Category: damage control
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Tupolev TB-3 – Part Two – More Pegs Than A Dublin Phone Book
And every one of them working… The next time you hear someone blithely tell you that they ” winged it “…and make out that it was all so easy…refer them to me. I have winged the Tupolev TB-3 and I know what the abyss looks like. The basic bracing inside was actually very precise –…
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No Security Is No Security
Put another way: do not display anything to the public you cannot afford to have broken or stolen. Also do not expect care and worship of your art, craft, object, or performance. You may hope for it but don’t hype yourself up to demand it. You have very little legal redress for criminal damage and…
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If You Cannot Raise the Standard Of Your Skills
At least lower the level of your expectations. The hobby, after all, is meant to give you pleasure. If all you do is whinge about the efforts of others and wince at the sight of yours…well, is it time to seek your joy elsewhere? I have gone up and down in my own estimation a…
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When You Have Done All You Can
Stop doing. The number of times a good model has been converted to a flawed embarrassment by that ” one more little touch “…The extra coat of varnish. The touch up paint. The superglued aftermarket part. You know you flubbed it instantly – yet the moment before you could not see to quit. Self-realisation at…
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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…
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Selling The Unsaleable
The heart of a hobby shop owner must be made of leather and whipcord. Or marzipan. Either way, it needs to be tough and resilient. The ultimate test of this comes at the end of the day when the last customer leaves and the till is totalled up. If the last customer is the only…
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Buy All The Superglue
And discover whether it really is super or not… I have looked with nuclear puzzlement at the cyanoacrylate cement racks in the hobby shop…as well as at the DIY shop. Frequently no idea at all forms in my mind, and I buy whatever is cheapest. The super-thin sort goes everywhere and into my fingers. The…
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Pursuing The Wild Hare
Fine, if it involves chasing one over a meadow. Not so good if it becomes anatomical. Sometimes people come to you with schemes. The ones that involve remaking the world in a medieval mould can be interesting, but you have to ask who is going to be the lord and who the serf. It makes…
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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…
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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…
The Little World 