Category: Workshop
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Decals of Death

We’ve all bought an old kit from a garage sale or a swap meet. It may have started out in perfect shape, but then so did Hannibal before he crossed the Alps. Some of the kits I’ve bought still have elephant poop in the crushed old boxes… And they have sad sheets of decals. Sheets…
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The Hobby Room

I have a hobby room that has accommodated any number of pursuits – yet I am still chasing perfection. And it is still elusive. The first use of the hobby room – the 5th bedroom in a house that has only three sleepers – was as a photographic darkroom. It was the days of film…
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Was Lacquer Thinner Good For Covid?

I had no idea, but one week I tested it out. I went down in iso with a positive RAT and a number of kits in the stash that needed paint. They had gone through the preliminary stages and were ready for primer and paint. And I did not intend to let a spare week…
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” In Compartment B, We Have…”

Is there a case for compartmentalizing your hobby? How about the rest of your life? We are addicted to following other people’s good ideas, even when they turn bad. Think of the number of articles, sites, and experts who appear on television telling you to declutter your life. And you a scale modeller. You are…
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Northrop Black Widow – Part Three – Swings And Roundabouts

Every airplane design has compromises and so does every kit. Some are adequately addressed and some are not – what you gain on the swings, you lose on the roundabouts. In the case of the P-61, the twin tail booms made of two pieces each ( double the seams ) mean two chances to get…
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Whether or Not…

To weather. Is it better to slosh muck over your model or leave it gleaming? Only you can tell – but be aware that others will want to tell you what to do. So listen to me… I presume you are engaged in the hobby of scale model building. If I am wrong – if…
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Long Days Down T’ Bench

Or modelling until you can’t model any more. There are two types of long hobby days: a. The day that you just get to keep doing the thing you love, one bit after another. You finish one stage of the kit and are ready for the next one. Nothing breaks, nothing rolls off the bench,…
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Oh Ye Of Little Faith

Draw Nigh And Listen Unto Me. Cement it twice and glue it three times. For that is the only way that thou wilt be able to keep the pissy little landing gear legs in their position, or the canopy on firmly. Or indeed the fuselage halves together. Add another layer of cement or glue and…
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Patience? Patience? I’ve Had It Up To HERE With Patience!!!

You want me to wait until the cement dries? You want me to avoid touching the varnish? What kind of people ARE you? I sit, typing, when I could be busy spoiling a paint job or ruining a model by handling it too soon. The stress is killing me. I need to do something foolish…

