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In Praise Of White Glue
The humble bottle of white glue is the most wonderful invention of all time for the model workshop. It has the ability to bond nearly anything – in some cases well and in some cases badly. It rarely sticks the operator to his bench or coffee cup and can be wiped off under the table…
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I Want Electric Paint
I want fine-grain paint that stays liquid, spreadable and self levelling, and clings to vertical surfaces without sagging. I want it to stay in this condition until I pass a small electric current through it, whereupon I want it to set hard in ten seconds. Thereafter to be sandable and proof against solvents. Is this…
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Aim For Perfection – Strive For Excellence
Accept Good Results. If this was a social media site instead of a column I could post those memes for days along with kitten and sunset pictures. Of course I’d get trolled something fierce, but the statistics would probably improve. As it is I have adjusted my sights down to strive for excellence and accept…
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Grumman Duck – Part Three – A Riveting Build
I mentioned in the first column of this build that I was not going to notice the raised rivets of this older Airfix kit – I have to say now that I have not adhered to this blasé attitude. In truth, I do notice them. And I love them. The choice of clear silver lacquer…
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Grumman Duck – Part Two – Ungainly Is As Ungainly Does
Like most seaplanes – the Rufe, the Spitfire on floats, the Seamew – the Grumman Duck looks vaguely like a practical joke the designers played on the factory that leaked out past the drafting table, and they were too embarrased to admit it was all in fun. Yet the planes worked and were very useful…
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Grumman Duck – Part One – The Civil Mould
I have a suspicion that the Airfix Grumman Duck in 1:72 scale is an older mould – the raised rivet lines. Perhaps a Matchbox kit re-issued. I also find that as I am an older modeller – it doesn’t bother me in the slightest. That is the fine legacy of being able to build the…
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The Shed Of Men
Of old men. Cranky old men. Building plastic models. Growling at each other. Venting unpleasant political opinions. Being incorrect, on every level. Cursing, swearing, reviling, jeering, and moaning at each other. And drinking coffee and eating cake. And loving it. Men who have gotten past the age of work and have reached the age of…
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The Costs Of A Decal
Well, that can’t be very much, can it? Try making your own and see… The idea of using the inkjet printer I already own to make custom decals was very attractive. I’m a dab hand with Photoshop Elements and as long as a design is reasonably simple, I can duplicate it. Even if it is…
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Expansion, Contraction, And You – Part Two
The basic idea today was to see how much warpage by expansion or contraction would be produced by various adhesives commonly used in the Little Workshop for scale model building. The substrates upon which they were to work were selected from common fibrous sheet material; good photo-quality bond paper, thin card, and matt board. These…
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Expansion, Contraction, And You – Part One
I’m not going to deal with how much you eat and what it does to your waistline, nor to whether your business is flourishing or failing. These forms of expansion and contraction form no part of the Little World. What does, however, is how various materials behave under various stimuli – heart, cold, damp, and adhesives.…
The Little World
Close focus on the world of scale models
The Little World 