Category: 1:72 scale
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Savoia Marchetti SM.81 – Part Four – Stop Laughing
This is serious. That’s an Australian joke, for the overseas readers. For the locals, its a historic Australian cartoon. Go look it up. The Bulletin long ago. In my case the risible arose because I needed to occlude the window spaces of the Pipistrello before painting. I’d deliberately left out the bulls-eye plastic windows that…
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Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 – Part Three – Airframe
We have an aircraft – not just parts in a box. The wing fit of the Italeri SM.81 was darned near perfect – a few scrapes of a modelling knife on the internal bearing surfaces of both wings and there was hardly a gap to be seen. It gave excellent purchase for a slightly thicker…
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Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 – Part Two – Club Model
The discipline of building specific models in specific circumstances seems to be working out reasonably well – I keep two separate model kits for the two clubs I attend, and one kit a’building in my home workshop. Of course there are cross-overs when one comes to the painting stage – then I use my own…
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Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 Pipistrello – Part One – The RRAAF’s New Poster Plane
Readers of this column who follow the history of the Royal Ruritanian Army Air Force will be long familiar with the history of the service. The training facilities in Alberta, the variegated equipment roster, the bad decisions and worse outcomes…all have been documented. But here is a new chapter of the saga – brought to…
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Handley Page Heyford – Part Four – HP Sauce
I did not even make it to March – the Handley Page Heyford that was to have been the crowning glory of Matchbox March was completed on the evening of February 28. And it was the last Matchbox kit in the stash. I shall do my research to see what other kits Matchbox made in…
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Handley Page Heyford – Part Three – All The Appeal..
Of a hairless cat… The period between the wars was a time of increased streamlined elegance in the design world. Cars, locomotives, buildings…they all got sleeker and more aerodynamic. How ironic that the HP Heyford – designed to fly through the air – should do so looking like a washing machine. I attached the upper…
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Handley Page Heyford – Part One – Come On March
I rarely urge the calendar to advance – I am at an age when I appreciate every day – indeed, being retired, I frequently mistake one for another. As long as I can remember scale model club morning and garbage night, the rest of the week can dissolve. But a special month was coming; Matchbox…
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Nieuport 17C – Part Five – Silver Beauty
I intended this build as a little stop-gap project to fill the time until Matchbox March. It has proved to be a rewarding gem. The Revell kit was unprepossessing enough – indeed most of the tiny WW1 planes from this firm are old kits and you find yourself prejudiced because of it. Of course, if…
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Nieuport 17C – Part Four – Lumière Frères
The Revell box art for the Nieuport 17C does not match the colour call-out. Which is correct? M. Google, please step forward… And he advances magnificently. On the Wikipedia site, the entry for the Nieuport 17 shows a premier image of a 17 sitting quietly in a field. There are no other aircraft seen, and…
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Nieuport 17C – Part Three – The Stick
I used to look upon the humble cocktail stick with disdain. No more. I am an eco-friendly convert. I believe the sticks – also known as satay sticks – are made of bamboo. This is an eminently sustainable crop and can be used with no eco-guilt at all. And they are cheap – I do…
The Little World 