[Arronax]

Did ya ever get that feeling of déjà vu all over again?

Since there’s a pretty good chance that Frances is going to try and take out the trees and roofs that Charley missed in Orlando, I thought this might be a good time to cover an area of hurricane preparedness that the media usually miss.

Modelers Hurricane Checklist

• Make sure your house, family, pets are secure, etc. Board up windows, doors, etc. In other words, do the stuff the radio and TV are telling you to do. Do this stuff before any modeling!
  
• Try not to paint anything within 48 hours before the projected impact of a hurricane. You will need to handle these models and you don’t want to have to worry about fingerprints on top of all the other things.
  
• Store work in progress (including parts) in plastic bags and place these in a plastic or cardboard box.
  
• Store irreplaceable tools similarly. Don’t worry about paint; you were going to have to buy new ones any way.
  
• Store your parts and decals boxes the same way.
  
• Get a weather proof storage trailer or a large SUV (Hummers are good) to store all your unbuilt kits.
  
• Make sure you have a generator to power lights and your airbrush compressor after the storm.
  
• Lay in a good supply of acrylic back paint. You’ll need it to spray paint help messages on the side of your house. Buy rattle cans since the power will out and your airbrush won’t work!
  
• While the hurricane is passing overhead, do not attempt to model. If the roof goes, you’ll most likely lose those really small parts and never see them again. Plus, painting in a damp environment is a bad idea too.

As an alternative, you may consider packing up and moving to Louisville. This way you not only avoid the storm but you won’t have to worry about getting a hotel room for Wonderfest.

Jim
(Central Florida Hurricane Ground Zero - again!)

 

[StarshipClass]

As an alternative, you may consider packing up and moving to Louisville.

What about tornadoes

 

[Prince of Styrene II]

What about tornadoes

\Kinda the same checklist, except for the humidity parts. I used to live in Tornado Alley. :freak:

 

[ChrisW]

Dammit Jim, I'm a modeler, not a meteorologist!

BTW, good luck with the storm - maybe it'll enjoy the Bahamas so much it'll just decide to stay there.

 

[Arronax]

What about tornadoes

If we get the predicted 20 hours of hurricane force winds, tornados would be a walk in the park after that. It's not the damage so much as the way the hurricane winds just gradually eat away your neighborhoods. At least with a tornado it's over quickly.

Jim
(Orlando - it's easy to spot on a map because it's shaped like a target)

 

[Captain-Raveers]

Well in any case all you Florida guys be careful....from what I've read Frances is supposed to upgrade to a catagory 5 hurricane before she hits land. It's bigger, and more destructive than Andrew and Charley combined. But yeah get all your modeling stuff stored away in a secure place and make sure your family, animals and that are in a secure place too.

Trent

 

[ChrisW]

Jim, we'll be saying some prayers and hoping for the best for you and all the folks in Frances' path.

 

[KLINGON SNIPER]

Check List: Kids are with their dad: CHECK
Wife is with her parents:CHECK
Paint on models wont dry:CHECK
Glue wont stick:CHECK
Gas in Truck:CHECK
Money in pocket: CHECK
I-4 East Bound clear: CHECK
528 Clear: Check (NO TOLLS)
Surfboards in truck:CHECK
Wax in truck: CHECK
Wetsuit in truck: CHECK
MONDO WAVE ACTION IN COCOA BEACH: CHECK, CHECK , CHECK.......
AND I"M OUT
You guys have a great day and be safe.
See you on the flipside

Bryan Osborn....

 

[MonsterModelMan]

Hope you guys stay safe! Please check in with us once it is all over to let us know how you fended the hurricane! Geez, I hate it when hurricanes hit land...so many lost lives and memories!


MMM

 

[Godfather]

Arronax, what part of O-town r u at?

BTW, Hurrican Ivan (yes... another hurricane ) is following Charley's path. Might be our next weekend hurricane. Joy. :freak:

 

[beeblebrox]

Hurricanes don't sound like as much fun as the tornados we get around here in the "Great Plains". Every Springtime it's the same thing. Houses are picked up off the ground and twirled around til they find a witch to fall on.

 

[DinoMike]

Well, I'm sitting in St Pete, watching the radar on the news website as the storm cruises across Tampa, headed my way. Good thing for us that the storm came across the state, rather than directly off the water as Charley would have. This thing is barely hanging on to hurricane status.

(I'm really tired of this. On the up side... at least I got the night off from work, with pay, and didn't have to burn vacation time to do so.)

 

[KLINGON SNIPER]

Hurricanes don't sound like as much fun as the tornados

I must dissagree I had a lot of fun during this hurricane. I surfed two great days. I made Bay news 9, as being descibed as insane by the news guy for being out in Cocoa surfing. My wife recorded the whole thing. All I can say is this " COME ON IVAN" I know that this sounds insensitive to you guys, but I'm a die hard surfer and I spend most of the time at the beach floating around wait for something bigger than waist high to surf on.
I hope everyone was safe.
Bryan Osborn

 

[MonsterModelMan]

Jim,

Everything okay on the home front? Hope you didn't take too much damage!

MMM

 

[Arronax]

We're still here

Well, it could have been worse. In my part of town (Conway and Curry Ford, Godfather), flooding was minimal, wind damage was minimal (although if you had damage from Charley, Frances made it worse). There are lots of people without power (we still have power) and there is still the threat of sewage back-ups and boil water conditions.

What made the difference this time is that we had time to prepare and we got prepared. Lots of houses were boarded up. There were plenty of batteries and bottled water in the stores. Heck, there were even generators and chainsaws in stock.

Now they're advising us to stay in this state of readiness until we know what Ivan will do.

Klingon Sniper, while I appreciate your passion for surfing, you ought to know that every channel I turned on showed you surfing as an example of stupidity and irresponsibility. Hell, it didn't look like they were good waves.

Jim

 

[Just Plain Al]

Glad to hear from you Mr. James. Heard from my father last night, he lives in Davenport, he said basically the same thing. Hold on for Ivan!!!!

 

[PhilipMarlowe]

Lotta wind and rain in Naples, but we're fine and didn't even loose cable this time.

 

[KLINGON SNIPER]

Granted, It did seem somewhat irrisponsible, but well worth it. The waves were 6-8 very choppy.
BTW, My wife said the same thing..
Bryan Osborn

 

[NeilUnreal]

It has rained so long I feel like I've slipped into a remake of "Sadie Thompson." I only lost power for 2 hours, but it was worse for a lot of people. Not much sustained wind, though, mostly local wind cells in the bands. I think it was the combination of wind and soil saturation that did in the trees.

There are so many leaves and small branches on the ground it looks like the floral section of Michael's after a midnight madness sale...

-Neil

 

[CPATTER328]

I live just south of West Palm Beach. I have no doubt that we went through mush of the eye wall. Only lost a small privacy fence in our back yard, But during the storm are sliding glass doors were really bending under the wind load. thank god thay held with only a little leaking through the weather seal. Huge trees are down everywhere. Most of the county is still without power ( we lost power for less than a day). The worst part of this sorm is how slow it moved. Most Hurricanes are through in a few hours. We had catagory five wind for over six hours.