Category: 1:72 scale
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Curtiss H16 – Part Five – Wing Walking Without A Safety Net
With my heart in my mouth and my underwear screwed up tight… I set out to put 12 inter-plane struts on the lower wing of the Curtiss – all 12 upright and at the same angle. The way I did it was to use three old foam-board shapes I had made when doing an Airfix…
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Curtiss H16 – Part Four – Donks Are Shön
With my sincere apologies to Wayne Newton… These two donks have been the most complex engines I’ve yet seen in a 1:72 kit. The fuel pipes and cooling assembly alone should have frightened me away, but I was too foolish to run. Over a couple of weeks the constituent parts have been cemented on –…
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Curtiss H16 – Part Three – Complexosity
Or should that be confusediousness? English is sometimes so inadequate… The Roden people are nothing if not determined. – possibly to drive me blind or mad. They have moulded many tiny parts so that I can assemble them into slightly larger parts. These can then be lost down the back of the workbench. No modeller…
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Curtiss H16 – Part One – King Kong
Well, just look at the box art. This is undoubtedly the most bizarre illustration of a seaplane that I have ever seen. It holds together in an artistic sense if you are prepared to forget the horizon and just let the illustrator have his, or her, head. The kiddies balloons loose above the Chrysler building…
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Swedish NA 16 – Part Six – Uncle Dick’s Kit O’ Doom
Inside every silver lining is a cloud. My week building the Beechnut Models CAC Wirraway into a Swedish NA 16 trainer was a humbling experience. No, that is not quite right – that should be ” bumbling “. With a kit this bad you are feeling your way from the start – over a carpet…
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Swedish NA-16 – Part Five – Courage, Sven.
You will be protected by the mighty orange wings of the Flygvapnet. And the black metallic fuselage. I am not sure if the paint has gone a little off in the pot, but we will spray it and see what happens. We have not bothered with wing walks on this trainer as we looked more…
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Swedish NA-16 – Part Four – Pinning Your Hopes
When all else fails, reach for the drill… Sorry, old habits die hard. Actually that should be reach for the forceps and slide that bucket over here. Open wide. The butt joint wing or tail surfaces are the easy way out for many short-run kit designers. They imagine you will square up the fitting surfaces…
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Swedish NA-16 – Part Three – Dr. Phil
Not the TV chap – I’m thinking this kit should have been built by the famous Irish dentist: Dr. Phil McCavity. Six separate applications and removals of two grades of putty plus a styrene sheet fitted to the worst of the gaps. All done in a cheerful frame of mind and without the aid of…
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Swedish NA-16 – Part Two – The Plastic Mangler
I would have written ” wrangler ” but you wouldn’t believe this kit. The fuselage halves are two different sizes. Not by much, but by enough. I reduced them somewhat upon a sandpaper sheet taped to a flat surface, and then attacked the thicker half with a Dremel tool, The centre seam doesn’t fit, but…
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Swedish NA-16 – Part One – The Beechnut Models Company
You’ll want to remember that name – in case you are ever faced with one of their kits. If so, you have choices: a. Buy it, spend days of your life coping with its awful nature, and eventually turn out a masterpiece. Then die. b. Save time. Fall to the floor grasping your chest. c.…
The Little World 