Category: 1:72 scale
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Fairey Swordfish Mk I – Part Four _ THM
It may seem foolish to bypass much of the effort that Airfix went to when they designed this model. But that is what I did when I started researching the Canadian connection for this aircraft. It would appear that there were a number of them in RCAF and RCN service during and after WW2. And…
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Fairey Swordfish Mk I – Part Three – Wings Over The Workbench
I walk in awe of the people who build scale model biplanes and then rig them. They have condemned themselves to the sort of stage act that used to involve Chinese jugglers, bamboo poles, and spinning bowls…and then added the sort of things that would make a spider burst into tears. I don’t know what…
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Fairey Swordfish Mk I – Part Two – If We Are To Believe…
I am often asked to believe – but I pause before I do. It is not that I think people duplicitous – it is just that I know there are only limited methods of actual proof – sight, touch, smell, etc. Thus I regard the colouring instructions in model kits with care. Do the writers…
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Fairey Swordfish Mk1 – Part One – Wheels At Last
And not before time. I made a model of the Fairey Swordfish from the new Airfix mould some time ago and promised myself to do another on wheels – this time with torpedo armament. The previous one was on floats and in pre-war colours. This was so pleasing that I have decided the new model…
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The Glaring Omissions
In hobby shops full of Messerspitstang kits and the space ships of the latest franchise movie, it is actually painful to stride the aisles looking for the missing links. I concentrate most effort on 1:72 scale aircraft and have long built the standards. I’ve built the semi-standards, and a fair few of the obscurities as…
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Get Right Back On The Horse
The iron rule of horse riding is that, after a fall that has not killed you, you get right back on the horse. This has the effect of showing your moxie to the other riders, quelling your fears, and giving you a chance to show the horse that you mean to be the master or…
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Decal Or Paint?
Not a difficult choice when the design is complicated. Also not a tough decision when the decal sheet has something exactly as needed. There are any number of decal setting solutions today that will let you drape a design over a wet porcupine, so just take your time. When it comes to bigger scales and…
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Grumman Albatross – Part Three – Before 1965
If you look closely at some of my RCAF aircraft, they look odd; there is no lightning flash down the sides and the the flag is wrong. Wrong. The planes are pre-1965 with the old national flag on the tail. And if you look closely you’ll see that it flies with the Union Jack to…
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Grumman Albatross – Part Two – Shipmates Stand Together
Don’t give up the ship. Or the kit, for that matter. My first club morning with this kit went very well - the dry parts fit was excellent for a period piece and I was ready to work on the interior by the time I left for home. I did paint the inside and started to…
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Grumman Albatross – Part One – Rescued From The Past
At last – my chance to do a classic Monogram kit that I never built before. Whatever the flaws there may be in this old kit – the raised rivets, etc, it has the priceless advantage of being part of plastic history. There will be movable landing gear, and I shall not hesitate to make…
The Little World 