3 September, 2024
It’s just getting started, so there’s not a ton of the material that’s here just now, but I’m starting to port over the more popular stuff from this site to there. Come join us.
We’ve got the main page where everything new shows, but it’s also now broken into pages for games and geeky stuff, movies and entertainment (reviews and the like), firearms, and motor sports — this set up allows the fans of certain content and maybe not others to exclude those and get what you want.
7 December, 2025
I’ve had a Moto Guzzi V7 Classic for a few years now, and on seeing the new V7 Sport I was a bit smitten. There’s something about the Verde Legnano finish — it’s not a color I especially like, but it evokes the ‘70s racers Guzzi used to field. I really dig the bevelled front on the side panels. It’s a small thing, but I find it catches the eye.
What’s new? Inverted folks. Dual front brakes. A nice throaty exhaust. Bar end mirrors. But the big change is the variable valve timing from the V-85.
I got a chance to ride one this weekend while my V7 was in the shop for maintenance. The good folks at Motopia New Mexico — probably the best dealer in the state for Triumphs, Guzzis andAprilias, Royal Enfield, and MV Augusta — led me bang around for an hour.
The VVT really smooths out the idle and and overall feel of the transverse twin. It doesn’t lose the character of the motor, but it is more refined. Power delivery is still fast through the shaft drive, but I did notice the rev limiter seemed to be kicking in a good 1000 RPM lower than on my Classic. I almost never hit the governor on my V7, no matter how hard I’m flogging in. I was regularly hitting it on the Sport. That said, it’s plenty quick for the non-sportbike crowd.
The saddle is incredibly comfortable. The V7 is a fantastic distance bike, but the saddle on this is superb. I may have to see if I can throw one on my Classic. With the 5.5 gallon tank, you can get about 300 miles out of a tank. You’d be able to stay in the saddle for that, if need be, without losing feeling.
The brakes? Great. The bike stops very well, now, and there’s none of the slight pull you get on the older ones.
The good news is that the all the things that make the V7 such a good platform haven’t changes. The inverted folks really didn’t seem to make it handle all that much better than the early V7s. The weight sits low and central, the frame contributes to exceptional balance, especially at very low speeds. The seating position is comfortable and conducive to long rides. It’s speedy enough to handle most traffic, but not fast enough to send you straight to jail, if you get stopped by the police.
The V7 Sport is a nice addition to the line, and improves on the Classic and Stone versions with a smoother engine and much improved braking, without losing what makes the V7 so attractive to those that want an old-school machine with modern conveniences.
7 December, 2025
I’m late to the game on this pistol. Stumbling onto a video about it, I hit the interwebz to see what all the fuss was about. The initial CDS9 is a beautiful thing — rich red G10 grips, dual-tone frame and slide, and in a size that was enticing. There wasn’t quite the hate online as you see for a lot of Kimber’s products — some on it earned, but a lot of it not. It’s also $1100ish dollars for a lot of features I really don’t value. A pistol like this, for me, is deep carry. No red dots. No threaded barrel. No rail. But it did have something my Alpha Foxtrot S15 didn’t have: ambi controls. (There’s really zero reason not to have full ambi controls on a pistol in 2025…)
For guys like me, there’s the “Classic” version of the CDS9. No frills, just the necessary bells and whistles to make this a top-notch pocket gun. (Yes, there’s an optics ready version.) I decided to go for it.
You get a cardboard box with a nice, handbag-sized, two pistol range bag; a 13- and 15-round magazine; a CDS9 pistol, the usual lock and sticker, and an utterly useless “safety” booklet that doesn’t even include the disassembly and reassembly instructions. You have to use the QR code on the booklet to download the booklet. Stupid.
The gun has an aluminum frame and a stainless slide in the Kim-Pro II finish, and a stainless steel barrel. The finish is gorgeous and silky smooth in a neutral gray color. The grips (which can be changed out for the sexier G10s from the normal CDS9) are black polymer with a grip texture that doesn’t seem too bitey…until you start banging away. The texturing is also across the back of the pistol and really holds the pistol firmly in the hand. There’s a great undercut on the trigger guard and there was no impacting on the middle finger while shooting. The guard is also large and easily accommodated gloves. It has an external extractor that really chucks the spent shells and most importantly (for me) has an ambi safety and slide stop. The magazine release is swappable left to right.
