VADM Fangschleister
-
Content Count
435 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Calendar
Posts posted by VADM Fangschleister
-
-
On 2/13/2021 at 9:21 AM, Scooby said:
Replying for a second time, again so sorry for your loss.
One of my current dogs also watches TV. Your info was interesting to read. Indy especially like dog shows. If he hears the Pet Smart commercial he come scooting into the living room.
That is so cool. Only recently have people dove into the very unusual relationship that people have with dogs. I've also noted how through selective breeding, humans have diversified all the different breeds, supposedly from one genome, the wolf. Everything from Chihuahuas to Bull Mastiffs, it's remarkable and many of them with distinct and unique personality traits.
It's been a month and a half now and though I'm feeling a little better, I am still very much attached to my emotions toward Coby. I have read many testimonials and seen some videos where dogs and their masters have equally co-dependent relationships as I had with my little hero. It impressed on me greatly that this is something no other two species on the planet has and it fills my heart with great joy to see it. Conversely, I cringe at the stories of cruelty, remembering being told that "Anyone who would be cruel to an animal would have no problem being cruel to people."
Rescuing a dog or cat to a loving home is something I believe in and in time, I will likely go to a shelter and find a new pal but I'm not ready just yet as the pain still lingers. But I know I will come around eventually.
I also am grateful to all who have read and participated in this thread, knowing it has next-to-nothing to do with model building but many of us have our special companion close by when we're at the bench or just fondling the plastic of a new kit. I still chuckle as I remember Coby very much needing to inspect any packages that came in the mail for my hobbies. A quick but serious sniffing and a look at me to approve the latest acquisition.
It still fascinates me that dogs seem able to read us so very well and offer us unconditional love and tolerate our being so very flawed as beings while wishing to be close by and enjoying our attention and affection so easily. For all the challenges we face in our day-to-day lives, our pets are always there to welcome us, sit with us and all for just a kind word, a pat on the head or belly rub and playtime. It's perhaps the best bargain we humans have ever struck.
-
On 1/20/2021 at 6:33 AM, Napalmakita said:
..but one day we will all meet again. I wish you the best friend. Be good to yourself and God bless.
A most kind word, thank you. The month is passing quickly and I am packing, almost ready to move 1500 miles away. I have an almost irrational fear that I will leave his spirit behind here as I go. I have his ashes and memories which seem so miniscule to the larger-than-life pup that he was. I do believe he was sent to me so I could have a companion and to help my self-worth as the airline I worked for continuously tried to destroy me. But Coby was always there, happy to see me, to be my friend and to spend time with me as if it was automatic.
There is no other relationship on earth that matches that between humans and dogs. Some of my friends say that God put them under our care to allow us to meet the great potential we have for goodness. I don't know if that's true but it sure answers a lot of questions. I've always had a dog and sometimes two or three. They are all different and they all made me laugh and gave me tremendous joy.
Thank you again for the kind words.
-
3 hours ago, Model-Junkie said:
I'll make sure to give some treats to my other cats tonight in memory of Coby
Thanks Model-Junkie. It's strangely compelling how we get so attached to our four-legged friends. Thank you for sharing your story about Niblet. Cool name.
-
17 hours ago, Rob de Bie said:
Can you tell us more about Coby watching TV? That's something I've never seen. What did atract his attention? Anything with animals I would guess? I see in the photo that cartoons worked for him 🙂 Could you read his emotional response to what he saw? I see him wagging his tail in the photo, he must have liked that scene 🙂
Rob
Thanks, Rob, you are most kind.
It was completely unexpected the first time I saw Coby watching TV. I've had dogs all my life but none of them had any interest and I had always supposed that it had something to do with the picture tube and the way the human brain processes visual information vs. the way a dog's brain does. But this little guy would also watch the large picture tube TV I used to have and that's where "doggie on TV" became a thing. If I said that, he would run to go see the dog on TV. Sounds silly, yeah, but like a lot of people I talk "child-speak" to my dogs...so sue me. Heh.
But when flat-screen TV's became affordable, it became more common and I remember another curious thing. There is a NOVA episode from years ago with Brian Green talking about string theory and in the lengthy intro to the subject, there's a scene where he says, "You might as well try to teach physics to a dog" where Brian's Labrador Retriever is featured just blinking her eyes while Brian does some math work on the blackboard.
