Category: 1:72 scale
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Spend Half Your Time Learning How To Do It Right

Then spend the rest learning how to recover when it goes wrong. All kits have flaws…if not in the box, then in the buyer. Something will go awry in the build. If you are fortunate it will be small and early, and you can fix it before you go on. These are the times that…
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Vought Crusader F-8 – Part Four – In The Med

And fresh as a daisy. I was delighted to find very clear photographic support for the French naval air service on the web. A number of the Vought Crusader aircraft that operated from the FOCH and CLEMENCEAU were photographed from the islands of those carriers while taking off or landing – and these evolutions were…
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Vought Crusader F-8 – Part Three – Between Thinners

I was torn between thinners for this Crusader. I had enough Light Gull Grey to do the upper side easily – and a new bottle of semi-gloss white for the under side. But one was a water-based acrylic and the other lacquer based. Would it matter? Was there going to be a fizzing explosion along…
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Vought Crusader F-8 – Part Two – Cockpit Decals

Bless the designer who thought of making decals for the cockpits of 1/72 scale aircraft. I admire the resin parts that people buy for aftermarley – they can be superbly detailed. A worker in 1/48 and larger would certainly get good visual value from a resin seat or control stick. And the PE brass instrument…
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Vought Crusader F-8 – Part One – Iconic

As a young person, this was the naval jet aircraft I was most impressed by. It seemed to encompass all there was about flying. Yet I never possessed a model of one until now – and for years the Italeri kit had been offered on the shelves without getting a nod. I cannot explain the…
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The No Step Two Step

Or how I stencilled myself into the asylum. As a kid facing my first decal sheets, I was blazingly confident. Allowed to use water and scissors…what could possibly go wrong? After all, Aurora moulded the position of the USAF and the insignia right there on the top of the wing – all you had to…
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The Arrogant Strut

Those who saw Mussolini were impressed with the way he strutted. Likewise with Al Jolson and Kaiser Wilhelm II. However, none of them were as arrogant as the Airfix company when it comes to strutting…as witnessed by their production of a 1:72 Bristol F.2B. They have produced a kit that is nearly impossible to assemble.…
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Trying To Get That Exclusive Prototype

And hoping that it is one that everyone secretly always wanted to build. This can be the only explanation for a number of short-run kits that flow out of Eastern Europe. There can be only a few individuals on the planet that dream of building failed designs that are both ugly and insignificant. Even driven…
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Is Your Rainbow Biased?

Relax. Not going all political on you here. But do you have better results with certain colours? Not certain paints – that’s a different debate – I mean a certain hue within the paint range you use. I rarely paint dark sea blue or coal black, but when I do, it is nearly always a…
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Little Christmas World

Not every Little World has fighter planes and tanks – some are dedicated to far more peaceful pursuits. Take for instance the annual Christmas layout a friend and her daughter construct – I should have written daughters, as there are three, but two are now residing elsewhere and I think the constructors are down to…
