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Are Buyers And Storers Collectors?

Are they modellers as such? This question has come up repeatedly in my life as I have been attracted by scale models of all sorts. I’ve purchased die-cast ships, cars, and planes that were complete in themselves right out of the box – exquisite in some cases. Some became part of a larger collection that…
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When You Are The Only Person In A Shop

You start to wonder about the viability of the place. This may certainly be the case when you go at an odd time of the day – say they open 24/7 and it is 3:00 AM. But if it’s noon on Tuesday, you have to wonder at empty aisles. Prices can do it. Inflation and…
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Will We Run Out Of Prototypes?

I asked myself this one day as I idly scrolled through the catalogues of Hasegawa, RS, and Special Hobby. I was trolling for 1:72 aircraft that I had not built yet. For a time there it was looking a bit bleak. The Hasegawa people are deriving a lot of their income from kits of Gundam,…
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Well, It’s Official

You saw it here first. Ruritania, Liechtenstein, and Andorra have entered into a triple military alliance. This agreement – known as The Pact Of Zinc – should ensure mutual defence for the three nations and secure them from enemies in the east. Vaduz, Strelsau, and Andorra la Vella were bedecked with national flags entwined as…
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Bristol Mk32 Superfreighter – Part Four – Ferryfield

Also known as Lydd Airport. Still exists in Kent and does a roaring trade in light plane movements. But the Bristol 170 era was the 50’s to the 80’s before roll-on-roll-off ferries at the seaports took the vehicular Channel traffic and the Channel Tunnel took the train passengers. They were flying an amazing number of…
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Bristol Mk32 Superfreighter – Part Three – Who Was That Masked Whale?

Balance it up in your mind – whether you trust the decal makers to put a product out that will look like a painted surface, or whether you can make a painted surface look like a decal. If you can fold a 2-dimansional sheet of plastic paint to conform to a 3D surface with convex…
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Bristol Mk32 Superfreighter – Part Two – Bristol Box

Just seeing the kit parts in the cardboard box doesn’t prepare you for the shape of the Bristol 170…it is too unbelievably boxy to exist. Yet, it did. And my wife was a passenger on a number of flights on Bristol 170 air ferries between Lydd and Le Touquet. So the RCAF conversion has been…
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Bristol Mk32 Superfreighter – Part One – The Prize Of the Weekend

Remember the Newcastle song; never let a chance go by. This was my big chance at the model stash sale. I knew the box instantly in the stack, and the price was very low. I’d the money out before anyone else had the chance to think, and I’m always wise about stash sales – I…
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You Can Be Colour Deaf As Well As Blind

Some unfortunates cannot see certain colours. This must be a challenge for them when they undertake scale modelling, though the provision of reference material that makes use of standard paint numbers might see them through. As long as the kit makers and paint makers tell the truth to the builder ( and each other )…

