Category: 1:72 scale
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Nakajima ‘ Kate ‘ – Part Four – The Basic Structure

Or ” When Does An Airplane Start To Live? ‘. Okay. You’ve done the interior painting. You’ve stuck on the instrument decals. You’ve decided whether or not you’ll spend an extra month trying to put in photoetched seatbelts, pilot’s clipboards, and spare chewing gum dispenser ( US aircraft only).* Everything that could be sub-assembled and…
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Nakajima ‘ Kate ‘ – Part Three – The Sub-Assembly

I once wrote that there are always some areas of model building that are a chore – something we approach with a groan and leave with a cheer. And it’s different for each modeller. Well, the same applies to certain stages that are a real pleasure. Oddly enough, for me it is completing sub-assemblies. It’s…
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Nakajima ‘ Kate ‘ – Part Two – Realistic Manufacture

The new Airfix model kit is sitting drying in the warm workshop as I write. I’ve done the washing of the parts, scanned the decal sheet and instructions, and done a preliminary check of the parts. I’m delighted with what I’ve found. Or not found…no polyurethane blocks with miniscule parts to be sawn free and…
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Nakajima ‘ Kate ‘ – Part One – The Tenuous Connection

These days I try to get some thread connecting me to the models and scenes that I build for my Little World. I didn’t always do this – as a kid I was just hungry for any and all models – I’d build what was given to me or what I could save up for…
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If It’s Worthwhile Doing…

It’s worthwhile doing badly. Then looking at what can be improved, and doing it again. This was the unfortunate story of Ploesti, but that was also a tale of the baleful effects of listening to authority when you know you’re right. The other thing to consider is that if something is worth doing, it’s worth…
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Northrop Nomad – Part Three – Bumblebee

If you are going to let teach inexperienced airmen the arts of flying, you send them up in training aircraft. And it’s not just the pilots that need to be up in the air – the observers, gunners, navigators, radio operators, flight engineers, and flight attendants also have to get their feet off the ground.…
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Northrop Nomad – Part Two – A Sea Of Plastic

I have never been so happy to see a plastic bag full of parts before. Particularly as they are all injection-moulded with nary a resin part in sight. The new Northrop Nomad kit ( also known as the DB8A3N ) is a return to traditional construction. There is evidence of thought throughout the box. In…
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Northrop Nomad – Part One – Starting To See A Pattern Develop

I’m not the brightest of individuals but I can see a trend emerging – the Czechs are taking over*. At least they seem to be taking over the shelves of the local hobby shops with their 1:72 scale plastic model kits. I’ve encountered them in Melbourne and again here in Perth and it would appear…
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Tamiya Acrylic – The Viable Challenger

Note: in this test I used the Tamiya acrylic paints, but I could slso have used the Creos Mr. Hobby acrylics as well – they can interchange thinners and brush cleaners. Well, as the Avro Anson MkI was slowly being painted and cured, I decided to fill the time with two other kits – a…
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Enamel Is The First Bottle Off The Shelf

Well, in for a penny, in for a Pound…I decided that the Special Hobby Avro Anson MkI was the test bed for the Humbrol system. Other people may know it as the Angst-on but I make my own discoveries… After painting up the interior and locking it into the fuselage, I covered over the windows…
