Category: 1:72 scale
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Curtiss P-40- Part Two – A Hawk By Any Other Name
I have always been frustrated by the renaming and fuddling about with the P-40. I mean that business of calling it alternately the Warhawk, Tomahawk, or Kittyhawk, depending upon model number and air force it was flying for. I have given up trying to sort it all out and just call it the P-40 no…
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Curtiss P-40 – Part One – The Roaring Forties
This is to be a dual-build…two kits constructed at the same time to make a team for display. But the team members will not to be entirely identical – one plane is a short-tailed P40E and one a long-tailed P40N. Their common point of reference is the Curtiss design and the fact that both marques…
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The Two Fingered Salute…
Actually, that should be two-pronged, but I wanted to grasp your attention quickly with a slightly risqué title. I was going to add something about Mae West or Sabrina but the younger readers wouldn’t have any reference points… The business of painting bombers and transports is a little tougher than fighters. To start with, they…
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Martin Marauder – Part Four – The Slippery Olive
The Marauder had a strange reputation for quite some while but eventually setled down as a very capable ship in the European theatre. It also featured in several Pacific battles and guarded Alaska as well. I was tempted to attach a torpedo to this Marauder just to show that it had been done – and…
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Martin Marauder – Part Three – The Wobbly Line
A new experiment in painting – the demarcation line on the Martin Marauder is a wavy one – a particularity of the USAAF planes at the time. I am going to try to duplicate it by masking off a mean curved line with Tamiya tape and then developing the curves with masking fluid. See the heading…
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Martin Marauder B-26 – Part Two – Two Bit Model
A bit of a come-down from yesterday, but today I started the kit and discovered why Airfix had a bad reputation a decade ago. a. Two short shots. b. One missing part. c. An extra tailplane. d. More flash than a Marvel comic. I am not all that nonplussed, though I have be plussier…
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Martin Marauder B26 – Part One – Million Dollar Model*
No, Airfix haven’t raised their prices again – the heading refers to the fact that I have just discovered that Martin Marauders – the B-26’s – were sent up to Alaska for transfer to the Soviets during the Lend Lease period. The internet turned up a picture of a crashed Marauder in the Canadian bush…
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The Blood Sacrifice
The medieval costume club I once belonged to held regular workshop days in which they made swords, armour, and all the various accessories of historical life. They were brilliant blacksmiths, metalworkers, tailors, potters, etc. and they all suffered for it. There was a phrase that was used to describe the phenomenon – ” The Blood…
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Post Mask Masking
The rise in the hobby of airbrushing models is the best business gift that could ever have been handed to the makers of masking tape. It they are prepared to slice it, we are prepared to buy it…and at exorbitant prices. And we’re prepared to use it lavishly. Everyone I know who does plastic kits…
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Seriously New Decals
Having painted a picture of myself as a miserable skinflint who wouldn’t pay a penny for a souvenir piece of the rope that they’ll eventually use to hang the Prime Minister, I must correct this. I would. And I pay for good quality aftermarket parts if they are necessary – and there is nothing more…
The Little World 