Category: Modelling materials
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The Positive And Negative Mask
If there is one thing that model airplane building brings you to, it is the knowledge of how to do masking. You may do it badly or well, but you will be doing it for nearly every model you work on. I’ve just been taping up the Grumman Duck and it has prompted me to set…
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A New Superhero For The DC Or Marvel Universe
I don’t know which comic book empire is which, but I can recognise super-talent when I see it. I’m even more delighted to be able to report that it has surfaced in one of my favourite people – me. Captain Frugal. Nicknamed Cheap John. One afternoon I decided to get down to it and build…
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The Ten Dollar Model
This time we step up the pace a little with double the amount of money in our hand. Ten bucks is a big piece of change – if you add another dollar you can buy a pint of beer in a trendy hotel. So do not disrespect the tenner. It can also buy you a…
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The Five Dollar Model
Earlier in this column’s history I introduced the Glorious $ 5 Plan – the construction of an ICM Polikarpov Chaika in 1:72 scale that only cost me $ 5 to do. It was a one-off opportunity provided by a discard box sale at the annual WASMEX show…and you can be certain that I’m going to hover…
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The Benefit Of Hindsight
We are often told of the benefits of hindsight. I wonder – no-one I know has a picture of their backside on their wall. Mostly it is faces and family groups. In fact, I don’t think I can remember seeing a family group from the rear. So I suspect the old saying is bunk. There is,…
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” The Hot Wash Up “
An expression taken from the military – it is the quick analysis of some exercise or battle that has just taken place. It’s related to the cold wash-up, which is a more detailed discussion of the event undertaken later when more information is to hand…and blame can be laid more accurately. In the Little World…
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Going Into Business Sale
Not as common as the opposite – the ” going out of business ” sale, but infinitely more useful to all concerned. I’ve seen both types and from both sides of a sales counter and I much prefer the former to the later. The Chinese have a commercial tradition that says the first customer in…
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The Wrong Shade Of Black
Resign yourself – you may have made a fabulous model of a P-61 or a Lancaster or a Mosquito and a great deal – or all – of the thing will be a very definite black colour. But as soon as you show it at any exhibition, someone will tell you you’ve used the wrong…
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Ungluing The Kit
Or ” Are You Stuck With it? “. A recent question on Phil Flory’s YouTube channel about dissolving old glue on a model kit – really old 1950’s Testor cement – was ably handled by the team of English modellers when they advised the questioner to put it away for another 50 years and wait…
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Peas And Carrots – Part Five – Cleaning Your Plate
Well, after all the paint mule spraying, I took a second bite at the vegetables next day and discovered that the taste was not as bad as first feared: a. Mr. Hobby matte acrylic paint can be sprayed with the Supercheap Auto clear car acrylic if you cut it with Mr. Hobby Levelling Thinner 400…
The Little World 