Zinzan's frontispiece...

An introduction to my sub- stack

Well hello!

Perhaps if you have ventured this far into substack land, you might read a little of what follows. I hope that this is the case. Good luck to us both!

This is the first in a (possibly irregular) series of ruminations on modelling, getting old, only being able to see things that are far away (I have to wear glasses to accommodate close in vision), scale model kits, the background and history of the projects I undertake and an appreciation of other kit builders and modellers whom I revere- there are a number of those!!

In fact, it will probably be one of those anthologies of anything I forget when broadcasting to “modelling land” (you can find my video channel here: http://www.youtube.com/@ZinzanModelling), a venture I seem to undertake quite regularly lately.

As this is likely to be a collection of my thoughts, you will be most welcome to comment and counter mine with your own, for it is only that way that ideas are formed, modified and made real in the world. I believe that being able to speak is the same as being able to think so I hope to hear what you have to offer. Debate is good and this isn’t an echo chamber!

So, what are the first thoughts that occur to me? Here is one, but there are others:

Why does my Dspaie circle cutter not work as expected? Perhaps you may be familiar with Dspaie? It is a superbly engineered product in three parts- the cutter, and two setters, both of which are required to accurately set the cutter. Unfortunately, Dspaie in their wisdom make you buy the setters and the cutter separately- a cruel trick designed to irk the unwary I presume. Anyway, one lines up the plastic setter on the top of the paper, aligning the centre mark to the centre of one’s planned circle. One then carefully holds the setter in place and slides the second setter, (a metal right-angled piece) into its location at the bottom of the first setter. Then one removes the first setter and slides the cutter into place and then rotates the cutting wheel anticlockwise to create the circle mask.

How hard can it be?

This is, on the surface of it, a super device, if a little costly. It has the advantage of not making a central hole in the paper one wishes to cut (like the “compass type cutters of which I have an example) and allows one also to easily cut small, (less than 5mm diameter) circles in masking paper in order to make roundels. Those who have watched some of my videos, especially a live I undertook some while ago, (link here: https://www.youtube.com/live/Y1dl_69kbDs?si=xlfoUj_4C6L1TIok), will know that my first foray into this was not quite as successful as I wanted it to be. Some of the painted roundels were off centre, (out of register is a better term- thanks Nigel’s Modelling Bench!!) and this detracts from the overall look of the finished model. As you will all know decals, which are a generally excellent and simple solution are thicker than the scale depth of the paintwork that would have gone onto an aircraft and said decals sometimes fail to sink properly into the panel lines, again detracting from the overall look.

I favour painted markings where possible.

So, what is the resolution to my little problem?

I have tried to set the device very carefully in the same place each time. It seemed to me that if the first setter was not placed at the same angle each time, then this might affect the placement of the cuts and affect the result. So it turned out to be! My second efforts were merely mediocre which, compared to my first, was a stunning improvement!

You will see the examples of my handiwork on the video- viewers were most fulsome in their praise and kind in their critique, for which I am always grateful, but whilst the result looked ok in 1/48 scale, I suspected that problems would be made worse at larger scale.

After some thought and further experimentation, I then surmised that parallax may be the problem. Parallax is an issue of perspective that alters the line sight of a viewer in one point from that of another viewer who is sited elsewhere. one can readily observe this phenomenon by looking at an object through one eye and then closing that eye and opening the other- the alteration in perception changes the view- try it out! Although the differences in setting in my case are small, they are certainly large enough to matter as the human eye is capable of resolving exceedingly small irregularities- for example, between concentric circles placed one on top of the other. Again you will see this on the video linked above.

So the challenge remains. To those of you in modelling land who own this device- how have you dealt with the problem? is it just restricted to me? Must I conclude that I am inept? I look forward to hearing from you in this regard, but will return to this subject on another occasion.

In the meantime, I thank you for venturing this far and hope to see you again, either here or on my video channel- you would all be most welcome!

Kind regards,

Z