Build your own ship!

lord nelson hms victory

I’ve always been fascinated by these things. It’s a newly launched magazine that comes with a full model of the HMS Victory! It appeals to the inner man inside, the urge to build something coherent from pieces. I think it might be an evolutionary step, right after we got through the hunter-gatherer phase.

Build Lord Nelson’s HMS Victory features a section in the magazine dedicated to the history behind this ship, particularly with its regards to history. If you’re a history buff, you’ll know very well about the Battle of Trafalgar and this is one of the ships built during that late 18th Century period.

The HMS Victory is Britain’s most famous warship and it’s also the oldest commission warship in the world!

The basics of marine modeling is also explained in the magazine, which included a guide for beginners. It’s a very serious hobby in some circles and authenticity and attention to detail is highly sought after.

These model kits usually costs in the thousands but this magazine allows you to have one (albeit in stages) for a fraction of the price.

cannon

Issue 1 comes with a DVD that explains the process of modeling very well. There’s a bonus in every issue in addition to the remaining parts of the ship you need to complete HMS Victory – the first issue has a complete cannon kit!

The cannon is made of metal and it’s modeled right after the original Victory’s 12-pounder guns. The attention to detail is incredible – there’s the barrel, vent, thimble, trunnion, carriage, quoin and even trunks to make it movable!

You’ll need some tools and materials and to start off with, Issue 1 provides you with a small bottle of PVA glue.

subscribe

You can subscribe and get a FREE model tool kit, which is quite comprehensive and suits the needs of this project and also a magnifying glass (told you it was for serious modelers, a toy, this is not).

The best part about this is the incredible detail of HMS Victory supplied with the magazine – it’s faithfully modeled on the original ship and when done it’ll be a 1:84 scale which comes up to 1.25 meters in length!

hms victory

There’s also a removable cutaway section in the finished model which allows you to see the action below decks. It comes alive with the addition of the ships crew in the heat of naval combat. It’s be the ultimate model!

The magazine cum modeling kit is called Build Lord Nelson’s HMS Victory and it retails for just RM 9.90 for Issue 1. Get more details at Build the Victory. It’s out in stores now – you can find it at your nearest newsstand or book store. The issues will be released weekly so there’s something for you to do every weekend to make your very own HMS Victory! 🙂

S.H.E. collectible licensed mooncakes

she mooncake

S.H.E. is the Taiwanese three girl pop group that seems to be quite
popular. They have come out with a range of three moon cakes, each
bearing their likeness – one each for Selina, Hebe and Ella. The three
mooncakes have different flavors, which I assume is for their different
personalities.

mooncake girl

This is a licensed product by HIM (which I assume is their
management) and it’s for charity. There are two versions of the
mooncakes…they’re actually both the same, there’s just a difference
in packaging. Mooncakes are eaten during Mid-Autumn Festival, which is
based on the Lunar Calendar, and falls on the 28th of September for the
Gregorian calendar this year.

mooncake booth

The RM 48.50 version comes in a single tin box which has the three
individual mooncakes inside. The RM 52.50 version is more “collectible”
in the sense that there’s an individual metal tin for every single
person in the pop group.

rm 52.50

I bought the RM 52.50 one for the individual printed Selina, Hebe
and Ella tins. The downside to this version is that it comes with cheap
plastic packaging.

nutritional

However, the packing lists down the nutritional facts and other
details at the back. It’s interesting to see the calories difference
between the mooncakes. There are three in total, for the three artists
in S.H.E. and here’s the three mooncakes.

selina

This is the Selina mooncake tin. It has a pink design and has a cartoon version of her likeness imprinted on the tin.

selina wrap

The mooncakes tins all contain a mooncake packaged in an air tight
plastic wrap with a moisture absorber inside. The Selina one doesn’t
seem to be working because I see what looks like mould…

selina mooncake

Here’s a closer look at the Selina mooncake. It definitely has mould
growing on it, but I ate it and it didn’t give me a stomachache so I
guess it’s alright…

selina contents

Mini Lotus 1 Yolk (Selina)

ella

Here’s the Ella collectible tin. It has a blue motif and is also consistent with having a cartoon version of her on it.

