Category: Model building club
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The Drive-By Scale Dumping

Someone, somewhere, is dumping 1:12 scale old mattresses on the verge outside dollhouse maker’s workshops. And someone is dumping their old scale models at our clubrooms. We are slowly pulling them out of our display cabinets and subjecting them to scale scrutiny. It’s not the quality of the building that is suspect – it ‘s…
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AVIA B.534 – Part One – A Newcastle Model Kit

Newcastle model? A Newcastle model is one you encounter unexpectedly and seize upon. It is a case of never letting a chance go by…refer to Bob Hudson’s song for further instructions. This old Czech KP kit is from the 1980’s. The box had seen service, but at least protected the sprue trees, decals and instructions.…
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I Need A Secretary

Stop making those snorting noises – I really do. I write more than I can readily publish and the mechanics of translating these little pieces to the WordPress site and then sneaking them onto a Facebook page is taking up a great deal of time. They come off the ends of my fingers like literary…
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The Modellers Declaration Of Rights

A treatise for the times. And good luck to you defending these propositions in the scale modelling world. There are more dictators in the hobby than in all of Africa and South America combined, and they would all rule you if they could. From shape of kits, to equipment, to paint colour, to pattern, decals,…
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I Can Quit Any Time I Want

But building model airplanes is a cultural activity. And good for the economy. And, and, and… Don’t go in there; that’s the stash room. If you open the door the sealed atmosphere will be contaminated. Where was I all day? In my workshop or at the club, of course. Clubs, actually. Uh, workshops, as well,…
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Morning Sickness In The Model Workshop

You’ll know you have it when the smell of fresh thinner makes you ill. It will probably not be pregnancy, particularly if you are a member of the local Men’s Shed. Few of the chaps over 60 in my club fall pregnant in the course of a year. It may be one of a number…
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No Is As Good An Answer As Yes

As long as you are asking the question of yourself. One of my hobby clubs has opened a new sales cabinet at our rooms in which shops and individuals can put kits they wish to sell. The shops are wise if they put otherwise unsalable stock in at a hefty discount – the private sellers…
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Discover the Joy Of…

A recent advertisement on FACEBOOK* told us to discover the joys of building a ship model. Fair enough. There are people in our club who do just that – build wooden and plastic vessels – and it has been a joy to see them at work. Watching them search the grey concrete floor for a…
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The Stoics Guide To The Little World

For stoics, if problems exist outside, they have ways of dealing with them, inside. The stoic dips very rarely into the pool of external anxiety, and then only briefly. Their first step is to determine whether some event truly affects them or is the affair of another and can be safely ignored. In our hobby,…
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Annual?

Should modelling exhibitions be annual things? Or should they be run twice a year…or once every two years? I have seen all these alternatives put into practice in various hobby divisions, as well as the idea of interstate championships for display or operation. There is something to be said for each alternative: a. If you…