I owned a Micro-9 from Kimber a few years back and wound up selling it because the trigger finger was caching the magazine release while shooting, dropping the magazine. Not ideal. The magazine release is much lower in profile, as is the safety and slide stop, and in 300 rounds on the first trip to the range, I did not experience an accidental release. The low-profile of the safety has been an issue for some online. I had no issues thumbing it on and off, even while drawing from the pocket of my jeans to shoot. Honestly, if that was a concern, the tail on the CDS9 is short enough you could carry hammer down and draw with your thumb on the hammer, cock it at presentation, and fire. I tried both with zero issues.
Recoil with 124 grain Patriot Sports ammunition — not the top end STV offers, but still factory quality ammo — was reasonable for a lightweight pistol. I suspect with the shorter 10-round magazine, it would be “stout”. The pistol ran all 300 rounds without an issue save for two failures where the 15-round magazine locked open with a single round in the box. That’s not a pistol issue; that’s a magazine issue.
Not taking my time, accuracy was decent out to 15 yards with hits in the X or 9 ring. I fired a single mag at 25 yards and saw a two inch drop but solid groups inside three inches. It will run fast once you get used to the trigger, which has a nice 4 lb. consistent break. The trigger is flat faced but does have an upper pivot that isn’t noticeable while shooting, but I do think slowed me down when it needed a bit more let-out for the reset. It feels like an straight-back 1911 trigger; it’s not. While it shoots fast, it also seems like the recoil catches up to you a out six to seven rounds in — something a few commenters had pointed out in their reviews.
Take down and cleaning is pretty 1911-style, straightforward. The dual recoil spring assembly has one loose outer spring, the other is captured. It hooks onto the lug of the barrel cleanly and easily. The lug is CZ-style, not linked like a 1911, and I suspect that really helps with the reliability. The back of the slide was filthy inside, as was the area around the breech, but otherwise, the pistol was pretty clean.
Since I was considering this as a possible replacement or companion carry piece for my Walther PPK, I thought I’d weigh them, empty and with a full magazine: Empty, the CDS comes in a hair over an ounce heavier than my Fort Smith-made .380 PPK; loaded they are 1.73 lbs (27.6 oz) for the Kimber, and 1.5 lbs (23.7 oz) for the PPK. Barely noticeable considering the payload difference. I suspect with the 10-round magazine, the loaded weights will be at close to parity.
Size-wise is where the Kimber easily overtakes the PPK:
So, is it worth it? At $750 as a street price, absolutely. The CDS9 is competing in an interesting niche of the firearm world and is up against the likes of the SIG-Sauer P238, or more accurately, the P365; or the Hellcat Pro and Micro. They’re all about the same size, but outside of the P238, these are all polymer frame weapons. The CDS9 feels more solid and the recoil is much less snappy than I’ve felt on the Hellcat.
If you prefer a hammer over striker-fired, if you prefer a metal-framed pistol, the CDS is definitely worth considering over the others above. Holster availability is a bit limited, although if you are going to be carrying in the pocket, the CDS fits the Galco Pocket Protector holster for the P365.
22 September, 2025
I’m late to the game on this one, admittedly. I’d hear of these years back, btu had never seen one until a few days ago in my local gun store. The owner had picked one up at an estate sale and for $350 out the door, I had a new pistol with almost no wear.
The chintzy black plastic case had the instruction manual, the three extra backstraps (which have to be prised loose with a flat-head screwdriver), and an extra mag. There was, in my case, also a 10-round California and other crappy state-compliant magazine.
The Grand Power P1 Mk12 or K100 is a 15-shot 9x19mm double/single action pistol with a 4.3” barrel version of the Grand Power, giving it just shy of a 8” overall length, a 5.25” height from grip to top of frame, and it’s 1.4” wide. This puts it in the same general size as a commander length 2011, Glock 19, Walther PPQ, etc. It uses the rotating barrel lockup that allegedly reduces recoil and increases accuracy. Like the 2011 — it has a steel chassis inside the plastic frame and eliminated the frame flex you get on most polymer guns. (And which most people will likely not notice…) All the controls are ambidextrous — mag release, slide stop, and safety/decocking lever.
