Category: Modelling materials
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The Masked Man – Part Four – The Leap Of Faith
Every model kit build has a point that I hate – in the case of the R/C ships a half-century ago, it used to be the carving of the hulls. Now its the masking of the canopies and the cockpits on small airplanes. The tasks were and are small but the daunting is big. As…
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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…
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Seriously Successful Decals
I’ve written before about the traumas of trying to get old decals to work – and failing miserably with some of them. But now I can brighten the day – Even 1959 decals can be brought back. There is a little of the Transylvanian laboratory about it, but you can do it. All you need…
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Hot And Wet
I used to dream of this, but times have changed. Now I dread it. It stops the fun. Perth, Western Australia is occasionally hot – very hot. It is also occasionally wet – very wet. Both of these weather conditions are a signal to go somewhere and do something…but it is generally to the pub…
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Back Yards Were Bigger Back Then…
And so were the manufacturers of scale models who conducted their businesses out of them, it would appear. And we didn’t realise it… I am not going to mention big names here. Revell, Monogram, Aurora, Lindberg, Airfix, Tamiya, etc. Their local representatives can breathe out again and put the axe back on the table –…
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Glue For One
Dinner for one can be a difficult affair if you are your own cook. You rarely make all the trimmings of anything and frequently steer round the things that are good for you in favour of the things that are easy to make. Shopping for one is similarly fraught – particularly if you have come…
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De Havilland DH.100 Vampire – Part Two – Czech Out The Cockpit – It’s Got Steppes…
Note: There are going to be a lot of Vampire posts in this column. If you are chiropterphobic look away now. As another modeller noted in his daily build column, the quality of fit on a small-run cockpit can be a variable matter. I approach all cockpit tubs, floors, or structures with trepidation these days…with…
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Ptui On The Pitot!
Particularly the plastic pitot. That final touch on your model airplane that is carefully cemented on and then just as carefully broken off again. Repeatedly. And then repaired until the leading edge of the wing has a quarter inch of dried superglue on it, looking like a snot nugget. I researched what pitot tubes are…
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Post Mask Masking
The rise in the hobby of airbrushing models is the best business gift that could ever have been handed to the makers of masking tape. It they are prepared to slice it, we are prepared to buy it…and at exorbitant prices. And we’re prepared to use it lavishly. Everyone I know who does plastic kits…
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Seriously New Decals
Having painted a picture of myself as a miserable skinflint who wouldn’t pay a penny for a souvenir piece of the rope that they’ll eventually use to hang the Prime Minister, I must correct this. I would. And I pay for good quality aftermarket parts if they are necessary – and there is nothing more…
The Little World 