ella mooncake

The mooncakes all are embossed and designed with the cartoon version
of the character and their name on it. This one has Ella’s likeness and
her name.

ella contents

Black Sesame Lotus (Ella)

hebe

This one is the Hebe green tin.

hebe mooncake

Here’s what a close up looks like…I think I accidentally took out a bit of her hair. It got stuck to the wrapping. Oops…

hebe contents

Green Tea Mooncake (Hebe)

hebe best

I liked the Hebe green tea mooncake one the most, and most of my
coworkers agree. Mooncakes are traditionally cut into eight equal
slices, but I didn’t have a cake cutter, so I used my el cheapo
balisong (what they call a “butterfly knife”, due to it’s folded but
fast flipping deployment) to do the job.

mooncake balisong

I have a better Benchmade balisong, but I don’t carry that around…it’s reserved for…special occasions. 😉

Mysterious Mysteries

mysalley.jpg

Look! A mysterious alley!

I spent most of the day in uni today. I went in the morning to meet
up with my group mates. We were supposed to get together and practice
for a presentation at 2:30 pm. At least, everyone in the group thought
it was 2:30 pm. After careful perusal of the IE website, it was
discovered that the time we were meant to do the presentation was 4 pm!
This of course led to much grumbling over lost sleep. 🙂 A good deal of
finger pointing was made, but we could not isolate the person who
started the “2:30 pm” meme.

Anyway, we ended up spending most of the time fixing some minor
issues with the code anyway. It was 3:30 pm before we all went to have
lunch at Pot Luck and I think I’m feeling slightly uncomfortable
because I can’t actually eat very fast without indigestion. The
presentation went okay, and I just got back from campus because we had
to install our code into the actual server after that.

cocopop.jpg

Well, I didn’t feel like eating anything for dinner, so I picked up
a box of Coco Pops. Kellogg’s always has some kind of promotion going
on with their cereals. A couple of weeks ago they were attaching the
full version of Age of Empires (the first one) to one of their cereals.
I didn’t get it though because it was one of the unholy “healthy”
cereals. I think it was Chex or something. I only go for the good stuff
like Froot Loops and Coco Pops. 🙂

Anyway, the 3 inch CD inside the Coco Pops box had a game called
“Raging River Rapids” (gotta love alliteration) which features Coco the
monkey trying to navigate a river with three logs strung together. The
logs look strangely unappetizing and conjured up images of a non-food
nature. There was also a comic, wallpapers, cursors etc. The standard
Flash stuff.

Oh, and that alley is the one beside the Huntingdale train station.
I liked the play of light and shadows…nah, I’m being pretentious. I was
just attracted by the pretty colors of the masonry to the left of the
alley. Man, I’m talking so much shit today.

Kinder Surprise

kinder1.jpg

What exactly is the surprise that lurks within a Kinder Surprise?
Like me, most, if not all of you have asked yourselves the very same
question at some point in your lives. Unable to let this pressing
question go unanswered, I picked up one of these when I went grocery
shopping a couple of days ago.

kinder2.jpg

I tore the packaging off the chocolate egg and bit the top part off.
Inside laid this small capsule that looks deliciously compact, and
inside the capsule were various bits and pieces and an instruction
sheet. Assembling the toy was a fairly easy process, and the end result
is this:

kinder3.jpg

A dog with only two legs and an unfortunately long neck.

Mars Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa’s

I got a Mars bar and saw that they have this promotion where 1 in 6 Mars bars (“It’s Mars
baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa’s, not Mars bars”) has a chance to win another Mars bar for free. Well, guess
what, I got one of the lucky ones. Heh. How nice.

1 in 6 Wins Free Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa’s.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

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