Category: frugality
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WW1 Female Tank – Part One – Dollar Man
I was delighted to see Gary the Dollar Man turn up at a Men’s Shed day at our club. He had a box of kits to sell at remarkably low prices. As I had remarkably low funds that day I could only buy three, but one of them is this Emhar WW1 tank. He did…
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Build Simply
Or, in the case of the stash maniacs in the readership – simply build… Today’s posts on my other two weblog columns has centred around simplicity – in living and purchasing. It can also be applied to our hobby of scale modelling. Not every kit or model needs to be super-detailed to be super fun.…
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F-82 Twin Mustang – Part Five – The Black Twin
Lo and Behold. A dear old Monogram F-82 kit at a swap meet. The price of Hobby Boss click-together. What’s not to like! The kit is complete – the decals are reasonable, the canopies are all there. It is out of fashion as an older mould, but the raising of the panel lines has lowered…
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All These Sprue Trees…
Of which i am collecting more and more each week… What the devil do I do with them? I’ve been in the habit of throwing them into the trash after I finish a build – minus the spare parts, of course. In some instances chopped up as I progress through the box, but in some…
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This Model Ain’t Makin’ Itself…
The lazy modellers guide to workflow. We are told that youthful modellers in the 1970’s used to buy a kit at their local shop, have it together by teatime, and destroyed by the next morning. I think this is one of those old-guy stories that is made up of fibs, lies, and political promises. I…
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Okay, Ben….Now What?
Poor Richard Saunders, aka Ben Franklin, kept telling us that time is money and we should do today rather than putting off until tomorrow. Sound advice, and then we go and take it and rack up another $ 50 debt with Bunnings for overpriced wood. This goes directly against Ben’s other constant song of frugality…
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Airfix Vintage Val – Part Two – So Far, So Good
The last couple of plague days were very productive – and the Airfix Aichi Val was coming along splendidly. Fuselage seams needed progressive assembly but in the end little filler would be needed – so little that it would probably be only thickened undercoat. So far a victory over the Fujimi product. Wings needed no…
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Fourteen Little People
I approach the exercise of painting figures with trepidation. There are so many better painters that I feel I am a fraud. Yet I need pilots for my aircraft and spectators for my air museum. So it is either paint the inexpensive figures or pay for the ready-mades…and these are very often at a price…
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Ess Bend Engineering – Part One – We’re Not Made Of Money, Eh?
Go easy on the toilet paper, willya? The cheapest repair shop in Alberta is located round the Ess Bend. Wayne and Gordie specialise in fixing things that other people won’t touch and if you’re smart, you won’t touch the stuff afterwards, either. They are the favourite shop for the less prestigious museums and collections as…
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I’m Bypassing My Second Childhood
And I’m heading straight for my second adolescence. More money to spend, I get to stay up later, and there’ll be girls. Well, girls for later. For now I get to spend some of my allowance on better model kits. And there’ll be increased privileges and responsibilities. I am going to be allowed to have…
The Little World 