Seadude's Shenanigans: I dare to be different!

[seadude]

I'll be off to a 3 day model show in Chicago starting tomorrow. Yay!
http://www.military-miniature-society-of-illinois.com/
http://www.military-miniature-society-of-illinois.com/2017-chicago-show/

I'll be taking the following. Other than these two, I'm not sure what else. Depends on how much vehicle space my friend has in his car. 
http://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php/topic,43504.0.html
http://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php/topic,35600.0.html

[zenrat]

Enjoy, and good luck.

[seadude]

Display base or no base?

This past weekend, I took a bunch of my what if models and entered them in a contest as ONE large collection entry. It kinda felt funny just seeing them sitting there on a table. I almost felt like they all should have been displayed on some sort of base.
I do have a large 3' x 2' black acrylic sheet (See second picture below.) that I could use as a base and decorate somehow for displaying large collections of models. I've done it before in the past with my previous Aurora Spyplanes display. https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/606/22340406910_a251ae44a8_c.jpg

So........what do you think? Display base for the whif models or just leave them on the table as is?

Without display base:


Proposed with a display base:

[Old Wombat]

The black base looks good, it draws my eyes to the each of the models individually, whereas I only seem to focus on the overall view with the white, unless I concentrate on moving my eyes.

[TheChronicOne]

I must concur wit' me esteemed Wombat. 

[seadude]

Do you think I should decorate the black base like I did previously for the Aurora spyplanes base? Or should I leave the black acrylic base blank?

[TheChronicOne]

The Aurora Spy Plane set up for the base is damn cool, but, you have many more subjects now and I think anything else would likely wind up being visual clutter, distracting from the glorious models. I think, in this instance, the simple black is the way to go. It really does look fantastic! Has the right amount of "shine," too, ya know?

[Old Wombat]

The Aurora Spy Plane set up for the base is damn cool, but, you have many more subjects now and I think anything else would likely wind up being visual clutter, distracting from the glorious models. I think, in this instance, the simple black is the way to go. It really does look fantastic! Has the right amount of "shine," too, ya know?

+1

[seadude]

Ok. Thanks, guys. 

[NARSES2]

The Aurora Spy Plane set up for the base is damn cool, but, you have many more subjects now and I think anything else would likely wind up being visual clutter, distracting from the glorious models. I think, in this instance, the simple black is the way to go. It really does look fantastic! Has the right amount of "shine," too, ya know?

+1

+ Another 1 

[seadude]

Long time, no see, folks. How's it going?
Sorry I haven't been around much. And sorry for not posting on the forums much, if at all. It's not that I've stopped model building, it's just that I've been on Facebook a lot and have found a larger audience to show my works there and FB has a lot more model groups to share model interests on.
But this really isn't any sort of "Goodbye" post. I'll still pop in here on the forums from time to time to see what's new.
But I think the biggest thing that has led me to "walk away" so to speak from regular website forums such as this (and others) is that in order to show/share pics of model subjects, I'd have to host them on a photo hosting site like Photobucket, Flickr, or somewhere else and then link to it here. But over the past several years, PB and Flickr have pissed me off with their policy and pricing changes.  So much so in fact, that I just decided to give up, delete the accounts, and stop visiting regular website forums and instead move to Facebook. At least on FB, there's no "fees" and picture limits.
As for model projects I am currently working on, I am slowly plugging away on the Very Fire 1/350th scale USS Montana battleship model kit. It won't be a what if. I'll be building it pretty much straight from the box.
And maybe next year, there is the "slight" possibility that I may start construction on a 1/350th scale HMS Habakkuk aircraft carrier. Some members will probably remember from long ago when I built a 1/700 scale Habakkuk carrier. The thread for that is probably still around somewhere on the forums, but the pics are most likely broken due to PB and Flickr past issues. But anyway, a 1/350th scale Habakkuk carrier will be approximately 6 feet long x approx. 1 foot wide. It will probably take me 5 or more years to build.
Anyway, that's my story. Just thought I'd update everyone on what I've been up to.

[NARSES2]

Well best of luck to you, stick your head in every now and again 

I do understand re the posting of pics, but to my cynical old mind it will all end up the same or at the least similar eventually. All down to dosh 

[zenrat]

Sorry to see you go dude.  Like Chris says, don't be a stranger.

[seadude]

Dusts off journal. *cough, cough*

Hello, folks. Long time, no see. 
Not much new happening with me. Still here. Still modeling whenever I can. Finished a few builds in past months and years which are here:
USS Wisconsin
https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=48217.0
USS Iowa
https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=50054.0
And currently (Ever so slowly.) working on a NUMA oceanographic research ship:
https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=50356.0

Went to a model ships and boats contest recently back on May 13th at the Manitowoc Maritime Museum in Wisconsin. Took my USS Iowa model and my USS Louisiana MONTANA class battleship models to the contest. Got a Gold award for the Louisiana, and a Silver award for the Iowa. 
Next year will be harder though as I'll have to enter in the Advanced Category. From 2014 to 2018 I had entered in the Novice category. But when I won a Gold in 2018 for my USS Solace hospital ship, I then had to move up to entering in the Intermediate category. I never got a chance to go back to the contest from 2019 to 2021. So in 2022 this year after entering my two ships in the Intermediate category and then winning a Gold in that category, I now have to move up to the Advanced category next year. Somehow, I need to up my game. How and with what models, I have no idea. 

In other news.........I just recently got the "Holy Bible" of books concerning Project Habakkuk a few days ago. Yep, I'm still addicted to that subject. Or maybe I should say OBSESSED. Titled "The Canadian Habbakkuk Project" by Lorne W. Gold. This thing reads like a scientific/engineering journal. Lots of graphs, charts, and formulas concerning ice, pykrete, temperatures, etc. But also lots of information and chapters on the full history of Project Habakkuk. There are things in this book that I never knew before and things that made me think that everything I previously knew about Project Habakkuk........is now wrong! It will be an invaluable resource for when I eventually start on that 1/350 scale model I plan to build sometime in the future. This book puts to shame all the information found on all the websites on the Internet.

So other than those few tidbits of information, not much else is going on. Got another model contest coming up in about a month. Not sure what I'll take yet. As for non-modeling news, I'm a big movie fan. Got a huge collection of 800+ Blu-rays/DVD's. Waiting for "The BATMAN" to come out this Tuesday. Missed seeing it in theaters.

[Rick Lowe]

Good to see you back, 'Dude.