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Making Water On The Workbench
And in cold weather, too… I needed a harbour with water – dry water – to display my float planes. No good just posing them on a glass shelf like dried cod – they needed to look like they were in their natural element. No time, and no inclination, to do the complex water-building that…
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Can You Instruct The World?
With your hobby? Will John Q. and Mary B. Public learn a valuable lesson observing your model airplane, toy train, or doll house?No, they will not. No matter how attractive your stand is nor how authentic your presentation, they will leave about as dumb as when they arrived. The best you can hope for is…
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Mitsubishi Babs – Part Three – An Observant Aircraft
It goes to temple every weekend… The Mitsubishi Ki-15 was possibly very useful to the Imperial Japanese Army – depending upon where it was sent and what was going on down on the ground. The aerial observation of enemy movements – whether that was Chinese or Soviet – could have guided the high command to…
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Mitsubishi Babs – Part Two – Just When You Thought…
Just when you thought modelling could not become uglier…I had a good idea. The camouflage patterns for many aircraft are wavy, blobby things. You can spray them freehand or mask them, but in most cases of 1:72 planes, masking is better. I’ve tried many different ways of doing it, but settled upon the putty worms…
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Mitsubishi Babs – Part One – The Name
I have heard it put forward that the designations we give to our land, sea and air models should conform to the original languages of the makers. Thus, this Mitsubishi product should be known as a Ki-15-I Karigane or Army Type 97 Command Reconnaissance Aircraft. Or alternately, the Wild Goose. All of which will bewilder,…
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Pride Of Place
The models displayed at my scale club are varied – aircraft, vehicles, ships, armour – even figures and Sci-Fi items. They are so very varied that there is no chance of making one-scale-only or one-theme-only cabinets – they jostle with each other for attention. But the attention they get is from dedicated model makers –…
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Frugal Storage – Part One – Costco Croissants
The wonderful thing about Costco is that nearly everything they sell is in big lots and it is all well packaged. Thus the recent purchase of 10 croissants in a clear plastic container was actually a considered modelling decision. The fact that the pasties were heated up and consumed with strawberry jam and cups of…
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When Is Shoddy Workmanship Justified?
Never? Always? Something in between? Let us explore… The classic maxims about workmanship emphasize how you must always strive. ” Any job worth doing is worth doing well “.” A poor workman blames his tools “. ” Go west, young man “…and so forth. Stirring stuff. Makes you long for a moral Mixmaster. It has…
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When Does A Workshop Qualify For A Federal Grant?
Possibly when it becomes world-famous or when a member of Parliament takes up a hobby. The reporters will flock and the money roll in. I have no intention of entering Parliament, but I still hold out hopes of fame. I have engaged a make-up artist and a dance coach to get me ready for the…
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FROG Stash Avenger – Part Four – Show Bird
Casting about for a role for the FROG Avenger, I came upon a series of photos taken at a recent Dutch air show. They show a Grumman Avenger painted in what I assume are authentic colours for the Aéronavale – the air arm of the French Navy. I expect the aircraft would have been a…
The Little World
Close focus on the world of scale models
The Little World 