Category: Hobby Shops
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When All Else Fails, Cheap Out.

We all cruise the aisle of the hobby shop, hardware store, craft shop, or toy store looking for the Great Bargain. The Score. The Once-In-A-Lifetime chance to buy a $5000 model for 50¢. It never eventuates, of course, and we can become bitter and twisted. The thing we all need to do is realise that…
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When Is Old Junk…Old Junk?

And when is it Invaluable Historic Resource? This thought was forced upon me as I sifted through the secondhand dealer’s goods at the Model Railway Exhibition this year. There were at least three dealers specifically dedicated to secondhand – perhaps there were more that I did not see. Their stock ranged from quite professional goods…
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Extra Dark Sea Yellow-Pink

Or was that RLM Light Puce? Or Cockpit Poo Brown? Every source of information that one can access about authentic colours for scale models is based upon the opinion of the person who wrote it…and that may be perfectly valid, adequately valid, nearly valid, or a dog-bone lie. If it is connected in a commercial…
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The Seven Circles Of Modeller’s Inferno

Dante was not the only person who made a journey to the lowest depths of Hell and wrote about it. I’ve been to the hobby shows myself. Apart from a little more sulphurous smell and uglier demons, they are remarkably like the underworld. And just as Dante found, there are distinct levels of the place,…
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Packaging Part Two – The Quality Of The Box

I’ve been buying model kits since Eisenhower was President and Louis St. Laurent was Prime Minister and I think I’ve seen them offered in every form of packaging save a lard barrel; cardboard boxes, plastic packets, plastic bags, sleeves, and even one memorable lot in paper envelopes. As I sit at my desk typing I…
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Oddly Enough – It’s Not The Trains…

My annual visit to the model rail exhibition was a resounding success – here in Western Australia it amounts to a trade show and swapmeet as much as it is a pure exhibition…and everyone benefits. And it was somewhat of an eye-opener for a student of Little Worlds: a. It was very well attended –…
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Modelling To A Theme – Building For A Purpose

I have a confession to make. I have a mental condition that permeates my life. It has affected me ever since childhood and makes itself felt in everything I do. It is sometimes a good thing and sometimes bad…but I have come to realise what it is and to accept it. It is the need…
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$ 20 A Donk

I’m just back from the hobby shop with three pots of paint and a new kit for the stash. It wasn’t an impulse buy – I have had it on the acquisition roster for some time, and just wanted to see what was available around town before I opened the wallet. I’d also asked around…
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Lockheed P-38 – Part Two – The Hobby Shop

Well, you get to see a new thing every day – it is just a matter of keeping your eyes open. The purchase of the Hobby Boss Lockheed P-38 brought me two remarkable experiences. I visited a hobby shop here in Perth that I rarely call at. It is some distance from my house and…
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When Your Time Has Come…

I was thinking of this question while visiting the local hobby shop – Hobbytech. A Sunday afternoon and just the time one runs out of khaki-coloured paint. No good sitting there and wishing that it would appear in the paint rack – you just have to go out and get it. The hobby shop was…
