Chillidragon

Hmm... This does sound good, especially with 'invisible' thread. I once had industrial double sided tape (as used for sticking placards on consoles) recommended to me for cladding buildings etc, but don't know anyone in the aerospace industry who could get me some. I think I'll look into this fletching tape.

I have a Harrier GR.1, and enough spare bits to do the ridiculous load featured in the old catalogue - I think in the illustration of the 1/24 kit - and the cover of one annual. This consists of 2 pairs of Matra 155 SNEB pods, plus three 1000 lb bombs. Seems to be within design limits, but I've never seen a real world example. Is it feasible - i.e. did it happen? Thank you, esteemed comrades.

Sorry, forgot about this bit. No, I don't know any such people personally, but I am sure they exist, though in a minority.

Only the term is old hat, not the scale/gauge combination (1/76 everything but track gauge at 1/87). I have no layout but my rolling stock collection is to P4, because having everything in scale looks right to me. I hear the running can be awful. Why would Hornby waste time in ratifying Airfix's decision to leave the railway market? All their dies are already gone, the kits for example to Dapol. The last stab Airfix had at this scale (1/76) was the Bedford QL double (nice) or perhaps the Churchill Bridgelayer (vintage Airfix military i.e. inaccurate in places, and what version is it?). More stuff in this scale would be good, but 1/72 makes more sense. Especially since Airfix bought the JB Models range, which put them back years in quality. Aviation modelling became Airfix's core business from the beginning, after the comb market (IIRC) offered no possibilities for expansion. I think they may have made buckets as well. But in these times, the core business is where they ought to concentrate. (Addendum: my Father in Law knows more 7mm (0 gauge) modellers than I do 4mm).

And here's one coming now... There is still a market for kit builders in 4mm scale but this is served by specialists (Parkside, Dundas, Dapol, Cambrian, Ratio...) and 'cottage industry' operations such as Genesis or Rumney. Parkside has been bought by Peco, who are attempting to make the brand more prominent in model shops. These kits are reasonably priced, and my taste for oddities better served by a kit which I can convert rather than RTR items which can be less accurate, certainly harder to work on and much more expensive. This also fits in with an income which has never broken the UK average wage. If I had £500 to spend on railways, I'd get more than 2 items out of it, that I can promise, even if I were shopping for the most expensive part of a railway layout/collection - motive power. I certainly don't 'think nothing of' any spend at any price, because - like many modellers - I can't afford to. 0 gauge, by the way, is increasing in popularity in the UK. Now, back on topic; yes, Airfix abandoned the term 00/H0 for the scale of their (military)* subjects (which nowadays are marked with the appropriate scale), but only because they also shed their railway kits and RTR stock altogether. Besides which the term is obsolete; that scale/gauge combination is now known as 00, with more correct scale/gauge models designated P4. Either way, accessories and every part of the stock except wheels and track are the same scale, usually known as 4mm (to the foot = 1/76.2). *i.e. Mudlegs/Groundpounders/The Poor Bloody Infantry (and their supporting vehicles) etc.

Try making a Tarka mixture and putting it on mushy peas instead of lentils... Tarka Mattar. Very good with freshly made chapatiya, parathe, or naan. And - as a special bonus - less wind!

Most tracks are a series of straight links, albeit small in 1/70-odd scale. Exceptions are continuous band tracks, as on American half-tracks. Sweary vocabulary: if doing a KV, why not take up swearing in Russian? Well worth it, I hear! And whatever you do, don't use CA; it is said to make the tracks brittle. I used to use the pin method, with the pins lying along track link boundaries. I did try a suggested length of sprue along the top of a T34 track, but it looked terrible. If I were modelling armour now, I think I'd go with beheaded pins - which includes thin, stiff wire lengths, of course. And don't let the track look too loose; in 1/1 this would result in shedding.

Already stockists, but they have been shrinking their modelling stock for a while. At one time they had a decent range of kits of several brands, plus a good stock of scenic materials, Hornby railway stock and... Evergreen! By the time I needed some, up I went, and [sob, sob] it was gone.

I bought my (Esci) flag wavers as crew for a White Scout Car. A bit extravagant, I know, but I wanted decent 'multipose' figures for that build and they were all I could get at the time. No regrets - turned out well.

Nope; bad idea. I can't find an online dictionary for older forms of the script, and modern Full Form Mandarin looks too... Modern. I should have bought a dictionary when one was available. Go with red! Or black? Or red edged with charred black!

