Category: Scale Models
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When Does A Workshop Qualify For A Federal Grant?

Possibly when it becomes world-famous or when a member of Parliament takes up a hobby. The reporters will flock and the money roll in. I have no intention of entering Parliament, but I still hold out hopes of fame. I have engaged a make-up artist and a dance coach to get me ready for the…
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FROG Stash Avenger – Part Four – Show Bird

Casting about for a role for the FROG Avenger, I came upon a series of photos taken at a recent Dutch air show. They show a Grumman Avenger painted in what I assume are authentic colours for the Aéronavale – the air arm of the French Navy. I expect the aircraft would have been a…
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FROG Stash Avenger – Part Three – The Avenger Meets The Blob

Sounds like the title of a Marvel Comics movie, doesn’t it? The problem was there to be solved – and it is one that has occurred on previous models of the Grumman TBF. The .50 machine gun needs to be installed in the turret and the turret installed in the fuselage before you close it…
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FROG Stash Avenger – Part One – Inadvertent Baggie

Got for a very low price in a plastic freezer bag, this FROG Avenger of 1973 is going to be a beautiful model to build. The parts photo shows some work already done at the SMCWA clubrooms: cutting and sanding plus Sprue Goo filling of numerous FROG sinkholes. The week’s interval between club dates means…
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When You Take The Leap Of Faith

And it works. I tried a new technique in the construction of scale model parts. I needed a hollow engine cowling for a bomber and had a similarly-sized one to use as a master model. A few weeks ago I embedded this master in a casting box made of cheap cardboard and poured two-part silicone…
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Pride Is A Cheap Emotion

Well it is, if you do it right. Scale modelling can be done with pretty nearly any purse…though the hobby shops would like you to browse on the expensive shelves. The prices can rise to pretty nearly any level that you could name. People who purchase and build the expensive kits can generally be assured…
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SAAB J22 – Part Three – Defender Of Neutrality

You have to give the Swedes credit for neutrality. Otherwise they might sell themselves to your enemies. Perhaps this is a little harsh on them. They have not been officially at war for over 200 years, though they were key players in Scandinavia and Middle Europe prior to that. They made a number of enemies…
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SAAB J22 – Part Two – Dry Swede

Or, the first series build for the Little Workshop. I have just completed three big builds for the collection. They were spread over three work areas and many weeks. There were problems that held matters up and were then solved. I learned a couple of new facts. And noted an unsettling thing with the workflow;…
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SAAB J22 – Part One – Small And Cheap

And it doesn’t come with meatballs or an Allen wrench. Here is yet another newie for me – a genuine Swedish home-grown fighter moulded in Lund, Sweden. Box long gone, but the top and sides preserved to give a colour reference. The plane is a well-designed stop-gap Swedish product along the lines of the CAC…

