Category: Model building club
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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…
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What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
I have been thinking about the Big Local Model Show that will be coming at the end of April. It excites me but I’m a little nervous. It’s the question of whether it will get a chance to go ahead as planned. The rise of the new Omicron strain of the Wuhan Virus has frightened…
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Do Dollhouse Ladies Have Failures?
I don’t know. Do they ever grasp their latest Victorian parlour settee model and fling it against the wall? Is there a flood of unparliamentary language? Perhaps – they are human after all. I sympathise, and do not wish them endless failure. But I do wish them a bit of it – and I hope…
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I Believe In You
Of course, I also believe in pixies and the Lone Ranger, so take that into account. You may want to put a disclaimer on most of this conversation. Verbal advice in scale modelling is generally worth the paper it’s not printed on. It can be had from shopkeepers trying to sell you something, friends trying…
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Are You Organised?
Are you organised enough? Or too much? Are people diving down side streets to avoid you when you ask them about organisation? Is it time for an intervention? I ask this in the wake of a day spent organising my modelling boxes. Note the plural there – it indicates that we are, as Kinky Friedman…
The Little World 