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beefmuffin

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Everything posted by beefmuffin

  1. Well, there's that thing where I owned your app-enabled security DVR via its 5 year old firmware's shellshock vulnerability and most days I make popcorn and secretly watch you working. Or I don't do that. Definitely not.
  2. Sweet! Just let me know any other parts you also need - I am almost guaranteed to have one in one condition or another...
  3. I've got a couple of rough vintage Blackfoot bodies I don't need (or want) if you want me to chuck them down your way. Let me know! Also have literally TONS of misc ORV chassis parts, gears, etc, etc... it looks like a Blackfoot zombie apocalypse.
  4. I get people having this perspective about it. And I share that enjoyment of it 'in the now' too. Making good memories with my own son like I had with my own dad for a time growing up. But for me there's also the enjoyment of owning something that looks and feels exactly the same as what you held in your hand as an 8-year old, at a good time in your life. It may be that not everyone experiences this the same way, but for me when I see, touch, hold one of these personally meaningful models it's like a key that mentally transports me back to that time, in a way that just thinking about it can't do. Who knows why it makes such a big difference but for me at least it just does. And the problem there is that it doesn't work nearly as well if something is only close to the same as what I had back then. My 8-year-old brain's memories didn't work in abstractions. The margin of deviation capable of triggering the effect is pretty narrow. Now adding to that, specifically here, the main and most personally important and memorable model I build with my dad, owned and thoroughly enjoyed as a kid was... the Blackfoot. We followed all the directions building it, and made it box art, and I loved that thing. I didn't know it at the time but these ended up being some of my last good memories with my father in the traditional sense of a parent and child. A couple years later he left our family to run away with an exotic dancer and dabble in illicit pharmaceuticals. Things got so bad with he and my mom and us, and she put lots of fears in my and my brother's head about how our dad was doing drugs and would break into our house and hurt us, etc. It was nonsense, and really cruel of her in retrospect... but I ended up being estranged from both my parents starting in high school and lasting up until well into my 20's. Then, of course, whatever reconcilliation came along, the nature of those relationships was much different. By that time, when I left home and left behind my family and everything at the time I couldn't care less about the R/C stuff I loved so much as an 8yo. I told my mom to throw it all away, and she did. After that I forgot all about this stuff for many years until after my dad passed away a few years ago. It was a really difficult time for me, for that and other reasons, and it took a long time and a lot of effort to recover. In the process of doing that the memories of some of the good times with my dad, many of which were spent immersed in this hobby, came back... I don't know if they were blocked or suppressed or just so abandoned and un-recalled that they couldn't be accessed without some kind of targeting fix on where to dig for them in the grey matter somewhere. It was then that I started getting back into this stuff as part of the healing process, and found TC and rediscovered not only the memories of loving this stuff then, but a love for it again and filled a hollow void I'd had in my life without knowing it for many years. The meaning and connection and personal importance of this stuff extended also to my own son, who was maybe 1 year old at the time, and a desire to pass it down to him as he grows up. The truth is that after my father's funeral in 2011 I've never been back to visit his grave. For me there's nothing special about a slab of marble crowded amongst hundreds of other slabs of marble. I connect with and remember my dad every time I work on / look at / run / think about my beloved Tamiyas (aka childhood memory unlocking keys). I have and enjoy some contemporary runners. They're great fun! But they do nothing to bring me back to my past. It's probably a lot different for people who've had their childhood R/C stuff all these years without interruption, or people who didn't abruptly lose everything comforting about being a child in a loving (or at least coherent) family right after the final few happy/naiive years many of the best memories of which involved R/C stuff. So the dream of a re-release of the Blackfoot was something I'd imagined and hoped for more than a little these past years, especially after the re-release of the Monster Beetle. I am not an excessively optimistic person, so I didn't expect the best possible experience of the Blackfoot 2016 when I heard it was finally happening. In fact, I predicted it would be just about exactly what it turned out being. But the visceral disappointment at what I can only surmise to be a massive difference in the sense of the special significance of this reissue is a gut punch nonetheless. When I look at it all I see is laziness and disregard for heritage, their own and ours. It makes me feel like whatever soul animated Tamiya to go above and beyond and pump out so many classic, unique creations has finally flamed out and it's now being run like every other company by a bunch of MBAs who don't feel a deep personal connection to the products they produce. So - the tl;dr version is I can and do enjoy Tamiyas how you describe, too. But it's also the centerpiece of a little museum dedicated to my own life. And those two things, although related, are distinct. It would be perfectly possible for anyone to only connect with one or the other. I do both. And the side that I feel most deeply feels really let down.
  5. I wonder if it's part of someone's job in Shizuoka to creep around, quietly stalking this message board and TC in general...
  6. And further to the point, why don't we see some major advances in Truck-a-saurus technology? They should be unimaginably lethal by now.
