2025 Plastic Surgeons Meetings and Other Fun!

[Rhino]

Hi guys! Welcome to this years Plastic Surgeon club thread!
That's right! Our merry band of Model Miscreants weathered another year without serious casualty or damage!

Teresa built a new Lighthouse Pen. The light operates! Not really a fade to bright and fade out light, but still really cool! We're looking for red and white acrylic pen blanks that look like bricks to add to the lighthouse-ness of this US made inkstick. Next up, she built another T-rex out of yarn. This one is a contract build for our friends that own Napoli's Italian restaurant in Marion, Iowa. A more dapper Yarn-a-saurus Rex to be sure!
We shall dine together in the finest fashion with the meals we will trade Snazzy Rex for!
The going rate for skilled contract yarn scratch-building is 3 cents a stitch.

The Baby blankie she made for her co-worker Riley was a huge hit!

 

[Rhino]

Next event! The weather-belated Plastic Surgeons Christmas party and gift exchange. (Dump your complete, unwanted or turd model kits on your brothers!) Sometimes the drawing is ironic and sometimes quite apropos!

Curt arrives to join the celebration with good news of how well his wife, Tootie's cardiac pacemaker is working. She's almost back to her usual self! Replaced the worn-out points with a new Mallory electronic ignition module? Kevin Nelson's ocular surgeon is amazed at his progress. His vision has been restored to 20/20 and 20/40. Kevin has come a long way since his surgeries and is a living example of the power of prayer. His wife Nancy is good fun too! Teresa and I had a fine time visiting with the Nelsons. It turns out Kevin tells Nancy every silly joke and pun I send him in text. Poor lil' thing!

Joe did get laid-off from Sauer-Danfoss, but I am sure in the coming weeks that will change that. Winter lay-off doesn't sound so bad. No driving in awful Iowa winter weather. New modeling space to play in as America's economy spins back up? Things will improve quickly!

17 Surgeons and guests attended the Christmas celebration at the Wig & Pen in Ankeny. An English themed Pub. I must say, the room fit our group's needs comfortably, the service was good. Gold star for server Clinton! The food was hot and delicious. The price was reasonable too!


I got to chat with D (Dedan) for a bit. He's into model ships right now and enjoying himself. It was fun to talk Ship with a much younger enthusiast! He finished an Atlantis (old Monogram tool) DKM Bismarck model and had fun doing so.
Much model ship lore do I have to pass on to D. Yes.

Our gift exchange was good to me! In an English themed pub, sporting my Airfix Christmas jumper, my gift was the new tool Airfix 1/72 scale Bristol Beaufighter TF.X! Jolly Good! AND! I finally got shed of the gundam kit that didn't sell for 2 years on tlarmodels.com

Here are a few Christmas gifts that I remember;

Dave Bettis won 2 old school kits. Hasegawa 1/72 F-100D Super Sabre and an Italeri 1/72 JU-88/ BF-109F Mistel kit. Right up dave's alley!
D won a 1/48 Testors Lockheed U-2C spyplane kit. An exciting model!
Ray Powers has a new Atlantis Frankenstein's Flivver model kit
Nate Stevens won an Airfix WASA 1628 sailing ship kit.
Trennis Steven's prize was Tamiya's 1/350 Bismarck. A cool gift!
Kevin won a 1970 Chevelle SS and Hey Bob won an Italeri/Tamiya Eurofighter, so they swapped and both went home happy!
Bob Maloy's prize was the 21st Century Toys 1/32 Mitsubishi Zero kit.

For added Christmas fun, I brought along some dickhead coins and TLAR goodies for selected Surgeons.

Mike Rasmussen's plan is a stand-out this year. He won the gundam I donated. He thinks a diorama of a gundam guarding a bridge, crossed with Monty Python's invincible Black Knight would be funny. I think he's right! Imagine "Come back here, ya Pansy! I'll bite your legs off!" with a gundam kit! Hydraulic fluid spraying from severed limbs? "Hmmm! Toru koto narazu!" Japanese for "you shall not pass"
Too Funny!
Thanks for looking in!
Have fun! Put stuff together!

 

[Rhino]

And third, I shall divulge a Manly secret recipe. My own Trainwreck Chili.
Bear in mind that my Brother-in-law's Momma passed away and the illustrated gigantic batch of Trainwreck chili is bound for her Saturday Celebration of Life. Not many things ease an aching heart like a hot bowl of good country Fart Stew!
This will be the recipe for the standard quantity. 6 quarts.
Ingredients:

Onion
Butter
1 Lb. ground beef.
Chopped Rabbit, frog or snake meat.
1 1/2 pounds Fareway premium Stew meat.
1 lb. Italian sausage. (Optional parts, see?!)
A can of stewed tomatoes.
A dinky can of tomater paste.
Big can and smaller can of Grimes chili beans
Can of red kidneys.
Can of Black beans.
Bear Creek "Darn Good Chili" soup bag.
Ground cumin.
Chili powder.
Sweet Paprika
Honey.

