Numerical Explorations

Opened the box at 3:00 PM Friday, May 3, 2024.

Painted first coats on the primary and secondary turrets on Saturday, May 4, 2024, afternoon after washing a few of the frames.

By Wednesday, May 8, 2024, I had painted and put together 10 – 5” dual-purpose turrets and I have painted all the main armament triple – 16” 50 caliber rifles. The 5” dual-purpose guns are broken down into four parts and the main turrets at most 15 parts.

On Tuesday, May 7, 2024, I began assembling the Balsa wood decks. The real decking is teakwood which is insect and weather resistant.

What Is Teak Wood & Why It Is So Great? – Start Woodworking Now

I finished the decking (all but two parts) on Thursday, May 9, 2024. There are not any written instructions for the decking, so you must interpret the photographic hieroglyphics (picture writing). The decking pictures are the same scale as the real model so that helps assembly a great deal.

I decided not to use the included metal artillery barrels since I am not good at drilling holes in plastic or for that matter any other media. The most hand drilling will probably involve the hull and propeller shafts holes. When I assembled my standard 1:350 Kriegsmarine Bismarck model last year, I broke a DeWalt drill bit while attempting to drill a propeller shaft hole. This May I purchased an inexpensive hand drill from Wall Mart.

Thus far I have spent the following amounts on this model: $75.16 (model itself), $14.49 (hand drill), and $28.05 (acrylic paint from Hobby Linc), therefore $117.60 total including shipping and handling and applicable sales taxes.

Between 1:15 AM and 2:00 AM, Friday, May 10, 2024, I successfully drilled four propeller shaft holes in my BB-62 model’s hull. I used my two legs as a gentle vice to hold my hull reasonably steady during my drilling operations. Hopefully, later today I will be able to paint the hull carmine red and later add a black waterline belt. I am waiting for the Revell carmine red acrylic paint from Hobby Linc.  Revell calls for 90% carmine red and 10% reddish brown for the hull, but I don’t like mixing colors and usually just utilize the dominant color. I have Revell reddish brown acrylic in my set of paints, so I may reconsider mixing paints like a true artist or hobbyist. I would need to get some syringes minus their typical hypodermic needles.

I will update this blog entry later today, Friday, May 10, 2024. Remember Friday, May 24, 2024, is the 83rd anniversary of the Battle of the Denmark Strait. I will have more to say about this pivotal battle later this month.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0d9m9Qk5o3vrqo_P2PfNZaHag

Due to my poor performance in regular English literature, I was forced to retake the class in the summer of 1969. I was in between the sophomore (10) and junior (11) grades. The class was held on July 4, 1969, since we were not allowed a vacation day on Independence Day. Also concurrently on July 4, 1969, the great Atlanta International Pop Festival was held at the Atlanta International Raceway in Hampton, Georgia. A fellow classmate tried to get me to skip class to go to the festival. I decided against skipping class.

Concerts That I Have Attended

1970 or 1971 Muddy Waters at the University of Georgia

1973 (?) Larry Coryell at a small venue in Northeast Atlanta, Georgia

November 30, 1974 “The Relayer Tour” by Yes with the lineup of Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Patrick Moraz, Chris Squire, and Alan White. The Omni Coliseum in Atlanta, Georgia

1975 (?) Jethro Tull at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, Geogia

August 25, 1976 “The Going for the One Tour” by Yes with a lineup of Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, Rick Wakeman, and Alan White

In the early 1970s I saw the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra perform “The Planets” by Gustave Holst and Ravel’s arrangement of Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition”.

Today, I was reading a review of the movie, “The Day the Earth Stood Still”. The film was released on September 18, 1951. The reviewer referred to Gort, the planetary defending robot, as having a laser beam eye. However, the laser on Earth was invented by Theodore H. Maiman on May 16, 1960. Science fiction authors had written about death rays (directed energy weapons) since almost the invention of the fictional genre. Perhaps these deaths rays were composed of x-ray or gamma-rays. The Strategic Defense Initiative (also known derisively by the Fourth Estate, the press, as the “Star Wars” ABM [Anti-Ballistic Missile defense] program]) a 1980s President Ronald Reagan proposed and supported DARPA funded strategic ballistic defense program envisioned x-ray or gamma-ray lasers to knock out multiple ICBMs (Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles) in their vulnerable launch phase or ballistic outer space flight phase. The problem with these high energy lasers is that most of the designs used a nuclear weapon to initiate the lasering action. Lately, there are some high-energy lasers that were being tested about 10 years ago by the United States Department of Defense: https://www.darpa.mil/program/high-energy-liquid-laser-area-defense-system

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_oxygen_iodine_laser

https://www.darpa.mil

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_national_missile_defense

Even though I am an agnostic, I scored 47 out 60 on the following Biblical test. That is a pitiful 78. 33 % or C on a five-letter scale (A, B, C, D, F). Evidently, I should have stayed studied in more Sunday school classes.

https://www.factable.com/trivia/quiz-christian-bible/62