Category: 1:72 scale
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Do We Have A Trade War With Japan, China, Or The Czech Republic?

No? Goodoh. That means we really should be able to order kits and supplies from these countries free of any interference from the Petulant of the United States, Ronald Grump. I have been looking at the kits I build and the goods I want and am a little saddened to see that some of the…
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Lockheed S-3A Viking – Part Three – I990’s

The chief raison d’être for the S-3A was hunting Soviet submarines in the 1970’s and 1980’s. With the 1990’s and the Reds beaching most of their fleet. the plane was reconfigured for surface surveillance and attack and garnered war honours in several conflicts. The ability to haul bombs and rockets as well as targetting gear…
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Lockheed S-3A Viking – Part Two – Cut And Glue

And really – that is all there was to it for the day. Some jobs are too hard and some too easy. The Hasegawa Viking fell into the space between these two extremes, and I am not complaining one little bit. When surfaces fit without fettling, when there is enough space for the nose weight,…
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Lockheed S-3A Viking – Part One – Price?

So Why So Cheap? How come a perfectly good Hasegawa jet is about half the price you’d expect to pay? Perhaps I am looking a gift horse in the molars, but I do puzzle at some of the pricing in some of the shops. The Hasegawa S3A Lockheed Viking was under $40 in a rack…
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The Toy Section Of The Shop

Oh you never go there, do you? You are far too advanced as a modeller to be seen in the die-cast, snap together, starter kit, or play section of the retailer? What if you were seen? What if the other club experts recognised you? What if they wrote about you in the papers? Alternately, what…
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Westland Lysander – Part Four – Rockcliffe, Ontario

On January 23rd, 1940. Not sure what time of day. The image that served as pattern for this model was taken at the Rockcliffe station near Ottawa on a snowy day. The tarmac is all white, though I note no skis were fitted to the Lysanders lined up for RCAF trainee pilots. Interestingly, while there…
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Westland Lysander – Part Three – Lynx Paws

If there is one thing that defines the Westland Lysander, whether in RAF or RCAF service, it is the landing gear. Lynx paws, I call them, with enough space inside them to hold two machine guns and two landing lights. The rest of the aircraft might have the design of a cement mixer, but the…
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Westland Lysander – Part Two – Fragile Nest

I was right to wonder about the fragility of the cockpit on this Dora Wings kit. Even at the outset, some parts did not come off the sprue trees intact. Fortunately there are pieces of Evergreen plastic in the scrap box that match the profile of the broken pieces. The fact that the greenhouse is…
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Westland Lysander – Part One – 100 Times The Price

I nearly passed this Dora Wings Westland Lysander by on the hobby shop shelf. The problem was not the kitmaker – I have built a Dora Wings plane before and thought it was superb. The problem was the price – 100 times the cost of an Airfix kit I once built. But you have to…
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The Detail Is In the Devil

And I am starting to believe that is where it should stay. I stand in awe of the fine detail that can be achieved by some modellers working in 1:32nd and 1:35th scale. When they commence work on tank tracks with 5 or 6 pieces per link…and a couple hundred links…I know it is time…
