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Sandown Park 2019 – Part Four – Hearts of Card

I am always pleased to see our local card builder at the WASMEX exhibitions – card and paper seem so ill-suited to modelling. When I thought that, I had no idea what the kit and printing industry in Europe could produce. I’ve since learned by some practical experinece what can be done with pre-made card…
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Sandown Park 2019 – Part Three – Why Are We Here?

I don’t mean to get all angst-y and existential on you, but I did find the thought expressed in our heading crossing my mind at the recent model exposition. I was prompted to it by three sights: a. The line of patient modellers coming into the hallway with their creations. This was well and…
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Sandown Park 2019 – Part Two – Tanks For The Memories

I am not really an armoured vehicle person as yet. It is not an aversion – just a lack of attraction. Perhaps this will alter in the future, though I hope I will not have to step to yet another scale if I do try it. 1:72 and 1:76 seem to be rewarding enough. I…
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Sandown Park 2019 – Part One – Silver

Well, there we were, folks – Sandown Park in Melbourne for the 2019 model exhibition. Plenty of parking, real live motor cars circling the track, and a large canteen area set aside for the punters. What more could one want? One of the first tables that caught the eye after I rounded the Wall O’…
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What’s In This Stuff, Anyway? – Part Three – Masking Solutions

I counted up the bottles on my Little Workshop shelf and I now have more masks than Zorro. That’s not counting the tiny rolls of modellers masking tape or the big ones from Bunnings – I’m talking about bottles of goo designed to mask under spray paint. a. Maskol from Humbrol – the heading image.…
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What’s In This Stuff, Anyway? – Part Two – Decal Solutions

If I want to enjoy myself in the Little Workshop I can either fasten decals on a freshly-painted model or hammer nails into the back of my hand. Some days I am torn in an agony of choice… It was never like this in the old young days – I just found the place on…
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What’s In This Stuff, Anyway? – Part One – Paint And Cement

An inveterate visitor to hobby shops in my old age, I am now also a sucker for little vials of chemicals. Whether it is glue, paint, liquid mask, thinners, retarders, or clear coats, I never seem to leave anywhere without bearing away another expensive bottle. And i do mean expensive – At the bottle shop…
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So Why Does One Model Tank?

And another become a classic? I’m not talking about 1/35 scale armour here. I mean why is one model kit a success and just keeps on selling, and another ends up in the auction house for unsold kits within the first six months? a. Is it a bad model? Badly conceived, badly moulded, poorly packaged.…
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The Annual Gluefest Finished Cheerfully

And not a sticky fingerprint on any of the plastic parts. At least not on the competition entries. It was my first little venture into showing a plastic model and I played it safe – I just put it into the general club display on the table and didn’t ask for any judgement. There may…
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MiG 15 – Part Eight – Is Ready For Uszhitmi Air Show

The Uszhitmi Air Show has always been the premier display of Soviet – and laterally Russian – air power since the early 20’s. Starting as it did with flying tractors and merry peasant dances on the tarmac between crashes, it progressed to formation passes made the giant creations of the 30’s that were ever larger…
