Category: Hobby Shops
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When The Shopkeeper Gets Coy

When they run the product in the shelf so that you cannot see the price tag… When they put a “ Special “ sticker on something that has been there longer than you have been shaving… When they use that same “ Special “ sticker on something that has only just been shelved… You know…
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Why’d You Build A Model Of THAT?

There are many paths, Grasshopper… a. It was the plane my father flew in the Battle of Britain. He was on the Finnish side. They shot at EVERYBODY. Little Helsinki on the Avon was a hotbed of aerial warfare. b. I had the money and the shop owner seduced me…by putting the kit on the…
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Do Other Hobbies Suffer From Being At The End Of The World?

Or is it just scale kit building? We all go regularly to the hobby shops or websites looking for novelties. We regularly come back disappointed. Meanwhile the net and the magazines show a wonderful variety of goods available to people in Europe, Asia, and North America. We are left outside on the footpath with our…
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A Kit Too Far

If you are observant at stash sales you can tell which models will be coming onto the table at a good price. Not initially, perhaps – we have all seen the ambitious price tag on a scale box. Sometimes it is high enough to over-run new kits currently available in the shops. This can be…
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Seeing The Remnants All In One Place

Is good for the mind and bad for the soul. Or the other way round… The big boxes full of little boxes – in their turn full of unbuilt plastic kits saved from the wreck of a Perth hobby shop – that greeted me at my hobby club were an amazing sight. Part of the…
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Scratch-building Pack

We often encounter notes on short-run kit instructions that tell us to scratch-build some part. It may be a strut or part of an interior. Perhaps a flap or plate or even part of the undercarriage. Indeed there can be kits where the parts are provided but are of such poor quality that you are…
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Are Your Models Getting Enough Exposure?

I don’t mean in the sunshine – most plastic kits do badly when the temperature rises. I mean in your home, workplace, club, or other places. Are you hiding your light under a bushel? Do you need to show off a little? Once a year you can display in the WASMex show. Your audience will…
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Well Sir, I See’d It

It were right there – right in front of everbody. Ya couldn’t hardly miss it. Little ol’ box – ’bout the size of a 1/72 Mustspitschmitt. Sez it is an 1/72 RAAF trainer with decals. Sorta thing an Australian model plane person might like to build. Might like to build if they have a spare…
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You Really Do Need Two Pairs Of Cutters.

I should have laughed at myself for writing that header a few years ago. I had just re-started in scale kit building and had purchased a Ustar tool kit with knife, cutter, sandpaper blocks, etc. I still have most of it and most of it still works. What more could you want? Well, you could…
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Is Your Scale Being Scaled Back?

Is it getting tougher to find a new kit in your preferred scale on the hobby shop shelves? Here are some reasons why: a. The various wars around the world are interfering with trade enough to keep the plastic warships and planes away from us. b. The hobby shops are running lean in their buying.…
