Category: Uncategorized
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All Kit Builders Should Build Something From Scratch

All scratch-builders should build a model from a kit. It is no good looking at someone else’s take on the scale model hobby and pooh poohing it. Or wondering whether they have it better than you. Or wondering whether you could ever do it… Wise experimenters do it simple at first. The long-time kit builder…
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Soviet Hound – Part Two – A Day’s Work

Since I retired a second time I have been busy being idle. It is a damned hard thing – you no sooner turn around than another thing falls off the house or someone comes to the door bleeding. It is no good slamming it shut and heading for the drinks trolley – eventually they will…
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Soviet Hound – Part One – A Working Dog

The Mil Mi-4a Hound seems to have been a general-purpose worker for the old Soviet Union from 1960 until the late 70’s. It is boxed by Trumpeter in a larger scale but Hobby Boss offer it for 1:72 in a very precise moulding. Four sprue trees, a colour call out sheet for the USSR and…
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Why’d You Build A Model Of THAT?

There are many paths, Grasshopper… a. It was the plane my father flew in the Battle of Britain. He was on the Finnish side. They shot at EVERYBODY. Little Helsinki on the Avon was a hotbed of aerial warfare. b. I had the money and the shop owner seduced me…by putting the kit on the…
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Canada Geese

In Autumn, you can hear them in the sky as they fly south: ” Honk, Honk, Honk “. In Spring you hear them flying north. ” Eh, Eh, Eh…” You sportsmen and sporting gals get to gun them down on the journey south but the Mounties’ll arrest you if you do the same on their…
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The Richest Kid On The Block!

Possibly in the whole town! I’ve got 27 model kits ready to build. They came from friends, family and pocket money. I’ve got enough cement for all of them, and enough paint. School is out, and has been since 1972. Employment is done, and has been since 2016. I do not have any homework due.…
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Do Other Hobbies Suffer From Being At The End Of The World?

Or is it just scale kit building? We all go regularly to the hobby shops or websites looking for novelties. We regularly come back disappointed. Meanwhile the net and the magazines show a wonderful variety of goods available to people in Europe, Asia, and North America. We are left outside on the footpath with our…
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Mirage 2000C – Part One – Birthday Present No. 1

First box off the new stash shelf. A wonderful sensation. The box art for the new Italeri 2000C fighter is all about the first Gulf War of 1990-91 – all browns and sand colours. The call-out on the back plus the decal sheet promise Armée de l’Air and UAE Air Force of the period. Possibly,…
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Stupid Science Theatre 3 – The Proof Of the Pudding

In our case the pudding tastes like old paper and turpentine. Like cooking with the stuff I find in our pantry… The problems in order: a. Yellowing of the decal and surrounds. This one is easy to cure: tape the sheet to a window that gets sun most of the day. Let it sit for…
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Stupid Science Theatre 2 – Into The Laboratory

If your name is Stein, you always run the risk amongst the vulgar of being called Frankenstein. I have accepted it, and make the most of it for comedic effect. But I mark down the worst offenders and send my assistant, Igor, to visit them on dark and stormy nights. I must show you the…
