Category: Hobby Shops
-
” I Want To Return This Kit “

And I want a full refund for it. a. It is the wrong kit. I wanted the right kit. Okay, I brought it from the shelf to the till myself and paid for it, but it was the wrong kit when I got it home and the wife found out how much it cost. b.…
-
Are We Having Fun Yet?

When that question comes up, the answer is never ” Yes “. Yet it could be… I do things that are pointless and expensive and embarrassing. And fun. I’m not going to tell you what, but you can let your imaginations run wild. As this is a scale model column, wild is likely to involve…
-
Swiss F-5E – Part One – Another Odd Buy

I make snap decisions when I am in the aisle of a hobby shop. These involve kit choice, paint colours, and must-have tools. They are nearly all bad. Later, when the fever passes, I look at the purchases and wonder where I’m ever going to use them. Some sit dormant for years, and then become…
-
Modellers Need A Holiday

Or a festival. Not sure which would be better, but it needs to be a day that can have good things to eat and drink. I’m talking a regular, yearly holiday that can be gazetted in the Western Australian calendar the same as ANZAC Day or Easter. A day that you get off work, if…
-
Why No 1:64 Planes, Then?

If you were a kid in North America in the 50’s you basically had a choice of three scales for electric trains: 1:48 Lionel, 1:64 American Flyer, and 1:87 HO made by Varney, Athearn, and lots of smaller firms. The 1:87 HO has stayed with us – just as 1:76 has stayed with the British…
-
There Is No Time Like The Present

And there never was. That is the nature of time…it moves forward. Pity some of the plastic model moulding firms are so stuck in the past. This is particularly ironic when you consider that these firms want to make a profit in the future by moulding models of things that vanished a century ago…and they…
-
Convair F-106 – A NORAD Quickie

I have taken to an amusing game when I photograph dancers at their concerts or for portraits – when they ask me the cost of the finished files or videos I tell them about my model airplane hobby. I ask them to pay their bill by purchasing a 1:72 scale model airplane kit that I…
-
Caudron C-445 – Part One – The Metro Trawl

I don’t know whether Metro Hobbies in Melbourne lie in wait for me or if it’s the other way round. As the flow of money goes east and the flow of plastic comes west, it doesn’t really matter. I tend to shop in three modes: Cheap, Curious, and Canadian. Some say that this is tautology,…
-
F-82 Twin Mustang – Part One – SOOTB Interception

I had no idea I needed it… Until I stated googling the business of North American air interception in the late 40’s. I identified an interceptor base near to where I once lived and looked over its roster. I was amazed to find the F-82 and to read that it was an effective unit. Then…
-
1932 Chrysler – Part One – Trepidation

I’m not normally nervous when selecting a model kit to build…but I’ll confess to feeling that way about this one on the hobby shop shelf.. Why nervous? Because I used to have an extensive collection of die-cast model cars in 1:18 scale that I used as props for tabletop photography. They were sold away, and…
