Category: Self Reliance
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Scratch-building Pack

We often encounter notes on short-run kit instructions that tell us to scratch-build some part. It may be a strut or part of an interior. Perhaps a flap or plate or even part of the undercarriage. Indeed there can be kits where the parts are provided but are of such poor quality that you are…
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Several Hours Later…

You have a variety of outcomes. a. Drinking – intoxication, lethargy, nausea, shame. b. Weeding – a clean garden. c. Reading – knowledge or entertainment. d. Phone scrolling – vapidity, tiredness. e. Eating – biliousness. f. Scale modelling – pride, satisfaction. Well, it is your time after all…
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When You Rethink…

And you do it for yourself – free of any prompting from necessity, or advertising, or other people’s opinions… You step up to the bridge of life and take command. You decide the course and the speed. You decide the cargo and the loading. You take the risk and make the profit or loss. It’s…
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Do What You Can

With what you have – where you are. This may have been Teddy Roosevelt’s line or it might have been from an earlier writer. Since I just typed it, it’s mine now. You are free to use it as you will. You have a kit in front of you – for which you may have…
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If I Seem A Bit One-Eyed For The Next Month Or So…

It is because I am having my eyes operated upon for cataracts. Today is the first day after the op on the left and things are very foggy out there. I cannot be trusted to drive or operate a bulldozer. I am already married so that eliminates the danger of contracting another for some time,…
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Every Kit Is A Spin Of The Wheel

Whether it’s a Crown and Anchor wheel or one they break criminals on is up to you. Sometimes it is up to the makers of the kits – but even the best kit can be spoiled and the worst made magnificently. As you are the one doing the work, you need to be the factor…
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If You’re Not In It

You can’t win it. This distresses some, but delights others. You see, if they do not make a bet, they do not lose their money. If they do not enter a contest they are not relegated with the majority of the crowd to be losers. If they’re not in it, they can’t lose it. Indeed,…
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Mil 24 Hind F – Part Three – Goo Time

In some cases that is a good time and in some just a goo time. I have written before about making my own sprue goo and using it for seam and gap filling. I have largely thrown away the Vallejo, Perfect Plastic Putty, and Mr Hobby products in favour of this home-made solution. I also…
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Scaling Up Your Scaling Down

When you are presented with requests. You give positive answers. Someone wanted decals for a model aircraft but couldn’t find them on the net. I did, but that probably wasn’t the question anyway. Fortunately the decal sheet needed was simple and illustrated cleanly in colour. Getting it onto Photoshop Elements was simple. Not so simple…
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What’s The Biggest Headache In Model Aircraft Kits?

Is it gaps in the joints? Impossibly big sprue feed gates? Dodgy decals? Nope – the worst thing about a model aircraft kit is the landing gear. Unless you’re building a flying boat ( and they have their own problems ) you will encounter your worst moment with the legs. Your problem will be balanced…