Advancing in step is a good thing here, suggesting that they're under someone/thing's supernatural control. Much spookier. I think I would have put them in a diorama, advancing relentlessly on their way to slaughter the (orthodoxly)* living, perhaps with a wicked shaman or wizard behind in some sort of chariot. Or else go full Chinese Ghost Story with a heretic Daoist priest/Tibetan Buddhist monk cloud riding above. The banner? Runes! Or 'death' in Chinese characters? Or plain red looks good to me... *for the benefit of (other?) undead snowflakes reading this. Well, you never know...

First off: novel; a reproduction WWII artefact! Excellent! Off topic: I do believe I see a Frog wall/desk stand. I remember those.

I remember reading a comment by/about a particular props modeller - can't remember who, but he may have been connected with Industrial Light and Magic - who used to start a project with a trip to a model shop, where he'd get an armload of whatever; ships, AFV, cars, aircraft - the lot - in various scales. These would then go into a plastic bin which was dipped into as the build progressed.

On rough finishes, I remember a suggestion on an instruction sheet for an armoured vehicle (Hasegawa? Esci?) that, when depicting hand painted Panzer numerals it is better to lay down a transfer, then add drips and runs with a fine brush. I have no gift for lettering in any scale and my past attempts bore out this advice. I confess that I have no idea how to translate that to invasion stripes. I do agree with the idea that irregularities introduced by a 12 inches to 1 foot (or 1000mm to 1m) scale modeller will look like 1/1 bad craftsmanship, inversely proportionate with scale; i.e. smaller scale, worse effect. Wavering brushwork in scale at (say) 1/72 will be almost invisible in most cases, but if I were doing this I'd look very carefully at references and at the very least start from a degree of precision.

Ah; thank you.

I saw a YouTube video recently, in which it was stated that Mig weathering powders were out of production. Is this so?

What, in a spacesuit??!!

I think the 5J had them, at least. I'm doing a IIIS myself, in 1/72, and I'm also looking for dimensions of these things; an alternative, if you can't find them, is to use the centreline station for an AGM; AS30, I think?

I used to prefer Lea and Perrins' Fruit sauce (no longer made). Beautiful, characterful dog, BTW!

So what's worse - denial of God's existence (e.g. Communists of the Marxist flavour - other socialist models are available) or claiming that you have his mandate (e.g. Mujahedin, Crusaders, Momzer Deitsherim with 'Gott mit Uns' on their belt buckles)? Now; the subject proper: Yes, this vehicle was part of Groyfats' delusions, and such is a valid part of documenting the history of this madman and his attempt to destroy several peoples - including his own. His modern day followers and apologists (and these are increasing) who would like us to believe that these technological monuments, large or small, prove that he was on for victory if only he had more time are the ones mistaken, not historians; whether they choose to document their interpretation of history by the written word, or in model form. And that is what we are, esteemed comrades of every genre and scale; historians whose mode of expression is visual, from a process satisfyingly tactile. And, most of all, creative.

Spoken like a true bachelor, business-hungry divorce lawyer... Or a man of exceptional good fortune. In my experience simple logic of this kind NEVER works, because the rules are different. This course of action will usually result in retorts like: "You've been waiting all this time just to say that" and: "You never really loved me anyway, I saw you looking at that girl on TV/in the shop/passing/[location of her choosing]. Thus you remain the villain, even more so. Salt is, unfortunately, just not going to work. The patch idea sounds good (but depends on you having said patch), but I think the rug option is more likely to be successful.

The Israeli Kheyl haAvir list one of their Spitfires used during the War of Independence as 'Mark ?' having built it from parts retrieved from a scrap yard. Regrettably, I've never seen a photo, but if references do exist, I'd nominate that.

The Berlin Scheme is interesting; like the Western Desert dazzle scheme of WWII (Caunter, was it?) each type of vehicle had a specific scheme, in this case so that the Soviets couldn't differentiate between individual vehicles - thus making it almost impossible to count their total.

I was a regular visitor (each Wednesday) from 1980 to summer 1983, then two weekly until around spring 1986 when time ran short. Sometime in that period the railway part closed, then upstairs, then it moved across the road. Finally, it became Antics at Bud Morgan, then moved again as Antics. I don't know where exactly; I don't go home anymore. Before 1980 Swansea Models and Hobbies was a more frequent source, also long gone.

My daughter feels the same way.