8404 Diorama Studios

A week ago I worked what I had no way of knowing at the time was my last shift for the time being at the LHS. My warning to callers who asked if we were going to be open during the coming week was a simple, “It all depends on the governor. If now need or want something I would come sooner rather than later, just in case…” The following day the word came down that all businesses deemed non-essential were to close as of noon Tuesday March 23; as much as we hate at admit it, the local hobby shop is a non-essential business in the greater scheme of things (granted, not to modelers and hobbyists). And just like that we are closed until April 7 or beyond, depending on how everything plays out.

Meanwhile, having to practice the whole social distancing/self quarantining takes a toll all its’ own. It’s kind of like being on a deployment, without having as much fun stuff to do (like patrols in 100+ degree heat and getting shot at. All things being equal, I’d opt for the deployment right now – I was actually useful in that situation. Frustrating to be sitting on the sidelines and watching all this unfold.

And then of course, we have the issues that attach with the dreaded malady Modelers’ ADHD. The M54 project is still moving along, it will be ready for paint as early as tomorrow assuming nothing major plops into my path.

I added a very cool structure to the project, courtesy of Peter Schmidt and Hansa Systems USA. If you’re unfamiliar with Hansa, think of it as Lego without the block people for diorama builders. Like Lego it’s based on building blocks, and they come in different shapes and sizes; that’s where the similarities end they’re polystyrene (yup, the stuff we like to work with, our paint and adhesives play best with). You can do what I did and buy ready designed kits (in my case a Vietnamese bar) or buy parts in bulk and design your own. The beauty of the blocks is that they are geared so that you can do your design layout on 1/4 inch graph paper in 1:1 scale. While I have no connection to the company other than being a very satisfied customer, I have no problem giving them a shameless plug here – head on over to their site and check them out: https://www.hansasystemsusa.com/ Pair their stuff with the extremely useful accessory sets Miniart creates and you have the makings of a great scene.

Enough of my rambling, time to slop some glue and spread some paint. What say we continue that build, eh?