Category: Enamel
-
Special Greetings From The Hobby Shop Siege

This is the second day of the hobby shop siege and the management hasn’t gotten me out yet. I’ve holed up behind the paint racks and taken hostages. Police negotiators have turned spotlights onto the acrylics but I am refusing to budge until my demands are met. I have sent out a manifesto and have…
-
I Was Saving That For A Rainy Day…

When we set out stockpile materials, kits, plans, money, and tools with a hazy vision of one day making the grande supremo opus de-luxe model…we condemn ourselves to a lifetime of anxiety. For how will we know when that ultimate opportunity arrives? When can we open the secret vault door and bring out the ”…
-
When All Else Fails, Cheap Out.

We all cruise the aisle of the hobby shop, hardware store, craft shop, or toy store looking for the Great Bargain. The Score. The Once-In-A-Lifetime chance to buy a $5000 model for 50¢. It never eventuates, of course, and we can become bitter and twisted. The thing we all need to do is realise that…
-
Extra Dark Sea Yellow-Pink

Or was that RLM Light Puce? Or Cockpit Poo Brown? Every source of information that one can access about authentic colours for scale models is based upon the opinion of the person who wrote it…and that may be perfectly valid, adequately valid, nearly valid, or a dog-bone lie. If it is connected in a commercial…
-
When You See That Magic Lamp

We all succumb to the lure of the magic lamp occasionally. That moment when you see something exotic in the swirling waters at your feet and reach down and pick it up… The lucky ones drop it but the unfortunate ones rub and the genii comes out. Well, I avoided rubbing when I visited a…
-
” Is This Paint Gluten-Free? “

Don’t laugh too much. You never know where the trail of discovery will lead. I have been pondering this in my local store – Hobbytech – as I wander the paint aisle. It is much the same when I go to the big DIY chain store – Bunnings – and try to make sense out…
-
The Witchcraft That Is Airbrushing

I am new to airbrushing but not that new. A couple of tentative years under my belt. I’ve gone from stark terror to grudging acceptance. Reminds you of married life, doesn’t it? The first airbrush was a cheapie from Metro Hobbies, but complete enough to have three separate needle/nozzle/housing options included. They are stated as…
-
Where Was That Blasted XF-68?

Yes, I paint model kits. Yes, I have more than one bottle of paint. Yes, I lose the occasional one down the back of the sofa… Now that I am building more model aircraft kits from different air forces I am getting more paints. Some are direct shades and some are mixtures. I have transcribed…
-
The Cup Runneth Over

It’s often the little things in the Little World that loom largest. Now I’m not going to suggest that I’m a cheapskate. A penny-pincher. A scrooge. But I encounter things in daily and modelling life that press my Frugality Alarm button something chronic. And paint wastage is one of them. Paint from model shops is…
-
Impatience Is Better than No Patience At All

Hurry up and read this essay – I want to get on and write more. Come on, come on…move your eyes faster…Sheesh… And get on with that model. You’ve had it for over a week and it’s still not done. The box says it’s quick to build…and who are you to make the manufacturer look…