Not only did Coby cue in on the dog being there but....as I often watched the episode, he got trained in a way I did not expect. I hadn't seen the episode in some years and one night, for something to fall asleep in front of, I played it. Coby was right next to me, asleep. But when the part where the Labrador is about to appear, Coby perked up and was sitting up, waiting for it. The background music and Green's narration is probably a conditional cue. But I also attributed it to Coby's extraordinary level of intelligence. He knew many words and commands. One of which is kind of funny.
He often would align himself on the bed with his butt up by my head. Many dogs do this...and if you've ever seen a pack of dogs or a family that has a couple of dogs, they often sleep like that, nestled together. Well...I don't particular care for that and at one point, I simply said, "Coby, turn around." and much to my amazement, he did exactly that. He got up and turned around to put his head in the same direction as mine.
But he would watch some TV shows...he would wag his tail when Mr Spock appeared which I thought was the strangest thing but maybe he looked like someone in Coby's previous life before I found him. He used to sing to the Star Trek theme. He was very "verbal" which apparently is peculiar to the American Bulldog breed. He was very sociable and loved everybody. Just genuinely affectionate to all creatures to include cats...except he thought cats were plush toys. So we did not repeat that exercise. Took an hour to get the cat out of her hiding place.
I have never had a dog so totally engaged with me. He was always watching me, following me, close-by, and just happy to be with. This made it especially hard to see him go. And he departed as he slept right next to me, in my arms, getting strokes as he slept. Something I shall never forget, to be sure. Especially hard to say goodbye and still. I am packing to move away now, I have his ashes and am ready to leave. I never wanted to move to Kansas in the first place but it was one of the best jobs I ever had. Thanks to virus panic, like millions of others, the job was terminated along with 130 other people who were hired when I was.
But I'm trying to look forward to brighter times, in the time that I have left and will try to return to a more jovial self as the past several years have been harsh. But compared to many, I have still been fortunate.
-
Thanks crackerjazz. And thank you, everyone. I took Coby's ashes home yesterday afternoon and they did a paw-print and hair trimmings that I can look at from time-to-time, along with the nice box that hold his mortal remains. Will Rogers said, "They tell me when dogs die, they don't go to heaven. Well, when I die, I want to go where they go."
I also noticed that on IMDB, one of the single most popular episodes of the old The Twilight Zone TV show was "The Hunt" where a hillbilly and his dog, Rip both drown when raccoon hunting. The show examines the pair as they travel a road and almost end up at the wrong place because they wouldn't allow the dog in. I have been known to drop everything if that episode is on on MeTV late at night.
Many here both publicly and privately have shared their stories about their beloved four-legged friends. It's wonderful to know you all and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. There has been some closure and I'm getting ready to move away but his life will always bring special memories and make me pause for just a moment to be grateful for the time we spent together. I wish sometimes he could still be here. And I always will.
-
Thanks T thunder. I took his ashes home today. They did a paw-print cast and hair trimmings. It's only been a little over a week but I'm trying.
-
Two fine buddies to have around! I'll bet they are a blast! Thanks for the photo. They look great!
-
Thank you Curt B. The pain they tell me will diminish but never go away. I should hope it never leaves completely for it would lessen the value of this extraordinary animal who would wake me when my blood sugar was low (no training) and who would follow me to every room or find me when I went out of his sight and he didn't catch it. Fora belly rub, a rawhide chewy, a walk or a ride in the car. Always just happy to be with, to be "among". Only dog I ever knew who watched television. He knew what the day would be like based on what clothes I put on in the morning. Slacks = work day and he would wait while I was gone but expected reward when I returned in the form of attention and activity which he rightly deserved. Bluejeans and he would be even happier because I would be with him all day.
How blessed I was. How entirely unexpected the chance meeting would end up with such a long relationship. He watched me go through hell on several occasions and kept me from feeling completely devastated many times. Always within reach and always joyful. Eye contact resulted in *thump*thump*thump* of his tail. Or just saying his name.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for understanding. I've never loved anything or anyone as much as my little hero. His trust in me was complete and I often changed my plans to suit the obligation to him.
Thank you again.
-
Thanks most kindly to all who've replied and also all who've viewed my post. I genuinely think very highly of this site and have been coming here since the early 2000's...most knew me as Rusty Shackleford. My life changed dramatically in 2004 and after that, much of the joy had gone out of it, except for this little guy who always made me smile.
Good people here. Kind and thoughtful and I've watched a great many builds here and some extraordinary skills.
Thank you all again.
-
On 1/7/2021 at 1:58 PM, Berkut said:
;
Note the tail jack to prevent the nose from pointing sykward.
