Materials – Balsa Slabs

At the moment, I am not sure what I will be using these balsa slabs; perhaps for an O-gauge structure of some sort? I paid 3.26 USD for ten 4 x 5.75 x 1/8 inch thick.

Prester John a Host of Characters

Through a manuscript that was circulated during the Middle Ages Prester John was said to be the Emperor Byzantium. Whether he is a priest, king, or both, all is lost in history. However, some of what he is purported to have written to a response to a request from the Vatican is quite intriguing.

“I Prester John, who reigns supreme, I excel in riches, virtue, and I have power over all creatures that dwell under heaven. Seventy-two kings pay tribute to me. Honey flows in our land and milk everywhere abounds. In one of our territories no poison can do harm and there are no noisy frog croaks. There are no scorpions, and no serpents that creep through the grass. No venomous reptiles can exist there and use their deadly power.”

The Lost City of Z, David Grann

The Shack

The authors used foam core board for the sub-walls and some thinly sliced Styrofoam for individual boards. With some creative cutting, bending and breaking the author had the start of a rough and tumble shack. The author added a base coat, some weathering, and some small details to create a truly unique structure.

Bandai Starblazer Model

This is one of Bandai’s Star Blazer #2206, a Karakrum Class Combatant Ship. Although I did use plastic model glue this model could have simply been snapped together. The instructions are in Japanese, however using the included instructions printed on the inside the box the model fit together nicely.

The models 21 parts are connected to X number of sprue and are molded in olive green polystyrene.

Since I was planning on using glue to add to the overall strength of the model, I was extra careful to make sure that I had the correct part in hand. There were a couple of times when I had to study the exploded illustrations and the box art to ensure that I did have the correct part.

My motto for this year is get something done and after seven months I really do not have too much to show for it. I have another Bandai model on my workbench that needs some finishing touches, a HO scale smoke house that is waiting on a few small details to be painted and placed, and lastly I have a HO scale outhouse that needs to be laid out and completed.

Revell’s 1957-59 ‘Space Age Model Kits’

This page published by "We are the Mutants", (I haven't explored to much of this site, but it does look interesting and it seems worthy of a romp through), offers some fanciful late- fifties spacecraft models from Revell. The short and interesting article mentions the space race and Revel’s motivations for manufacturing these designs during that time period.

Post-Apocalyptic 1/72 Chernobyl Diorama

The author puts a lot of work into this diorama. The military vehicle is plastic kit, but the structure is scratch built. I was amazed while I watched the author add details after details to this diorama. Watching this video was a truly rewarding experience.

Buildable Details

I have two thoughts. The first, structures and detail pieces for model railroading have always been expensive, but have gotten even more expensive over the years. Secondly, I have loads of left-over bits of polystyrene and wood from previous projects. Why not put these bits and pieces to use? The following list is just a start. These details can be built from polystyrene, wood, or even paper board. These are small projects and you could possibly pop-out several of these pieces in one afternoon.

• Coal bins
• Outhouses
• Sheds
• Dog houses
• Shop doors
• Windows
• Benches
• Desks
• Tables
• Chairs
• Storage shelves and bins
• Rectangular tanks

The Glossary of Opium

The Den (opium den):

Joint
Hop joint
Lay-down joint

The Pipe:

Gonger
Bamboo
Dream stick
Saxophone

The Smoker:

Pipie
Pipe-fiend
Gowster
Yen-shee-boy (def. Websters)

To Smoke Opium:

To be on the hip
Kicking the gong around (def. urban dictionary)
Rolling the log

Opium: A Portrait of the Heavenly Demon, Barbara Hudgsen

The Flying Scotsman

A great small whimsical animated "flying train". It really is worth a look.

A Host of Characters - Arina Vlassievna

It has been awhile since my last post on this topic, so you might have forgotten what my rational. A host of characters is a place where I document possible characters for my games.

Arina Vlassievna is the mother of Evgenii Bazarov. Arina is in her sixties and is small and rotund. Arina diminutiveness accents her humility and Arina Vlassievna was a true Russian daughter of the petty nobility; by rights she should have lived a couple of centuries before, in the times of old Moscow. She was very devoted and emotional: she believed in all sorts of omens, ways of telling a fortune, spells, dreams; she believed in holy innocents, in brownies, in wood demons, in unlucky encounters, in the evil eye, in folk remedies, in salt, especially when it was blessed on Holy Thursday, and the imminent end o f the world…”

Fathers and Sons, Ivan Turgenev

The Lay of a Lotus Eater

The Lay of a Lotus Eater

Oh, wicked little dope pill,
    You sphere of poppy dough—
Tho’ sin too oft indulged in—
  I fonder of you grow.

Thou dear, diverting hop pill,
    That makes all care forget;
Without you what would life be?
  A drear and tasteless lot.

The Tenderloin girls all love you,
    You are their heart’s delight;
The sight of you brings sunshine;
Your absence—darkest night.

A Devotee, Louis J. Beck

Limehouse, London

Click here for a high resolution map

Authors who wrote about the sordid aspects of Limehouse: Arthur Conan Doyle: The Man with the Twisted Lip, The Sign of the Four; Thomas Burke: Limehouse Nights; Sax Rohmer (Arthur Ward): The Yellow Peril, Dope, The Yellow Claw, and his Fu Manchu series- Fu-Manchu’s Bride, The Insidious Fu Manchu, The Hand of Fu Manchu.

Must I reread these stories once again?

West World Season Two Episodes

West World Season Two

The second season of West World has made its way to DVD and I have been binge watching this new season of episodes. This new season has been titled "The Door". In the last episode of season one, the hosts had started killing off the visitors. Season two continues the host's rampage. Although corporate is trying to contain the situation, there are darker subverting forces at work.

Here is a list of season two's episodes. The introductions are from the inside booklet that accompanies the three disk set.

Episode	Title	Introduction
1	"Journey into Night"	The puppet show is over, and we coming for you and the rest of your kind.
2	"Reunion"	Why don’t we start at the beginning.
3	"Virtù e Fortuna"	There is beauty in who you are,. Shouldn’t we, too, try to survive?
4	"The Riddle of the Sphinx"	Is this now? If you’re looking forward, you’re the wrong direction.
5	"Akane no Mai"	Welcome to Shogun World.
6	"Phase Space"	We each deserve to choose our fate.
7	"Les Écorchés"	Strike the match.
8	"Kiksuya"	Take my heart when you go.
9	"Vanishing Point"	Try to kill it all away, but I remember everything.
10	"The Passenger"	You only live as long as the last person who remembers you.

The Barge: Episode 1- Scratch Building with Polystyrene

A very informative tutorial on the creation of a n-gauge barge. The author used the dimensions of a real prototype for his model.

I have heard that working with polystyrene is easy and from my own limited experience it is rather easy, but it does requires patience. How often have I messed a project up by not being patient?