Category: Modelling Supplies
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The Expert Review Vs The Actual Experience

If you read my column thinking that you’ll get cutting-edge expertise and the very latest technical reviews, you are in for a sad time. I am not a master modeller. I may be an expert tease, but the only cutting edges around my Little Workshop are generally biting into my fingers and thumbs when I…
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Consolidated Liberator B.VI – Part One – Swappies

The swap has been done – Paddy – a gentleman who read my advertisement on Gumtree – called and we have exchanged a Revell flying boat kit for an Airfix bomber kit. We both seem delighted with the deal and I will devote this kit to my workshop after the Boeing Fortress Mk III is…
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A Spectacular Sunday’s Discovery

For several years I have tried to get to the model Car Sunday, but failed – yesterday I succeeded and found a very interesting product made by a local craftsman. The product is a range of portable modelling boxes and the maker Garrett McIntyre from Collie in Western Australia. His basic aim was to make…
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The Return Of The Chinese Junk

When I was a kid in the 50’s there were dime stores that sold goods cheaply. In some cases they were cheap goods – particularly if they were plastic toys from Hong Kong. There was a particularly brittle form of plastic that was used in toy factories that was moulded into all sorts of workable…
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Walk In Or Walk Out?

And we’re not talking about wing walks either. I want a kit. And a specific kit – having done my research in regard to it. Its the best for my purpose – and good news – it was a new Airfix release late last year and has been seen in the local hobby shop in…
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Who’s A Dealer and Who’s a Wheeler Dealer…

And how can you tell the difference between them? Perhaps we should mention a third category first – the retail dealer. a. The Retail Dealer has a shop – sometimes an on-line one, sometimes a physical store. Sometimes a combination of the two, if there are enough staff with enough expertise to run it all.…
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Mitsubishi A5M-2 – Part Two – A Nipponese Quickie

I’m not sure if I should leave money on the mantlepiece. I’ve just had my moment of pleasure and it’s all over. But I don’t regret it at all. Lets face it – building a Hobby Boss fighter plane is never going to be a case of long-term employment. Unless you pace yourself, you’ll find…
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Ustar

Never heard of ’em? I never did until I started patronising Hobbytech out in Myaree. Then I found an increasing number of products from this Taiwanese firm on their tool and material shelves. I experimented with a few things, then bought more. Not every product was world-beating, but they were all workable, and some were actually…
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Scale Model Kit Building Is Craft Beer In Styrene

Here’s two parallel experiences; buying a plastic model kit in a hobby shop and buying a six-pack of craft beer at the local Dan Murphy’s. In both cases you are basically paying out for a pig in a poke. The externals are generally confusing…the plastic model kit has either great box art or horrible writing,…
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Fairchild Flying Boxcar – Part Three – The Smear Campaign

My efforts to obtain 1:72 decals from Canada for the C-119 Fairchild Flying Boxcar came to nought – the sets that were made are long out of production. In the event, this is just as well, because they would have necessitated a major reconstruction of the aircraft’s tail to be authentic. I was thrown back…
