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Four Chances To Be Happy
You have just got your new model kit home. You’ve paid for it – no more eating or drinking for a month. All your money is gone. But now is the time to decide whether you are going to be happy or not. It all depends on whether you are going to follow one of…
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The Medium Is The Message
As Marshal McLuhan said, and was misquoted ever after. He had a right to be mad – he’d ordered a large, instead of a medium. And he was too Canadian to complain. In the hobby world, and especially in the hobby shop, there are lots of mediums – paint mediums, medium brushes, and medium tank…
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Quonset Hut – Part Two – One A Week In Bull Creek
The title refers to the current batting average for 1:72 scale models – one a week completed. It’s not a contest, so the only prize I win is a fresh model for my collection or a layout but I can tell you – It’s Satisfying! The Rix Products Quonset is a tough build as it…
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Quonset Hut – Part One – The Tin Of Terror
If you have ever spent time in a Nissen or Quonset hut it is subtracted from your stay in Purgatory… These Corrugated Containers Of Discomfort seem to have been erected everywhere in peace and war. Australia housed service personnel, prisoners, and migrants in them, and still has some left in bush towns. They are still…
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Grumman F3F – Part Four – Red Ripper
Well, that’s what the colour call-out said. VF-4 Red Rippers embarked on the USS RANGER – pre 1941. I have been adding steadily to the Yellow Wing Navy shelf for years. So far I’ve resisted the temptation to paint the scheme on planes that never carried it and I’m glad to see that there were…
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Grumman F3F – Part Three – The Toy Shop
Well, at this stage of the game it looks like this aircraft has been made by Mattel or Fisher-Price. Solid bright colour and basic shapes. But all is well – a careful evening was spent getting the struts to join the wings in a decent fashion. Czech kits have little markings on the wing surfaces…
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Grumman F3F – Part Two – The Cockpit Of Thomas Hobbes
The cockpit tub and landing gear platform of this American shipboard fighter are evidence that the Czech kit makers believe in free will. No part of the fuselage compels the struts and legs to be where they should be – they must do it of their own accord. This was probably sound philosophy during the…
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Grumman F3F – Part One – At Long Last
I have been looking for a 1:72 scale model of this aircraft for years – and wouldn’t you know – one turned up at a swap meet sale a few weeks ago. It may not be the Monogram Four-Start Plastikit of my youth, but it is a perfectly good Czech MPM model sealed in it’s…
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Nakajima Ki-27 – Part Three – Plane Jane
Lt. Sushi, the pilot of this Nakajima fighter, would have gotten a far more colourful livery if the decals had cooperated. As it is, he is flying the Marie Kondo model with minimal decoration. The ICM stripes and lightning flashes largely disintegrated when placed in the water. I am annoyed at this but resigned to…
The Little World
Close focus on the world of scale models
The Little World 