Now that’s the good stuff
Today’s comic required some effort to achieve a good package scan. And significant research into how people who are serious about Airfix kits put them together. I have never given Airfix very much thought.
Arcs of Fire was a real shop in Falmouth that sold (almost exclusively, if not exclusively) prints of military vehicles engaged in combat. It was my favourite shop in town and when it closed, a door closed inside me. Just as the ITV Chart Show runs in perpetuity in the Bobbinsverse, so too will Arcs of Fire burn forever.
I don’t think Brian was actually going to meet “a man who has some rough stuff going on in a barn” at all.
I guess Brian fancies himself a model companion.
Friends with polystyrene cement always stick together.
Especially when they squeeze the tube too hard.
What a surprise! Brian wants to be friend with Penrose. I like this! Kinda disappointed that the person Brian is meeting is not wearing an Eagle costume. But sure Penrose looks like an Eagle sometime.
I’m glad to see that Rev. Penrose actually has leisurely hobbies and love the idea that Brian might be an unexpected friend.
They used to say that British Men have hobbies but Frenchmen have sex.
My brother was (is?) an expert plastic modeler, with more kits than you could shake a bonus room at. My own poor efforts always looked so pitiful in comparison to his that I never persisted with it to the point where I might have become any good
“Ched”?
He has a brother named Fris.
His name could be “Chet” if the Reverend had a cold.
Could be a nickname. Maybe he likes cheese.
I have to admit, I did NOT see that coming.
Oh, look! It’s Gareth!
I just knew that Brian is secretly a Good Egg even though he tries to keep up appearances for Tom.
BWIP > VLORP
No way! VLORP rules!
Spoken like a common VLORPian.
Try Huffy™ Brand Modeling Polystyrene – now with special aromatic additives! – today!
Huff with Huffy!
I used to do these models – nowadays, CoBi makes them in lego-equivalent format. Apparently they’re coming out with a new Puma model, which is my favorite armored car. If Penrose had a better computer, he’d be playing World of Tanks, or War Thunder, I’ll bet.
The crossover of this axis of activities is Warhammer (and other such table-tops…)
Wow, Airfix. As child of the 50s that brings back memories. Scanning the Airfix shelves in Woolworths trying to decide which one to spend my pocket money on and my dad trying to be patient. First one I got was a Grumman Wildcat. I’m amazed that the brand is still going. Feeling quite nostalgic – wipes away a tear.
Three that I had when I was a yout’: The Graf Spee, the U.S.S. Ranger, and an F4U Corsair.
But they were expensive, a little messy, and I’m not really a guy into things that demand a good deal of manual dexterity, so I went elsewhere with my hobbies.
My attempts at gluing together plastic models always left them covered in Halloween-esque web-like strands. I built a Haunted Concorde, a Spooky Nautilus Nuclear Submarine, a Cursed Cutty Sark Clipper…
“Stupid model.” -Calvin, in much the same predicament, to Hobbes
Panel 2 door strut the correct way round. Nice 👍
Luck not judgement
When I was too young for the memory to be clear, I had a friend who had an older brother who had a display cabinet in his room full of model cars and aeroplanes. The cabinet fell over one day and all that remained of all those models was a big mash up of plastic debris. As such my earliest memory of plastic cement is said mate and me being let loose on the pile of bits to create whatever frankenstein vehicles we wanted. Halcyon days of youth.
>I don’t think Brian was actually going to meet “a man who has some rough stuff going on in a barn” at all.
Well, he might not have been lying. A shed is sort of like a very small barn, and it is important to sand down the mould lines and sprue tags on a miniature to smoothness before assembly.
Hi,
I understand that Airfix has a legacy in Britain, but the few kits I tried did not convince me. Some massive misfits.
They had some decent WW I 1/72 figures and their range on 1/32 soft plastic figures was great for playing, we had literally 100dreds of them.
A Panther Ausf G should come from Tamiya.
Is Brian carrying a combination tool-/boom-box?
I’m pretty sure it’s the same box we saw him with a few pages ago. https://steeple.church/comic/un-nun-ji-vie/
And the two labels/stickers we see on the box on that page suddenly make sense.
Snap-on is a range of mechanics tools made for professional tradespeople in the U.S.
It appears so. The same one he was carrying when he set out to see the man in the barn but turned the other way ’round.
You called it!
I admit I havent’ done too much of a backlog on Steeple over like… what a year ago, two years? I forget But I would have figured the Rev was into this kind of thing.
A noble Hobby if I’m honest.(And one I and my old man share… Though my choice in models are a touch more… Eastern?) My dad’s preferences were definitely in the 70s and 80s and I don’t really recall what the brand in use was. I remember a couple of awesome models, which were an unfinished Cutty Sark, and a finished Roman Trireme The Paints were very much the venerable Testors though. Which, as I understand it, has been bought by Rust-Oleum and the line is being discontinued. I guess they decided it was losing money. And that’s a damn shame and a big blow to the hobby.
Also as first glance… resembles a mix between a Panzer 2 and 4? Sorta? The thing turret is off with some mixed features between the two, with the hull that feels very Panzer 2. Enough different that it’s not a variant just a decent enough “Second World War German Tank” facsimile based one existing reference photos. Neat!
Given the errors committed in Airfix’s early designs, this is not something to criticize the artist over.
“Airfix later received complaint letters from modellers and former Royal Air Force (RAF) fitters regarding inaccuracies of the 1/72 Spitfire Mk I that were carried over from the original 1/48 Aurora model […]”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airfix#History
Ha! Fair enough! Either way, my intent was never to call John out on that, I merely wanted to point out something of interest to me.
I just drew it from an actual Airfix box on their website. I know nothing about Airfix at all other than that it exists.
It’s still neat!
I gasped
I heard they are sending old panther kit to the Ukies.
PANTHER THAT TRACKS YES THAT IS A DAMN PANTHER HOW DID I MISS THAT BEFORE
oh my god, I’d forgotten Arcs of Fire!
I always thought it a little bit of an odd establishment, still sort of going in an online form, I have discovered.