Category: Uncategorized
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” Launch At Unfriendly Target “
I kid you not…this was part of an advertisement for a scale model kit. It described a navy attack fighter. Presumably the launching of anything would most likely be done at a target…and unfriendly ones the first choice. Friendly targets are also possible, but you use smaller missiles. Advertising in a language that is not…
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Stand In Line
Standing in line is Europe’s national sport. Whether it is waiting for pancreas sausage in Poland or boiled tripe in England, you have only to get two people to line up and they will be joined by twenty more. In Perth we line up for cheap plastic. The ( so far ) annual big scale…
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Have You Found Your Oeuvre?
Or your œuf? Is your modelling pressing you toward one coherent thing, or are you flailing in all directions? Perhaps flailing is your destiny, and you are fulfilling it. Do not despair. Leonardo Da Vinci was nearly fifty years old before he built his first model of the MISSOURI. And look how he flourished in…
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Every Time You Bolt On A Main Spar
A Fairey gets its wings… The magic of scale model building is far greater than any mousey studio could dream up – we actually get to do things instead of just watch other people do them. One of the things we do is cement wings onto aircraft. We can do this neatly or not, but…
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Avia B-135 – Part Four – One Time Lucky
But there’s more than one kind of luck… Sold to Bulgaria by the Czechs, relegated to training duties even in that air force, and out for a four-plane mission in 1944 when American B-24 Liberators approached Bulgarian air space after attacking Ploesti. They were unable to catch most of the bombers but at least one…
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Avia B-135 – Part One – A Semi-Precious Stash Gem
The big annual local scale model exhibition had come and gone – and there was some speculation that it had gone forever.* But I did well. My model Ruritanian airport garnered only slight interest, but the stash sales made it all worth while. This Czech fighter appeared at a very advantageous price and I was…
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The Fifty Cent Fighter Plane
Sixty years on. My allowance in the eighth grade was 50 Canadian cents per week. It was more than adequate for my needs as I was stuck in a construction camp in the Alberta bush with no place at which to spend it. Our one shopping trip a month went to Drayton Valley and by…
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Shinden – Part One – Out Of The Mould
And into the mould. This kit has been invaded. Not by aliens…mould spores are definitely from here on Earth. And this Hasegawa kit has met them. Perhaps from time spent in Japan in humid weather or out in the sheed during the winter.. The condition of the box, instructions, and decals shows fair deterioration, though…
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The Corner Of Frugal Boulevard and Tight Arse Lane
The cheap end of town. I got there after consulting the internet and looking at eBay sales items. The prices were high and the shipping costs higher. But I did benefit from the product illustrations – which I could screen save and use for reference. Free information. My project involved making some more buildings for…
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Decal Or Not Decal
That is the question. Whether ’tis nobler to suffer the agonies of masking tape and airbrush or to take scissors and water and end them. I am in the position of Hamlet every time I look a the colour call-out of a kit. I have the decal sheet in one hand and my heart in…
The Little World 