday I painted the bust, glazed the eyes and laser cut the base and plaque that Whitley Strieber will sign.

I was pleased with the end results and I shared it on social media across the net. The response was great. People that know this subject seem to like it very much. Next step will be to make more and work with Whitley next week when these will be available on his website store Whitley’s website is: 

unknowncountry.com

Some of our new projects and products we will be making will be aided by this 3D printer that our friend, Carl Soto brought us over this week. 

It is set up in the office to keep it away from dust. I am looking forward to trying out all kinds of things from SNG model kits and figures,slot-car bodies and more.  Between the 3D printer and the laser cutter it is our hope that we can make things that are more affordable than projects that require physically demanding lifting of heavy molds, pouring rubber, and casting resin into those heavy molds. The materials cost are lower too. Currently our products are very pricey because of material cost, time and labor,which in many cases, has gone up  over 200 percent. (in other words, supplies have more than doubled)

The scratch build that I cut every part by hand and crafted from plans, Aquila Grande has been modified for electric power this week. Can’t wait to fly her!

This is her before I cut off her nose and installed the electric motor and prop that I got from Smith Brothers Hobby Center.

And here she is with her new electric power and folding prop.

Thank you Dave for your help in getting this all together by picking out the correct motor, ESC, and Prop for this conversion!

 Rosie at 13 years old, played ball with me in the morning as I have done for over 12 years now. In the grand scheme of the universe moments like this are the very the best it has to offer.And here’s a video of the joy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGPrLmahxbI

It is our  10 Year Anniversary  here at SNG Studio. Thank you for the love and support you have given us over the years.  We can’t begin to express our appreciation to our friends here for the years of loyal support in helping keep our studio doors open! You can help support SNG Studio and be a part of the Magic on  Patreon. (Every bit helps )

Join us in celebrating Creativity & Imagination!

Love You Bunches!

Steve and Mary

The first one came out well. It took me most of the day to make one. The Plague will be signed by Whitley Strieber in the open space. I’ll sign it on the back of the bust.

I tried to get the coloring and shading exactly to the book cover. I think it’s very close.

The fourth was an average day around the studio. To me it’s just a day or evening to get through and I’m glad when it’s gone. Seeing my dog Nova cowering under my shadow scared for her life, shaking from illegal fireworks so prolific that it feels like being in the middle of a war is not something I can appreciate. She held her little toy in her mouth for comfort and shook. It’s a sad sight when human beings celebrate war by artificially recreating it.

There may have been a time when I thought it was cool because I was too young to realize what it was really all about. People having an excuse to make noise and playing war. No one is actually celebrating freedom or independence. If they were, it would be more like Christmas than what I experienced last night. Celebrating freedom from facism means peace, the right to thrive and love.

Moving on from my rant we did have a nice day of cleaning the shop for our 10th anniversary of our studio opening all those years ago. What an amazing thing to have been there all this time.

The Communion lady mold came out perfect and opened well. I was able to cast a first piece from the mold with excellent results. Today I’ll paint it and place it on a base with a laser cut plaque.

I also had some time to place the motor and ESC in my all scratch built Aquila Grande Glider. The motor fits well and the center of gravity is perfect with the battery in place. It was a surprisingly easy conversion. Hopefully I’ll finish it off this week and test fly it Sunday. It has flown before as a slope glider so there shouldn’t be any surprises.

Mary cleared off and cleaned up a space for the 3D printer in my office away from dust.

We are clearing out the bay and moving tables and equipment back to make room for our guests and this picture of our beautiful classic sports car jumped out at me. I feel blessed to own her.

Lastly we watched the third episode of Star Trek Strange New Worlds. It was excellent. Enough said. However after over 50 years it’s nice to have classic Gene Roddenberry Star Trek back again.

It has been a year so far of getting new machines that will help our efforts to make new products without a lot of modeling and heavy lifting a little less.

For instance I have planned for a while now to sculpt in clay, scan, and 3D print without needing to make molds. They are heavy even when made in fiberglass-silicon and hard to handle. Plaster and stone molds are the worst.

As you know, recently we were able to afford a laser cutter. Yesterday my dear friend and creative artist Carl Soto brought us a Creality 3D printer. It’s never been used and has been sitting collecting dust. He thought maybe we could use it.

It came with lots of filament.

Between the laser cutter and the 3D printer I will be able to create a lot more products. This bed looks large enough to print out some pretty large creature and monster busts replacing latex masks with their limited shelf life.

Also slot car bodies and other types of models not on the market.

Yesterday I cast up the Communion bust. Last Friday I made the case mold and yesterday I poured the silicone. This morning I will open the mold and start casting up the first bust.

The mold is made of 1630 urethane and 1065 silicone. This mold will be able to cast a lot of busts in two part urethane resin which has an indefinite shelf life.

Exciting times at the studio. We are so grateful for our loving friends and supporters that have made all this possible.

For those that have an interest in UAPs and non-human intelligence I have started this journal on this site. Although I covered much of my personal experience with all of this in my movie and book “But Something is There”, there are more details of significance that I will reveal in this journal.

Today I made a good one.

“But Something is there” a journal

Yesterday at the studio it was time to start the detailing and finishing on this communion bust. Maybe because I have new readers I should point out why this is all being done.

