Category: Model building club
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The Multi-Talented Modellers
Some of us are good at one thing – some at another. But the infuriating sorts are good at everything. One of the new chaps at my studio club brought along some figures he’s painted for a diorama. They are done very well, which is one point, but they are also printed from 3D files…
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” Adopt And Honour “
A phrase spoken by our club President – Rob – when giving me the Grumman F9F Panther model you see in the heading. It is a product of the late John Evans – a prolific and skilled member of SMCWA for many years. He built any number of USN aircraft, as well as RAAF, RAF,…
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Airco DH2 – Part One – Shelf Lurker
This Smer kit of a 1/48th Airco ( by De Havilland ) sat on the storage room shelf of my hobby club from the day I joined until the day the committee finally were exasperated enough with the mess in there to clear out the dead wood. I am one of the natural sink traps…
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Scaling Up Your Scaling Down
When you are presented with requests. You give positive answers. Someone wanted decals for a model aircraft but couldn’t find them on the net. I did, but that probably wasn’t the question anyway. Fortunately the decal sheet needed was simple and illustrated cleanly in colour. Getting it onto Photoshop Elements was simple. Not so simple…
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The Fifty Cent Fighter Plane
Sixty years on. My allowance in the eighth grade was 50 Canadian cents per week. It was more than adequate for my needs as I was stuck in an Alberta bush construction camp with no shops anywhere. Our one shopping trip a month went to Drayton Valley and by then I’d built up $2.00 pressure…
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De Havilland Kate Moth – Part Two – Bobbing On The Lake
Nothing said sport flying like a Kate Moth on floats. Whether it was in the Yukon or Ontario, the Kate Moth formed reliable transportation for hunters, fishermen, and prospectors. Of course nothing heavier than a dead chipmunk could be flown out strapped to the floats, but these were prized anyway. Red floats are good for…
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De Havilland Kate Moth – Part One – Airfix of Middle Age
Grown old in the mould – but tarted up with a new box. This Airfix model is a 1990 re-box of a series of Moths that originally hatched in 1957. It started in a plastic baggie cocoon but eventually graduated to the small cardboard box. At least that allowed Airfix more surface area to print…
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The Best Kits Are The Surprise Ones
Either the ones that are given to you on birthdays and holidays or the acquisitions from abandoned stashes. The fact that they are an uncontrolled occurrence doesn’t lessen their value; it actually enhances it. There is a sense of surprise that you don’t get wandering the shelves of your usual hobby shop. Come to that,…
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CAC Wirraway – Part One – The Challenge
Apparently that is what the word translates to from one of the aboriginal languages. In modern day terms it was one of the licence-built derivatives from a North American design – the root of which gave us the Yale, Harvard, Texan, and NA 16. And probably a Soviet copy somewhere, if they ran true to…
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Lifespan
Is there a natural lifespan for scale models? I have seen a magnificent dolls house in London that apparently belonged to one of the British Royals when she was a girl. I suspect it was in the 20’s…but it is preserved in a museum for all to see. It may well go for another century…
The Little World 