More Construction of LOTS Battlefield

Here are some more new construction pictures that I took today. We focus mainly on digging out the harbor section and moving the freshly dug earth over to the "mountains" to extend a road to make a more gentle sloping road that leads from the tunnel.

Soaking the ground with water first, and then running a tiller (with a brand new engine on it) over it. From that point on, its using a shovel and a wheel barrow.

Also, with the aid of some photo software, I can now show how the "harbor" will look like. The harbor is on the north side of the model "French" port city we are building.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yy2SNonKsek)

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SSUYKIGLp4.

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Buildings and Roads for LOTS Battlefield

L.O.T.S. = Lubbock Oddball Tankers Society.

The fellows have asked me to showcase some of the progress that has been made over the past 3-4 weeks. The pictures here are of the roads/footpaths being poured. Some more images of the bridges and some of the buildings that have been built so far.

From Top to Bottom-

1. Ricky's bridge going over the main river.

2. Tim near the center of town with his 'tavern' to the left of the main road and Ricky's 'store' to the right of the road and near the future center of town where there are plans to have a little fountain.

3. The forest made from old artificial Christmas trees.

4. My 'farm house' made out of foam board and Popsicle sticks for the window coverings and door. Still under construction.

5. A very simple small bridge I built using two center tile blocks and garden paving stones for the bridge and garden edging stones for the bridge sides.

Commemorative Air Force Airshow Images

Just some images I finally got around to posting from the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) airshow in Midland, Texas, back on October 9, 2010. It was good to see the B-29 FiFi flying again! All the pictures I'm posting on this blog are ones that I took that day. By the way, that is me standing next to the business end of the A-10 Warthog!

Top 10 Low Pass Flybys of All Time

The title says it all.

Star Trek Phase II-What it Would Have Looked Like

Star Trek Phase II - the tv series that never happened. Someone has now done some cgi work of what that U.S.S. Enterprise would have looked like.

This is the YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-at54tjZzw)

RC Tank Warfare - A New Part of the Hobby for Me

It just takes one person to start a chain reaction.

Friend Keith decided to pick up a 1/16th scale Tiger I tank. After all the "hey, ain't that cool" and "wow!" etc., and finding YouTube videos of the little buggers in action, our little band of brothers have decided to build their very own battlefield.

Site owner Ricky, putting up part of his land for the play area, orders himself a M-41 Walker Bulldog American tank. Keith goes off and builds himself a bridge and not to be outdone, Ricky builds another, different kind of bridge.

Others pitch in to sculpt the land, dig out a river channel, etc. All the while waiting on their own model tanks to come in - or waiting on the next paycheck to go and order one for themselves. With this post, you can see the size of the future battlefield as well as the two bridges mentioned above. There are plans for a small scale airfield to go along with the main runways that are used for radio control model airplane flight.

The site is located northwest of Lubbock, Texas; just off of the Clovis Highway. I have suggested the following name: Taylor Field Tankers Association (TFTA). That is still 'un' official as of right now. A whole lot of digging and building needs to take place before TFTA is ready to host a battle event. But plans are afoot for something to take place in 2011.

Here are some links that I have been collecting for the past week and a half now..

1. Wonder Hobby(http://www.wonderhobby.com/116rctanks.html).

2. Tank Town at Bomber Field (http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_6239792/anchors_6909641/mpage_2/key_/anchor/tm.htm#6909641).

3. two thanks for the price of one (http://matomart.com/prodview.php?p=674).

TX Tanks on YouTube-

A- Texas Armor Association (http://www.texasarmor.com/).

1. Bomberfield Tank Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq7cOwLh1_Y).

2. RC Tank IR Tank Battle 1 16th scale(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw5EzUVYf48).

3. TX Armor February Tank Battle. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dg-fKtMlNbg).

4. TX Armor battle prep(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npmUJDJO3nc).

5. rctankwars.com(http://rctankwars.com/).

Another note is that we would need to make sure to make the tank hulls water tight to allow for limited river crossing. Check the instructions with each tank I guess. Found a YouTube video of a M-41 crossing a stream. Looks to be about half inch to one inch deep.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diWn58r1nrk) and

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLpvKGxkbhM).

Some more neat tank videos & websites...

6. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3OfNcBJxD0).

7. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66XziWdtq3c).

8. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsdU_4mUP08).

9. Fire trucks in German(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHugEVdfFhw).

10. ebpage with links(http://jbwid.com/idxrctank.htm).

11. Frontline models(http://www.frontline-models.com/rcarmorclubsusa.htm).

12. RCTankwarfare forum - out of England

(http://www.rctankwarfare.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=5471).

13. hobbyhavoc.com . (http://www.hobbyhavoc.com/forum/index.php?

PHPSESSID=2aea7c483656c4a801b69b052af21634&action=forum#4).

UPDATE (October 1, 2010): Well, I pulled the trigger today and order my own M-41 Walker Bulldog tank. This one will just be the basic tank. I'll have to upgrade it later with the metal treads, etc.

UPDATE 2 (October 6, 2010): The UPS truck dropped off the package today (2 days ahead of schedule). Way to go http://www.xenonproject.com/ (the folks I bought my tank from). Charging the battery tonight and after work tomorrow, will give it a driving test.

UPDATE 3 (October 18, 2010): Well, order with caution from Xenon Project people! This past weekend, had to crack the tank hull to look at its inner workings. The tank was pulling to the right all the time-making it hard to drive. The ad that I responded to stated that I would be getting metal gear drive. When I checked - it was plastic gears! Thus they engaged in false advertising in my case. The smoke and sounds were not all that important to me when I bought it to begin with. Now going to have to see about what recourse I might have available.

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Ref. Tank model images taken from RaidenTech.com website to illustrate the two models mention in the post.

Triad Toys Doll Clothing

In the back of my mind, I have been wanting to do a kinda of James Bond/Matt Helm photostory using my action figures as the actors of course. I'm waiting on news about that future Matt Helm movie project and what might be spun off of it for my Matt Helm custom. I already have a few James Bond to choose from in my collection already.

And what would be a good spy story without some good looking female eye-candy hanging around? I already have most of the female action figures that Blue Box originally released from a few years ago, but civilian clothing for them has been lacking unless I modified some Mattel Barbie stuff.

Crusing One Sixth Warrior forum today, I spotted a post about Triad Toys offering sexy outfits for the 1/6th ladies in your life. (And really, this is jsut an excuse to post some sexy looking babe dolls). Quote: Triad is releasing more casual and fashion-based outft sets. Starting with the contemporary skin-tight dresses. Each set comes with two (2) dresses in different colors and styles. There is a total of three sets in the latest Nite Out 2.0 series, totaling 6 different dress styles.

Two outfits per set that run $19.99 per set which isn't too bad a price for these hard economic times. Figures not included in these sets.

Link (http://www.triadtoys.com/).