The NNL Nationals were held in Sylvania, Ohio last weekend and the theme class was "Demolition Derby."  Now, I don't know much about demolition derby cars, not because I don't like them, they're just not on my radar.  I think I may have seen  a couple of demo derbies at a state fair or maybe Flat Rock Speedway, but I have no technical knowledge about the cars.  Until now.  Looking at this group of models, I could gather a lot, like the use of little rear tires, or the special protection bars around the carburetor.  How about the use of diamond plate steel to protect the gas tank?  A good model is one that teaches you something about the subject and tells you that the builder knows about it too.  Along with the whimsical paint schemes and the cool mud effects, many of these demo derby models had deep technical detail, and I really like that.  Calnaga strives to provide you with parts that will add to the realism and the educational value of your models.

This has been Motorcycle Summer for me.  I've been able to get out on the trails of Michigan with my son and our Honda off road bikes a few times and enjoyed some nice technical woods riding.  I also got my now-classic 1986 Honda Interceptor street bike running and that's been fun to putt around on as well.  It's no surprise then, that my modeling interests this summer have focused on dirt bikes.  I'm restoring an old glue bomb MPC 1:25 Yamaha DT250. The little bike is actually well-rendered in scale except for the wheels and tires.  I developed methods of machining realistic knobby tires in scale, and now Calnaga customers can benefit from that effort.  Look for the new Tire Set, Dirt Bike Knobby's in the Dirt Bike category.  Click here to see this resin caster in action on his Honda CRF250X. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBWUygCfYGE

We make a big deal of teamwork in our culture.  From the old saying, "Two heads are better than one." to our current business climate of regular global collaboration via online communications.  I thought that it would be fun to collaborate on a model car project.  My first two attempts weren't very well received by my prospective build partners.  They had no interest in sharing a model car build.  But a third project came up in which I was to finish what another builder had started.  It was a very ambitious model that is needed as a piece of an even larger project, but the originating builder ran out of enthusiasm for it.  It's been a mixed bag.  My build partner completed some challenging bodywork that I might not have attempted on my own.  He's had some good painting tips to share.  On the other hand, turning someone else's work into a finished product can be challenging because you don't know if it's right or if corrections are needed until other parts come together with it.  In this case, a lot of corrections were needed!  Collaboration in model building can be a fun approach, but I think building is typically a solitary effort for good reason.