Category: Collecting
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The New Kit Box
You do not have to be an 18th century rake… To recognise the experience of being captured by the appearance of a smartly-dressed courtesan with a painted face and patches on her cheeks. The ample bosom and the curled hair may be missing, but the end result – bitter horror at the raddled creation encased…
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CAC Wirraway – Part One – The Challenge
Apparently that is what the word translates to from one of the aboriginal languages. In modern day terms it was one of the licence-built derivatives from a North American design – the root of which gave us the Yale, Harvard, Texan, and NA 16. And probably a Soviet copy somewhere, if they ran true to…
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Lifespan
Is there a natural lifespan for scale models? I have seen a magnificent dolls house in London that apparently belonged to one of the British Royals when she was a girl. I suspect it was in the 20’s…but it is preserved in a museum for all to see. It may well go for another century…
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RCAF Hudson – Part One – At Long Last
I have skirted around the Lockheed Hudson for decades. My collection includes a Lodestar, a Ventura, and a Harpoon – all fun to build and successful finishes. Yet the basic Hudson has eluded me – until Airfix decided to revive a Vintage Classic. I’ve been haunting the red-box shelves in two shops for months –…
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The Search For A Good Time
Well, isn’t that what we all want? The question is how we define it and where we look. Other people search for sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Scale plastic modellers search for styrene parts that fit and paint that doesn’t dry in the bottle. Also the bits that drop on the floor. We are…
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Toying With A Model
And not the artist’s model in the garret, either. We’ve all seen the ” Carry On ” movies. We know what goes on… I mean the scale model – or the scale toy. I realise this will rile readers – this coupling of two genres – but riled readers are the stock in trade of…
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It Is Hard To Sell A Poisoned Chalice
Especially if you have been killing off people’s enthusiasm with it for years. This sentiment applies to a lot of things; hobby publications, exhibition organisation, and box-scale kits come to mind. The magazines we loved to buy are slowly giving way to YouTube presentations that take up hours of our time for minutes of information.…
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How Many?
And how would one ever find out? I have been amazed at the number of firms that make plastic scale model kits. I knew of perhaps eight when I was a kid – and some of them have long disappeared – but they have been replaced in the shops with what may be hundreds more.…
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You Only Really Aim High Or Low In Scale Modelling
The centre of the target is not interesting – a direct contrast to rifle shooting. When you buy a model, or are fortunate to receive one as a gift, you are either going to chop out a lot of money or very little at all. Oddly, most modellers don’t notice either sum. The large expensive…
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Your Stash Is Not You
You are not your stash – any more than you are your collection of CDs or your underwear and socks. You may indeed possess many kits, and CDs, and socks and jocks, but they do not represent your skills, thoughts, or achievements. At best they are potential things. And just as you cannot wear all…
The Little World 