Category: Model building club
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Lockheed Hercules – Part One – Club Build

Every year I like to let myself go with a biggish build and use my time at the Scale Model Club Of Western Australia to do it. I know it’s going to be a leisurely affair with occasional stops for home air brushing, but I can still make good use of the Tuesday Men’s Shed…
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The Stoic Modeller

Or ” Epictetus Builds A Short-Run Kit “. Stoicism is not just about cold showers and lumpy porridge. It is a whole philosophic outlook designed to increase the happiness and tranquillity of the practitioner. A good deal of it is internal dialogue with someone who should listen more. This applies particularly to the scale modeller…the…
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The Big Local Scale Model Exhibition – Part Seven – Tanks For The Memories

At one time I would have regarded armour models and military vehicles with only minor interest – I am an aviation modeller. Yet, the need for prop vehicles for my airfields, and then civilian vehicles, has meant an increased recognition of the little machines. And recently a dollar purchase of a Polish armoured car in…
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The Big Local Scale Model Exhibition – Part One

Well, there we were – the morning of the Big Local Scale Model Exhibition. And I was off to do my bit. 5:00 AM: Up and clean for the show. Loaded the car with the 6 little airfields plus a model box to work on – and a sandwich for lunch. I live locally, so…
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Katyusha M13 – Part One – Never Look A Gift Rocket In The Nozzle

Drifting past the club work table one day I was delighted when a club mate handed me a small kit box and asked whether I’d like it for free. It was not the scale or sort of item he makes, so It was going spare. I think it originally came from a third member, being…
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Scale Model Builders And Savages

The two basic divisions of the world. You are either one or the other. This is a precise and exclusive border and easy to police. You either show your kits, builds, or stash, and are admitted to civil society, or scorn models and are pushed into the cultural wasteland to be forgotten. There is a…
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When The Wheels Fall Off

My task a while ago was repairing models that had come into my hobby club’s possession from a deceased member. I wasn’t sure how long the task would be going for, but I did enjoy myself tackling the small jobs. The breakages were the result of the estate move – not because the models were…
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Nicer To Build ‘Em Than Stash ‘Em.

I like having cake, but I’ve long since realised that particular pleasure is surpassed by eating it. Thus my attitude to my stash. I like to see it building up, but I love to see it building down. Construction is a fulfilment of the actual purpose of the kit, and of all the design, manufacture,…
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Fat Dogs On A Gut Pile

I mean, look at us; elderly enthusiasts devoting as much time as we wish to a subject that rewards us handsomely. Retired people who are model builders are the luckiest creatures on the planet. Consider: a. We are past the age when someone expects us to be: Sober. If you are in your own home…
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Ruritania Poste – Part Five A – RT-ASA

Before I present the newest mail-planes of Ruritania Poste I must address the members of my model building club. Yes, gentlemen, I know we have a motto that extolls being true to scale and true to life. I am always encouraged by this when I see see the egg planes and cardboard police cars in…
