Category: Utility Models
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Nothing To Excess
This is a fine philosophy, but I wouldn’t go overboard on it… It is also good counsel for the people who make the moulds for plastic kits. I was dealing with an old Revell B-24 D kit from the late 70’s that had recessed panel lines and raised rivets. They were the size that would…
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Grumman Hawkeye – Part Two – Filling And Filing
And not just in one stage, either. When you take on an older kit, you accept the limitations of the art at the time that it was made. You can build it with the skills of that time or with modern ones. Either way is a sort of compromise. Here we have a combination of…
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Once You’ve Done The Worst Of The Kit
You need not fear the rest of the kit. My club-mate Michael Marchant showed me the tank tracks he was working on – they were from one of those Czech productions that have multiple parts per link, and multiple links per track, and no fun anywhere. I sympathised with him but left before any of…
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Could You Deliberately Retro-Build?
I’ve been looking at a website that refers to itself as Dem Brudders; it deals with reproduction and re-issued kits. A number of small makers have ended up with moulds from major American firms; Revell, AMT, Aurora, Monogram, etc. The smaller speciality moulders have re-issued some of the classics that were favourites during the 50’s…
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Čmelák – Part Four – Flying Fertiliser
I was fascinated with the instruction sheet for this Czech model as it detailed the service life of the Z-37A agricultural aircraft. It would appear that they are used for crop dusting and spraying in equal measure in middle Europe and are in some areas of the west as well. The planes are working for…
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Bristol Belvedere – Part Three – The Mehcopter
Cue enthusiasm…reboot…reboot. I think this is the first of the Airfix Vintage Classics that has disappointed. It is undoubtedly what it was in the original release, but like the original Blackburn Buccaneer, the Hovercraft, the Fairey Rotodyne, and the prototype Harrier, it strangely fails to please. Perhaps Airfix were precipitate in issuing something that was…
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No Box Art
No colour call-out. No decal sheet. No safety instructions. No history of the prototype. Just sprue trees and a basic diagram. If this describes a lot of the kits you buy, congratulations – but only if you got them cheaply. If you paid full price you deserved all the added extras. What good would a…
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The Feral Modeller
A guide to being the strangest one in the room. If you’ve only built a Mustang, Spitfire, and Messerschmitt, you are probably going to fit right into any scale modelling group. Not so much if everyone else is into doll houses or anime, but you never can tell. But if you want to really stand…
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Have I Got The Latest, Latest Kit?
With the photo-etch and the resin and the masks and the pots of paint and the signed copy of the designer’s baby photo? Gee, I hope not; I don’t think I could stand the pressure to perform. The 14th coat of weathering oil/lacquer/authenticity magic would reduce me to tears. I could not win a court…
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The Kit That Doesn’t Teach You Anything
Is best left closed. Every scale model kit you undertake to build ( as opposed to just buy and store ) should teach you something. Some will do so by showing you a prototype that is new. Some will show you a new technique. Some will introduce a new manufacturer. Equally, some will alert you…
The Little World 