The trigger is plastic, has a bit of squish in single-action, but it breaks very neatly at eight pounds double-action, five on the single. The reset is short, fast, and audible. The pistol likes to shoot fast, but the grip texture is a bit mellow, so I found that faster strings saw the pistol shift a bit in my grip — throwing my later shots a bit left and low.
The accuracy is very good, and when taking my time it was drilling groups at 10 yards that created a single ragged hole. It looks to be sighted in for 15 yards with 124 grain ammo. I ran a couple of strings after I got used to it, swapping mag-for-mag with my Alpha Foxtrot S15 (one of the more accurate pistols I have, even with the 3.5” barrel), and the Grand Power shot nearly as well. Taking my time at 20 yards, unsupported, most of the 15 went in the 10 ring, with a few flyers in the 8 ring.
The ambi controls are, for a leftie, very welcome. I’m used to using my trigger finger to hit the mag release and hit the slide stop, and it took a few mags to train myself to use the right-side controls. The safety is interesting. When flicked up, the pistol is placed on safe; when pushed down, it will decock and can be left in the lower position — turning the pistol double-action only. My assumption is this feature was created for use by police units with DA requirement on their sidearms…otherwise, it’s stupid.
The rotating barrel is supposed to mitigate recoil. I noticed none of that, however, it is very consistent in point of aim. The barrel rotates on a large scalloped cam on the underside of the barrel that rides on a bearing underneath. The pistol functioned flawlessly through 500 rounds of Winchester, Scorpio, and cheap Federal ammo.
The system does make takedown a bit tricky. You pull the slide to the back and pull the disassembly tabs down (like a Glock), then lift the back of the slide to run forward. The barrel will fall clear easily. The guide rod for the recoil spring is fixed to the frame — an interesting choice. Cleaning is pretty straightforward, oil the contact surfaces, then reverse the order. This can be a big tricky — you have to keep the barrel in the forward position to seat properly and set the slide on the frameabout halfway back. You then need to lift the back of the slide a bit to clear the rails, pull it all the way back and pull down on the disassembly pins, then reseat it. It’s a bit tricky the first time or two, but once you’ve got it, it’s easy enough.
So is it worth it? At $350, this was a steal. At the original $500 pricing, it would have been, as well. If you’ve been thinking of the PX-4 Storm by Beretta, I’d suggest you hunt about online and find one of these: it looks better, it functions just as well, and you’ll probably get it for a good price. Grand Power and Stribog are both made by the same group in Slovakia, and the quality is there. Allegedly, one of the P1s had over 100,000 rounds through it without incident, but I’d take that with a bucket of salt. Magazines can be a bit tricky to find online, but I located a few with a half hour search, and their importer Global Ordinance also had some available.
20 September, 2025
I was in for some new tires on my old Thruxton, so the local dealer — the excellent Motopia New Mexico — loaned me a Royal Enfield Himalayan to take around town for a day. If you’re looking for a Triumph, Aprilia or Guzzi, MV Augusta or Royal Enfield, hit them up. I’m sure they’ll ship and if you’re close enough, they’ll often run the bike out to you. Good guys; give ‘em business.
This isn’t my type of bike. I like a standard, old-school air-cooled twin like the Bonnevilles or the V7s. “Adventure” bikes don’t do it for me: they’re too tall and I hate the look. I rode the Moto Guzzi V85 and liked it well enough, but thought the Stelvio lacked character; the Aprilia Touareg is simple too bloody tall. This one? Comfortable, easy to foot at a stop. Even with the bags, it was fairly easy to wrangle my leg over it. Seat height is 31.5” — pretty standard height for a motorcycle these days.
This isn’t a powerhouse by any standard; it’s solid, reliable transportation that can go anywhere. I even took it through some rough dirt lots just to see how it did. Like all of the Enfields I’ve ridden that have been made in the last ten years or so, the balance is top-notch. It doesn’t feel heavy at all, weighing in at 439 lbs. With a single, water-cooled 450cc cylinder motor, it’s not fast, and it does not have that gearing that makes the 650 Interceptor punch above its weight in acceleration. The engine generates 40ish horsepower at 8000rpm and 40ish ft-lbs of torque. Quick enough for traffic, but not a rocket.
