Thank you all very much for this very nice present. It’s extremely thoughtful and wouldn’t be winging its way to Le Chateau du Chat were it not for the paid subscribers here. You’re very tasteful in your choice, since according to my mother, the first word I ever said at age 11 months was “Opane!” when one of these flew over the park we were in.
Dear TC, If it is truly your birthday (Sometimes I can't tell if you're kidding or not!) OH HAPPY DAY. I'm grateful you were born. Grateful you're focusing your attention on politics and anything else that strikes your fancy. Grateful you're writing it down for us. Grateful you're in good shape. May you set a new standard for those actuarial tables! Have a great birthday. xo
Happy Birthday, Felicitations, and all that…enjoy that new kit. The first P-38 that I ever built was the Monogram kit back when it was first released in 1964. All that detail and four choices of variants for $1.98, what a bargain!
As a third grader in Honduras when my dad was a FSO I saw a P-38 coming back from a strike against Guatemala. It fell out of formation and crashed near where a friend lived. The next day, alone, we were sifting through the wreckage finding fifty cal. rounds in the ashes. Different time and place!
HOLY COW TC! It's your birthday! Happy Birthday to you. So glad you were not mauled by a bear or other maulers. It is my wedding anniversary - 49 years! Don't you love Bastille Day?
Best birthday wishes TC. It must be somewhere between 45 to 50 years since I last assembled a P-38 Lightning. That was an "L", and a Revell kitset if memory serves. Hours of fun, bet you are really looking forward to watching paint dry.
I think I just MIGHT have you beat on the cholesterol. and that's only because of that gastric bypass that almost killed me twenty years ago. otherwise, you sound like all systems go, damn your eyes. and it seems like you've already seen to the "Many Happy Returns" part, but it's a wish I'll include anyway, just for fun. one question: do you have a lifelong sense of being a little too early because of the Bastille Day thing? I actually WOULD. it's the kind of dumb thing for which I've always been a sucker. and while I'm here, what was (or IS) your favorite model brand? I'll take it as gospel, since you're the expert here. I remember always being disappointed by the size, except for ONE brand I thought was spectacular...I remember it was Lindberg Line, but I could be wrong (it occurs to me that I might've said all this before, in which case I apologize). and I never realized that different companies had their own models of the same ships because I think I assumed that every brand had some kind of copyright on each item. on "mature" reflection, the idea is, I admit, pretty ridiculous. but what was I...like eight or nine? I remember having the most fun with medieval weapons, which were easy to build, completely in keeping with my skill level.
Growing up it was Monogram. Today it's Eduard, a company in Prague, that make model kits that are really "miniatures" of the real thing - or as close as you can get with injected plastic. As far as each doing everything, as a friend points out, "an Eduard Spitfire isn't putting money in Tamiya's bank account." (They do both do Spitfires - Tamiya does one, Eduard does the series)
it's been so long that I didn't know anything about ANY of these non-US brands. or am I misremembering? and what do these things cost nowadays? thirty bucks? fifty bucks?? am I lowballing?
There are in fact now no longer any American companies. Monogram got bought by Revell 30 years ago, then Revell's German branch bought all when there was a bankruptcy 8 years ago. The old Revell molds and some others have been bought by a company called "Atlantis" and are produced in China - there's a big "nostalgia market" for the old kits (guys like you reliving childhood joy). Lindberg got bought and now re-releases old kits for that market too. The Japanese kits became really good in the 70s and then better, so now Tamiya is considered the best kits for kit design and "buildability." The Eastern Europeans started making their own kits during the Cold War, then afterwards they pioneered "limited run" kits that allowed them to do :odd ball" items that a mass market might not support. Then they upped their technology about 20 years ago and now they are the world leaders for quality and detail. All that improvement comes at a price - that P-38 has an MSRP of $80 - I got it at a discount inernet hobby shop for $68 and $14 for shipping (thank you Louis DeNoJoy). There are very very few neighborhood shops left - I'm lucky to have access to one here in the SFV, and it isn't stocked like it used to be but it's good for paint and materials. If you want to see what people are doing with the hobby, look up iModeler.com or Modeling Madness.
Well, Happy Birthday! I envy all your good vital reports, save your PSA, which my husband John admires!!! Glad you are in fine shape. Just think...with your actuarial potential you will be around for the next 20 years of Webb images from space! Now, that is exciting!! Thanks for being here!
Ain't nothing better than outliving the dummies who didn't listen to you.
Dear TC, If it is truly your birthday (Sometimes I can't tell if you're kidding or not!) OH HAPPY DAY. I'm grateful you were born. Grateful you're focusing your attention on politics and anything else that strikes your fancy. Grateful you're writing it down for us. Grateful you're in good shape. May you set a new standard for those actuarial tables! Have a great birthday. xo
It is TC's birthday today! And mine, though he's more "mature" and in better shape!
Happy birthday MaryPat!
Happy birthday to you too Mary Pat. I'm sure TC doesn't mind sharing, it's not cake after all.
