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The Painting Stand
We need a new accessory for scale model building…as if we do not have enough already… We need a cheap, sturdy, steady, adjustable stand to hold a model while it is being spray painted. It must be capable of holding the model firmly and in balance, and the spray must be able to reach all…
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Grumman Widgeon – Part Two – Port and Cheese
I cannot decide now that the Grumman Widgeon is done and sitting on the photo floor, whether I enjoyed myself building it or not. If you go by the mis-fitting engines, nacelles, windscreen, and landing gear, it was a misery. If you looked at the wing, fuselage, and tail assemblies as they mated, it wasn’t…
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Grumman Widgeon – Part One – The Small Goose
The Sherriff’s Mini Cars shelves had some of the best and oddest kit shopping I have been able to do for some time. Stashes had disgorged treasures and/or trash and they were sensibly priced for all that. I have no idea how new the Widgeon is, not how long it may have mouldered on the…
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Why The Devil Am I Writing This All Up?
You may find yourself asking this question when you read this column – or any of the other fine bits of sticky literature* I write. The humour column, the camera column, or the commercial photo column. The last named is, of course, written for money…I’m not ashamed to get paid for typing. But what of…
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Well, This’ll Make A Change…
I don’t normally take an interest in model railways or buy the kits for the structures – unless I realise that I need more detail in a quicker time than I am prepared to scratch-build. Don’t get me wrong – I used to build big-scale rail layouts. But the railway idea has not resonated with…
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Glue For One
Dinner for one can be a difficult affair if you are your own cook. You rarely make all the trimmings of anything and frequently steer round the things that are good for you in favour of the things that are easy to make. Shopping for one is similarly fraught – particularly if you have come…
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De Havilland Vampire T.11 – Part Four – Baked Bat
It’s not your eyes. Your eyes are fine. It’s not your computer. You need not re-calibrate it. The scale model Vampire T.11 really looks like that. And its counterpart in the Negev does too. The desert sun has very little air shade, no ground shade, and winds that blast from all directions. The paint that…
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De Havilland Vampire T.11 – Part Three – Do Not Decal
At least do not decal when you can paint. I am in awe of modellers who can make a decal panel lay down over an undulating wing or fuselage and have it come out taut and flat with no silvering or air bubbles. Even more so when the decal involves several panels abutting each other.…
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De Havilland Vampire T.11 – Part Two – Voila
No apologies for going from the bare kit parts to the glued-together carcass…it has been a busy two days. The model building club’s rooms have air conditioning and so does my computer room – I have repaired to them to escape the 40º plus heat in Perth. My workshop goes far above that on a…
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De Havilland Vampire T.11 – Part One – Going Batty
By now you probably feel you have reason to question my sanity – I am starting to build my third De Havilland Vampire in 1:72 scale. One DH.100 as a Canadian museum piece, then a Swiss Vampire with extended nose, and now a two-seat trainer. What is it with these bats? Well, the first was…
The Little World
Close focus on the world of scale models
The Little World 