LOL. I’m counting on it.
Your timing is impeccable. I was just finishing up for the night. I have two chairs fairly cleaned up, but they will still need some putty work.
Below: Here is what Timmy psychically viewed last night.
Below: Kind of a before and after thing only not the same chairs.
I’ll be sanding things for the next 2 weeks. Probably literaly. Anything that is not supposed to be textured needs to be sanded.
BTW. Preliminary testing with this stuff is good. It feathers nice when wet sanded. Too early to tell but this shows some serious promise for me as a filler. And–I don’t think it is any smellier than like a Tamiya.
Thank’s for spelling that for me … although … my "Porky Pig " impersonation is my go - to when I fail english.
I took a good look at those seat’s. Man were they rough ! What did they do … pour dirt into the mold first ???
Nice save !!!
You are welcome but I had to Google it.
LOL. You’ll have to teach me this language. Is there an APE version though. [Y]
LOL
I’m sending you a PM… I just had to Edit myself …
It is time to let you in on a Bakster secret. The best way to say it is in a story. As follows:
Many years ago, my parents took our family to a tourist trap called Wisconsin Dells. The year is 1968. I am 7 years old and what a treat this is. We went on a scenic boat trip along the Wisconsin River, attended a water show, and navigated all the souvenir shops. Later in the evening we watched a show where a dog is encouraged to jump a gap between two rock pinnacles. It seemed like certain death for our furry friend. I assure you that that he/she survived to sniff another day. An American Indian ceremonial dance was next. This day is packed with unexpected activities. Our cousins went with us and I have to believe they were behind all the planning. The day was unprecedented, and it would not repeat itself.
Just when I had thought that our day is done–a suggestion is floated that we go to a drive-in theatre. Wow! Once there–my Dad positions the car so that the rear of the wagon is facing the screen. He lowers the tailgate, blankets are spread out, and this is where I am to sit. On the roof are the rest of the kids, whilst the adults sit in lawn chairs. The sky is clear, and the air temperature is comfortably warm. Best of all–there are no mosquitos! Mosquitos ruin many a evening in Wisconsin. It seems that even nature is making the day something special.
The movie begins and it’s The Planet of the Apes. “A planet of Apes? This is gonna be cool!” I settled in for the ride. Before long the films iconic ending arrives. Taylor is on his knees wrenching his fists into the wet sand. He is cursing at all of humanity, whilst the camera pulls back for the final reveal. That image burned into my brain. Wow! It seals my fate.
This event is the perfect mixture of fresh air, fun, youth, and awe. It set me on a journey that spanned a number of years. Here it comes: I had become a Planet of the Apes junky. Pow! I bought Apes comic books. I watched every episode of the Apes TV series, and let’s not forget the Saturday morning cartoon series. Thrown into the mix are a few Aurora POTAs model kits. Bakster had ape fever.
These days–I have sufficiently recovered. I can look at the movie and see many of the cheese bananas deliberately thrown into it. Gone is the awe. But–I can still enjoy watching the film that critics consider iconic for its day.
And there it is. I am out of the APE closet.
THE END
My memories of 1968 are less specific.
Family PCS-ed from Fort Worth to Chicago. So, I sepend much of the summer in Plainview, Texas, where my grandfather was the movie mogul (he wound up owning both of the movie theatersand all three of the drive-ins). I don’t really remember seeing any movie all the way through [:)].
Second half of the summer was spent in Peru, Indianna with the other grandparents. We drove over to Denver, IN to see the VFD put on a fireworks show.
Later, I got to ride with my mom on a Pennsy (pennsylvania Central) train off to Chicago.
We moed into our brand-new Fox&Jacobs house in the nearly-new Foxfire subdivision of Glen Ellyn, IL. Just in time to watch the riots at the '68 Democrat National Convention (a mere 23 miles away).
Such are the impressions of an 8 y/o.
The Year : 1968
This was a “Pivital” year for Little Timmy… I learned to use the toilet… ALL BY MYSELF !
It must have been one of those “Moment’s in time”,Because my Parent’s ,Uncle, and grandparent’s were all there … and they seemed to be Very happy.
Don’t remember anything else, untill the moon landing in 69.
Banner year!
Thanks for sharing as well, Capn. How iteresting that our ages are so close. Even Tim is not too far off.
Hey, forgot to mention. Good that you were old enough to appreciate the moon landing. That was an awesome time and event.
Yep. Watched the whole thing on our 19 inch Zenith Black and White T.V.
