Category: Collecting
-
The Half-Built Bargain
However you acquire a half-built – stash sale, donation, or legacy – you buy more than a box. You buy a dilemma. A fresh kit, with a sealed box or bagged sprue trees, is a clean field to play on. It may be old, with tatty decals and useless instructions, but at least when you…
-
The Courage To Play
Do you remember playing? If you can recall your childhood and still picture the games and toys that amused you…you are a very lucky person. Even if they were modest things, they helped you to understand the world and prepare to be an active part of it. You grew older – hopefully wiser. You l…
-
And Yet…Here We Are…
As a kid and teenager I took a serious interest in scale models – and was increasingly scorned for it as years went by. The climate of the country changed – people expected more serious behaviour – there was nothing cool about pursuing something that a child could do. I was expected to grow up,…
-
How Does A Hobby Fall Upon Its Prey?
Having been savaged by at least eight major hobbies in my life, with the wreck of finance and intellect as evidence, I am finally drawn to wondering why… Why these things, why me, why anyone. Why do ’em, and why pay for ’em. Every child plays with toys, if they are lucky. Every child runs…
-
Fun For The Whole Family
A scale modeller who runs out of kits need never be dismayed – as long as they have their family. a. The family are a soft touch. All you need to do is mope about the house complaining that you don’t have anything to do. After a day of this they will empty their purses…
-
Are Buyers And Storers Collectors?
Are they modellers as such? This question has come up repeatedly in my life as I have been attracted by scale models of all sorts. I’ve purchased die-cast ships, cars, and planes that were complete in themselves right out of the box – exquisite in some cases. Some became part of a larger collection that…
-
Charles Schultz Said Happiness Was A Warm Puppy
Charles Addams agreed, but recommended gravy with it. So it is with the scale model building hobby. We are offered many kits of things that are essentially the same, but with a different twist. Take the example of the Japanese battleship YAMATO. I have seen it in commercial form in every scale from 1:3000 to…
-
VVS Tupolev SB2 – Part One – The Soviet Volunteer
May not be worth ten pressed men, but I am not fussy… This Novo model of a Tupolev SB-2 is the second one I’ve essayed to build – the first was a gift from my daughter – found at Leonardo’s secondhand model shop in Tokyo just before Covid hit. I built it as a Spanish…
-
” How Can You Waste Your Time On That Kit? “
This one? This kit? This vintage classic old Airfix retro sagger of a kit? How can I waste my time on it? You misjudge. You mistake the meaning of the word ” waste “. You imagine that anything not conforming to the current latest magazine or YouTube trend is a waste. Oh, My Dear… This…
-
MiG-29 Fulcrum – Part One – Not 1959
I can’t understand why Airfix did not make a 50¢ model of a MiG-29 in 1959 when I was a kid. But, better late than never. The second kit in the Fifty Cent Fighter series is as neatly moulded as the Su-22 – and contains just as many traps for the unwary. I am delighted…
The Little World 