Category: 1:72 scale
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The Double Decal

The idea of a commercial double decal is not new…but it might be just the answer for your home-made ones. Some decals come on Cartograf or other printer’s sheets as a two layer plan. I have made up French Air Force planes where not only the tail tricolor but the main roundels require two applications;…
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AVIA B.534 – Part Three – Great Patriotic Uprising

October 1944. The Slovaks rose up against the German occupation. They failed. But while they tried, they gained eternal fame, and part of that attempt was made with the Czech AVIA B.543 fighters. Biplanes against modern Messerschmitts and Focke Wulfes. You can guess what happened… I never knew this – the odd insignia on the…
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AVIA B.534 – Part Two – When One Wing Is Not Enough

Not enough to cause you enough unease… Try two or more. Add the struts and see if your eyes are starting to swim. With a bit of luck there will be eight or more and your happiness will recede so far that you’ll never see it. I was worried when I saw that the AVIA…
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AVIA B.534 – Part One – A Newcastle Model Kit

Newcastle model? A Newcastle model is one you encounter unexpectedly and seize upon. It is a case of never letting a chance go by…refer to Bob Hudson’s song for further instructions. This old Czech KP kit is from the 1980’s. The box had seen service, but at least protected the sprue trees, decals and instructions.…
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Buy A Curse

Be careful in your selection – you want something that will disturb and haunt you for a long time to come. The thing to do is go to the hobby shop and search the shelves until you find something that is both impossibly expensive and horribly complex. Preferably with a complicated colour scheme and a…
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Take It Off

Take it aaaaall off… If your mind replayed the music of Dave Rose – ” The Stripper ” – you are a reprobate. I am ashamed to be seen with you. This morning I have to strip paint from an old Airfix kit to get enough parts to complete a stash build. I have rejected…
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ME 262 – Part Four – A New Name

A new name for a new country – this has now become an Avia S92 Turbina…and has ended its days in a Prague air museum. Not a bad fate for an airframe that was on the cutting edge of technology at the time. The remaining stocks of the Me 262 that German war production had…
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Me 262 – Part Three – Shinee!

I am starting to see why a friend of mine is so attracted by shiny objects. I have just glossed the Messerschmitt and it is all I can do to stop myself from touching the surface! I know it needs time to cure, but so does my infatuation with the gloss. I wish someone had…
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Me 262 – Part Two – How Wrong I Was

When I saw the flash flooding around some of the Revell parts for this jet fighter I though that I was in for an epic of cutting and sanding. As it is, there has been little fettling needed and by the time it has progressed from dry fit to cementation, no filler gaps are to…
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Me 262 – Part One – Another Childhood Ambition

As a child, I had many model aircraft kits – but one that always eluded me was the Airfix baggie of the ME 262 jet fighter. I have since seen them as Hobby Boss and Czech kits, but never gave it much thought. Then a Revell kit called to me through a fog of disinterest…
