I'm gonna blame the medications

So the shoulder story continues.  I have not really regained any function in my arm north of the elbow and with the pain, lack of motility, etc., modeling progress has been glacial. Fortunately, alcohol - usually bourbon (Bower Hill of Louisville, Mr. Knights should be pleased to know) - has proved an effective way to augment my evening analgesia without moving up to narcotics. It is a genuinely fine Bourbon but it has not in any way assisted my productivity.  Sleep is pretty sparse these days too, and only really possible with a little bit of narcotic dosing at bedtime.

In the meantime, my MRI came back reading like a horror film script with quaint little phrases like, "full-thickness, complete tears," "edema and irregularity," and "degenerative fraying."  Surgery is coming up this Monday, and I anticipate a couple of weeks of rocky times during recovery.

I have already cut back on my time at the office and have been working from home when possible.  That's where I was, minding my own business, when all of a sudden a Priority Mail box appeared at my door. It had originated in Las Vegas from some guy named Garrity, who apparently runs a shop called "Rare Plane Detective."  Upon opening it, I found a behemoth of a pure resin kit of the Martin XP6M SeaMaster, which scales out almost 2 feet long in 1/72 scale with a wing span of 18".

Fortunately the SeaMaster is one of my all time favorite aircraft, so I decided to keep it.   That turned out to be a wise choice because eBay says I ordered it, and at less than 2/3 of the list price, I might add!  A comparative review suggests that the even more daunting kit by Mach 2 may be more accurate, but I don't know that I want to add any more to my pain right now.

In terms of that limited modeling, I have managed to get the Hobbyboss Mustang's kit decal invasion stripes on pretty well.  I used Future as the setting medium over the Future gloss coat, and it really helped pull the markings down into the surface detail.  Unfortunately, the fuselage roundels are part of the stripe decals and their colors are all wrong,  so I'll cover those with aftermarket pieces.  I have the serial-number custom decals printed somewhere, I just need to find them.

After some fairly intricate masking over the white base coat of the Tsukuda Skyraider, I preshaded with Testor's acrylic red over the control surface edges and the exposed panel lines.  I shot Testor's acrylic International Orange, tinged with a bit more red on the exposed portions of the airframe.  I've done a partial unmask so I can put the tape in place for the large black panels used to hide the Skyraider's prominent exhaust staining.  

Who knows when I'll be able to get back to the modeling desk, but I know the Shelf of Doom (and that delicate wee sprite of a SeaMaster) will be waiting.