Category: design
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Short Skyvan – Part Three – Once Seen…
Never forgotten – provided you photograph it. The inclusion of detailed interiors in scale models is not new – this Short Skyvan kit had a full set of seats for Olympic Airways passengers in the 70’s and benches for Austrian skydivers in the 2020’s. When my example served as an arctic transport in the 60’s…
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Short Skyvan – Part One – Never Saw It Coming
Which is remarkably short-sighted of me – this thing is as wide as a house trailer. And as long and as high. In fact, if it had an oil stove and a porch you could take your muddy boots off in, you could park it in Peace River for the winter… Never before have I…
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Start, Ya Bastard
You know, I am unable to convince some of my North American readers that there really is a product on the market in Australia called just that? Oh ye, of little faith… As it is, the expression serves perfectly as a reminder to scale modellers that the kit on the shelf is just a box…
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Canadian Dandruff
Or how to freeze your enthusiasm… At some stage of the game every scale modeller thinks it would be ” cool ” to make a snow scene. The big film studios have been doing it for years – some with great effect. Nothing says Eastern Front like a half-track with the crew starting a fire…
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The Swedish Curse
Cold winters. Long nights. Trapped in the hangar with nothing to do. Add an active crew in the paint shop and an account down the local Bunnings paint department… And there you go. Camouflage schemes that involve 45 different colours with hard lines and geometric angles. And every modeller who wants a Viggen or a…
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Scale Model Envy
Sin in miniature. I rarely give way to envy at the scale model exhibition – even in the competition hall when most of the entries are far better than I could do. But I did come over all goosey when I saw this model of a Cletrac airfield tractor. It appears to be in 1:48…
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Working With The Materials
As opposed to in spite of them. Modellers can be assemblers or fabricators; putting together a kit or building a model from basic materials. Either way they are making the wood, plastic, metal, or other stuff do what they want…more or less. Some kits, and some plans resist even the most skilled workers. Do what…
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What’s A Success In Scale Modelling?
Depends – and on a number of factors. Firstly there’s the modeller. Some are dedicated, some are casual. For some it is a hobby – for others, real life. The intense modeller may set higher goals for themselves than the person who treats it lightly. Then there’s the intent. If someone sets out to tell…
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If You Only Have One Computer
And only add one program… Add Photoshop Elements. Whatever your machine will cope with – whatever the current iteration is. Go add an old version if that is all that you can get. It is a mom-and-pop editing program for Mac or Windows that lets the consumer use simplified commands and tools to make nearly…
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Say What You Will About the Design
And debate as much as you like how well it might have done against a Tiger I… I still want one – as the shopping vehicle for my local IGA car park. The bays in the centre have been painted on the asphalt in such a way as to get the most cars – and…
