Stephen, I tried the 'organic' approach to my bench, but there's something that just won't let me concentrate when things are out of place. Not OCD, more just a neat freak thing. That said, what order you see is on the bench; if you look underneath there, it's not pretty. Neat metaphor (hey, and a pun).

@stephen-w-towle

David, @dirtylittlefokker, assembling a kit is model building. Scratchbuilding is model making. I like to say "model making is creating something from nothing. Actually, it is creating something from everything and choosing the right combination of materials". I find model making "funner" than model building. Pardon the grammar.

The ORCA is looking great and you are having fun, bonus.

“For small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only through love.” I’m sure the great cosmologist Carl Sagan did not have scratch building tiny cleats for a model of a boat from a movie in mind when he penned those words.

Nevertheless, for me, the quote captures something of the joy hidden within modeling; building a thing that others may find irrelevant, esoteric to the point of obscurity. Small objects of delight, be they boat cleats or that ridiculously small red emergency landing gear lever in Bf 109s, are important for our sanity. Sometimes only the love of small things can make sense of it all.

It’s been a long day.

Well before I turn in...Carl Sagan — 'Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.'

Gentle men before the jury, I give you "Cleats".

So, happened to check the TV guide and the movie was on Starz Encore tonight. Recorded and watched. Man! That s u c k e r still works like a clockwork shark!

I remember the first time I saw it in '75. Went with my wife and her little brother. At the end of the movie she cried out she couldn't feel her hands or lower arms. We'd both grabbed her right above her elbows and squeezed so tight we cut off circulation.

That s u c k e r WORKS.

And I can't believe what a w u s s the site nanny is.

@dirtylittlefokker Carl Sagan & Scratch Building
Cosmic love, or Sympathy for the Devil? Is the Mankind that obscured detail of the Universe where the uncomfortable truth hides? Or are those crumbs of dirt in the vastness of the cutting board indeed planet-like objects in an infatuated game of some flawed God? Oh David, you got me ramblin’ now…

David, as usual this is coming along nicely. The conversation is almost as much fun as watching the build. Some people say the "devil is in the details". I prefer to say the "delight is in the details". And the detail work is simply amazing.

I'm trying not to admit why I haven't seen the movie since if first came out. 🙂 If I ever muster the resolve to see it again I'll need to watch it in a beach hotel, late at night with the sound of the ocean in the background. Anything less would make me feel like a sissy. 🙂

“Don’t forget the extra bottom pulpit support” - you have no idea how that made me smile, Matt. Only been looking forward to that for weeks, and only a modeler would catch that from the movie.

Hope you and Holden had a great time watching this classic.

Farewell and adieu...

@coondog