Category: 1:72 scale
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Caproni C-311 – Part Two – FINALLY!
Finally I figure out a way to stop being clumsy. I build a great many kits, and find that I like to keep busy in the various stages by doing sub assemblies and finishing them before they are added to the main airframe. It is much the same as was done with wartime factories and…
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Caproni C-311 – Part One – Tropical Splendour
Not that this aircraft is tropical in any way – it’s just that the kit has come from Singapore. A gift from a friend who took a holiday there. I always welcome Italeri Italian aircraft, because I know they do them well; it’s a matter of national pride. The parts fit, the moulding is free…
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It’s Not A Stash Sale
If you don’t buy something you don’t need. If you buy something that you don’t want, it ratchets up to a higher level. If it is overpriced, you are moving into the professional league. If you buy aftermarket for it, and build it, you have become a master in the art of Zen modelling. The…
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Boeing X-Plane – Part Four – Long Range Bird On Spindly Legs
I wonder what the US Navy might have nicknamed this Boeing fighter/bomber if it had ever proceeded into service? There had been few Boeing fighters before this – I can only think of the P26 ” Peashooter ” that the Army flew. Not a very prestigious name but fairly apt considering the tiny size of…
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Boeing X-Plane – Part Three – Big Donk
This is the biggest small piston engine in my collection – until I locate a 1/72 B-36… The four-row piston engine – 28 cylinders and I suppose 56 spark plugs – was a massive effort to put more power into the air. It was so powerful that it needed to be split between two contra-rotating…
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Boeing X-Plane – Part Two – Mind The Gap…
I was greatly encouraged while during open stage of fuselage construction by the fact that the two halves fitted together almost perfectly. And the big, sturdy wing halves did the same – even the wing tips had minimal ledging. This can be a real problem for some kits as there is little to fill or…
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Boeing X-Plane – Part One – The Nearly-Rans
I am no great fan of ” what-if ” modelling. Much of it is speculative and not a little disturbing. I see attitudes in the builders that are not supportable in real life. But I will admit aircraft and other items that were actually built to try to win government contracts. Even if they did…
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There’s No Such Thing As A Biggest Model
There’s only the biggest model…yet. For everyone, whether they be manufacturer, wholesaler, retailer, or builder, there is never an end point in the progression of the scale model kit. The factory may start out making 1:144 scale models of Piper Cubs, but if these sell they will be onto the next larger prototype for the…
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Progressive Cementation
Sounds like a political party that’s going to lose their deposit, eh? Well, it’s a good idea for scale modelling when the makers of our kits decide to care less about them than we do. When they mould things too fast and the plastic warps out of the blocks. When the parts only fit where…
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MiG21R – Part Three – 006 On The Line
Along with my reputation, which is also a tarnished relic. I don’t mind – it saves a lot of fussiness. The real Mig 21 that was pinched got a thorough working analysis from the IAF before being consigned to Hatzerim. It wore several liveries after the Syrian brown camo was scraped off – some of…
The Little World 