8404 Diorama Studios

Ah yes, let’s talk about spammers those weasels who think it’s fun to post their blather on other people’s sites for just a bit. Maybe if you were to put a similar effort into an honest days’ work you might actually make some kind of useful contribution to the world instead of just occupying space and stealing oxygen others could be using. Nobody with a functioning brain wants the crap you’re peddling, the “services” you’re offering, or the “hot” girls who “want to meet us”; your family trees clearly must be straight lines, and your trash will NEVER (NOT EVER, GET IT DINGUS?) see the light of day here. So, sit yourself down, write a letter of apology to the plants and trees you’ve made work overtime by your existence and find an honest job. Those who want to make a contribution here are welcome to, but to keep everyone playing nicely everything goes through moderation. I find that keeps things peaceful, and peaceful is the way I like it. It’s good to be the boss once in a while.

I opt for moderation of comments to cut down on problems with spammers, scammers, and trouble makers who seem to have nothing better to do. Helping to admin multiple groups on Facebook (multiple years with zero trips to Facebook jail for those groups) has given me a deep appreciation for being picky about what is allowed and what is not. Politics of any sort is strictly verboten. Racism? Spewing Hate? In the words of my DI, ‘I hate everyone, you are all equally worthless…‘ – in other words, I don’t care who you are, what you are, who you love/marry/are attracted to/sleep with, what color your skin is, who or what you worship (if anything). If you present yourself as a decent person to me that’s how I will treat you, and that is how I will expect you to be treated by others in my ‘house’. Don’t like the military or agree with war? This isn’t the place for it, this is about history, I’ve seen war up close and personal it’s not glorious and my stuff doesn’t glorify it. So, that being said, let’s try to play nicely shall we?

This whole Covid 19 mess has really thrown a monkey wrench into things left and right; not to mention the dirtbags who think recasting figures and selling their crappy copies at cut rate prices on Evilbay is okay. To combat this one of my go-to creators, Yaroslav who owns Live Resin has gone to selling his stuff through pre-order to recoup some of his costs before the pirates cut into the market. Unfortunately, he is located in Russia and the mail takes a bit to get here from there. The MH-60 is in a holding pattern pending receipt of parts so I can close it up and proceed. Not to worry. I recently acquired a big ol’ box o’ fun Trumpeter’s 1/35 scale Chinook D.

I first became acquainted with the Chinook (aka Sh**hook) in November 1981 in Fairbanks when I found myself in one on my way to Ft. Greely less than 24 hours after arriving at my new unit Troop E (Air) 1st Cavalry. First impressions are lasting impressions as they say – she belonged to the 247th Aviation Co (The Sugar Bears) it was freaking huge! It was also noisy, the JP4 exhaust burned my eyes when I climbed the ramp, and it also freaking leaked hydraulic fluid like a sieve. I later learned the CH 47 was notorious for that, the running joke was that you were safe as long as it was leaking. If it stopped, that’s when you were pretty much screwed.

I’ve seen spectacular dioramas of the CH 47 and heard both good and bad about the kit. Being as I call myself a modeler as opposed to just a builder, decided to give it a try. But, it has no seats in the back. None. Zero, zip zilch, nada; the most prominent feature of the -47 is the two rows of uncomfortable red nylon seats running the length of the fuselage that can be folded up or removed to accommodate cargo. Aftermarket to the rescue, and one of my favorite online retailers had the Big Ed package set on sale at 20% off – yoink problem solved. And lo, I say there will be seats, and they will be good. But, they are photo etch. Like indie link track links I have a love/hate relationship with photo etch. I love to hate it, although I find that I hate it somewhat less since I invested in a folding tool. I almost tolerate it, but not quite yet. Don’t hold your breath either, not a big fan except in some cases.

Since I will be going for a plain vanilla -47D, the guns will all be the standard M 240H – Live Resin to the rescue. Fortunately for me, the guns and mounts have been on the market for some time and are available from retailers nearby. It was necessary to do a bit of surgery to open the hatch by the avionics shelves as it was molded closed; most of the birds in use in theater have guns on both sides be it the -240 or minigun; there also may or may not be a third gun on the ramp, my understanding of the criteria is if it’s got troops the gun is usually mounted; for cargo the gun is omitted as it might be in the way during loading/unloading.

Stay tuned for more about the Chinook, our on going Blackhawk saga as soon as the supply system (aka USPS) gets around to delivering what’s needed and whatever else comes our way!