Category: Miniature Philosophy
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When All Else Fails, Cheap Out.

We all cruise the aisle of the hobby shop, hardware store, craft shop, or toy store looking for the Great Bargain. The Score. The Once-In-A-Lifetime chance to buy a $5000 model for 50¢. It never eventuates, of course, and we can become bitter and twisted. The thing we all need to do is realise that…
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” Modeller In Aisle Number Four. Call Security “

As scale modellers we are especial creatures – half way between stuffed Winnie The Pooh figures and blood-crazed werewolves. The staff in many stores recognise this and probably have contingent plans ready in case the moon is full. I know I have found myself staring lustfully at items in shops that would seem to have…
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I Want To Build The Model That Would Make My Life Complete, But…

But… a. No-one makes it. Or at least they do not make it in the scale I want. Or they make the Mk 2 version and I want the Mk 34 version… b. They made it in 1959 and have been re-issuing the kit ever since. Every time the mould changes hands they hire another…
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When Is Old Junk…Old Junk?

And when is it Invaluable Historic Resource? This thought was forced upon me as I sifted through the secondhand dealer’s goods at the Model Railway Exhibition this year. There were at least three dealers specifically dedicated to secondhand – perhaps there were more that I did not see. Their stock ranged from quite professional goods…
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Precision Need Not Be Prestigious

Nor need it be pricey.* I came to that conclusion each time I approached the Hobby Boss Brewster Buffalo kit – even at the wash and trim stage – where I got the mould-parting agent off the basic sprues and then air-dried them. And then started cutting parts from them and building subassembies. This was…
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The Myriad Of Little Worlds

In one holiday weekend – devoted to Western Australia Day – I found I visited five different Little Worlds. And in most cases the costs were under a sawbuck, including coffee. You can’t beat that on the international travel circuit. Day One: I appear as a cameo walk-on at a belly dance concert…the Little World…
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How Did They Do That? Vs How Would I Do That?

Well there you go. You are now officially trying to out-think the designers and manufacturers of the model kit in the box. You may also be about to transcend the thinking of the original equipment makers. It’s your 30 bucks and your tube of glue, so more power to you and keep out of the way…
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The Great White West Is Not A Great White Waste

What’s white and cream and arctic and matt and gloss and lives in an old Patak’s curry paste jar? My new model paint, that’s what. And I think the most expensive component was the empty jar. I was up to the paint stage with my Air World museum buildings and they were daunting structures –…
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The Intellectual In The Little World

Are you an Intellectual? Do you know any intellectuals? Can you define intellectual? I can’t. I can define intellect, but I’m darned if I know where to look for it in other people. If they essay to show it to me I am suspicious of the process, and if they do not show it I…
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No …. …. ….. .. Allowed

Well, that’s a bit of a blow to the people who like to have … … ….. .. in their Little World. If they thought that they were going to be able to show the rest of the internet community how carefully they had constructed a diorama with their models and how realistic they could…
