Category: Modelling Supplies
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Nieuport 17C – Part Three – The Stick
I used to look upon the humble cocktail stick with disdain. No more. I am an eco-friendly convert. I believe the sticks – also known as satay sticks – are made of bamboo. This is an eminently sustainable crop and can be used with no eco-guilt at all. And they are cheap – I do…
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Convair F-106 – A NORAD Quickie
I have taken to an amusing game when I photograph dancers at their concerts or for portraits – when they ask me the cost of the finished files or videos I tell them about my model airplane hobby. I ask them to pay their bill by purchasing a 1:72 scale model airplane kit that I…
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Grey, Gray, Grau, Gris, Seryy
Not the weather – it’s actually nice out. I mean the undercoat. I use the Mr. Surfacer pots blown through a single action airbrush. Others use Tamiya rattle cans or similar material from different makers. Few of us realise the miracle that occurs when we do. Initially I thought that spraying an undercoat was just…
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F-82 Twin Mustang – Part Five – The Black Twin
Lo and Behold. A dear old Monogram F-82 kit at a swap meet. The price of Hobby Boss click-together. What’s not to like! The kit is complete – the decals are reasonable, the canopies are all there. It is out of fashion as an older mould, but the raising of the panel lines has lowered…
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1932 Chrysler – Part One – Trepidation
I’m not normally nervous when selecting a model kit to build…but I’ll confess to feeling that way about this one on the hobby shop shelf.. Why nervous? Because I used to have an extensive collection of die-cast model cars in 1:18 scale that I used as props for tabletop photography. They were sold away, and…
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This Model Ain’t Makin’ Itself…
The lazy modellers guide to workflow. We are told that youthful modellers in the 1970’s used to buy a kit at their local shop, have it together by teatime, and destroyed by the next morning. I think this is one of those old-guy stories that is made up of fibs, lies, and political promises. I…
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Okay, Ben….Now What?
Poor Richard Saunders, aka Ben Franklin, kept telling us that time is money and we should do today rather than putting off until tomorrow. Sound advice, and then we go and take it and rack up another $ 50 debt with Bunnings for overpriced wood. This goes directly against Ben’s other constant song of frugality…
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Fujimi Aichi Val – Part One – Oh Boy Oh Boy Oh Boy
I finally got to build a model of an airplane my uncle Jack shot at on Dec. 7, 1941. Fujimi kits are thin on the ground here in Western Australia at the best of times and these aren’t the best of times. But a shelf of them turned up at the local shop and I…
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Airfix Vintage Val – Part One – Comparisons
It is said that comparisons are odious – or in the case of British cinema chains, Odeons. Be that as it may, I intend to contrast and compare the Airfix vintage classic kit of the Aichi Val dive bomber with the Fujimi example that I built earlier. The prices are rather similar, so it was…
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The Half Sticky Stickum
We all go down the aisle of the hobby shop and look for a way to spend our money…even if we don’t have a lot of it at the time. Don’t guffaw and pretend that you haven’t done exactly that. If you’re reading this you have come home occasionally with a left-handed canopy chopper or…
The Little World 