Category: Hobby Shops
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The Trade Stand
Many exhibitions and fairs have trade stands as a major feature of their days…and the WASMEX held recently was no exception. I counted half a dozen or so of various sorts in the main display hall. Most of them were old acquaintances and in one case I got to meet an old friend as well.…
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The Newbie – Part Three – There Is No Such Thing
There is no such thing as: a. A completely accurate model. Do it never so well, there will always be a detractor who will pull up an MAP plan from 1959 to prove that you’ve made a mistake. Don’t try to argue the case as their criticism is not intended to make the model look…
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The Newbie – Part Two – All The Choices!
Discovering a new hobby shop makes you feel like Christopher Columbus. Every aisle is a new land to discover. There are wonders to see. And savage natives. Just kidding – when you have money to spend, the proprietors of the hobby shops are far from savage. They may seem grumpy but if you make the…
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The Newbie – Part One – What Do You Want?
The question of what you want is one that bedevils us all at some stage of the modelling game. It can be as simple as thinking what sort of model – boat, train, car, figure, etc you are attracted to. It can become as complex as a major research project into some specific mark of…
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Colour Choice In A Paint-Starved World
The racks in my favoured place of worship are looking bare. Time to put some more heretics to the question… Calm, down Torquemada – we’re talking about the paint racks at the local hobby shop. The Tamiya and Gunze sections are getting sparse as shipments are delayed around the world. Other sections are full –…
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Stash And Stashette
No, it isn’t a new take on Mozart’s Magic Flute characters – I am trying to quantify the pile of unbuilt kits that every modeller seems to have. If one kit is…one kit…when does a number of kits become a stashette and when does it graduated to being a full-fledged stash? I could have answered…
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Aaaaand There It Is…
The error. The mistake. The blunder. The failure. Every build has one, and some builds have many. And there are a variety of them: a. The bad kit. Some kits are bad. Badly designed, badly moulded, badly boxed and badly shipped. In this case you are being beaten up by the manufacturere and the only…
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Martin Maryland – Part One – Circling The Shelf
You know that thing – when you visit a hobby shop on a number of occasions and pass the same model on the shelf each time. And you look at it and heft it and put it back for some reason. Then one day you run out of reasons… This kit of a Maryland is…
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The Joy Of Cheap Modelling
I often write paeans to frugality, now that I’m retired. No big stream of money coming in means you must cut your coat according to cheaper cloth – and use smaller bolts of it. Fortunately I am skinny so a little covers a lot. The plastic model hobby is also a field for care. I…
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Christmas Etiquette For Scale Modellers
A valuable guide to the holidays to ensure that you have the right spirit and none of it spills on the tablecloth. a. If you are given a model, it is The Right Model. You may have built eight ME 109’s already and the kit that you have received is an Airfix Me 109… You…
The Little World 