Category: Miniature Philosophy
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Grumman Widgeon – Part One – The Small Goose

The Sherriff’s Mini Cars shelves had some of the best and oddest kit shopping I have been able to do for some time. Stashes had disgorged treasures and/or trash and they were sensibly priced for all that. I have no idea how new the Widgeon is, not how long it may have mouldered on the…
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Why The Devil Am I Writing This All Up?

You may find yourself asking this question when you read this column – or any of the other fine bits of sticky literature* I write. The humour column, the camera column, or the commercial photo column. The last named is, of course, written for money…I’m not ashamed to get paid for typing. But what of…
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Boxing Day Is Only Good If You Need Boxes

And I do. In my cases I need boxes with plastic model airplane kits in them. This year I opted for the do-it-yourself-later option. I asked for gift vouchers for the local hobby shop. The good family delivered as requested and I am now cashed up for the next few months – whenever I need…
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Tool Time – Part Three – The Choices On The Racks

I’ll confess it – I’m at a loss when I go to many retail outlets and look at the variety of goods on offer. I might go there with some problem in mind, but I fall apart when I see that the shop has half-a-dozen different solutions to it and a further half-dozen brands of…
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Tool Time – Part Two – The Positive Break

I thought it felt a bit odd. The nippers I keep in my travelling kit to separate plastic parts from sprue trees felt strange while biting into a kit. No-wonder – the coiled spring wire that separates the blades had fractured. Pretty good for a tool that was less than a year old, eh? It’s…
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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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The Blood Sacrifice

The medieval costume club I once belonged to held regular workshop days in which they made swords, armour, and all the various accessories of historical life. They were brilliant blacksmiths, metalworkers, tailors, potters, etc. and they all suffered for it. There was a phrase that was used to describe the phenomenon – ” The Blood…
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Lockheed F80C Shooting Star – Part Two – The Smooth Bullfrog

No, it’s not a Frog model – it’s still the bargain Airfix kit. But the more I look at the basic shape of the Lockheed F80C in the grey primer, the more I’m reminded of an amphibian. You have to admire Clarence Kelly and his designers for making such a sleek thing using an engine…
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Seriously Old Decals

By a serious old modeller. I seem to be turning into the olde cheape modeller these days…and loving it. The number of older kits that have fallen into my hands lately suggests that I am either dumpster diving for my hobby or other people are not recognising the value of their own possessions before they…
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Good Morning, Walter – Part 15 – Aluminium Overcast

Walter, the term ” Aluminium Overcast ” has been laughingly applied to a number of large aircraft in the past. But I think the only true claimant is the Convair B-36 ” Peacemaker ” bomber of the 1950’s. The heading image is of a Revell model of the 1955-57 period. The scale is anyone’s guess…
