Category: Secondhand
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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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The Danger To Navigation
I shall call him Bill. Bill The Weatherman. The danger to navigation that they are always speaking about on the News At Ten. I shouldn’t wonder if there wasn’t a file on him down at the Admiralty. You see, Bill wrecks things. Cheerfully, and with great abandon. He does it on a professional basis if…
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The Gift Buffalo
And you never look a gift buffalo in the mouth… This little gem was left on the modeller’s table at the club one week along with another 1:72 model under a sign: ” Free, please take “. I didn’t feel I could make good use of the other Japanese airplane but I knew that the…
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The Junkman Cometh
And is damned proud of it, at his age. Now back to the Little Workshop. All junk is not junk. Some junk is junque – witness the sort of things that twee secondhand shops import from Pakistan and sell as genuine. Junque indeed. Some junk is material that is just resting between engagements. The box…
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The Five Dollar Model
Earlier in this column’s history I introduced the Glorious $ 5 Plan – the construction of an ICM Polikarpov Chaika in 1:72 scale that only cost me $ 5 to do. It was a one-off opportunity provided by a discard box sale at the annual WASMEX show…and you can be certain that I’m going to hover…
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Tea Tray Mk II
Readers of this column may remember – or can search back – to read about Tea Tray Mk I. It was the adaptation of a cardboard box lid left over from an IKEA purchase that allowed me to bring my plastic modelling indoors when temperatures soared in the Little Workshop. The Little Office has an…
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The Power And the Glory
Little World builders have powers far exceeding those they exercise in the Big World. They can be sole commanders, iconic architects, industry giants, or genius designers and no-one else can say them nay. Their word may be flawed, but it is generally final. It gives them a little taste of what it must have been…
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When All Else Fails, Cheap Out.
We all cruise the aisle of the hobby shop, hardware store, craft shop, or toy store looking for the Great Bargain. The Score. The Once-In-A-Lifetime chance to buy a $5000 model for 50¢. It never eventuates, of course, and we can become bitter and twisted. The thing we all need to do is realise that…
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” Modeller In Aisle Number Four. Call Security “
As scale modellers we are especial creatures – half way between stuffed Winnie The Pooh figures and blood-crazed werewolves. The staff in many stores recognise this and probably have contingent plans ready in case the moon is full. I know I have found myself staring lustfully at items in shops that would seem to have…
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When Is Old Junk…Old Junk?
And when is it Invaluable Historic Resource? This thought was forced upon me as I sifted through the secondhand dealer’s goods at the Model Railway Exhibition this year. There were at least three dealers specifically dedicated to secondhand – perhaps there were more that I did not see. Their stock ranged from quite professional goods…
The Little World 