  7. Bigfoot III, eh? Well... I have no issue with that grill being on the Blackfoot III. Boom! Salty wound averted!
  8. No worries, it was just a thought. More sour grapes than anything else really. Not happy with the Lamefoot 2016.
  9. @mongoose1983 I am amused by your assumption that people living in NJ or England ever have enough sun to catalyze H2O2 ionization. LOL I'd bet Santiago gets a lot more sunshine than central NJ! OCD, the author of the second link lives in sunny California. I've heard of TCers in TX who've used this method successfully. You know, Texas... where don't live like mole people in constant rain and darkness. BUT anyway if salvine (or others) want to try it there may be a few things worth trying to enhance the effectiveness. This experiment relates to the use of H2O2 in tooth whitening, but it's the same effect as desired here: link to PDF There are 2 or 3 things, it seems to me -- inferring from the chemistry described in the document -- that might squeeze a bit more effectiveness out of the UV luminosity you are working with: - Iron ions seem to enhance the process for some reason... maybe try dropping something made of iron into the solution. A rusty screw, a broken bit of magnet... ironically, certain voodoo / santeria practices could even be helpful and add a flair of spiritual drama (do I have to say I'm joking?). - Slightly basic / alkaline pH helps... but too high of a pH has the opposite effect. Maybe drop in a tums or other (non-liquid) antacid. - Increased temperature enhances the effect, although menacingly apparently leads to "thermal runaway"... so maybe a little hot but not too hot or 'fire in the hole'. I haven't tried any of these... b/c I didn't know to try them. But I did have some seriously disappointing results whitening plastics in the past. So, maybe it's worth trying some of these ideas. Maybe throw in your dentures while you're at it!
  10. Yeah - it's interesting how if I list something at a set price, very few people watch it, usually it sits for a long time, and I end up accepting an offer for less than I had in mind. While at the same time if I list something as an auction it gets tons of watchers and people often end up pushing the price up to more than I would have asked if listing at a fixed price. I'm sure there is plenty of psychology at work here... it's actually kind of interesting. But I could never allow a someone to feel "buyer's remorse" by getting something from me. So I tend never to list things as auctions that I would never want to see go above a certain price (basically I also always allow, consider (and encourage) offers, and am usually generous about accepting them - particularly in cases where the buyer needs a deal on it, etc. The other thing I always do is almost all the time anyway, but especially when an auction goes higher than I'd want someone to pay, I include free extra items sufficient to bring the transaction into a range I'm confident the buyer is ending up with a meaningfully better deal than they expected. Like in the case of the Clod body, I'm throwing in a new on sprue electronics tray, a complete new Super Clod bumper set, the original used MSC and 3-way switch, plus a vintage manual if I have two (need to check). I'm actually packing the Clod body up as I write this... LOL, to be honest -- I hope it doesn't cause any non-buyer's remorse -- but I saw your bid and I had already decided to throw in a NIP Desert Gator body+wing I have extra. Wouldn't have cost anything more to ship really. Anyway - hope you get one together soon.
  11. BTW - the thing I was thinking, about the lame "new" grill in particular, is I think it raises a legitimate question: If Tamiya -- at the one final time they would ever again produce a certain part or design (eg, the official re-issue of a model) -- opts not to do so, therefore assuring they would not now and never would in the future suffer lost sales of the specific abandoned parts/designs to 3rd party replicas, reproductions of those parts and those parts only become fair game to mention openly on TC and the TC forum. In the case of the Blackfoot 2016 I think this would include reproductions of the original grill, tailgate, hood lettering and decals. @netsmithUK @TWINSET what do you guys think?
  12. That was just too much information for my walnut-sized brain to process, LOL. But I think the conclusion is, try the GF-01 and slicing and dicing. Gonna give it a try! Starting with the body, just to be sure I'm up to the task. Otherwise will just opt of a Heavy Dump.
  13. Cool deal - you Mr. Whippy'd something up? Was it a smooth process, or did it require intense concentration?
  14. Don't worry Blake! Paul's new to Tamiya and is actually looking for feedback that'd help him stay true to the models. My offer to put you guys in touch was genuine - I don't think he'd be offended at all...
  15. Thanks Erik! I think I'm going to give chopping the body a go since I have a re-re Lunchbox body and no other use for it, as I refuse to put vintage decals on it and install it on the new build vintage shelfer I'm working on. I think I will invest in one of those Tamiya razor saw things...
  16. I'm not familiar with this chassis - will look it up!. Thanks! EDIT: hmm checked it out.. how well do you think it'd work with big lunchie wheels/tires?
  17. LOL, I guess you've never heard of the Insane Clown Posse. They are the Mozart of our age.
  18. Wow that's awesome, thanks! Exactly what I was looking for. So how did you mount the body? I see two mounting posts sticking out of the back. If I do this, though I'd definitely cut around the sunroof hole and make a recess in the back part of the body to fit it into... that way I could use the normal Lunchbox sunroof. I guess the decals would need some adjustment too... but not much.
  19. Hey guys - has anyone tried mounting a Lunchbox body on a GF-01 chassis (like the Heavy Dump)? My son loves the Lunchbox, but I want him to have something 4wd so it will be able to drive decently well in the grassy part near our house. It would probably take some custom solutions to get the body mounts to work, or maybe just go up through the top (obviously using a re-re body!) using extended versions of how I think the GF-01 bodies are meant to be mounted. Anyone tried it? Is it a bad / crazy idea? I may just build him a Heavy Dump as-is... but I think he'd get more of a kick out of a Lunchbox, but one that doesn't get stuck in wet grass.
  20. LOL you are going FULL ARTIST up in here, Blake! I say you and Paul will have to mud-wrestle in a kiddie pool full of acrylic paint to settle this. All joking aside, if you'd like to give him this level of detailed feedback I can put you guys (all 3 of us) in touch via email. Shoot me your addy via PM (he only uses email really) and I'll shoot out an introduction email.
  21. Isn't that a bit thick though? I'd worry it'd stick to and tear the decals by accident...
  22. We all need to beg @Pintopower to produce one - or at least a piece that can be put over the front of the grill or something. This is his Shapeways page: http://www.shapeways.com/shops/ampro
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