Category: Military models
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Polish Tankette – Part Three – Tankietka

I am starting to be impressed with the IBG company’s approach to scale modelling. The first club day saw a little of the inside compartment started; the engine block and radiator shell. The parts separated cleanly from the sprue trees and dry fitted perfectly. the plastic is very slightly soft – eminently cuttable. Think a…
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Polish Tankette – Part Two – Better Than Nostalgia

Remember that great nostalgia we got before the war – it always fried up crispy and you could go from here to Sydney on it for 17 shillings… Well, I never went to Sydney for 17 shillings, but I did go to Don’s Hobby Shop in Calgary on Saturday mornings and spent my pennies on…
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Polish Tankette – Part One – A Gem Off The Shelf

This kit is the second venture I’m making in 1/35 scale – and this is a deliberate choice, rather than a chance purchase. The little Polish armoured car kit that I bought for a dollar proved to be so much fun to build that I determined to add more to the Stein’s Military World museum.…
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72 ÷ 2 = 36

And 36 ÷ 2 = 18. So you can see the logical mathematical connection between the standard small plastic model airplane scale and the cast-metal car hobby. But what is 1:36 doing in between? Not a lot, if Google is accurate. A few die-cast cars but nowhere near as many as adjacent scales. I think…
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When Little Worlds Collide

A casual discussion overheard at my modelling club about an upcoming Big Local Modelling Exhibition revolved around which club exhibit would win the coveted “ Best In Show “ award. It’s decided by a public vote amongst the paying attendees. Everyone gets a twiddly wink as a counter and places it in a box at…
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S.P. – Part Six – A Dollar

I have never spent my money better. Even if it was only a single coin. The Mirage company may be big or little, but whichever, they make a good product. This unexpected purchase has proved to be successful, and will form the basis of an entire museum. The model is not without flaw. Anyone trying…
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S.P. – Part Five – So Shoot Me

I spend a lot of time puzzling about camouflage paint schemes. Any scale modeller does – they are the basic currency of our paint economy. In the case of this Polish armoured car, the intended theatre of operations was Poland and eastern Germany and the time was the fall of 1939. This may explain the…
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S.P. – Part Four – Precision Is As Precision Does

I had no idea what to expect with the Mirage model of the little armoured car – the firm was a mystery to me. I was pleasantly surprised. Precision in some scale modelling is everything…and in other cases it is nothing. Some makers have magnificent box art disguising parts that frankly do not fit together.…
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S.P. – Part Three – Chassis

I have to keep reminding myself that I am basically playing with a dollar coin here. The kit is progressing well, with a club day spent making wheel and tyre assemblies and getting the running gear on the chassis. The top casing fits down with perfect precision, so it can be finished separately from the…

