Category: 1:72 scale
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Courage, Mon Brave!
When it is right – defend it. When it is wrong – admit it. And when it looks like hell, strip it off and start again. There are times when our reach exceeds our grasp. I have just printed a set of decals with the inkjet that would cover most of an air tanker. They…
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Bass Ackward
The sequence in which we do things is critical – I learned that when shooting muzzle loading rifles. Only one way of loading really works. The same question applies when we are trying to get a soft edge to camouflage painting on an aircraft. The time-honoured method of the Blu-tac worm and masking tape does…
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Northrop Gamma – Part Three – Texaco Sky Chief
From the layout of the wing and tail – the position of the cockpit – and the size of the engine, this must have been a hot, sweet, ship to fly. And the same specs must have made it right pig to land. I was thrilled with the appearance of the model as it was…
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Northrop Gamma – Part Two – A Silver Ghost
The instructions to paint an aircraft ” silver ” or “aluminium ” are often all you get from a maker in their colour call-out. I did not expect much more from the Williams company for this kit. But which silver – and which aluminium? I count four different Mr Hobby, 7 different Mr. Color, and…
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Northrop Gamma – Part One – Inter-war Special
Newcastle Song Day. And I didn’t let the chance go by. This was the first time I had seen a Williams kit – though I had read about them in Scalemetes. The impression I got was that they were rather garage-kit like. This vanished when I opened the box at the club’s stash sale and…
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If You Were Asked To Pick…
Your favourite airplane, or ship, or car, or tank…you would spend hours going over the possibilities. Then you could spend more drinking time debating it with other modellers. What a great idea! Now suppose the discussion turned to the favourite model making company… and here the discussion was serious. Exacto knives would be drawn and…
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The Things I Never Knew…
Are probably only half the things that I don’t know yet. This has never been the case so much as in scale modelling, and particularly in the adhesives. Until I started adult modelling I had no idea of the possibilities for success or failure of PVA glue when I tried to use it on a…
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Kawanishi Norm – Part Four – A Powerful Flop
From all accounts great things were expected from the Kawanishi reconnaissance float plane. And then the contra-rotating propellers and jettison-able float proved problematical and the service missions undertaken with the type were failures. So it was quietly shoved back into a training role. The appearance of the aircraft in the box art was what attracted…
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Kawanishi Norm – Part Three – Sprayin’ Weather
This last week has been good weather for spray painting. Clearish, dryish, and warmish…enough to be able to manage lacquers with regular thinner and also spray rattle cans of clear. The shop heater has been on to make a warm box but this is less of a problem now that I have overcome my fear…
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Kawanishi Shiun – Part One – A Norm By Any Other Name
If you are scandalised by the use of Allied code-names for Japanese aircraft of WW2, make sure you check back later when I use NATO reporting names for Soviet planes. This is officially the E15K1 but not again in this column. It is a Norm. A very special plane and welcome in the collection. I…
The Little World 