Category: Collecting
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JAS 39 Gripen – Part Two – Loaded For Bear
Quite literally – whether on the ground, in the air, or on the sea. This Gripen is painted as a demonstrator model for an air show – no unit mark, no wear and tear, but a full load of missiles, tanks, and a designator pod. With a load-out this intense, I think its greatest feat…
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JAS 39 Gripen – Part One – The Export Model
That’s good enough for home. This Italeri kit is probably based upon an early model JAS 39 Gripen. Since its introduction into the Swedish Air Force it has been sold to the Czech Republic, Hungary, and South Africa. Did you wish to add a modern aircraft to your collection for these services, there are decals…
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Pre-Coloured Model Kits
We already see some surprisingly precise model kits in the 1:144 scale that have been pre-painted or colour printed. They are generally the tinier fighter planes and the schemes are simplified, but for all that, the kits go together well and the end result looks at least as good as a a die cast example.…
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When You Rethink…
And you do it for yourself – free of any prompting from necessity, or advertising, or other people’s opinions… You step up to the bridge of life and take command. You decide the course and the speed. You decide the cargo and the loading. You take the risk and make the profit or loss. It’s…
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Ural Starter Truck – Part Four – Arctic
My decision to paint the Ural starter truck in yellow-orange was initially based on a picture from Taganrog in Russia. As it is, this truck will be on the hardstand at Wet Dog Regional so the winter yellow is perfectly appropriate. The aircraft at Wet Dog are exposed to cold just as intense and Russia…
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Ural Starter Truck – Part Two – Straight Into It
And likely to remain straight, as well. The designers of this Ural kit are smarter than the average bear. The moulded the basic frame as one piece with springs attached and a number of extremely precise location holes throughout it. This meant that, even in the hurley burley of a club morning – with the…
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The Makers Of The Kits Do Not Make Them For Your Pleasure
They make them for your money. Anything downstream of this is just an extra. Remember this when you look at the Verell kit that costs $ 35.00; the 1:53.5 scale one that has “ 1951 ” moulded inside the wing. It has been returning cash to the pockets of Verell for 75 years and pretty…
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Is Your Scale Being Scaled Back?
Is it getting tougher to find a new kit in your preferred scale on the hobby shop shelves? Here are some reasons why: a. The various wars around the world are interfering with trade enough to keep the plastic warships and planes away from us. b. The hobby shops are running lean in their buying.…
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The Clean-Up
New year seemed to demand new experiences. Also new work. So I rather hurried to complete a model before midnight. It was not hard…just a small one. That meant that January could start afresh at the club with a new kit. The stash owner always has the problem of which to select. In my case…
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Atlantic Wildcat- Part One – Older Than Dirt
But just as attractive. The is an Academy/Minicraft kit, which nails the age at 1996 – not really old at all, when you consider some of the fossils I have built. A donation, and welcome, but what should be done with it? Missing a canopy* but complete otherwise, with a spare tail plane and an…
The Little World 