Category: 1:72 scale
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Short Skyvan – Part Five – Glide Like A Brick
One can only imagine what the situation would be if one or both of the engines of the Short Skyvan quit working. It is bad enough when one of the four engines of a big airliner powers down – or when one of the military engines on a Nimrod needs to be stopped. In the…
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Short Skyvan – Part Four – Progressive!
If I were still in Canada I would probably be a Progressive Conservative. As it is I am in Australia and have become a Progressive Cementer. I assemble the fuselages of my model aircraft with a great deal less dash than I used to exhibit; I am cautious and careful and rarely glue myself to…
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Short Skyvan – Part Three – Once Seen…
Never forgotten – provided you photograph it. The inclusion of detailed interiors in scale models is not new – this Short Skyvan kit had a full set of seats for Olympic Airways passengers in the 70’s and benches for Austrian skydivers in the 2020’s. When my example served as an arctic transport in the 60’s…
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Short Skyvan – Part Two – Lavez-vous?
How many of you ignore the warnings in your model kit instructions? How many of you do not wash the kit parts as soon as you open the box? The makers all tell you to, and give as their reason the mould parting agents that may cling to the plastic after manufacture. These might act…
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Short Skyvan – Part One – Never Saw It Coming
Which is remarkably short-sighted of me – this thing is as wide as a house trailer. And as long and as high. In fact, if it had an oil stove and a porch you could take your muddy boots off in, you could park it in Peace River for the winter… Never before have I…
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Douglas Skyraider A-1H – Part Three – VNAF First Fighter Squadron
I pondered about that when I read it on the colour call-out. I always regarded the Douglas Skyraider as a bomb truck attack aircraft. Still, it was armed with four large guns plus the rocket pods so it would not have been a good idea to get in front of it on a busy day.…
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Douglas Skyraider A-1H – Part Two – The Curse
And it is a curse that will spread out to the wider community… Thirty years is a long time – despite what Hollywood says. It is the difference between a starlet being a 10 and being a 2… It is a long time for a set of decals to sit in a damp shed; something…
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Douglas Skyraider A-1H- Part One – Out Of The Mould
Literally – This gift kit has been sitting in a damp shed for long enough to develop a micro-climate… After the necessary box art photo, both halves of the box go into a plastic bag in the shed and will be heaved out as soon as the build is done. The rest of the parts…
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RAF Puma – Part Three – Old Faithful
The Colde Wellcombe helicopter hack. When you need to be moved from one miserable part of the country to another, you call out the Colde Wellcombe duty Puma. Bob and Ian are always ready to do their duty, as long as the mess is closed. You may wish to avoid calling them out on Saturday…
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RAF Puma – Part Two – Seats
” You know what, Bob? We’re not flying a helicopter…” Well, what are we flying? ” A bus. We’re flying a bloody bus. Look at that row of seats aft and tell me we’re not just bus drivers. God, I dread it when school comes back…” And so it goes in the RAF helicopter trade.…
