Still here guys, no "dirt nap" just yet! Been busy doing my chores so I could go to the cabin and relax...um I mean do more chores (just in case Jess reads this)!
Jim,
Thank you for watching my back, you may make out pretty good in a case of my untimely demise! You are right about all the dumping spots for bodies. The forest's are thick and dense, and the "hollers" are deep and dark! It also struck me that I do own a tractor with a backhoe and Jess does know how to use it! I also own a wood chipper!!!
So potentially I could become chum! What horrors await me?!
Oh, by the way the quote "And a women is only a women, but a good cigar is a smoke" comes from Rudyard Kipling's poem "The Betrothed". A great little verse from 1922, and quite humorous too! Got to love Sir Winston Churchill! It has been estimated that he smoked 3,000 cigars a year! I feel ashamed to say it, but the American National Winston Churchill Museum is just about 30 minutes away in Fulton, MO. It was here that he gave what became know as the "Iron Curtain" speech in 1946. It's also the home of the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury. Transported stone by stone from London to Fulton in 1966 and reassembled perfectly. In over 13 years of living in MO, I have yet to visit this historic place...shame on me! I will have to remedy this! Churchill was the epitome of the Brits. "stiff upper lip" character (among others). A rare breed of man, that today is sorely lacking...we could use a few like this!
Mick and Sir Jarndice,
I must admit that this will probably be a one time thing for me. I'm not sure that I could get away with spending this amount of money more then once! So choosing a tank is a tough thing to do! I too love the Tiger's just for what they represent. The JP however, is so damn sexy too, but having an actual turret is more fun. I'm not a fan of Sherman's, but I do love the Firefly's and "Easy Eights". But a good Panther will fill the bill I think. I do understand about RC plane storage though. Mine were all park fliers with a relatively small wingspan of around 36 inches. I usually had half a fuselage on the workbench, the other half in the car, a wing in a closet, and various bits and pieces in the garage or the resultant debris left at the field!
I'm lucky that a lot of things just kind of fell together for this endeavor. I already have a state of the art 24 volt charger, the vehicle to haul this beast in, ramps for loading and unloading, lots of space for playing with my toy, and probably most important as Sir J. noted, the space to store it.
Jee and 43rdRR,
Yeah after nearly 32 years together we know each other
very well. I don't think for a moment that I'm really pulling anything over on her! She is very smart, resourceful, and crafty too! My Grandfather always said "Marry a smart, hardworking women, and you can do less"!
She does get her own toys at times too. About 4 years ago she got herself a swim spa/hot tub and I in turn bought a NIB preban Polytech AK47 made in 1988. I was happy and so was she, even though her spa cost nearly 10 times as much! She has also followed innocently along while I was taking one of our nearly new, hardly broken in cars in for a oil change. Next thing I know, we're heading home in a brand new one and waving good bye to the perfectly good old one! She's done this twice!!! So I guess all is fair?!
Our good Herr Dr.,
I always believed that if you're going to do something, you might as well do it right the first time. I always preferred to wait until I had the extra funds for something, rather then jumping in and getting a less satisfying item that will cost more to have upgraded in the end. You are right about the zimmerit, it seems it was discontinued right around the time of this specific Panther model that I have had in my mind. My omitting it from this tank should make it more historically accurate, however nothing I've
ever done has been 100% accurate anyway. Just enough of a personal touch to call my own.
Oh, oh! I just saw the security camera outside pivot around, she's checking in on me! I'm not out there sweating away! I knew there were drawbacks with these things! Time to start looking busy!
Cheers,
Eric.
"You can always tell a German, you just can't tell him much." Anonymous.
German cars, German girls, German beer, German firearms, German Shepherds, German motorcycles... Not necessarily in that order though!
UP THE IRONS!
If you are going to splurge, then splurg good! 
...no buyer's remorse nor lookin' back: ENJOY! ENJOY! ENJOY!
Do bear in mind the wiliness traditionally associated with the fair sex, old chap. 
(not very PC stereotyping, I'll admit- but feel it has some relationship with reality...)
