Category: Model trains
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OO, O, and N
You’ve often read me squawking about the disparity in scales that the makers of hobby items have foisted upon us over the years. There is no one universal scale or size for the little worlds we build. Some plastic modellers do not find this a hazard at all – all they look for is a…
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Ongoing Maintenance
I did not realise that there would be a schedule of maintenance on a plastic model – I thought once it was done, that was it. Silly me. There is maintenance on anything that you need to continue working – car, marriage, camera, etc. The models are no different. a. There will be cleaning issues.…
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So Why Does One Model Tank?
And another become a classic? I’m not talking about 1/35 scale armour here. I mean why is one model kit a success and just keeps on selling, and another ends up in the auction house for unsold kits within the first six months? a. Is it a bad model? Badly conceived, badly moulded, poorly packaged.…
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The Different Modellers
I don’t mean the ones that come to the modelling club wearing fishnet stockings and the basque. That’s only to be expected from some English migrants…Just don’t make eye contact. No, I mean the modellers who elect to do something different with their hobby. Here’s some: a. The person who researches completely obscure equipment that…
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Frugal Week Not Finished
Just when you thought the opera was over… I was idly browsing for OO scale building kits on the internet with the specific of Canadian outline. This sounds like a hiding to nothing, as OO is a British size and most of their card kits and other model supplies are resolutely centred on the their…
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If You Know You Cannot Do It, Don’t Do It.
No sense jumping off the roof with cardboard wings. But if you don’t know you can’t do it…go ahead and try. I use this principle all the time in scale model building. I have built kits that were unbuildable, finished buildings that were improbable, and built dioramas with no knowledge whatsoever of what I was…
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The Airport Under The Tree
Now that we are approaching Christmas – warily – it is time to put up the tree with the traditional toy train set circling underneath it. But for those of us who build different little worlds we have some alternative suggestions: a. Santa’s Little Airport. CIrcular runway and an airliner with a severe right bank…
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No Stash
Gasp! Shock! Horror! What kind of monster would say that? No stash? No collection of model kits carefully stored for the future? No hours spent gloating over future happiness or profit? What sort of world…? Well, a world of immediacy – of freshness – of learning and instant gratification. A chance to be a kid…
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1931 Ford Model A – Part Five – Did I Come Here To Dio?
No, you came here yesterdio…* Well, I am going to have a model, instead of a pile of parts in a box. It has been staring me out of countenance for three years and I am finally getting to grips with it. And as these things go, the grip gets just that little bit more…
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The Little Workshop – Part Two – The Bare Chassis
Having grasped myself firmly by the collar and demanded that I pay attention, I can come to the point of individual rules. I have a very threatening manner when I catch myself fooling around… a. You have your own interests and goals – you must build for these, and not for the demands of others.…
The Little World 