Category: Modelling Supplies
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The Search For New Plastic

Are you at an impasse? Have you built yourself out of a hobby? Are you standing in the hobby shop but not feeling the buzz? Relax – it happens to all of us one time or another. The people who have a lot of spare hobby money to burn have it happen a lot more…
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The Dwindling Stash

I am astonished to be writing this – my stash of 1:72 scale model kits is practically gone. I’m down to three and one gets done in a fortnight. Unless the wholesalers deliver some of the 2026 releases I will be forced to turn my attentions to another genre. Fortunately I have good projects in…
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Tupolev Tu-2 – Part One – Long On The Shelves

This model of the Tupolev TU-2 light bomber by Hobby Boss Has been seen on Perth shelves for a long time. Whether it was ignored because it was seen as too simple – a snap-kit – or too obscure remains to be seen. It is actually a technological gem The kit design breaks the fuselage…
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Promoting A Hobby Shop

I visit two hobby shops regularly – another two every six months – and a couple more not at all. The chosen ones are close at hand when I am at home or coming from my weekly club meeting. The occasional ones are out of the way but rewarding for small items. The rejects are…
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The New Kit Box

You do not have to be an 18th century rake… To recognise the experience of being captured by the appearance of a smartly-dressed courtesan with a painted face and patches on her cheeks. The ample bosom and the curled hair may be missing, but the end result – bitter horror at the raddled creation encased…
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CAC Wirraway – Part One – The Challenge

Apparently that is what the word translates to from one of the aboriginal languages. In modern day terms it was one of the licence-built derivatives from a North American design – the root of which gave us the Yale, Harvard, Texan, and NA 16. And probably a Soviet copy somewhere, if they ran true to…
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RCAF Hudson – Part One – At Long Last

I have skirted around the Lockheed Hudson for decades. My collection includes a Lodestar, a Ventura, and a Harpoon – all fun to build and successful finishes. Yet the basic Hudson has eluded me – until Airfix decided to revive a Vintage Classic. I’ve been haunting the red-box shelves in two shops for months –…
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Is There A Mathematical Formula For Fun?

Or is it all just numbers? When you see scale model kits offered for sale at different prices, is there a correlation in those figures with the size of the scale and the degree of happiness that will be generated? Can we do the maths? a. If you never build the model, there is no…
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The Future Of The Box Scale

I am starting to wonder about the future of the dear old box scale for model kits. I would have judged that the day is dead for this form of moulding. The division of the plastic kit industry into recognisable scales for particular purposes is so far advanced that there would seem to be little…
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When A Whim Pays Off

And I don’t mean just chasing ladies down the street… I had a whim, based upon a Christmas present. I’d received two lithium-ion batteries for the Ryobi 18+ system from the wife. They were intended to help me mow the studio lawns with an electric mower. All clear so far. Being Temu products, we decided…
