Bill Cross

When I saw "Albatros," I was expecting a string bag. It's both a fine build AND a model I've never seen before. Well done.

It's a hobby, Jerry, and you're an excellent builder. I hope you don't mind my opinion, and I hope you keep building the way you want to.

Masel tov!

Very nice, but a bit too clean for my tastes.

Very nice.

Really nice.

Carl, my kids went to Sunday Chinese school until they were teenagers (long story, but my two girls are adopted). They hated every minute of it, LOL. I'm def impressed that you learned. It's a hard as **** language, not to mention the tones.

Thanks to Maru for wishing me well, and to everyone who has said to have a good time. I'm really looking forward to it. I DO know what "turning Japanese" is supposed to mean, but I figure it might be like the Dirty Sanchez and simply be young folks fooling the old fuddy-duddies. Still haven't heard confirmation from Luckymodel, so I'll walk over the Fat Frog Models which is run by Hobbyeasy.com and see what they have in stock. See y'all when I get back.

I'll bring y'all a charm against the Stash-Eating Devil.

What Grant said. It's easier in the cities than in the countryside, but Japan has come a long way since I first traveled there in the 80s: signs in English (and Chinese), announcements and postings on the trains in 3-4 languages, and in Tokyo you may never need cash money (the Pasmo and other transportation cards can be used to pay for almost anything and reloaded easily from machines). The only caveat to that is eating: only 20% of restaurants have menus in English. If you don't mind pointing and eating whatever it turns out to be, you'll be OK. Pocket WiFi is really useful: you pay about $5/day for yuuuge bandwidth and unlimited data. You can even order it from Japan National Railway delivered to your hotel. And the Japan Rail Pass is GREAT and well worth the price if you plan to travel around a lot. Just be sure to say you are visiting as a tourist or you won't be able to activate the Rail Pass even if you have paid for it. I once had to go to the other side of a train station to eat, and rather than walk around, I flashed my pass and walked through the middle of the station.

Thanks, Jim, I will once again have pocket WiFi so I can use Google Maps to find it if I can find the time. A Mossie might be a nice thing, though I don't know where I will put it AND the F-104 I hope to pick up in Hong Kong.

There is almost no downtime on the trip: four factory tours, tasting sessions, and preparing for a major press conference to launch our client's food products in Japan. But the Tamiya store is only 15 minutes walk from one of my 2 hotels, so I'm going to give it a shot. Are the prices better or the usual high Japanese fixed MSRP?

I used their set on my Revell Bf-110 G-4 and on a Kriegslokomotiv I never finished (partly because some of the decals balled up or otherwise got funky on me due to carrier film issues). I wouldn't buy anything from them again unless I absolutely couldn't get the thing anywhere else.

Because she's a knock-out in that mini and thigh-high stockings.... The Vapors have the better music, so here's that one, too. Dunst uses the same music track underlying her vocals.

Leaving on a jet plane Sunday morning for three weeks in the Land of the Rising Sun, Hong Kong, China (just Shenzhen, keep your shirts on), and Australia, all for work. But one LSP thing: I hope to pick up that Italeri F-104G/S from LuckyModel at my hotel in Hong Kong. That will make the long, strange trip worthwhile on a personal level. Already ordered all the AM **** to do it up crazy except the DACO decals.