Category: Miniature Philosophy
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Dudded? Or Clumsy?

Starting out on a kit that I bought from someone’s stash, I was gleefully contemplating the colour scheme when I noticed that there was no canopy for the aircraft. Had it been included in the kit and I lost it? Had it been missing and was overlooked at the time? Was I in possession of…
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Cheap and Cheerful

One of my friends has posted a picture on Facebook of an Airfix De Havilland Tiger Moth kit he’s building. He’s selected the RAF version in A/B camouflage and from the picture it looks delightful. He noted that it cost him $ 11 – and mentioned me as a cheap and cheerful modeller. Oh, if…
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Stop Laughing – This Is Serious

Stan Cross fans will recognise the reference… The red plastic cup is my scale model club coffee cup. Taken faithfully every Tuesday for my 50¢ cup of coffee in preference to the club cups which are washed every coentury or so… It is a Decor cup with a plastic lid and keeps things fine and…
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Ooh! We’ll Build THAT One…

Aaaaaand We’re there! We’ve succeeded in the most difficult part of scale modelling – deciding which model to make. The question and decision may have been asked and made in several ways: There is a picture of a ship, plane, or tank that we’ve seen on the net…or in a book…that just calls to us.…
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Spatial Ambition

Or ” The Kit Designer Is Laughing At You “. I’m drawn to this conclusion upon seeing some of the decal sheets that ask you to reproduce a complex paint job with a two dimensional sheet of plastic film. The painters and decorators that the Air Force and Navy get in from time to time…
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When Your Little World Blossoms

The Little World is blossoming. More and more models – in this case 1:72 scale – are coming onto exhibition and more and more kits are being discovered. There are three themes current and they can all expand for a number of years. This is all to the good. It’s sad to say, but sometimes…
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Boy, Was Flory Ever Right

And more correct than even he thought. Phil Flory is making some bite-sized videos for modellers to introduce them to basic concepts – and right at the start of this series he has advised people to sit down with the instruction book and plan out their build. Good, good advice, and something that no-one else…
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Snowball Effect

When I started writing weblog columns for the camera shop where I worked, I had no idea that it was going to be more than a flash in the pan – a management whim that would come and go as fast as a wink. Other ideas had done just that. But in the end I…
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US Army Ambulance – Part Two – The Bug Bear

Everyone has a sort of a bugbear in their modelling. One person will have no luck with paints. Another will continually mess up clear parts. In my case it is vehicles – I never complete one without some basic flaw. In many cases it is the basic structure that foxes me. 1:72 and 1:76 vehicle…
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Why Did You Want To Build That One?

If someone looks at your newly-completed scale model and asks you that question, you can give a good, cogent answer. If you ask the question of yourself, you are in trouble. If you cannot come up with an answer…you’re sunk. Or are you? There are some things that you cannot see clearly – some things…
