Category: Model trains
-
Good Build – Bad Build

Or no build at all… We see a number of memes pop through our social media feed that have descriptions of ” lawful evil ” or ” neutral chaotic ” or some such applied to life. It can be on subjects as minor as how you store your bread. Well, why not apply it to…
-
What Is A Senior Model? Part One.

And don’t get funny with the Mick Jagger or Keith Richards jokes…I mean scale models. What do people over 60 want in a scale model kit, and how can they get it? I can speak for myself as I passed that mark twelve years ago, but I am hesitant to decide for others. However, I…
-
The Plastic Casino

Are you an inveterate gambler? Are they always hauling you out of casinos and racetracks and putting you on 12-step anti-addiction plans? Well cheer up – you can put the cards down, throw the dice away, and say farewell to the horses. I’ve got a new outlet for your mania and it’s all legit. Betcha…
-
Good Morning, Walter – Part 14 – None Of These Toys Work…

Walter, here’s a selection of pictures from a recent Toy and Doll Collector’s fair here in Perth. I went to my regular exhibition hall on the day to see if there were going to be any scale model airplane kits that I wanted to buy. Short answer – no. That’s not the sort of thing…
-
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…
-
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.…
-
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.…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
