Category: damage control
-
RAAF Spitfire Mk Vc – Part Three – Peg ‘0 My Heart

I love you… Okay, there is an earworm for you. If you are too young to know the tune put your cap on backwards, go away, and stare at your mobile phone. I am the strange old guy in the supermarket that looks at clothes pegs. Or the weirdo in Bunnings that tests out every…
-
Don’t, Don’t You Believe It, Girlie…

Whenever someone tells you a kit is unbuildable, doubt them. Ditto when they tell you it is the best thing since sliced styrene. People’s opinions quickly convert to folklore and just as rapidly to gospel truth. There are scale model flat earths all about us. A case in point was given to me by a…
-
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…
-
FW 190 – Part Three – The Red Field Queen

That’s like a hangar queen but one they keep out in the open. This FW 190 was captured in Belgium at St. Trond (Sint Truiden ) and started life as White 11 of JG4. It was given a strong red coat of paint, USAAF markings, and a made-up registration number: OO-L as well as a…
-
The Famous Aircraft Number

Quick – what was the registration number of Louis Bleriot’s plane that flew to England from France? And no prize for saying FROG-1. How about the Spirit Of St Louis? Or the Southern Cross? Bet you can look those up… But what about the 13th bomber in the 394th in 1943? You’ve got a kit…
-
When You Are The Only Person In A Shop

You start to wonder about the viability of the place. This may certainly be the case when you go at an odd time of the day – say they open 24/7 and it is 3:00 AM. But if it’s noon on Tuesday, you have to wonder at empty aisles. Prices can do it. Inflation and…
-
The ” Worst In Show ” Award

A new era in scale modelling opens up… For years we have been seen awards presented at scale model exhibitions. They could be for First, Second, and Third, or Gold, Silver, and Bronze, or any other combination of prizes. Sometimes they have had cash or goods attached to them as reward for the modellers. Let’s…
-
When You Wish Upon A Star

Makes no difference who you areAnyone who shoots at you canKill you dead. The practice of painting stars- red, white, or black – on the sides of tanks is no guarantee against 17 pdr shells or Javelin missiles. Thicker armour and party tricks are a bit better, but the best protection is distance. At 200…
-
Should You Be First?

Here’s the scenario: Super Hobby Good Times Model Kit Cooperative produces the first-ever model of the Benoit-Farquarrson medium bomber. You can get it in Tanganyikan, Ecuadorian, or Moldavian markings – armed with either blunderbusses or cruise drones. There are PE parts, resin parts, and a genuine wooden voodoo idol included with the kit. Should you…
-
When Is An Apple Not An Apple?

When it is drawn as a diagram on the instruction sheet of a scale model piece of fruit. Then – particularly if the kit is from Prague – the part that looks like a Granny Smith, Mackintosh, or Cox’s Pippin could well be an aileron or de-icing strip. There will be few written notes to…