( ( however, Grandpa had purchased one of those plastic screen’s that was "supposed"to change your B/W TV to color. It fit over the TV and had a Green band across the lower third of the TV. The upper third was blue. The middle was clear. So for me and my 3 year old brain… It looked like the moon had Grass.) L O L !
Oh man! What were you thinking Gramps!. Lol. Too funny. Sorry for you though because that kind of takes away from it.
Yeah our TV was BW too. Hard to believe we lived through those hardships.
[:$]
BTW Capn. How cool to have a movie mogul in the family. I hope you got free tickets.
Ah, the Moon Landing.
Pretty riviting for a space-addicted 9 y/o.
My brother was a bit peeved as 20 July 1969 was his fifth birthday.
We were in Plainview, and we all gathered in the Family room, as that was where the color tv was (the fanciy cabinet (but B&W) tv was also on). An Aunt, two Uncles, and a neighbor were all in the house, too. Pretty big doings in a town of about 16,000 folks.
My grandfather and all four of his brothers were in the biz, as had their father before them.
My GGF had built and operated the movie theater in Ada, OK years before.
One Uncle was in the distribution bisiness. Another supplied popcorn for the region from SF to Vancouver, east to Idaho, and all of Nevada. His cadillac proclaimed hin the “Popcorn Kolernel.” The youngest of the brothers was the movie maven of Coos Bay, OR.
So, I pretty much could wander into a number of theaters at will. Also spent more than a fair share of unpaid time serving concessions or taking tickets (even sold some tickets, too).
Even had a pretty good p/t gig with UA screening films. They way that worked is that the distributor would have films available. A theater–or in the big cities, a chain–woiuld rent copies of the films, which they would then show. Part of that rental included looping in certain trailers and the like.
UA was concerned at the time (probably still is) that their films would be screened to certain standards. So, I’d get a list every two weeks of all the UA films available. I’d pick one, and a theater, and go buy a ticket. I had to note which trailers were spliced in. I’d also have to note how wel lthe film was masked (were bits cut off, or shown on the surround, and the like). Also the sound quality and volume, how well the reels were synced, and how beat up the print was.
This latter was a pretty big deal when theaters went to “platten” projectors. All the reels were spliced together on a 6-7’ platten around a central spindle, then fed off through the projector(s) and back to the central spindle again (much like how an 8-track tabe works). This necessitated a bunch of rollers over which the film ran. If the rolers picked up grit, it scratched the print.
If not using a platten, you needed two projectors. You loaded one real on one projector, then the next on the other. The projectioonist had to watch near the end of the first reel for a circle to appear at (typically) the top right of the screen). This was the cue to start the other projector and sync it to the first. There would be another dot/circle to show the cut off of the first projector. Projectionist then had to spool the first reall off its take up reel and onto a projection reel (for the really old projectors). Then, the next reel could be loaded up. Rinse and repeat.
Xenon lamps replaced carbon arc lamps which made the projectors safer and easier (no having to mind the carbon rods). Plattens replaced separate reels. (Which meant a projectionist could be replaced with a multiplex manager who just had an on/off switch. Which was later automated to link with House lights and the like.
Now, films are all on digital platters, so reels are a ting of the past, too.
Anywho, while an interesting gig (they reimbursed for the ticket and mileage to the theater, and a price per view) it alos meant I had to sit through some stinkers of films. So, yeah, the Dino De Laurentis Dune was interesting, Midsummer’s Night’s Dream, maybe not so much. Cat People was good, but I was never quite so happy to be at a 1500 matinee and walk out into bright sunshine as after that.
From 1992 , untill 1997, I worked fo a chain of movie theatere’s.
I was the Janitor /ticket seller/ ticket taker / projectionist/ connsession salesman / manager, and eventually General manager of 5 of the 9 theatere’s they owned.
CapnMac 82, after reading your post … I feel your “pain” !
Hey Capn, what a great story. I enjoyed reading that history in your life, and I enjoyed reading about the technology involved to project films. Awesome! It sounds like a fun time for you. The exception being some of the stinker movies that you had to watch, all the way through. That would be shear torture. If I don’t like a movie, I leave. Been there…done that.
And this is why I like to tell my stories. It’s not that I want to talk about myself. No. I do it in the hope that others will share theirs. We all have em. We all have interesting journeys in life. Why not share them. What would be cool is if this forum had a section called, Tell us your story. It would be a place that we could share our stories. I think that would be neat.
Anyway. Thanks for sharing that!
Well I’ll be. Another story told. And we’d never known that you two had that in common. To be honest … I thought Timmy chased the Grateful Dead full-time! Timmy! You worked?
[;)]
Don’t bother me boy. I’m watching the moon landing!