Category: Miniature Philosophy
-
Model Porn

No, you fools. Not THAT kind of model porn. Scale model porn. The tempting images that the manufacturers of model kits put out to lure you into the dens of plastic iniquity so that they can separate you from your money. Box art, posters, videos. And the columns and columns of aftermarket accessory packs advertised in…
-
Good Morning, Staff.

Good morning. You may be wondering why I have called you here today. The first thing was to trial the ability of Photoshop to make focus stacking images automatically – a task which it has performed admirably. There are a few errors in the image taken of you but they can be largely overlooked. The…
-
The Scale Modelling Culture

Or ” How I learned to cut throats on a green plastic mat “. As scale model builders we mess with the ideas of popular culture all the time. The vast majority of the population who have never built anything smaller than an IKEA bookshelf have no idea what closely focusing on a fresh kit…
-
Back Yards Were Bigger Back Then…

And so were the manufacturers of scale models who conducted their businesses out of them, it would appear. And we didn’t realise it… I am not going to mention big names here. Revell, Monogram, Aurora, Lindberg, Airfix, Tamiya, etc. Their local representatives can breathe out again and put the axe back on the table –…
-
AIrfix Mosquito – Part Two – The Lists…

There can be two lists connected with every scale model airplane kit; the list of things that went right and the list of things that went wrong. You’re only in trouble if the lists contain the same items…Here’s the good one for this Airfix Mosquito: It was free. I had special decals saved up for…
-
Airfix Mosquito – Part One – The Free Skeeter

Is there any nicer word in the English language than ” free “?* I was attracted to this Airfix model of the Mosquito NF MkII when I saw it on the free kit table of the Model Car Spectacular earlier in the year. If you put in an entry you got a number that was…
-
Well, I’ll Be Darned, Eh…?

I’m so pleased that the photographs I took in my studio of Bill Duncanson’s Bentley motor car model have made it to the cover of the premier Australian modelling magazine; Modelart Australia, Issue 110. I feel it to be a real, if unacknowledged, achievement for my studio. Of course the graphic artist on the magazine’s…
-
The Courage To Bin The Trash

If you are an inveterate collector and hoarder like me, throwing materials away is a difficult task. Every cut scrap of something looks as if it will be useful for some project and you save it in the appropriate storage tub. Plastic, wood, metal, cardboard, etc. Eventually you fill up the tubs and find yourself…
-
Vought Corsair F4U-1 – Part Four – Delivery In A Plain Envelope

Students of military aviation are very quickly attuned to the finer points of insignia, markings, and unit numbers. You have only to go to some of the more intense internet modelling forums to read people engaging in passive/aggressive arguments about the exact position of the ” No Step ” stencils on the Hurricane Mk XXXIV…
-
Vought CorsairF4U-1 – Part Three – Thanks, Doc…

Thank you, Dr. Tamiya. I needed that. That slap in the face with a model kit: That fits together without sanding or filing. With an entire cockpit in 1:72 as a matter of course. With wing seams that need no putty. With the engine where all cylinders are part of the injection moulding and no…
