Category: 1:72 scale
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Do Not Sell Your Models

Build them. Whether you build them SOOTB, or tricked out with a dozen packets of after-market…build them. Build them painted or plain, weathered or fresh, well or otherwise…but build them. That is why they were made. That is why the designers sat at the drafting board or computer screen until their eyes turned red. That…
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Yakovlev 15 – Stalin’s Stopgap

Don’t panic and start to look for previous posts about this Soviet fighter – this is the one and only mention it’ll get. The PM models Yak 15 was cheap enough by any standards – even in Perth. It cannot be said to occupy many minds nor cause much lust, no matter who kits it.…
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H-34 Choctaw – Part Two – The SMCWA Club Build

Tuesday mornings are sacred round here – that is the morning I get to go to the SMCWA clubrooms and build a scale model. Ignore the fact that I have two other modelling stations – here inside and out in my shed. Ignore the airbrush booth and the assembly bench and the rack of 157…
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H-34 Choctaw – Part One – Third Little Indian

The naming convention for US Army helicopters uses the Indian tribes of the nation – a delightful thing. This is the third helicopter in the collection with a tribal connection. There are more helos in the display cabinet, but they are either civilian or international versions that adopt their own names. So far I only…
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The Determined Modeller

I admire determined and steadfast people. As I write this there is a Mort Kunstler print of Ulysses S Grant on the wall facing me. He is raising his hat to celebrate his victory at Vicksburg. The accounts of his trials and his character have always been an inspiration, though I would not follow his…
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Catalina Mk I – Part Five – Z 2138

Well, THAT was a series of good lessons – well learned. The half-built PBY-5A I purchased from the stash stack has been revamped extensively and has emerged onto the hard stand as a Catalina Mk I – Z 2138 of the RCAF. Stationed at Botwood, Newfoundland in April 1943. No, I have no idea what…
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Catalina Mk 1 – Part Four – Flat Out

Not so much like a lizard drinking- just flat out like thin paint. The two colours of the Coastal Command upperwoirks are now down on the Cat – both courtesy of the fine set of paints gifted to me. The experiment of using Rapid and Regular Gunze lacquer thinners on the Model Master paints seems…
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Catalina Mk 1 – Part Three – See What I Did There?

Lost three marks along with the wheels. My RCAF Catalina has now reverted to the first mark acquired – a patrol aircraft used off the maritime provinces. I’ve a profile book on it and it is a shame to waste such specific research and drawing. The colour scheme is very British with a little less…
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Catalina Mk IV B – Part Two – Major Surgery

In the case of this aircraft, it is going to go from an amphibian to a flying boat. The wheels are to be removed. The landing gear boxes for the PBY 5 are cemented on all sides, but fortunately the ones on this kit had escaped some of the glue. A few strokes of the…
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Catalina Mk IVB – Part One – The Legacy Sale

The thought of buying legacy models is somewhat bittersweet. It always means that someone’s dreams were not fulfilled. It can also be rendered more awkward if those dreams were started, rather than just in anticipation. I mean, of course, the kit that has been started. Fate’s led to its abandonment and if you take it…
