Category: Uncategorized
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Good Morning, Walter – Part Ten – The Doll Houses

Walter, there are more things under Heaven and Earth than we suspect, and it is a great joy when we come across something new. I found this so for my Little World when I discovered the doll house societies. There are a number of them here in the Perth metropolitan area, and I would be…
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Spitfire Mk IX – Part Four – Is This A Decal Or A Tarpaulin?

I spent one morning recently decalling airplanes – a simple but delightful exercise in cut and paste. The surfaces of the planes were a clear smooth gloss and the first two decal sets – from Hobby Boss – were all that you could want. They were not pretentious markings – just stars, numbers, and a…
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Spitfire Mk IX – Part Two – The Patchwork Quilt

I am always in awe of the kit builder who has every seam perfect, every wheel straight, and every panel line scribed out. Awe and horror. Awe, horror, and unreasoning anger… Well, it’s not quite that bad, but I do regard perfection with some suspicion. Fortunately the Matchbox Spitfire Mk IX is a very soothing…
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Spitfire Mk IX – Part One – Never Look A Gift Kit In The Box

I was at dinner with a group of friends in Sydney when one of them pulled out a couple of old 1:72 kits from a shopping bag. They were historic remainders from his teenage stash…and as he’s distanced from that somewhat, they are truly historic. One’s a Matchbox Spitfire and one’s an Airfix Buccaneer. I…
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The Sock Drawer

Whenever some cartoonist wants to suggest that someone has no life – and way too much time to spend living it – they have the poor individual sorting out his or her sock drawer. It is meant to be hilarious and pitiful at the same time, like parliament in Ottawa. I think this is entirely…
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Good Morning, Walter – Part Nine – The Mistake

Well, Walter I am going to let you into a secret – I make mistakes in my Little Workshop. This one’s not the first one I’ve made when building my Little World. I suspect it won’t be the last. The grey Spitfire model you see at the top of the page looks pretty well weathered…
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” We Can’t Attract Young People…”

That’s the catch cry of the plastic modelling club members over their coffee and biscuits as we glue together $ 100 model kits of equipment that existed 74 years ago and has never been seen since. Quite frankly, I’m surprised that we can attract ourselves… It’s not quite that bad in the model train world…
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Bell P 39 Airacobra – Part Four – The Northwest Staging Route

You might wonder a bit at the presence of a Bell P-39 Airacobra with red stars in a white circle appearing at an Alberta RCAF station in the 1940’s. The explanation is simple – the Northwest Staging Route flowed right through RCAF WET DOG as soon as Lend-lease was established and there were enough aircraft…
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Bell P-39 – Part Three – Weight A Minute

Or forever sit on your tail. I applaud the tricycle landing gear for aircraft – in the case of civilian airliners it allows a steady takeoff and landing – I would not want to spill my champagne. On military planes it probably allows the pilot a lot better view of the field or carrier deck…
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Bell P-39 Airacobra – Part One – The Soviet Twins

For the first time ever I am doing a group build. Not an exercise where I’m going to be a member of a group of modellers, but one where I make a group of models. Related items, if you will, and all made at the same time. They are being made for a purpose –…
