Category: Miniature Philosophy
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De Havilland Twin Otter – Part One – Old Recalcitrant
No, I am not referring to the Prime Minister of Lamaysia. I’m sure he is a very biddable old buffer – as long as the right approach is taken. What I mean is this Revell kit of the De Havilland Twin Otter aircraft. It’s Revell Germany, so it may have been sourced from another maker*…
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North American Mitchell – Part Two – Sparring For My Attention
The Airfix company are pursuing a theme with their latest moulds of multi-engine aircraft. They are giving us far more detail than ever before and the walls of the fuselages and the wings are becoming thinner. When we see the edge of a window or an opening it is far more in-scale than the old…
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Why The Czechs?
Or why the Ukrainians, Poles, or Russians? Why the Chinese? Why has plastic scale model manufacturing become such a big thing in these countries? And why did it move so much from the original base in the USA? Why did the US companies sell up to overseas investors? It cannot be because the population of…
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Following The Instructions…
To your doom. I’ve written before about the Czech, Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, and Chinese instruction sheets that we get with our kits. I won’t repeat the sly digs at the Chinglish, Czechlish, or other dialects involved – suffice it to say that we should be grateful for the kit and not be such English language…
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Douglas Devastator – Part Three – Did I Get My Money’s Worth?
That’s always a pertinent question as far as my hobbies go. Indeed it also applies to clothing purchases, dinners at restaurants, and holiday trips. Sometimes the answer is no – for instance when they bring a tiny dinner out on a vast white plate and then hover like a Sikorski asking whether it is to…
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When To Reach For Your Gun – Part One – Soul Searching
When to reach for your can. Or your brush. Or your soul. What’s the best decision you can make about the way you are going to paint a model? How do you arrive at it? What are the factors that influence that decision? Let’s start out with the basics – what are you trying to…
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The Classification List For Scale Models
A recent comment regarding the 5-foot rule for judging scale models has prompted me to ponder on a possible classification list. No names, no pack drill – but I konw where a lot of mine sit on the scale. International museum-quality model – paid for by a government and regarded as a national treasure. Published…
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Do Not Tidy Up
Or do tidy up. Choose whichever piece of gratuitous advice you like – the price is the same. There is a danger to the business of tidying up a hobby workshop – you may succeed. Then you have a tidy workshop and nothing actually doing. This is a very sad situation. I’m sitting here on…
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Heavier Than You Need To Make It
And lighter than you can lift… Have a look at the tools in your workshop – whatever your shop produces. It doesn’t matter whether it is turning out toy airplanes or plate armour ( and I know workshops that do just that…), there are tools there that are built like a rolling mill in Henry…
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OO, O, and N
You’ve often read me squawking about the disparity in scales that the makers of hobby items have foisted upon us over the years. There is no one universal scale or size for the little worlds we build. Some plastic modellers do not find this a hazard at all – all they look for is a…
The Little World 