Category: 1:72 scale
-
Lockheed RT 33 – Part One – An Unexpected Delight

In 2019 I visited a model exhibition in Melbourne and scoured the secondhand tables for bargains. I think I did pretty well in the decal files – the RCAF Lancaster decals were found as well as a $ 5.00 set of commemorative ones for the Lockheed CT-133. This was the Canadian version of the T-33…
-
Kawanishi George – Part Three – George of the Jungle

Watch out for that tree! The Kawanishi George is complete, after a week of delight. I have never spent $ 5.00 better, and that is truly all that came out of my pocket for this fighter. Not a scrap of filler anywhere, scraped seams, and no weathering needed. It is a museum piece after all.…
-
Kawanishi George – Part Two – No Colour Known To Man

I am always intrigued by the colours of the styrene plastic that kit makers choose to mould their little fighter airplanes. I’ve seen silver in early Revell kits, red, blue, oliveish-green from Aurora, and a vile yellow from Monogram. Matchbox outdid them all choosing greens, browns, and greys for their kits. And even went so…
-
Kawanishi George – Part One – A Fin

It was the modelling club AGM and a notice had gone out telling people to bring models for sell or swap. Like a fool I did not remember this and rocked up for the AGM barbeque with hardly any money in my pocket. These virus days we pay for most things with credit or debit…
-
Landing Gear

I’ve just re-glued some landing gear on a Grumman Guardian. It was cemented yesterday but I guess i put weight on it before it was entirely set – the joints gave way. it’s a Ukrainian kit and the fitting surfaces are Soviet-era. To be fair, Grumman asked the gear legs to do a lot with…
-
Boeing P26 – Part One – Two Shameful Confessions

I have two painful confessions to make in regard to the Boeing P-26 peashooter fighter plane. The first was in 1961 when I was in the 9th grade. I formed a friendship with a kid in my grade at school who was also an enthusiastic model airplane builder. He introduced me to matte paints –…
-
The Next Big Thing

Is the next small thing. Right now people who went to the recent WASMEX show are planning their next build. The serious have already cut styrene off sprue trees. The real hard core are applying undercoat… Part of it will be inspiration – people have seen lovely models on display and want to emulate the…
-
Don’t Just Enter A Comp Once A Year

My recent visit to the WASMEX show was a lot of fun and I was impressed with the models that the hopefuls entered into the competition. A lot of them won prizes in the various divisions. ( There were a lot of divisions…). Yet some of the entires might only be seen that once –…
-
I Remember Air Travel…

And that lovely crispy bacon you got before the war… The local airlines used to get a yearly contribution from me to visit Sydney or Melbourne. Not last year, and not this one, and maybe not next year, either…but hopefully some year after that. I hope the Sandowne Park model expo is still going then.…
-
Inspiration

A wise person takes inspiration from others. Thus, some politicians keep the works of Jesse James, Attila, and Torquemada handy for quick reference. Scale modellers, too, can benefit from contemplating the work of others. This is one of the chief benefits of a scale model show – as well as access to sausages on a…
