Category: 1:72 scale
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If You Want A Lesson In Painting…
Buy a ready-made die-cast model car and change the colour on it. You will have to go through the process of disassembly and paint stripping to get to the bare casting. Then you’ll need to apply an undercoat and then a long series of thin paint coats to get back to what was originally there.…
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Mining The Archives
Which is a good way of making sure no-one gets into them. Be sure to keep an accurate record of the placement of the charges in case you have to reopen them… Our club has a library and a magazine rack, and all the members are free to borrow the books and magazines on display.…
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Sopwith Pup – Part Three – Anzac
Interestingly enough, this turns out to be an aircraft of the RNAS. Was it flown by someone from Australia or New Zealand? never mind – the decals are excellent and have gone on with no silvering at all. They are not so complex as to require softening solutions, either. A thoroughly enjoyable two days build…
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Sopwith Pup – Part Two – Bits And Pieces
It took me a long time to realise that you get further if you go slower. Specifically, you get a better paint job if you can do all the pieces separately. This is most easily done with biplanes and other early fliers ; their joints are natural divisions for paint colour. Nothing is faired into…
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Sopwith Pup – Part One – Fresh In The Shop
Fresh from 1973, mind – courtesy of Airfix’s Vintage Classics range. This is fresh this week from the local shop, and at a price that seems laughably low. I have just this sense of humour, so I grabbed it and chortled my way to the till. The opening of the old-style box was not a…
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Swedish Hampden – Part Four – The Trials Aircraft
One only – that’s all the Swedes ordered in 1935 – and it took three years to get it to Sweden. It was partly an experiment and partly a political football – the Swedish air force actually wanted Junkers bombers and eventually got them under licence. The single Hampden was never armed, but did go…
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Swedish Hampden – Part Three – What Colour Is Swedish Green?
Go ask at IKEA… Or look carefully at the greens in your paint rack and note which ones can be poured together into a bottle and shaken up. This is a good opportunity to get the last few drops worth out of stuff that needs replacement anyway. A vigorous thinner will blend them all together…
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Swedish Hampden – Part Two – Grey Is Better?
Hmmmm. I am unsure. Ask me later. The grey plastic of this Airfix Vintage Classic seems to have a different fel to it from that of the 2010 version I built. Harder, stiffer, and less warped. I have only found one shot shot and one sink and the short shot is in the perfect place…
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Swedish Hampden – Part One – An Excuse
A very good excuse… a. For a trip to the local hobby shop. b. To purchase a fresh Airfix ” Vintage Classic “. c. To use up the decals that I got with my first Hampden. d. To see if Airix have corrected the flaws of that first kit. I do not really expect (d.)…
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Casting About For A Model
Is a die-cast airplane a model or a toy? It all depends upon the person holding it. One thing – it will never be a flying model – die-cast metal is not aerodynamic no matter how hard you throw it. It will sit on a stand or on its wheels and please the eye, but…
