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The Table Of Despair
My local hobby shop has a shallow table out the front of the store near the tills. It contains the specials and bargains that they would like to clear quickly. I look at it every time I go to the shop and have come to a number of conclusions: Some things will never sell, because…
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Wonder Of Toyz R Uz Kiddie Kinder Surprise Land Pty Ltd
If you want to challenge yourself, go visit a toy store. NOT in a school holiday period or in the week leading up to Christmas, I hasten to add. There are some things that you need not do to yourself, no matter what. I recently visited a large-scale toy emporium in our city and looked…
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The Big Green Things Made Of Wood
You know. Branches, trunks, roots, bird nests. Those things that stand there in front of the forest and obscure it. Whaddaya call ’em…starts with a ” T “. I’ll think of it in a minute… Well modelling can be like that. You do all the research in the world – spend days on the internet…
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We Need The Tiny Tin Can
I am looking at small and large cans of paint – spray paint, as it happens – and wondering at the rationale around it. The can contained a grey Tamiya primer. I’ve just sprayed the very last of it on a 1:72 aircraft and can feel satisfied – it completed the job just before it…
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Cheap And Nasty Or Cheap And Nicely?
When I came to Australia in the 60’s I encountered a whole new division of language. Coming from North America I had experienced Canadian English and American English – now I had Australian English to learn. It wasn’t that hard, once you discarded the ocker colloquialisms. Of course you had to pick them up again…
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Is There A Worse Way To Do It?
Because if there is, I want to know all about it. I love horror stories and the things that people invent to do for themselves in their modelling workshops are no exception. Oh, I don’t mean the accidents and mishaps. I can cut my fingers or spill thinner into the electric fire myself. And who…
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Special Greetings From The Hobby Shop Siege
This is the second day of the hobby shop siege and the management hasn’t gotten me out yet. I’ve holed up behind the paint racks and taken hostages. Police negotiators have turned spotlights onto the acrylics but I am refusing to budge until my demands are met. I have sent out a manifesto and have…
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The Mark Of A Person’s Character
You can discern the character of a man – or of a woman – by their behaviour in the shops. The only difference between the sexes in this discussion is the sort of shop that they frequent – in the case of the man we’ll place him in a DIY centre or hobby shop and…
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I Was Saving That For A Rainy Day…
When we set out stockpile materials, kits, plans, money, and tools with a hazy vision of one day making the grande supremo opus de-luxe model…we condemn ourselves to a lifetime of anxiety. For how will we know when that ultimate opportunity arrives? When can we open the secret vault door and bring out the ”…
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Copyright? I Laugh At Your Copyright!
” Ha Ha Ha! I am master in my own workshop and I laugh to scorn at your copyright! Paugh! ” Which will make for interesting times if someone actually does go me for pinching artwork that belongs to them. Or if someone decides that I am making fake products in an effort to defraud…
The Little World
Close focus on the world of scale models
The Little World 