Category: 1:72 scale
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Savoia Marchetti S.79 Sparviero – Part Two – Parts On The Sprue

Looking at parts on a sprue is a two-edged thing…part of you applauds the precision of the moulding and part of you groans at the decision to break a structure into component parts when sometimes it is not necessary. The three engines seen in last post are positive things – they have enough detail that…
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Savoia Marchetti S.27 Sparviero – Part One – The Museum Repaint

The Savoia Marchetti museum in Italy has one of these aircraft on display. It has been repainted from the WW2 Italian version to a Lebanese Air Force scheme from the late 40’s. There are good colour photos of the plane in war service with Lebanon – it is a prime candidate for a special paint…
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Sitting Out The Setting…

This is the most critical time for a modeller. The point where they display either admirable character and sensible judgement…or a complete lack of either quality. I do not invite judgement but I have bought my bus ticket out of town just in case. The coat of paint is touch-dry. Yet I know it is…
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Dewoitine D.520 – Part Three – C’est Fini

And fini’d very well, I might add. The usual number of minor errors and hidden mistakes, but then that is par for the course. The D.520 paint job is not perfect – I was trying the freehand spray technique with the pressure on the airbrush turned down to 8 psi and a very thin mixture.…
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Dewoitine D.520 – Part Two – C’est l’Avalanche

One cannot do a Hobby Boss kit slowly – the very nature of the simple moulding does not lend itself to the dawdler. You either do it in normal speed and accept that you will progress rapidly or lapse into ennui. That is my philosophical explanation for the Dewoitine on a stick that you see…
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Dewoitine D.520 – Part One – Allo, Allo…

I have passed the Hobby Boss Dewoitine D-520 kit on the hobby shop shelves for a couple of years now with no regrets. I’d built a Morane Saulnier and a Caudron and the prospect of an diminutive French plane was no urgent call. But I’ve recently borrowed one of those profile books of WW2 fighters…
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Mitsubishi Dinah – Part Three – Standing Room Only…

The Mitsubishi Type 100 – the Dinah – was delivered to the Japanese Army Air Force in several versions – bomber, reconnaissance plane, trainer, etc. and there were several configurations of nose and canopy. The thin nose and multi-step greenhouse is characteristic of the training aircraft – probably to allow and instructor to oversee the…
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Mitsubishi Dinah – Part Two – The Bright Bird

I knew at the outset that the Dinah in IJAF trainer colours was rather special. The yellow is not the pure chrome of the RAF or RCAF trainers nor the red/yellow of a prewar US Navy aircraft wing – it has a distinct orange glow to it. I wasn’t sure whether the plastic that the…
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Mitsubishi Dinah – Part One – The Japanese Shop

My daughter visited Japan for a two-week holiday last year. Thoroughly loved the place and will go again. On this first visit I primed her to visit a model shop in Akihabara with instructions to bring me back a small 1:72 model kit of something that we don’t get in Australia. Her choice of whatever…
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RCAF Twin Otter – Part Six – Over The Line

Way-hay – completed the De Havilland Twin Otter before teatime. And onto the photo floor just afterwards. The planned assembly of the plane went well – I propped the fuselage up on the jig and glued one wing and supporting strut with liquid cement. An hour later I was able to flip it over and…
