Category: Uncategorized
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Yakovlev 6 – Part One -The Orphan
I discovered this Yak 6 model sitting forlornly under a pile of junk in the storage room of the model club. There are any number of derelict kits in there – some abandoned half-built, and some just unwanted. The simple ones could be turned into basic trainers for young modellers, but the dreadful short run…
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The Hiatus
The Hiatus was a heavy triplane bomber designed by Handley Page…but they paused the production… All modellers stop occasionally to take stock. To draw a breath. To pacify the wife. It doesn’t mean that they will not be building again – it just means that it will not be today. Today will be devoted to…
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The Non-Brush Brush-Off
There is a name for brushes; hairy sticks. Because that is what they are. And they do very basic hairy things… There is a current phrase – ” hairy stick ” – used to describe paint brushes – that is both humorous and accurate. Because that’s what the wretched things really are. Oh, there are…
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How To Make A Small Fortune At The Big Local Model Exhibition
Start with a large fortune and go there to sell model goods. Well, you knew that punchline was coming when you started reading. You should have stopped then. Too late, you have to finish reading this article now. Going to the Big Local Model Exhibition at Cannington Central with goods to sell is a sure-fire…
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Do Kit Designers Hang Upside-Down In Caves?
I ask this because I have noted some of the priorities they assign to their kit designs. In the case of the beer, pretzel, and borscht bureaux, the decisions they make about the level of photo-etch to include in a cockpit area vs the basic fit of the thing into the fuselage hints at it.…
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RCAF Privateer – Part Four – When To Commit Yourself…
Or alternately…when to have yourself committed… You have to make a decision eventually – whether to cement every blessed little part on the model and then try to paint and decal around them, or to break it down into stages and make your errors in a more orderly fashion. One road leads to madness and…
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RCAF Privateer – Part Three – I Hate Windows
Not just the computer operating system – windows in general. Particularly when they are all down the side of a model airplane but only on the inside. If I want them to be open I have to carefully cut them out myself. That’s one of the horrors of the multi-purpose kit. I thought this sort…
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RCAF Privateer – Part Two – Rebox Heaven
I don’t really understand the actual process of re-boxing kits. Whether they are pre-made kits that are packaged up or whether they are re-moulded sprue trees taken from old moulds is still unclear. I think we might be seeing both processes in action sometimes. In any case, I am delighted to report that it works.…
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If I Hobby For Money…
Am I hobbying at all? Good question. The idea of making money from your hobby is one that has occurred to 105% of everyone. 75% of us have tried it, 3% have succeeded and the rest…some 230,000 hobbyists…have decided just to go out and buy another kit. The saddest man in the hobby shop is…
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Is There A Worse Feeling?
I mean a worse feeling than seeing someone succeed brilliantly with a model kit, material, or technique that you have failed in. Not bad enough that you threw your model against the wall, but the other person has managed to win a medal with theirs. Jealousy is a green-eyed monster in many fields; love, business,…
