Category: Miniature Philosophy
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The Impulse

For every model built – for every Little World commenced – for every article purchased in a hobby shop…there is an impulse. Something triggers off what may be a very long and expensive sequence of events. What can it be? a. The memory of an experience – a car you owned, a place you visited,…
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Poor Quality Landing Gear Legs

I apologise to the readers of this column for leaving them to their own devices these last few days. I have not been arrested for debt or run off to shack up with a popsy. I am in hospital connected to one end of a septic leg… It is getting better and I have cheered…
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Wash Your Twiddley Bits
As a kid modeller i never washed the parts for a plastic model kit before assembly. It was open the box, play with it for a week with hot sticky finger, and then on with the cement. When I got to the painting age it was on with the painting. Then on with the decals.…
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Out Of The Box

” Oh he’s just built that out of the box “… If you ever hear this you are entitled to sneer, but be careful where you direct your lip. The speaker is using the word ” just ” to belittle the modeller. There is a suggestion of lack of skill or imagination. Possibly a financial…
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There Is No Humour In Scale Model Building

I do not mean to suggest that the activity cannot lighten the heart – that people cannot devote their spare time to it and come away happier. Many of us do, and want the good feelings to continue…in spite of the unwise purchase of kits that have gotten very bad reviews. No, what I mean…
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Convair 440 – Part Five – Good Customer Service

Those of you who have read the previous episodes of the Convair 440 might have thought me prejudiced about it. I hope not, because I have just had a wonderful example of good business behaviour. One of the propellers of the kit was a short-shot – the plastic did not go out into one blade.…
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Convair 440 – Part Four – When Life Gives You Lemons…

That meme and its associated parodies running through the brain, I’ve been doing a little research on the Mach 2 Convair 440 kit that I bought. It seems that there are a number of variants of it that share the plastic but change the decals, and a number of companies that have produced custom decals…
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Convair 440 – Part Two – How Much For That Busted Box?

When I was engaged in retail trade in cameras and photographic goods we would occasionally receive a shipment of equipment that had a tough passage. External cardboard cartons might have been roughly handled by the shippers and ended up dented or breached. We rarely had evidence of tampering or pilfering, but it was possible. Trucks…
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Planning Permission Not Needed

Did you realise that when you are the creator of your own Little World that you do not need to admit others to your counsel? That you can act as sole dictator and arbiter of all disputes? It is a sobering thought that can make anyone feel drunk. I experienced it recently while laying out…

