I made this painting years ago for my dear friend Mark Siegel. To this day has it on his wall. I forgot about it and didn’t have a picture of it. I noticed it in a Birthday card he made up for me yesterday. I asked him to send me some pictures of it and here they are plus the wondeful Birthday card.

What we need to do most is spend our time with exploring space, not making war.

I reflect on my 70th Birthday, the work at our studio this week and the rebirth of true Star Trek I witnessed last night with season two of Picard. Follow the link below.

Weekly Newsletter

It begins. I brought this one home to work over my birthday weekend. It’s A Howard Littman Double Trouble. I’m hoping to frame it up by Sunday evening.

Too windy to fly. No birthday flying for me this year. Climate change has changed all that and we have nearly constant North East winds 20-30 Kts for months now with only small windows of opportunity anymore.

I shouldn’t really complain if winds are our only problem. Many more have it worse than us. Much worse.

So I’ll show em and build! build for those windows.

  I woke up to this sky yesterday at 5:30 am. Our sunrises are as amazing as our sunsets here in Ventura. The start of another day. What a gift as Mary calls it. The present.

It amazes me that after nearly 10 years of being at our home away from home(SNG Studio) we would remain so busy. And we have all of you to thank! And all of you that got on the bandwagon yesterday for us and clicked on that follow button to become subscribers of our studio blog! Keep it going and spread the word as much as you can. We passed 100!

As I write this it is my last day of my 60’s. This is hard to take in as well. I thought by now I would probably be out of the field and retired. I never wanted to retire but life has a way of forcing our hand sometimes. But it hasn’t and we press on business as usual with no apparent end in sight. Good. We are so grateful!

Yesterday I poured more masks. The orders keep coming in. I presented the new X-15 nose cones. I packed and shipped orders and as soon as I wiped them off the board in our kitchen we added more. Thank you!

We also had my friend and actor Peter Fox https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0289192/ over yesterday for yet more auditions for the role of the child part for his new film “Good Vibrations” he asked me to direct. We will be making two short films this year.

And yes I managed to get a whole half an hour in on my new glider build and I thoroughly enjoyed it and the plane is coming along well.

I have been flying with Howard Littman at our Grassy Knoll group Squadron 69 for sometime. I took a look at his website where he sells kits. I didn’t know this before. When I took a look I saw a lot of cool little plans that were very well engineered and well thought out.

So I grabbed this Double Trouble especially after seeing it fly and fly it did well. It’s cute as a bug and looks scale while not being scale. Designed to fly and look cool.

When I got home last night it was waiting at my door like a happy puppy waiting to come into its new home. I let it in of course and cradled it a bit before opening it up while having a nice shot of Tequila.

Upon opening the kit I was delighted by what I saw. Rolled up plans with pre printed tissue inside. A bag of goodies to make it fly. Stringers and longerons. Everything needed with the exception of glue and dope was in this kit. Good instructions and even instructions for trimming. The laser cut parts look great and should lock together well for an easy straight forward build I plan to sit at on my Birthday Saturday all day and frame up!

Thanks Howard for the great kit, I’ll be back for more!

What a wonderful day we had at the studio for Mary’s Birthday. I did all the usual things. I cast more rubber masks. Cast more rocket parts from the new molds. And I laid hair on two Chimps which will ship today.

I got a chance to put some time into my new glider build. This is an incredible kit I can’t praise enough. When it’s done it will look like this.

This plane as big as it is at 2 meters will only weigh 14 oz. It can fly hand launched or high start and stay aloth for very long periods of time on thermals allowing it to go a 1000 ft or higher if I wanted to.

Mary and I stayed a bit late and then I took Mary to dinner in the Marina 5 minutes from the studio. We sat in the restaurant with it’s view of the ocean and the harbor filled with boats and beautiful imagery. We cruised the local shops there and Mary bought a beautiful piece of pottery art for our home. Her gift on her Birthday to herself.

After that we went by our local beach and watched her first sunset of her 69th year of life. It was beautiful. Life is a blessing and we are so grateful every moment of every day.

When I got home this package was waiting for me outside the door. A Howard Littman Model airplane. What a joy! Called the “Double Trouble” this little free flight model flies very well and will be a joy to build on my Birthday this weekend and fly with my friends at the Grassy Knoll. This is what it will look like when built.

What a wonderful day.

Tuesday was another mixed bag of pouring rocket parts, making more masks, making masters of the molds I’m currently casting from so I have longevity. Master molds will be tucked away and saved.

I also worked hard on the “love of my life’s” Birthday gift I hope to share with you soon. Well as soon as she opens it. It’s 5:48 am.

And here’s her present of a Lotus flower light I made secretly over the past several days. She just got it. It’s her birthday today!

It changes color slowly. Water is lighted too. Here is a short video:

How appropriate during these troubled times:

The Lotus flower is regarded in many different cultures, especially in eastern religions, as a symbol of purity, enlightenment, self-regeneration and rebirth. Its characteristics are a perfect analogy for the human condition: even when its roots are in the dirtiest waters, the Lotus produces the most beautiful flower.Today I will be laying hair, casting more masks and finalizing my rocket orders. I did get a great casting of a Balok out of the mold yesterday for my customer. I’m sure he’ll be happy to see. This is a busy week for one guy and it’s not over yet!

And her’s my driver for the ride home at the end of the day. Rosie the Wonder Dog now 11 full of life as ever. She is a Wonder dog.

See you tomorrow and have a peaceful and creative day!

It was a busy Monday. Lots of orders this week for the studio. I spent most of the day pouring rubber and working on Mary’s birthday present. Her Birthday is tomorrow and I have nearly finished the surprise.

Friday was a day of hell driving to LA to pick up rubber, hydrocal, Ultracal, Hair and other supplies I have run out of filing orders. I say hell because getting in and out of there with your life is difficult. The roads have become completely lawless to such a degree it’s hard to believe were it not true.

While at Burman’s it was nice to see my old friend John. While there this picture of my friend Fred Philips caught my eye and I took a picture of it. In this picture Nimoy is wearing my ears. 

Yesterday I also shipped out the first Planet of the Apes gorilla mask. I signed it and marked it #1 on the inside.

And to end the day I laid out my new Samba RES 2 meter glider kit and started the build. What an amazing kit that goes together like a jigsaw puzzle with all the parts locking together. Beautiful German engineering. 

Today I’ll pour more masks and rocket kit parts now that the new molds are ready. Thanks for everyone’s patience. It is me alone making and filling all these orders in the order they came in. I’ll be shipping daily and should catch up by the end of the week.

Last but not least the Discovery is in it’s new home for now and out of harms way from the shop part of the studio.

  I was invited and was one of the speakers. I had the privilege to be a friend of John’s and work with him.  

What an amazing journey that started with a young man only 16 years old sitting in a movie theatre in a moment that would change my life forever. 

That film so amazed me it set me on a life’s course I’m still living today.

It went full circle and it went from me watching Moonwatcher on the big screen up to Moonwatcher Dan Ricter visiting my studio a few years ago to be in a podcast at your studio with Gary Lockwood. He even asked to wear the replica I made of Moonwatcher. That moment you can see on my face.

To say I have been blessed is a true understatement.

Adam Savage, who also shares my sentiments about one of the most amazing films ever made, asked me to make him a copy of the mask too. Another amazing moment for me.