Tag: Tools
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Like Kipling’s Cavalryman
I spend idle time studying how to reduce my horse’s burden. Even though mine is an iron beast that runs on petrol rather than hay, it is still limited in what it can bear. There is only so much a Suzuki hatchback can carry and that I can ferry from carpark to clubroom or exhibition.…
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Scale Model Puzzlement
And not the jig-saw kind. I mean the sense of uncertainty and curiosity that arises when you see certain aspects of our hobby. Here is a list of head-scratchers:
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Not Every Tool Is A Good Tool
But they won’t tell you that at the hobby shop or on the internet site. We all have more tools than we use…every toolbox I’ve ever seen has at least 10 – 20% excess in it that just gets shifted about when we look for the useful items. Yes, I’m guilty of this too. Every…
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Minimalist Modelling
Paint everything white. Corbusier Kits: sheets of foamcore board and you just glue them together in slabs. I have been experimenting with a less complex approach to scale model building these last few months. Not that kit building can ever be truly simple…or for that matter neither can Lego or Meccano work. Doll houses are…
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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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Workshop – Never Throw Nuthin’ Away
In fact, if they have special on nuthin in Bunnings, buy two extra packets. For my overseas readers, Bunnings is an Australian DIY store. It sells everything that the average man or woman needs to get themselves in big trouble in the home workshop. You can buy poisons, sharp knives, and the sort of machinery…
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Nieuport 17C – Part Three – The Stick
I used to look upon the humble cocktail stick with disdain. No more. I am an eco-friendly convert. I believe the sticks – also known as satay sticks – are made of bamboo. This is an eminently sustainable crop and can be used with no eco-guilt at all. And they are cheap – I do…
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Ess Bend Engineering – Part One – We’re Not Made Of Money, Eh?
Go easy on the toilet paper, willya? The cheapest repair shop in Alberta is located round the Ess Bend. Wayne and Gordie specialise in fixing things that other people won’t touch and if you’re smart, you won’t touch the stuff afterwards, either. They are the favourite shop for the less prestigious museums and collections as…
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Westland Wallace – Part Two – In West You Build Model
In Russia, model build you! It certainly builds your basic modelling skills, as well as your stoicism. The ill-fitting parts, flash, and suspect plastic make sure of that. This kit started in 1964 as a FROG Trailblazer, and the trail has long since been lost – overgrown in weeds. Even when explored by a small…
The Little World 