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Why No 1:64 Planes, Then?

If you were a kid in North America in the 50’s you basically had a choice of three scales for electric trains: 1:48 Lionel, 1:64 American Flyer, and 1:87 HO made by Varney, Athearn, and lots of smaller firms. The 1:87 HO has stayed with us – just as 1:76 has stayed with the British…
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The Box-Scale Kit

We’ve all seen them and we’ve all built them. And at one stage of the game they were the norm. The box-scale kit that was accurately drawn from official government plans and moulded in 1/60 or 1/94 or 1/287… We were captivated by the box art…or the fact that it cost $1.49 and we had…
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Austin Armoured Car – Part Three – Ready For Duty

The commander of Uszhitmi Aerodrome can rest easy – the Austin armoured car is now fit for deployment on the perimeter of the field. Whether this will deter intruders from getting in or defectors from getting out is a matter of conjecture. In any case the car is adorned with a patriotic slogan so whoever…
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Austin Armoured Car – Part Two – Precision Product

Say what you will about some of the eastern bloc modelling companies turning out marginal models – and we have all see Mikro Mir and Amodel and such – there are some companies on the sharp edge of the hobby. This is the case with this Austin armoured car. There is enough detail in the…
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Austin Armoured Car – Part One – Tovarich…

No, I am not going to go looking for a 1:72 model of Lenin. The Austin A/C is destined for Uszhitmi Aerodrome as perimeter protection. Not that anyone would want to go there to attack it. Uszhitmi is where they send people who are exiled from Siberia. It was a last minute pickup from Hobbytech…
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There Is No Time Like The Present

And there never was. That is the nature of time…it moves forward. Pity some of the plastic model moulding firms are so stuck in the past. This is particularly ironic when you consider that these firms want to make a profit in the future by moulding models of things that vanished a century ago…and they…
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Convair F-106 – A NORAD Quickie

I have taken to an amusing game when I photograph dancers at their concerts or for portraits – when they ask me the cost of the finished files or videos I tell them about my model airplane hobby. I ask them to pay their bill by purchasing a 1:72 scale model airplane kit that I…
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” Complete Your Collection “

I saw this line in an advertisement for commemorative coins. The only thing I could think was: Oh, Dear God, don’t! Don’t ever complete your collection of anything. If there is a finite number of things that make it up – even if these are only thoughts or other vague dreams – do not get…
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Grey, Gray, Grau, Gris, Seryy

Not the weather – it’s actually nice out. I mean the undercoat. I use the Mr. Surfacer pots blown through a single action airbrush. Others use Tamiya rattle cans or similar material from different makers. Few of us realise the miracle that occurs when we do. Initially I thought that spraying an undercoat was just…

