The Little World – The Yellow Pups

I have had to make a New Year resolution for my Little World – to only do one project at a time. It will be a serious brake upon my personality as I can be to sort of hound who goes howling off in all directions after different game…and sometimes ends up catching nothing.

The project for this year will be airfields. I think I have accumulated enough die-cast and plastic aircraft in my collection to provide suitable models for photography. They just need a setting and a story.

The first is to be RCAF Wet Dog…out on the Alberta prairies in 1943. The field is concerned with training as well as ferrying aircraft, so I will get to make quite a few different models. I say ” make ” though in some cases it will be just buying die-casts that fit into the scene perfectly. Otherwise, I must turn to the kit shelf and the airbrush.

Fortunately, the first trainers I am embarking upon are well represented in the model kit trade – the Harvard and the Tiger Moth. And as I am just regaining modelling skills in this small scale, I have opted for the simplest of paint schemes – Trainer Yellow. Also, fortunately there were few markings –  so a judicious use of decal sheets should make things look good.

Dedicated aircraft modellers will pick holes in what I do – so will diorama makers and award winners. No matter – it is my Little World and I will appreciate it.  My other readers may be sickened by the flood of tabletop photography, but that is fine too.

Note: I hope to use a trick to model time as well – you’ll see it if it succeeds.

Heading Image: it’s 40º out in the shed and I’m not there…but the paint dries a treat.

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The Little World – The Pile O’ Boxes

I used to laugh with scorn when told of the behaviour of other model builders – particularly those benighted souls who wanted to build plastic kits. It was not the fact that they were not scratch-building, and it was not the use of plastic – I can quite see the good sense of both approaches. It was the fact that they stockpiled kits.

I’d been told of people with rooms full of shelves full of kit boxes full of unbuilt kits. I considered they were full of it. After all, how could a red-blooded modeller not rip the packet open and start gluing and painting as soon as they got in the front door? Which of us did not want to cut Christmas dinner short and make a dash for the building board? Were these creatures of flesh and blood or mere zombies?

Well, time has a way of listening to our scornful laughter and then replaying it to us. I now have a small shelf of unbuilt kits to be ashamed of.

I have fallen into the trap of every other modeller – I have decided that I really need something long before I really need it. And now I am committed to getting the paint pots that are missing from the 45,000 ones that already sit on the shelf. And more brushes. And a different knife/airbrush/bandsaw/entire modelling shed/house and land. Anyone who said plastic modelling was a road to tranquility and content needs to have an Xacto needle file in the backside…

Well, at least I have this stash inside in an air-conditioned room. We are set for hot Christmas weather and I can retreat here and cut and glue while I wait for the cooler weather to come. The evenings should be perfect for spray painting.

 

The Little World – Follow Me

One idea leads to another. Saturday experiments with a Pacific island set lead to a Sunday shopping trip to the hobby shops…and the delightful discovery of new model vehicles to add to the theme. All aircraft related.

I also discovered a hobbyist in England who makes plans and patterns for OO scale structures – including Nissen huts and airfield buildings. These are downloadable files in PDF format that allow me to print up as many buildings as I like. It looks as if I will be making raids on the cereal packet cardboard and recipe cards for building materials.

Today I concentrated on the USN and USMC aircraft. But the Japanese Army Air Force is coming along – I have 2 A6M models in different liveries – one has the engine exposed for maintenance. Now I have to research what their barracks and control towers looked like.

Looks like it will be a good summer spent building in the air conditioning!