-
Fellow ARC'ers, I have spent the last week grieving heavily for my beloved dog, Coby. I have never had a dog as fun, as loving, as loyal and as smart as him. In 2007, I was on a day off and going into town for lunch in South Carolina and he ran in front of my truck. I screeched to a stop, got out and he was genuinely glad to see me, jumped up with his paws on my chest and I noted the lack of a collar. However, I assumed he had escaped from his yard and so, I put him over the fence where I thought he belonged and went about my day.
Oddly enough, the exact same thing happened the following day in exactly the same way. I got out again and picked him up and put him in my truck, which he thought was just the best and drove down the driveway to the house where I thought he belonged prepared to scold the owner for being irresponsible. Well, as it turns out, it wasn't his home. Faced with a quandary as my lease did not permit having a pet, I drove around for hours stopping at house after house desperately trying to find his owner.
Where I lived in York County, like a lot of places, is very rural and people often would drop their pet off thinking they would be ok or someone would find them and assuage them of the guilt of abandoning their dog. Well, here I was with a lost waif, having a hoot riding around with me, talking to dozens of people who did not claim him. I went to Animal Control and that's when the light-bulb came on brightly.
They said, "Sure, you can drop him off here; He'll get his five days."
My heart sank and in a nano-second I made a choice. My landlady might find out, she was difficult to say the least and if she kicked me out for having a dog, so be it. This little guy was but just around a year old or less, was as happy a pup as I've ever met and seemed to like me as if we had always been paired as dog and owner since he was born.
So I made a trip to town, had lunch, got some bowls and food and a collar and leash and the next several days we got to know one another and I found out that he liked to "talk". He would gurgle little "stories" and wooooo--wooooo a lot and thought the little house I lived in was just the best. My philosophy with dogs is they are people too, with conditions. But he was allowed on the bed, the couch, anywhere he wanted to be. He seemed to be house-trained and would go to the back door to ask to go out.
That was 2007. A week ago, Monday, at 7:15 in the morning, Coby, my beloved friend of almost 14 years, lost his battle to spleen cancer and left. He was in my arms on the bed as his spleen ruptured. The vet had warned me about it and I had been checking his gums and inner eyelids as instructed watching for them to turn gray, telling me that his time to bring him in for euthanizing was due. Well, he ate supper the night before, we played a little, in spite of his abdomen being more distended and his difficulty using his rear legs. He was in no pain, wanted to be near me and we spent the last hours of his life sitting on the couch with my petting him and then we went to bed.
This is the hardest thing I have ever faced. I post this here to help alleviate some of the pain and share with everyone what a wonderful, happy pup he was and how he helped me cope with so many tough times. I lost my job in 2016, have struggled to find good work, got lucky and found suitable employment but lost it in April due to virus panic. I was diagnosed with terminal cancer myself and I have to move from here to my mother's house back east. We lost her in September. 2020 has been brutal but through it all, Coby was by my side and the undiscovered killer his body had was not diagnosed until December 22. I was heartbroken then and I weep some as I write this now. I am coping better with the giant emptiness his absence has left as he was with me at all times except when I was at work which, when I tallied it out, seem to have been close to five years of his waiting for me to come home.
If you have a pet, please give them a treat in Coby's name, tell them they are good and love them for all they're worth. You'll be rewarded tenfold for it. I must let him go as I believe that my grief might prevent his spirit from being free, as it must be. I am so very grateful for the time was was blessed to have this wonderful animal choose me, of all people.
I will likely have another dog someday. I live alone and a house is not a home without a bundle of four-legged friendship to greet you, laugh with you (dogs do laugh) and show me what joy really is.
I have had his remains cremated and will receive them sometime this week. I clasped his collar for the last time forever and hung it on the corner of his photo, a favorite of mine and will forever hold a cherished place in my heart for Cobius Maximus, my little hero.
-
I went with this that I found on eBay® years ago but for the life of me I cannot find it again listed there. A wooden or metal-mesh would've done just as well but I was on a budget then. They came in various sizes and this was the largest capacity one. The shelves all had a clear plastic front barrier allowing me to read the labels
-
Once the lume is "charged up" you can take the UV light away and let it glow for as long as it lasts. Here you can see in a lighted room it still retains some "glow" and if you dim the room lights it will be a bit more pronounced. Same as on a wristwatch dial.
-
I am shining a UV flashlight onto the material here and you can see it glows brightly when the UV light is on it. One application might be to have the model displayed in such a way that you can have UV LED's shining on places on the model in such a way to keep them bright like this.
-
Here is the mixed stuff, in a little container to show the natural color when it's not glowing. It is quite easily applied to surfaces and adheres well and holds its shape.