"Rhino. Why is it called Trainwreck Chili?"
Shush. I'll get to that!

Assembly Instructions.

Chop 1/3 of the onion and sauté' it in butter in the bottom of a 6 quart loomium pot. After them onions is carmelizded, Add your ground beef and brown that too.
I don't drain the fat from the ground beef.
Add stewed tomaters, paste and Bear Creek chili mix. Fill the soup mix bag with water and install that too.
Stir, cover and heat to a slow cheerful, bubbling boil.

Add stew meat, rabbit, frog or snake meat, cover and WALK AWAY!
Stir this every now and again. Flavor with chili powder, sweet paprika and cumin as you go. Too much ground Cumin will hurt you! Go easy, baby!

When this mixture is cheerfully bubbling, stir in the beaners. It takes a couple of hours for all the flavors to mix and for the meat to cook.
Stir this every now and again too. Stir in a squirt of honey.

Here's where the "Trainwreck" comes in.
Go to the 'fridge. If there's not a Yak in it, find any leftover meat or potato that isn't blue or furry, chop that up and stir it in.
Figure on a about a 2 hour covered simmer. Sample and season as you go.

Serve with nice, fresh, sour cream, Fritos, fresh cornbread and as much grated cheese as you wish for.
"Sour Cream?!"
Research conducted by the pilots and crew of Naval Air Station White Oak has proven conclusively that the violent, explosive flatulent effect of consuming Trainwreck chili is lessened by use of sour cream. LESSENED ONLY! It does cure chills and some minor sinus ailments.

A Manly meal indeed, Suh!
There you go Errains!

Consider yourself warned.

 

[Sharkmouth]

Chopped Rabbit, frog or snake meat.
1 1/2 pounds Fareway premium Stew meat.
1 lb. Italian sausage. (Optional parts, see?!)

Add stew meat, rabbit, frog or snake meat, cover and WALK AWAY!
Stir this every now and again. Flavor with chili powder, sweet paprika and cumin as you go. Too much ground Cumin will hurt you! Go easy, baby!

When this mixture is cheerfully bubbling, stir in the beaners. It takes a couple of hours for all the flavors to mix and for the meat to cook.
Stir this every now and again too. Stir in a squirt of honey.

Here's where the "Trainwreck" comes in.
Go to the 'fridge. If there's not a Yak in it, find any leftover meat or potato that isn't blue or furry, chop that up and stir it in.

Serve with nice, fresh, sour cream, Fritos, fresh cornbread and as much grated cheese as you wish for.
"Sour Cream?!"
Research conducted by the pilots and crew of Naval Air Station White Oak has proven conclusively that the violent, explosive flatulent effect of consuming Trainwreck chili is lessened by use of sour cream. LESSENED ONLY! It does cure chills and some minor sinus ailments.

I love a recipe that allows for personalization! Like finding a use for roadkill on the way to get my ingredients! Possum, squirrel, venison, and more!

While I like the sour cream, it lessens the medicinal effects! To improve on them, have chili before a long road trip with the one ailing of chills and/or sinus issues! As for the other one in the car, I'm ready!

 

[Rhino]

I forgot to tell all y'all what the optional Italian sausage is for! ZORN!
Roll the Italian sausage in quarter-sized balls and drop them in the simmering chili.
They will cook while simmering into yummy, spicy, little meatballs that can be easily avoided the the less stout of heart.
They add a bit of "Mama Mia!!" to an otherwise traditional Rhiner recipe.

 

[Rhino]

Our mission for tomorrow has been call-signed "Fartblossom 2 Actual".

 

[moon puppy]

It gets better when it ferments a bit.

 

[Sharkmouth]

It gets better when it ferments a bit.

What do you think the vibrations from the engine and road do on that long road trip! Activate the relief valve!

 

[Rhino]

What do you think the vibrations from the engine and road do on that long road trip! Activate the relief valve!

Fartblossom 2 actual made the trip to West Des Moines and back without slopping or spilling any chili.
Many of the guests commented on how much they enjoyed it. We arrived a couple of hours early to help with chores and welcome guests.
I patrolled my Seester's house to make sure those guests with ill intent left with the same things in their pockets as the arrived with.
If you look people in the eye and tell them a Yak joke, you can sense bad intent.

We came home with about a quart of chili and other leftover goodies. There was a lot of food!