Category: Miniature Philosophy
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” The Mk IV Is Different From The C Model…”
” But only in the under-flange. This is 13mm longer than the 1943 modification. Few modellers realise this.” Not surprising, Chief. 13mm in 1/72nd scale is .18 of a millimetre and very few modellers can see that small – or care that much. We are struggling to get parts off a sprue without digging holes…
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Blackburn Buccaneer – Part Five – The Exhibit
You may wonder how Stein’s Air World museum can afford to get all these wonderful airplanes for display. The answer is simple; they are gifts given in charity. The new Blackburn Buccaneer Mk 1 seen here is just such a one. It was donated by the Gentleman of the Cloth. Of course, it’s not all…
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Blackburn Buccaneer – Part Two – The Hollow Man
No, wait – that was Bing Crosby. This Airfix model of the naval strike fighter is nowhere near as empty as he was…but nevertheless there’s a lot of unused space inside. Note that the dear old instruction sheet makes this painfully clear – though I will say that it is entirely adequate for the job.…
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Build me A Hobby Room!
I have just won Lotto. My ticket in the 450 Million Dollar Supergreed Draw Of The Millenium has won first prize and I am the only one in Australia who got it. All week long dump trucks have been backing up to the front lawn and tipping wads of $ 100 notes onto it. Now…
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The Suitcasers
Do you remember seeing a 1960’s George Peppard movie called ” The Carpetbaggers ” ? A rough sketch of Howard Hughes and quite racy at the time. It’s title was taken from the scornful name given to Northern exploiters who flooded into the American South after the Civil War. Conmen, graspers, and get-rich-quick merchants…rather in…
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Stein’s Air World – We’re Hiring Now
I have been called to account by the Commitee of Scale Righteousness for the paint jobs on the aircraft that appear in Stein’s Air World. Several of the senior members have pointed out that there are glaring inconsistencies in the shade, hue, intensity, and reflectance of the various aircraft. I have been told that there…
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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…
The Little World 