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Was You Ever On The Congo River?
Blow, Boys, Blow!* I have just had the thrilling experience of talking with someone who has personal knowledge of RCAF Wet Dog in Alberta. It’s the closest contact I have had so far with this legendary BCATP airfield. I met the chap at the IPMEX show yesterday – the plastic modellers convention held at Cannington…
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Modeller’s Pixellation
If you’re a digital photographer you’ll know what pixellation is; the blocky nature of photos that have been taken at small resolution and blown up large. It’s present in every digital picture if you go down far enough to look for it, but disappears once you step back. It’s a good way of thinking of…
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Nakajima ‘ Kate ‘ – Part Seven – One From Column A And One from Column B…
I’m never completely prepared for the end of a build. Whether it is a 1:18th scale post office or the newest of the 1:72nd scale aircraft, the final touches seem to sneak up on me. I just put down the brush or the knife and then…realise that I should not pick it up again. I’ve…
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Nakajima ‘ Kate ‘ – Part Six – Hold My Coffee…
It’s the sober version of ” Hold my beer…” but you can get into just as much trouble anyway. I have a plan. So, you’ll reflect, did Ludendorff ( and didn’t that work out well…), but I hasten to add mine is peaceful and productive. And it revolves around something that revolves around. Okay, enough preparation.…
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Nakajima ‘ Kate ‘ – Part Five – Well, That Escalated Quickly…
It seems like just this morning I went out to the Little Workshop with a cup of coffee and looked at the bare grey plastic of the latest Airfix kit. Then I started to do this and that and suddenly it was 9:00 at night and there it was in camouflage. It shows the value…
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Nakajima ‘ Kate ‘ – Part Four – The Basic Structure
Or ” When Does An Airplane Start To Live? ‘. Okay. You’ve done the interior painting. You’ve stuck on the instrument decals. You’ve decided whether or not you’ll spend an extra month trying to put in photoetched seatbelts, pilot’s clipboards, and spare chewing gum dispenser ( US aircraft only).* Everything that could be sub-assembled and…
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Nakajima ‘ Kate ‘ – Part Three – The Sub-Assembly
I once wrote that there are always some areas of model building that are a chore – something we approach with a groan and leave with a cheer. And it’s different for each modeller. Well, the same applies to certain stages that are a real pleasure. Oddly enough, for me it is completing sub-assemblies. It’s…
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Nakajima ‘ Kate ‘ – Part Two – Realistic Manufacture
The new Airfix model kit is sitting drying in the warm workshop as I write. I’ve done the washing of the parts, scanned the decal sheet and instructions, and done a preliminary check of the parts. I’m delighted with what I’ve found. Or not found…no polyurethane blocks with miniscule parts to be sawn free and…
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Nakajima ‘ Kate ‘ – Part One – The Tenuous Connection
These days I try to get some thread connecting me to the models and scenes that I build for my Little World. I didn’t always do this – as a kid I was just hungry for any and all models – I’d build what was given to me or what I could save up for…
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If It’s Worthwhile Doing…
It’s worthwhile doing badly. Then looking at what can be improved, and doing it again. This was the unfortunate story of Ploesti, but that was also a tale of the baleful effects of listening to authority when you know you’re right. The other thing to consider is that if something is worth doing, it’s worth…
The Little World
Close focus on the world of scale models
The Little World 