It was great to have the routine Monday back again after weeks of holiday stuff and grandchildren. I was able to just put my nose to the grindstone and have at it. I have never been so behind on my orders and it was uncomfortable for me at best. Hand making 6 rocket kits is a lot of work. You guys have literally worn out my silicone molds and I have to make all new molds off the masters I still have. This caused me more work because I don’t like sending out resin parts with defects and bubbles. 

Although most garage kits do have such deffects you get pre-primered parts this time because I fixed many of the flaws. Usually my parts come out clean from the molds, that is until the molds start to go!

I struggled with the base I made for the Star Destroyer. I had a problem with the tung oil and the extreme cold conditions in the shop. I was unhappy with the results.
Last night I got a new pre-made base and will stain and coating it with a bit of triple glaze Krylon. It’s time to ship this beautiful model to its rightful owner!
Today I have a new car inbound. This one is a 1/10 scale Ford GT 40 MK II. It’s a big beast of a car.

 After going to the track last weekend and meeting the folks there I had a lot of questions they answered which helped me determine what would be the best first car to race with them in the touring class they frequent. 

I look forward to building this car and getting it race-ready. I ordered a lot of aftermarket upgrades so it’s going to be a fascinating build. Since I will no longer be slot car racing (which is indoors) the outdoor RC racing is really going to help. It’s outdoors and a lot safer. 
Slot car racing  you’re inside standing side by side and handling controllers that were just handled by someone else. No one is wearing masks or hand sanitizing the controllers. Food is being handled by everyone without regard. Social distancing is non-existent.
I have observed recently that the clubs seem to be ignoring that we have a very dangerous pandemic and have continued on with the races. This is something I cannot be part of. I’m using my common sense to protect myself, my family, and my friends.

I’ll show you the building of this car and the VW Bug I have. It’s different and amazing. Tomorrow we are back to the T51 Cooper build. Also some track decorations and soon that next Star Trek Mask many of you have asked for. And some surprises up ahead!

Working on a track that you have little access to on the opposite side is hard. Especially at age 69. Although I work out and have a strict health routine, leaning on tables and footstools to stretch over 4.5 feet is difficult. Nevertheless over 3 days of an hour here and an hour there, I got it running smoothly, and made some of my own borders.
I really like it. If the track was stretched out it would be over 20 ft. long. 41 feet in total length of track and it feels like it.
Now the hard job of re-landscaping begins. Als bit by bit. 😉
BTW. I love the hairpin! Drifting is fun!

BTW the kids are back home and we are heading to the studio for our regular routine of making monsters and toys for you to enjoy! Thanks for the wait!

As the saying goes “Normal people scare me!”. But of sorts we will be back to the studio today and from here on out regularly as the Grandchildren are going home early this morning. There was a change in plans as it turns out. I’ll be able to do some shipping today and tomorrow.

All the resin parts are cast for the rocket kits as of yesterday’s brief stop at the studio. Today I cut all the wood parts!

With the grandchildren here now for a week and 3 days to go to say my workflow has been interrupted is an understatement. I apologize for the delays to your orders made by this fact. Monday everything will be back to normal and all orders will be shipped the first of the week.

I did manage to get most of the resin parts for the rocket kits made. Two more sets today and I can complete the 6 kits.

The mask gets packed tomorrow and shipped.

I wrote this book about model subs years ago and there’s a lot of information in it about who to make a scracth built model without taking the easy way out with a 3D printer. I did all the illustrations using CGI in lightwave.

Click to access stevesbook.pdf

about 4 minutes long and jammed packed with fun!

Heading to the studio to fill all those orders I got for rocket kits over the weekend. Thank you all! I had to order more parts too! All good.

Salt Vampire will be haired and finished today.

Star Wars Star Destroyer finishes today as well.

New builds ahead. One it this 1/10 scale RC VW ralley bug:

I have a couple of Slot cars to complete. One is the T51 Cooper and it will be made ready for market over the next few weeks. Lots of molding to do yet to make the production molds. All fun stuff for the new year!!!