The saddle is very comfortable and has nice Royal Enfield branding embossing on it. The Showa suspension is workman-like and some of the rougher roads and the dirt lots were easy enough to traverse. The 21’ front and 17” rear give lots of stability and confidence when riding, and there is a tubeless rim version of the wheels.
The modern amenities include a bright and very legible TFT display, and phone connectivity that allows maps and turn by turn direction as well as music control. I didn’t bother to test these features but the RE Tripper system was on a few of the 350s I’ve tested and it should work well. ABS is standard on the single rotor and there are four ride modes — again, I let it in the most docile of the stack.
I took the one pannier off so the swingarm was visible…
So is it worth it? Like all the Enfields, it’s cheap. $6k MSRP and three year warranty, and the parts and labor for my Interceptor were delightful, compared to the water-cooled Triumph I had. If you like this style of bike and aren’t wedded to big power and bigger price, the Himalayan is an excellent choice for a working bike.
19 September, 2025
All the Franz Joseph fans from the ‘70s were in for a treat with the first episode of Strange New Worlds — the Saladin-class!
Nope…this is the Gral-class starship USS Archer, NCC-627. Fanhome dropped their latest model of the ship this month and the wee booklet that came with it describing the design process and thinking buffs out what we know about her: she’s small, has a crew of three, and is “more of a runabout than a starship”. There’s no mention of if it is armed, but if the Class C shuttlecraft had phasers, this mot likely does, as well — if only a bank or two.
She’s described as 110.47m long, 58m on the beam (making the saucer 77ish meters from bow to stern), and a draught on the dish of 10ish meters. The guide claims one deck, but the thickness suggests there could be two. The bridge is supposed to be at the bow (so that’s a window), and the slits along the sides also windows. That makes it about the size of two super-yachts side-by-side…more than enough space for a standard crew of 25-50 by SNW standards (with Enterprise having a crew of 210.)
So here’s my take on the Gral — your lightyears may vary:
This build assumes these are used for covert missions in denied areas — either watching pre-warp alien cultures in secret or scouting the edges of the Neutral Zone. For our game, I’m assuming two decks, with most of the engineering areas in the space under the central raised section on the dorsal hull, and a crew of 25-30 standard, with the senior staff typically being lieutenant commanders.
The copyright for 2d20 system is Modiphius, 2019. STAR TREK and related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios inc., and Fanhome is ©2025 DeAgostini Publishing Sp.A. All Rights Reserved and no infringement is intended.
19 September, 2025
I’ve been remiss in getting some of the reviews for the new Fanhome ships. Meanwhile, the one I’ve been waiting for has arrived: the Gral-class USS Archer (NCC-627) that was featured in the first episode of Strange New Worlds. They’ve popped up in the background a few times, always at a distance — I suspected because they were a bit under-designed.
As with the rest of these models, the quality of the model is very good, although — as with the Eaglemoss models — the clear portion of the base really does need to be better designed; this one really doesn’t want to sit right in the bottom portion of the base.
The booklet on this is instructive. Archer was actually fairly heavily designed and went through a number of iterations before they reached the current look. I like the single nacelle with the antenna on the end; very The Cage-looking. The underside has more going on that the top — a break from other minor background ships designed for Discovery and Picard where the ventral portion often feels unfinished.
Archer is a Gral-Class scout that is described as “more of a runabout”, butat 110.47m long with a dish “58m” on the beam and about 77m long, this isn’t that small. That two decent-sized super-yachts side-by-side, and the dish looks to be about 10ish meters in draught — that’s enough for two decks, rather than the one the ship supposedly has. She is supposed to have a crew of three, although it could bit more. By my estimation, a standard complement of 25-30 would still have plenty of room, with all the necessary equipment (transporters, cargo, impulse and warp engines…)
Here’s a decent look at the size and the orthos of the ship:
So is it worth it? It’s an interesting design, although visually a bit bland. If you are looking to complete a collection of Disco/SNW vessels, I’d say get it.
STAR TREK and related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios inc., and Fanhome is ©2025 DeAgostini Publishing Sp.A. All Rights Reserved and no infringement is intended.
