Friends,
I had another of those weeks. Honestly, it is starting to seem like the harder I try, the more things go wrong. Still, I did manage to make some progress this week. Hit the ‘READ MORE’ button and I’ll share the details with you.
THE WEEK IN REVIEW
The big theme around here this week was family medical issues. My father went to the emergency room Tuesday and when I went to bed last night, he was still there. They refused to allow anyone from our family to go sit with him. Luckily, they at least agreed to give him his cell phone, which is how we found out they didn’t even feed him for the first 48 hours. So far, there is no diagnosis. They are just running up his bill and refusing to let him go. Then, on Thursday, our middle son had a problem. When he called his doctor, they told him to get to the emergency room right away. He sat there for five hours before they told him they ‘thought’ he had a blood clot and sent him home with orders to take some aspirin. When he got out of the ER, my son called his doctor back, when made room to see him and agreed that he had probably had a blood clot, but at least they prescribed him more appropriate medications. The common theme in all of this is COVID insanity. In both cases, all the ER seemed interested in doing was treating people who could be labeled as a ‘COVID patient.’ ‘They’ will tell you that the hospitals don’t receive more money for ‘COVID’ patients, but the way ‘They’ are acting, I do not believe ‘Them.’ Anyway, all of this took a good part of my work week as I had to go to town several times to help out with all of the stress this placed on my parents (my son took care of himself, and I am proud of him for doing so).
OUTSTANDING ORDERS
Currently, I have four open orders. Three of them need new molds before I will be happy enough with the castings to ship them. These customers have been notified. The other order came in just before I started to write this update. It is a BIG order, and it will take a couple days to fill. I am grateful for the work, but these four orders will take me a few days to fill. So, if you are one of the four customers involved, please be patient, I am working hard to ship your order as quickly as possible. I just do not want to compromise on the quality of the product you receive.
To the rest of you out there: I can still handle new orders, so please, don’t hold off on your order because you think you are helping me. The shop is set up to handle four times the work I currently have. If I wasn’t making new molds, all but the order that came in this morning would have been shipped by this afternoon. Seriously, I need the work. It pays the bills, keeps my mind focused and pushes me to stay focused on my job. So, if you need anything from TMD — anything at all — please, do not hesitate to place that order. 🙂
ON THE BENCH
As I just finished explaining, I was slowed down this week by family medical issues. That said, I still managed to make progress on the new TAMIYA M-18 kit. I just missed being able to release the hull hatches and gunner’s sight. I should put them under rubber later today. Both of these items will open up the periscopes so you can show them in place. The hull hatches will also be able to swivel from side-to-side, and tilt up-and-down. In short, they will be like every other hatch TMD makes for U.S. vehicles. Also on the bench, and pushing to be ready in the next 7-10 days:
— A set of light guards made closer to scale — Tools with straps
— The missing turret pads — Detailed spare track holders w/individual links
— A spare road wheel — Gun mantle without canvas cover
–Turret canvas retaining loops –Foul weather hoods, erected and collapsed
Once these are completed, I will move on to the driver’s compartment and the rest of the interior — maybe even a partial engine compartment.
ON KARL’S BENCH
I have no details as to what Karl is working on right now. I won’t call him until after lunch today. That said, I did send him an extra MINIART G7107 Chevy truck, a TAMIYA CCKW and a HOBBY BOSS CCKW. In his last email, he sounded very excited. He is talking with Dave Hobbs about how to use all the new ‘soft skin’ goodies I sent him to improve the various kits on the market. I have no idea what will come of this, or when. All I can do is promise to keep you informed of any progress being made on Karl’s bench.
THE SHOP
The shop is in decent shape. I still have the constant fight to keep it clean. It is being made more difficult by the fact that I did not manage to finish the annual clean-up before the holidays ended, but I am able to work efficiently. I am still looking for stuff I can sell off to make more room. I think I might start selling off a lot of my resin figures soon. These will be original manufacturer’s items, not pirated knock-offs. Some of these sets are rare and OOP. I also have more armor and the S-100 and S-38 kits to sell, as well. Watch for more listings.
THE OFFICE
The office is in about the same condition: a little cluttered, but running efficiently. It will be time to take a day or two to bang out the Federal taxes soon. The moment I get the first M-18 items on the market, I think I’ll take a day or so and get this out of the way. That way, I can get back to the M-18 without the taxes hanging over my head.
ME AND MY WORLD
BB is doing great! Which means, I’m doing OK. I have managed to beat off my bronchitis, so that’s good news. My diet? Well, I had to eat my doughnuts without sprinkles this week, so, yeah: the diet sucks. But, as you can see, I’m doing OK 😉 OH! We will be getting a new shop rat on the 14th. This time, we’ll be getting Chief another sister. So, by the evening of the 14th, there will be another little schnauzer running around here and — for the very first time — the girls will outnumber the boys at the TMD house.
THAT IS ALL
Well, that’s all the news that is news around here. Until next time, you stay safe and try to build something (preferably something using TMD resin).
–Joe