Category: Modelling Supplies
-
There’s No Such Thing As A Biggest Model
There’s only the biggest model…yet. For everyone, whether they be manufacturer, wholesaler, retailer, or builder, there is never an end point in the progression of the scale model kit. The factory may start out making 1:144 scale models of Piper Cubs, but if these sell they will be onto the next larger prototype for the…
-
Progressive Cementation
Sounds like a political party that’s going to lose their deposit, eh? Well, it’s a good idea for scale modelling when the makers of our kits decide to care less about them than we do. When they mould things too fast and the plastic warps out of the blocks. When the parts only fit where…
-
MiG 21R – Part One – Who Condor?
Who, indeed. When I encountered this model of a Mig 21R at Hobbytech I wondered at it. It was a slow day and I wanted a new kit and I was prepared to buy anything cheap…without really knowing what I’d do with it. Turns out Condor is a Ukrainian maker who specialises in agricultural-grade models…
-
AI And The Scale Modeller – Part Three – The Supervisor
If AI can think for itself, can it think for you? If you are unaccustomed to the task, there may be an opening… You generally decide to buy a kit by walking down the aisle of Hobbyhell and letting your imagination loose. As there are other enthusiasts in there with you it starts to take…
-
AI And The Scale Modeller – Part Two – The Electro-Boss
Let us imagine for a moment that the model making firm of Plasti-Prag decides to download a computer program for AI to help out the staff. In it goes to the works Mac or PC, settling in amongst the porn and unpaid invoices, and the design section tries to use it to draw up box…
-
AI And The Scale Modeller – Part One – Write It Down
The brouhaha about AI seems to be heating up, which is fine if you are in Australia in the middle of winter. Frankly, any warmth is welcome. For scale modellers it will make no less of a difference than it will for photographers, gossip column writers, or people who clean drains. We will explore the…
-
Vultee Vanguard – Part One – Stash Sale Star
The acquisition of a Vultee Vanguard was one of those serendipitous moments – a stash was being thinned, the sales day was ending, the owner was marking things down, and I had $ 15 left. Now the painful part – the decision whether to assign this one to the USAAF, the RCAF, or the Nationalist…
-
Who Decided My Childhood?
No, I don’t mean my parents or the school teachers or the rock and roll industry – I mean who decided which prototypes to make into the plastic models that I built? Bear in mind it was a childhood in a part of North America that was under both American and British influence. Airfix, FROG,…
-
The Sparkless Stash…
Or the stashless spark. Is it better to have no kits but brilliant plans, or plenty of kits but no interest? There are any number of people with big stashes who lack the motivation to build anything. They look listlessly at the shelves of plastic in boxes and nothing at all calls to them. It…
-
Roland C II – Part One – Unwanted Baggie
If you wanted to know what the box art for this 1987 Airfix Roland C II looked like, see the heading image. It was one of the sad rejects in the club junk bin. Box long gone and no future for it. These were the Humbrol years for Airfix – spiralling down into a mess…
The Little World 