Category: Self Reliance
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The Best Model Club In The Metro Area
I have heard a number of groups referred to in these terms – by a variety of people. I think most were sincere when they said it. This is heartening – a club member ready to boast about their association is ripe for further involvement. A place on the committee, perhaps, or a volunteer position…
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What Can You Do In Five Minutes?
I mean on a modelling bench. Never mind the bedroom or the toilet… In five minutes you can: a. Finally rescue that paint that settled in the jar. Dilute it, stir it, clean the cap and threads. Label it properly. b. Get fresh blades on your knives and safely dispose of the dull old ones.…
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I’m From Missouri
Show me. If you recognise that phrase, you’ll know it embodies the scepticism and practicality of the Missourian. It must be hard to sell used cars in Kansas City… But the miniature builder can satisfy even the hardest prairie mind – because the miniature builder need not be restricted to where they are or when…
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Is It A Skin Lesion?
Or dried glue? Modellers are sometimes healthy and sometimes not, and it is surprising how many of their ailments are self inflicted: a. The cement scab noted above. I have found them weeks old in some pretty odd places. b. Acrylic asthma. You can do a great deal of no good with an airbrush full…
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Do You Dine Clean Or Dirty?
Old British officers will know the difference. For scale modellers the question may be posed differently; do you build clean or dirty? Are your models fully weathered, tinted, oiled, and matted, or are they factory-fresh. It can be a great topic if you want to get tempers up – the two groups striving to justify…
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Don’t You Have Something Better To Do?
Well, frankly, no. I used to have professional practice to do, attended with terrible anxiety. It paid me money for awhile, and then didn’t. A signal… So I took up trade, and it was attended by less angst, and more money. Eventually I had accumulated enough of both to be satisfied. Now I have decided…
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The Coconut Bow
Look up the history of the WW2 cruiser USS NEW ORLEANS at the Battle of Tassafaronga. You’ll find that a Japanese 21″ Long Lance torpedo hot it at night and blew the bow off just aft of the first turret. The bow then rotated to port and passed down the port side of the ship,…
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Grumman Tracker – Part Two – Do You Goo?
Yes, I do – particularly when I am making Idea Model, Minicraft, Mistercraft, or Novo kits. It is a natural reaction to the sight of gaping crevasses. I should be a quivering mess in Antarctica. At my workbench I am just barely controlled. It was not always thus. As a child builder I would have…
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Buy Two Kits For Next Year’s Competition
And buy identical ones. Build one the best you possibly can. Use all the techniques and care that will make it look good. Lavish PE and resin and brass gun barrels as much as you wish. Bring copies of the reference material for the judges. Bring paint samples for the ‘raks. And bring the second,…
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What Do You Do With The Leftovers?
If they are corned beef or meatloaf I embark on a glorious week of sandwiches. If they are scale model kits or model paints there are other procedures. Check me out against your own workshop. a. The parts of a kit that are not used – the extra canopies, wheels, snow skis, or armament –…
The Little World 