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Scale Model BenchAircraft and ship models
A row of finished propeller aircraft models of the same scale on a pale wooden shelf, lit from the left
Bench notes

A shelf tells you what a collection is actually about

This site covers the part of the hobby that starts after the glue dries: picking a scale and staying with it, judging a kit before you commit a winter to it, and keeping finished models intact for twenty years.

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Start with the subject

Seven pages, each about a family of models rather than a single kit.

What this is

Written for what happens after the glue dries

Most writing about scale models stops when the last decal goes on. That is roughly halfway. The model then has to be carried, dusted, lit, stored through a hot August and looked at by people who have never heard of a Sunderland. Those pages are the ones missing, so those are the ones here.

Nothing here is scored out of ten. Where a judgement is made, the criteria sit next to it, so you can argue with the reasoning instead of the verdict. Where a number appears, it is arithmetic you can repeat: a wingspan divided by a scale ratio, a shelf depth measured against a span.

If you are starting, the useful order is scale first, then a first kit, then a shelf. Nobody regrets settling on a scale early, and almost everybody regrets settling on one late.

Scale
The ratio between model and original. At 1/72 the model is one seventy-second of full size, so a 36 ft wingspan finishes at about 15.6 cm.
Kit
A box of unassembled parts. The maker supplies the shapes; the fit, the finish and the markings are your problem.
Replica
A finished model, usually bought assembled: die-cast alloy, cast resin, or carved and painted hardwood. Judged on outline and markings rather than on build quality.

Read the scale ladder first

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Guides by task

Five pages that answer a question you can say out loud.

Directory

The five subject rooms

Each room takes one family of models and works through it in order.