As many of you know about me, I have been involved in the phenomenon of UAPs and non-human intelligence since my early childhood.

I have written a book about it and made a film both titled, “But Something is There”.

Whitley Strieber and I have been long time friends and he has given me permission to use his famous image from his book cover Communion. I have worked with him on films, his book covers, appeared on TV shows and his Dreamland podcast and more.

I have done a lot of art on this subject dating back to the late 70’s before the image today so commonly known as “the Grey’s” were widely spread. I was one of the most prolific artists of this subject, especially back in the early 90’s. My work was seen in magazines, TV shows like “Sightings” and even X-files. It was everywhere and set the image we know today.

I have in the past made many different versions of the Communion being from masks to large busts. Recently I was asked to make them available once more.

  Mask Sculpture made back in 1991.

This time I wanted to give her some life rather than having her look straight ahead in a dead stare. I made a drawing because I had this image of her turning her head towards me to acknowledge my observing her.

This is a wet clay sculpture and today I started the mold process. I won’t bore you with all the details but it’s complicated and will in the end yield a silicone mold that will enable me to make these out of long lasting polyurethane resin. It will be painted, the eyes glazed and mounted on a wooden base with a laser cut plaque. Signed by myself and Whitley Strieber.

These will be available on his website store at Unknown Country in the near future. https://www.unknowncountry.com/

I will talk more about this subject of my experiences with UAPs and non-human intelligence in future posts if there is an interest. In the meantime you can see more of my art on the subject here:

Original 90’s and current Visitor Artwork

Yesterday I spent the day taking a break from sculpting and worked on the Mustang. The Communion bust sculpture’s clay needs to dry out a bit more before I can do the fine detail.

Now that I know the plane flies well after piloting it’s maiden flight it’s time to make it a part of history that is to me amazing.

Gear down and on final aproach for her first landing after a great maiden flight.

The Tuskegee Airmen of WW2 for me are one of my real hero’s. A black squadron of amazing talented pilots faced impossible odds in a world faced with racism, and prejudice. White commanders and a military that saw them as less than their white counter parts as pilots. They were treated badly but they raised up against it all with incredible braving beating the odds and saving lives.

Not only did they prove them wrong but they became one of the best squadrons of WW2 saving of our B-17 pilots lives and missions with incredible skill and valor.

Sadly racism and segregation continued to have a stranglehold on the country. It still does. Instead of being greeted with a hero’s welcome, the Tuskegee Airmen were segregated as soon as they disembarked the ships that brought them home. German prisoners of war were treated better than black Americans.

Today we know the truth. These were great pilots and great human beings. No more no less. So as I have in the past I am decorating my P-51 mustang models in their honor might they be remembered for their sacrifice for all of us to be free from fascism.

I started with making the tail red as they were known as the Red Tails. No other squadron had them.

My particular paint scheme is being patterned off of the P-51 named Bunny.

It will take time to finish. I’m planning to hand sculpt the pilot Lt. Col. Bob Friend who flew the plane in WW2. Today I’ll be making decals to be applied soon.

Lt. Col. Robert “Bob” J. Friend

Me standing with bunny for a selfie.

This is me last year at the Camarillo Airshow where I got to see Bunny up close and personal.

And I got to see her fly. Building and flying model airplanes has always been and an amazing experience for me that never gets old.

It’s been a long time coming since I was given this rather large P-51 Mustang wooden kit by the former President of the Camarillo Fly Circus. I was given the kit for helping a highschool student with his project at my studio. It wasn’t expected but Robert Wagner just sort of sprang it on me.

At the time when he asked me if I liked P-51 kits I didn’t realize he had planned to give me this kit. It was a kit from the 90’s that had never been built.

Over time I slowly collected the many parts needed to complete it. Everything from the motor to the retractable landing gear servos and more I bought for it.

It took some time in my busy schedule to complete it. You probably saw me here from time to time post progress. I built so many planes this size and larger in my 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60’s but as I get older it’s a little harder to tackle these large models. None the less I did finish it enough to see how she flies and on Saturday the 24th she had her first flight.

As always even after flying for 38 years there is always a bit of trepidation about that first flight. You have put a lot of time, money, and hope into that marvel of technology and craftsmanship. Sometimes things just go wrong. Being as careful and relying on your years of experience sometimes isn’t enough. A simple servo or component can fail, radio signal problems, or structural failure can end your dream pretty quick. But for the most part these planes perform well with little trouble.

I taxied her out onto the runway, eased throttle on until she was rolling straight. I gave her a bit more power correcting with my rudder. The tail came up on the step, I pulled back smoothly on the elevator and I smoothly brought up the power as she went straight down the runway and started to lift from the tarmac. 

She climbed and I made the base turn and she was as smooth as glass. The plane needed little trim and I flew her for about 3 minutes and brought her in for a nice controlled landing in the center line and rolled to a stop.

The club members there at the field cheered and clapped. They are my friends and they know well what it is to experience that maiden flight.

I flew her again for 5-6 minutes and landed. She’s a keeper. It’s hard to describe the feeling of accomplishment for building and successfully flying such a plane. To say the least I was thrilled.

Next up is to finish the plane. Markings, details, pilot, and a red tail.

Thanks to Sam William (our club president who took these pictures) for the support and pictures. It was a good day at our field.