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How come scale modelling is not an Olympic sport? It’s not even considered a sport. Yet chess is a sport… Why does Rolex not want to support “scale-modeling athletes” like they do golfers? I’d even drink Red Bull if they were my sponsor… Should I stop wearing undies because Beckham gets paid to try them on, but not me? I used to get upset faced with sheer level of underappreciation for skill and passion in this hobby. Gamers, wloggers, adrenaline junkies, sommeliers, ravers, horologists, gangsta’-rappers and most everyone else seem to rank higher in popularity than scale-modelers. But before you cry “injustice!” and raise your scribers and micro-saws in anger, let me offer an alternative perspective on the game…

Take money and fame out of equation in any human activity and most people quickly migrate south. Those are left who love the craft more than money. Do we need the rest, really? In the world of consumers and tourists walking the road less traveled is the ultimate luxury. Took me a while to understand this, but it is so. True hobby is not meant to generate profit. As soon as it starts doing this, schedules, conflicts and external pressures overcome pure, unadulterated fun. Scale modeling is one of the last “sports” untouched by the long fingers of commercialism that I can think of. It makes me much richer inside and I enjoy it immensely – and it should stay that way!

Cheers,
Aleks

Bf.109G-10, 1:48 HasegawaYugoslav Partisan Squadron 1945

You know the problem of those never finished box-queens, kits that you start and then put back in the box and forget about? They beckon you every time you open your stash, yet you just ignore them and go for a virgin kit. Well, I have a [...]

Ghost in the Shell T-34 (RFM 1:35 kit + MiniArt engine & transmission)

Hello y’all, I’m back after a looong hiatus. In these strange times things are happening that apparently escaped from a bad movie script; if one had woken up from 2-years hibernation, he’d probably struggle to recognize the planet. [...]

Tamiya Swordfish Mk.II 1/48, Any Color as long it's Black

In my black book there’s a list and in that list a word “Stringbag”, written a long time ago. The ink is all pale and faded-like, but I can cross it now! It wasn’t until I tied my horse in front of the iModeler Saloon many moons [...]

Force Majeure

This vignette represents my thoughts on the unlikely, yet remarkable crossing of the two worlds of science-fiction and fantasy. I believe that the significance of the scene lies in the observers comprehension and ideas it will trigger. [...]

Best in Show Award, January 2019 – Su-34, Hellduck from Kitty Hawk

What a momentous day - the illusive Hellduck is snarling on my bench! Notoriously difficult to spot in our temperate lands, this particular breed is the stuff of legends. So far I just heard tales from far away about this great beast, all [...]

EME 2019 in Lingen

Euro Model Expo (EME) is the biggest plastic modeling gig in Germany that traditionally occupies last weekend in March. This year, in its 11th manifestation, it occurred on 30th -31st of March in town of Lingen. Your humble narrator made [...]

Tu-22m3: The Diorama

Hello fellow iModelers, I am usurping the front page just one more time with this topic, to show you the finished diorama featuring the big Tu-22m3, now in her natural habitat. I am very proud and thankful that she was selected for [...]

Tu-22m3 – Beauty & the Beast

This is a small step for mankind, but a glorious one for my workbench - I finished a model! Yes, the “GoT” concludes before “GoTh” and I cannot be happier about the epilogue. Eat my dust George R. R.! To keep up with the acronyms [...]

Happy Halloween – Día de Muertos!

These are my best 2 models yet and I painted them myself, so there...

just some ladders...

OK, the title is a bit ironic. They are Tu-22m3 boarding platforms in 1:72 scale. This little kit from North Star Models, with its fragile components, no rigidity and no surface area for but-joining the spiderweb of photo-etch, is one of [...]