19 September, 2025
A couple of friends gifted me a bottle of the Bookers’ Batch 2025-01, a Kentucky Straight Bourbon, for my birthday this summer, and after a long week, I had a chance to enjoy this with a nice steak. The presentation is good: the bottle comes in a nice collector’s box of charred wood with the Bookers’ name on it and a plastiglass front panel. There’s a wee card in the package that tells the drinker this is named for Barry Berish, a former CEO of Beam that led the distillery through some dark days. On the back of the card is the master distiller’s (Fred Noe) notes, giving you the history of the batch — the percentages from what warehouses and floors. The whiskey is aged a bit over 7 years.
On opening, it had a nice strong oakey smell, and the color is a nice reddish amber. In a nice Glencairn glass, straight, the flavor is powerfully smokey and hot; with just titch of soda water, it mellows to a strong, light vanilla flavor with strong smoke and a slightly sweet aftertaste. There’s a reason for the almost overwhelming taste, neat — the batch runs 125.7 proof (62.85% ABV).
So is it worth it? I did a quick check on price and at $99 or so, definitely. It’s on par with most higher end bourbons, and when cut a bit, many Scottish single malts. (That hurt to type…)
17 June, 2025
I have been pleasantly surprised with FanHome’s pick-up of the Eaglemoss Starship Collection, thus far. They’ve gotten all of the eight ships (so far) out on time, and after dumpng OSM as their shipper, they’re hitting their shipping windows consistently. (To be fair, OSM was consistently getting me my shipments one day later than the estimated time, save for the Christmas season, and that’s to be expected.)
Again, the presentation is far superior to the Eaglemoss packaging. the standard graphics for the boxes is much more pleasing to the eye that the bland blue from Eaglemoss. This box, as with the Enterprise-F XL, has an embosed Star Treklabeling that’s quite nice. It comes with the XL-sized Enterprise-G and a booklet about the design process for this Picardseason three hero ship. The angle on the stand is better than it was on a few of the earlier models, which were a bit too flat; too much chance of the model falling off if bumped.
They did a grand job with this one, as with the “F”. The detailing is excellent, and one place FanHome has excelled over Eaglemoss is the detailing on the ventral side of the models. A lot of the previous models skimped on the undersides of the vessels; so far, most of the FanHome products have given more attention to the underside. Hatches, ports, phaser banks, RCS props are all well detailed.
The underside gets similar detailing on the engineering section, if a bit less so on the saucer:
I was particularly fond of this design and for obvious reasons — it’s a modern take of the refit Enterprise from the original movies. It’s a design that combines the classic modern look of the TOS ship with the more realistic portrayal of the movies, then toughens it up around the neck and tosses in the new nacelle design (meh). No negative space design with holes in the spaceframe that don’t need to be there; it looks tough in a way the Akira and the Sovereign did. It’s simply a fantastic looking ship.
So is it worth the $70 or so? If you’re a collector, if you like the look of the 25th C. vessels, if you’re looking to have the whole alphabet in your collections — absolutely. It’s really a gorgeous model. This and the Stargazer have won e over to the new 25th C aesthetic in a way the F did not.
2 June, 2025
Riker’s ship has warped in from FanHome. I wasn’t real jazzed up for this one, (Ba-dum-bump…) but now that it’s here, I’m really liking FanHome’s model of Titan. I was worried it was going to be more cartoony — in keeping with the aesthetic of Lower Decks, but no, it’s a pretty good model. As with the other FanHome products, presentation is a cut above the old Eaglemoss. Box, booklet, all have better graphic design and look good.
There have been definite improvements for the subscription service. The change of shipper has smoothed out some of the kinks from the beginning of these releases, and my models have been coming in, like clockwork, on the last estimated day for delivery, or one after. So far, I’ve had no damaged boxes of models.
Titan has that TNG movie period aesthetic — the nacelles are similar to the look of the Akira-class, and the saucer section has similar queues from the period. The quality of the model’s paint job and detailing are very good — I think they did a better job on this than the preceding models, though it does seem to have more plastic and less die-cast in this particular release.
The lifeboats, the emitters are all nicely visceral. The windows seem to mostly line up, and the aztec paint job is good. This model did not skimp where most do — the underside is equally well done.
Hathces, docking ports, warp core hatches — all painted with warning lines. Other than the seam on the underside of the tail, it all looks good.
They really did a nice job with this one. So if you like the TNG movie period vessels, this is definitely worth getting.
The Black Campbell 