😅🤣 Thanks Craig!!
🎈🎈Happiest of birthdays, MaryPat🎈🎈
Thank You Rowshan!
Happy Birthday! Mary Pat. Wishing you all the best and warning you to buckle up for the next 365 days around the sun!!
💕
Hear, hear!!
Have a happy one. Nice stats! Keep on keeping on.
My wife just told me what fakakte (a) means. Her dad used to use the word. Sadly, I think it will always be with us.
A Russian friend explained. "Life is terrible. It has always been terrible. It will always be terrible. It will never get better."
Which sort of explains current Russian behavior, perhaps.
Happy Birthday, Felicitations, and all that…enjoy that new kit. The first P-38 that I ever built was the Monogram kit back when it was first released in 1964. All that detail and four choices of variants for $1.98, what a bargain!
Me, too. I built it in the attic, spray painting with no ventilation.
Who knew?
I remember that too.
May you keep flying, metaphorically and actually. You make our spirits soar.
A very happy birthday TC. Glad to hear you're ready to go another few rounds, this verblunget world needs all the help it can get.
"Verblunget" - I like it!
As a third grader in Honduras when my dad was a FSO I saw a P-38 coming back from a strike against Guatemala. It fell out of formation and crashed near where a friend lived. The next day, alone, we were sifting through the wreckage finding fifty cal. rounds in the ashes. Different time and place!
Happy Birthday TC! 🎂🎉🥳🎁 Keep those numbers strong! 💪🏼
Happy birthday!
HOLY COW TC! It's your birthday! Happy Birthday to you. So glad you were not mauled by a bear or other maulers. It is my wedding anniversary - 49 years! Don't you love Bastille Day?
Best birthday wishes TC. It must be somewhere between 45 to 50 years since I last assembled a P-38 Lightning. That was an "L", and a Revell kitset if memory serves. Hours of fun, bet you are really looking forward to watching paint dry.
🎈🎈Happiest of birthdays, TC!🎈🎈
Well done with all those excellent vital signs!
I hope you do whatever your heart fancies today.
I think I just MIGHT have you beat on the cholesterol. and that's only because of that gastric bypass that almost killed me twenty years ago. otherwise, you sound like all systems go, damn your eyes. and it seems like you've already seen to the "Many Happy Returns" part, but it's a wish I'll include anyway, just for fun. one question: do you have a lifelong sense of being a little too early because of the Bastille Day thing? I actually WOULD. it's the kind of dumb thing for which I've always been a sucker. and while I'm here, what was (or IS) your favorite model brand? I'll take it as gospel, since you're the expert here. I remember always being disappointed by the size, except for ONE brand I thought was spectacular...I remember it was Lindberg Line, but I could be wrong (it occurs to me that I might've said all this before, in which case I apologize). and I never realized that different companies had their own models of the same ships because I think I assumed that every brand had some kind of copyright on each item. on "mature" reflection, the idea is, I admit, pretty ridiculous. but what was I...like eight or nine? I remember having the most fun with medieval weapons, which were easy to build, completely in keeping with my skill level.
Growing up it was Monogram. Today it's Eduard, a company in Prague, that make model kits that are really "miniatures" of the real thing - or as close as you can get with injected plastic. As far as each doing everything, as a friend points out, "an Eduard Spitfire isn't putting money in Tamiya's bank account." (They do both do Spitfires - Tamiya does one, Eduard does the series)
it's been so long that I didn't know anything about ANY of these non-US brands. or am I misremembering? and what do these things cost nowadays? thirty bucks? fifty bucks?? am I lowballing?
There are in fact now no longer any American companies. Monogram got bought by Revell 30 years ago, then Revell's German branch bought all when there was a bankruptcy 8 years ago. The old Revell molds and some others have been bought by a company called "Atlantis" and are produced in China - there's a big "nostalgia market" for the old kits (guys like you reliving childhood joy). Lindberg got bought and now re-releases old kits for that market too. The Japanese kits became really good in the 70s and then better, so now Tamiya is considered the best kits for kit design and "buildability." The Eastern Europeans started making their own kits during the Cold War, then afterwards they pioneered "limited run" kits that allowed them to do :odd ball" items that a mass market might not support. Then they upped their technology about 20 years ago and now they are the world leaders for quality and detail. All that improvement comes at a price - that P-38 has an MSRP of $80 - I got it at a discount inernet hobby shop for $68 and $14 for shipping (thank you Louis DeNoJoy). There are very very few neighborhood shops left - I'm lucky to have access to one here in the SFV, and it isn't stocked like it used to be but it's good for paint and materials. If you want to see what people are doing with the hobby, look up iModeler.com or Modeling Madness.
Well, Happy Birthday! I envy all your good vital reports, save your PSA, which my husband John admires!!! Glad you are in fine shape. Just think...with your actuarial potential you will be around for the next 20 years of Webb images from space! Now, that is exciting!! Thanks for being here!
Happy Birthday!!!