-
McFly, I came up with another possible inexpensive solution. I often dabble with watchmaking and sometimes have to re-apply lume to the hands or the the hour markers. The glow-in-the-dark powder is mixed with a white glue medium and when dry, is luminescent when charged up in room lighting, daylight or especially when UV light is applied to it. It's relatively inexpensive and can be bought off of eBay®.
There are different brands and some come with pre-filled applicators.
There are also different colors. I usually use just the standard green but it seems to match the color of the strips when not in use very nicely. Easily applied and charge it up with a hand-held UV light (or sunlight or a lightbulb) and voila! You have working slime lights!
-
https://www.ebay.com/itm/12V-A6-EL-Panel-Electroluminescent-Light-Neon-Sheet-Tape-Cuttable-Actuator
That link won't work, so it seems but if you copy and past in the eBay search window, you should be able to find it.
The trimmable sheets work
It'll take some thinking and patience. This is from a stalled project where the buyer backed out. I tried fluorescent paint with a UV LED behind it, didn't care for it. I ultimately decided on electroluminescent sheets that are cuttable/trimmable. They are powered by a 9VDC battery but with an AC inverter.
I cut a slit to slide the strip onto the model and planned on hiding any ugly edges with a photo-etch strip superglued in place. The retrofitted slime lights on the F-4's I worked on were raised above the regular surface of the aircraft skin so it would be scale in appearance.
I had not decided yet whether I would need a separate circuit for each light (four on each side) and I hadn't determined how to do the wingtips either.
But the effect is authentic and accurate.
-
Glad you're still in there kickin'.
I am not at the buying stage yet but curious if your 1/32 F-100 intake will fit on the all-new F-100F from Trumpeter. I'm assuming (uh-oh) that the engineering of theirs is identical to the "D"; Flat on the bottom.
I'm still awaiting reviews and comparison sprue shots from some enterprising individual.
-
I love this thread. I noted Randy's interior and marveled at it. Naturally, this model cries out for "diorama", either landing on the asteroid with The Companion and Zephram Cochran or on Eden with Sevrin. Maybe on the hostile planet where they crashed investigating Murasaki 312.... or even a giant wall presentation with the planet killer and Matt Decker flying into it.
My mechanical engineering side cries out for figuring out how to flip a switch and get the doors to operate, knowing full well that grips on the set opened and closed them, sometimes with difficulty.
I was glad to read that the original screen prop, the full-size magilla is fully restored and on display now.
You'll note my avatar and I made that long before this model was kitted. Perhaps a serendipitous moment.
It's truly a fun kit and a return to my childhood and back to the days when TV was still experimenting and taking risks before computer models and think-tanks and study groups all destroying the storytelling for their own agendas.
-
Remember, the Tardis is bigger inside than it is outside.
I will watch to see how you master this modeling feat. Shouldn't be a problem...🤨
-
1/32 F-106
1/32 F-101B
-
On 10/17/2020 at 1:54 PM, Winnie said:
You CAN assemble both levels, but tough to see behind the Radar Nav console...
Pondering that...maybe possible to have removable outside skin sections that are held in place with jewelers screws or pin-slides. Done in such a way as to not remove such a large section that causes structural weakness but where you can remove a section and with some modest LED lighting, display the interior. If it were me, I'd make the exterior panel cuts along existing panel lines and make sure they fit very snug so as to not have glaring gaps at the lines.
Another option might be hinged panels which wouldn't look exactly scale and might arouse some rivet-counter to critique the method...but then...such people are not worth paying attention to as it is.
Third option might be to cut the sections open, then replace with heat-formed clear skin replacements.
Any way you do it, as you know will require lots of forethought and planning and working slowly to meet the results you want. It's going to be a fun project though. Many hours will pay off!
-
-
a.jpg.981c4c375f95f0164d830ce37ecca3b0.jpg)
A dedication to my best friend
in General Discussion
Posted · Edited by VADM Fangschleister
Andy,
A heartfelt and touching tribute to a wonderful pet. I grieve with you as many here do, I'm sure. Our pets do become such solid anchors to our own existence and I, for one, forget how, as one person has said, "They are with us for a short period in our lives, but for them we are there for their whole life."
That has been in my head since Jan 4 this year and I still feel devastated. I suppose it will get easier as time passes but yes, I understand the enormous space that has been left. They are our alter egos and our friends, asking for very little and giving us so very much.
I hope the coming days will find you and your wife at peace knowing that you've been fine guardians for a wonderful animal and that you can dwell on the good more than the absence.