Category: Hobby Shops
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So Many Paints. So Many Choices. So Little Time.

I found myself agonising again in the paint aisle of Hobbytech. Not at prices or the paucity of paint – far from it. The prices are reasonable enough but the range of paints available is far greater than my discriminatory mechanism can cope with. I am past spoilt for choice – I am made anxious…
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The Christmas Hobby Traffic

I made a visit to my local hobby shop – Hobbytech – this week to make sure I had enough supplies to carry on through the holiday break. The drive there was hell, the parking was hell, and the drive home was hell, but the time spent in the shop was delightful. And I observed…
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Tool Time – Part Five – We’re There

Here’s what the Ustar people packed into their mini modeller’s tool kit – the kit I bought for the pair of plastic nippers inside. I’ll show you why today was a good day. The heading image was inside the cardboard case. That’s a 100mm x 200mm cutting board and sealed plastic box. Let’s tally up…
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Tool Time – Part Four – What Happened Next

Never glance. Glancing is dangerous. Either look deliberately or put your head down inside your shirt collar and see nothing. I know this because I glanced… To my left, as it happened, as I went to the till at Hobbytech to purchase the set of Ustar plastic nippers. I went past the rack that has…
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Tool Time – Part One – Not All Tools Are Equal…

We all use tools, and if we are in the dating market occasionally they use us. Some tools are good – some bad. Some are expensive, and some cheap. If you go into the wrong bar you will get the latter types exclusively. Sometimes you’ll be in the same dilemma at your hobby shop or…
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McDonnell Banshee – Part One – The Holiday Kit

On my holidays to Melbourne, I slipped into the new Metro Models shop in Bourke Street to see what I could find. This Academy model of the McDonnell F2H-3 Banshee did not call to me at first until I turned up the side of the box and was staring at three colour profiles of Royal…
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Someone Wants Me…

I’m a 1/48th scale model of a dust cart. In a world of Messerschmitts, Super Hornets, and Saturn V rockets…I’m a dust cart. Two wheels, a bin, and a handle. You get a broom and a shovel on the sprue and a set of decals that look like banana peels and cat puke. The instruction…
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Walk In Or Walk Out?

And we’re not talking about wing walks either. I want a kit. And a specific kit – having done my research in regard to it. Its the best for my purpose – and good news – it was a new Airfix release late last year and has been seen in the local hobby shop in…
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Boeing Fortress Mk III – Part One – Happy Birthday, You Old Kid…

Okay. Put on your retro panties and pull them up. Now wander back to your childhood and the time you were given birthday money and were let off for the Saturday to visit every hobby shop in town. a. DId you visit every shop in town? Yes you did. b. Were you tired out? No, you weren’t.…
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So Why Does One Model Tank?

And another become a classic? I’m not talking about 1/35 scale armour here. I mean why is one model kit a success and just keeps on selling, and another ends up in the auction house for unsold kits within the first six months? a. Is it a bad model? Badly conceived, badly moulded, poorly packaged.…
