Category: Modelling materials
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Sopwith Triplane – Part Two – The New Techniques

I have decided to risk navigating this PaulPlane in only two uncharted waters: the use of the new decal technique and a new finishing varnish. The third experiment – the plastic rigging – will be postponed until a slightly larger model offers. It’s nice stuff, but a little thick for this job. The decaling system…
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All Your Problems Will Be A Thing Of The Past

Leaving time and energy for your new problems. Whenever you meet with an obstacle in your road to scale modelling you must stop and try to figure out what went wrong. Go to reference works – whether they be on-line or in magazines – and then talk to other modellers who have had the same…
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From Expensive To Valueless In One Simple Movement

Want to know how to convert $300.00 to nothing in a couple of weeks? Easy. Go put and buy a $ 300.00 kit and build it. It was worth the 300 on the shelf in the shop, dropped to 150 in your stash, and as soon as it was complete it became unsaleable. Not quite…
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The Scrap Bin Serenade

The next time you are tempted to spend $ 300 on a model kit, reflect on how many bottles of rum and how many popsies you could buy for that same price. At the same time, cast your eyes around your building space – whether it is a complete workshop or just a tea tray…
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Hawker Demon – Part Two – That Sinking Feeling

Bovril would have prevented this… Actually the problem is ejector post marks in the wings of the Demon. They are as marked as any I’ve ever seen, but fortunately Airfix configured the mould to place them on the underside of the wings and tailplane. Equally fortunatly I have an unused tube of Mr. Hobby white…
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The Difference Between Blazing and Blasé…

…Is generally time and experience. The more of these two you rack up the less you writhe on the rack. This applies to marriage and model building. I’ll leave you to deal with the first set of memories, but consider your experiences with your first plastic model kits. You were keen, you were fussy, you…
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CAC Boomerang – Part Three – Let’s Take Stock

The start of this build was unpromising. The cardboard box from Tasman Models had all the appeal of a damp surgical appliance and the instruction sheets looked like a practical joke. A Kiwi practical joke at that. It was the sort of kit that you sold on eBay if you were lucky, or bought on…
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CAC Boomerang – Part One – The Pale Pachyderm

I’m glad that I am adventurous – for a person who doesn’t leave the house much. And I’m glad that I have friends who are also adventurous – it leads me to the sort of things I normally would not do. The Tasman Models 1:72 kit of the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation’s native fighter plane of…
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Sopwith Camel – Part Four – Marking The Territory

And the next time I do, it will be with an incontinent dog. The colour scheme chosen for the Academy Sopwith Camel is the closest I could come to the preserved example in the RAF museum at Hendon. Working on the assumption that if any knew what a Camel would look like it would be…
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Repairing Our Mistakes

If we repair our mistakes we gain a great deal of control over our modelling. And it can make us better workers. a. We recognise a mistake. This is better when we do it before we commit it…sort of dry-fit your way out of danger – but even if we have gone all the way…
