Category: damage control
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Tasman Airspeed Oxford Mk I – Part Four – While The Goo Sets…
Busy your hands, to stop your mind from screaming. The engine cowlings on this model have become a standard mark in my workshop. They form the nadir from which anything else is better. I have joined the halves and lit a votive candle. The interior is bare, but surprisingly neat. It is simple, of course,…
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Tasman Airspeed Oxford Mk I – Part Three – Oh, Just Grit Yer Teeth…
Pull up your Big-Girl panties, and get on with it. It’s not going to make itself. The first thing that has to go is the upper turret. Tasman have made a decent job of it, and the whitemetal gun mount will be saved for the future, but the aircraft I’m modelling has no turret. so…
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Tasman Airspeed Oxford Mk I – Part Two – The Apology
At least Tasman Models are scrupulously honest. They recognised the problems of short-run manufacturing and the times when it just doesn’t come out like a Disney movie. The under-wing parts of this model apparently were consistently short-shooting at the wing tip. They realised it , modified the panel on the mould, and added two extra…
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The Disappointment
I read a review once in a modelling magazine that was quite scathing about a brand of short-run kit: Merlin. I don’t pay too much attention to this sort of bagging as I have made quite decent aircraft out of kits that other people would avoid. The garage kit may look bad to start with…
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Do We Have A Trade War With Japan, China, Or The Czech Republic?
No? Goodoh. That means we really should be able to order kits and supplies from these countries free of any interference from the Petulant of the United States, Ronald Grump. I have been looking at the kits I build and the goods I want and am a little saddened to see that some of the…
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If They Ask The Right Question
Give ’em the right answer. ” Is that a Messerschmitt “? is a perfectly sensible question, unless it has four engines and ” Enola Gay ” on the nose. It deserves an honest answer and an explanation of the era and the markings. Likewise if they ask the scale and the model manufacturer – you…
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A Model Philosopher’s Stone
Alchemy in scale. The old concept of the Philosopher’s Stone that would transmute lead into gold never quite got off the ground – both substances defying the power of 18th century aero engines to achieve lift. Even when modern jets and rockets were strapped to freight cars full of lead and the vehicles sent down…
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The Detail Is In the Devil
And I am starting to believe that is where it should stay. I stand in awe of the fine detail that can be achieved by some modellers working in 1:32nd and 1:35th scale. When they commence work on tank tracks with 5 or 6 pieces per link…and a couple hundred links…I know it is time…
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A Very Personal Boycott
And for a very personal reason. A recent visit to a hobby shop in our metro area ended unpleasantly – when I asked to use the toilet the owner directed me outside to the end of the car park and told me to pee behind the dumpster. Fortunately I was able to make it in…
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Tupolev SB2 – Part Three -Guessing Game
Meetings in the design bureau of a scale model company must be interesting to attend. Are there knives? Do people disappear? Do they call in dancing girls and order pizza? I ask because some of the decisions that come from these meetings seem to be motivated by strange desires. Who would have split the fuselage…
The Little World 