Category: Collecting
-
The Dusty Shelf
Don’t judge us. The image of the top of the cabinet was taken at my scale model club recently – but we have a valid excuse. The clubrooms have no ceiling and there are gaps in the eaves at each side. Dust blows in and settles on the top of things. Thank goodness there is…
-
Persuasion and the Bumtree
A while back I decided to try our local swap and sell app – Gumtree – to dispose of an unwanted plastic model kit. The app was efficient and easy to use, which was a blessing for a non-tech person. I have used my iPad to picture objects for sale, offer them, and frequently have…
-
Airfix Mosquito – Part Four – Thank You, Mike Grant
Mike Grant had been a pioneer where I wished to go and I was fortunate to discover an magazine article he wrote – sponsored by Airfix – that dealt with exactly the aircraft I was working on. The story was illustrated with a lot of good coloured photos and Mike had gone into the scale…
-
The Airfix of Old Is Dead
And from the corpse has risen a new and shining phoenix. I, for one, am delighted. When I commenced a new Airfix bomber kit – one of last year’s releases – I was blown away in just one day of assembly – the level of detail moulded into the parts was outstanding and the sensible…
-
Stein’s Air World – We’re Hiring Now
I have been called to account by the Commitee of Scale Righteousness for the paint jobs on the aircraft that appear in Stein’s Air World. Several of the senior members have pointed out that there are glaring inconsistencies in the shade, hue, intensity, and reflectance of the various aircraft. I have been told that there…
-
Good Morning, Walter – Part 14 – None Of These Toys Work…
Walter, here’s a selection of pictures from a recent Toy and Doll Collector’s fair here in Perth. I went to my regular exhibition hall on the day to see if there were going to be any scale model airplane kits that I wanted to buy. Short answer – no. That’s not the sort of thing…
-
OO, O, and N
You’ve often read me squawking about the disparity in scales that the makers of hobby items have foisted upon us over the years. There is no one universal scale or size for the little worlds we build. Some plastic modellers do not find this a hazard at all – all they look for is a…
-
Good Morning, Walter – Part Six – Garbage Night In Canada
The pictures you see today, Walter, are of a Dinky Toy Bedford dust cart…the British word for garbage truck. The model is one I picked up in England on a holiday in 1995. I’m the sort of person who shops on my holidays and not for tourist souvenirs, either. No postcards or tea towels for…
-
The Courage Of The 1:64th Customiser
The great days of the hot rod and custom car were…ummm…well, actually they were yesterdayand went all the way back to the 1940’s. They’ve been held over for the present and will be still continuing for the future. No-one manages to tell the customisers that they can’t do anything so they just go ahead and…
-
Good Morning, Walter – Part Four – Lead Us Not Into Temptation
Whitemetal us…or Zamac us. But no lead. You are lucky these days, Walter. Many of the hazards of the olden times are gone. No more Hitler, no more smallpox, and no more lead soldiers. I was never in any real danger from the first two but I was exposed to the last ones. And I…
The Little World 