Category: 1:72 scale
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Armstrong Whitworth Whitley Mk V – Part Five – Decision Time
The decision must be taken – and in this case the materials available for the job have decided me. The AW will be all-black. Before it will be so, It will be all grey, of course. In this case the undercoat is Mr. Surfacer 1000. This, or the Mr. Surfacer 1200, is my preferred undercoat…
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Armstrong Whitworth Whitley Mk V – Part Four – We Have An Airplane
That magic stage of a build when the sprue trees have blossomed and fruited, and we have a recognisable airplane on the bench. It is one of the most heartening experiences in a modeller’s day. Of course some people spend literally weeks detailing subassemblies and parts for the eventual assembly, but I like to get…
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Armstrong Whitworth Whitley Mk V – Part Three – Subassembly Day
A day at my model building club is a short one – I get there about 9:00 AM and leave at noon. But I can accomplish a lot in those hours…drink coffee, eat cake, make bad jokes, and cement the first parts of a kit together. The amount of cementation depends to some extent upon…
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Armstrong Whitworth Whitley Mk.V – Part Two – I’ve Seen That Somewhere Before…
The more I looked at the AW Whitley in parts on the sprue trees, the more I got the feeling that I’d seen something like it before. The French inter-war bombers came to mind, but it was the awkward chin window that stick in my mind. Surely they didn’t think it was a good idea…Where…
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Armstrong Whitworth Whitley Mk. V – Part One – The Bargain Kit
Well, you have to have a win sooner or later, don’t you? I had been eyeing the Airfix model of the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley Mk V for nearly a year as it progressed through the shelves of my local shop. It was on the ” to buy ” list but not near the top. Apparently…
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Burbank
I appear to have started an aircraft factory. This was not my intention when I began my retirement modelling – I was just looking for one or two kits to while away spare time. Nostalgia. A mere bagatelle. Well, the Mere Aircraft Company’s Bagatelle Mk III turns out to have been a hell of an…
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Grumman Wildcat – Part Four – Neutrality Patrol
This colour scheme on the Grumman F4F Wildcat is apparently real – it was seen in 1941 in the Atlantic aboard the USS RANGER conducting something called a Neutrality Patrol. It’s the standard US Navy Yellow Wing scheme adapted to the eastern seaboard. Neutrality? Was the USA expecting attack from the British or Germans or…
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Grumman Wildcat – Part Three – Nodecal
Nodecal – the pill that makes you a better modeller. One review of this Hobby Boss Wildcat kit bemoaned the fact that there were no decals for the wing or fuselage bands. The review also went on to complain about the proportions of the tail and the scribing in the wing surfaces.Now, I’m not a…
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I Can Quit Any Time I Want To…
Honest.* But the success of the first diorama shelf trays being what it was, I decided to call past Officeworks, get some more A1 foam board, and then see what the hobby shop afforded in the way of decorations. Luckily, there were new Faller fencing sets in stock. Expensive, but totally worth it for the…
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Grumman Wildcat – Part Two – Four-Part Harmony
In each of the two pictures on this post there are four plastic parts. They’re glued up and setting overnight. The time taken to get to this point, including the washing of the parts, was about one hour. I’ve spent longer in the barbers. This would be a terrible thing for some modellers to contemplate.…
The Little World 