Category: Acrylic
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De Havilland Mosquito Mk II – Part Six – A Day of Challenges

The markings day has become a day of challenges. Of mistakes and discoveries. It has seen the finishing of the model, but not quite in the way that I expected. a. The markings for the squadron code were nowhere to be found in my stash of decals nor in our local shops. T,W, and Z…
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De Havilland Mosquito – Part Five – Can I Make A Mess?

Or can I what? Here are the in-progress shots of the Great Masking Adventure as it unfolded. Since it was entirely new ground, I cannot be sure whether I was doing it right. But the fact that nothing caught fire has to count as something good… Here’s the overnight result – surprisingly successful, with only…
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De Havilland Mosquito Mk II – Part Four – The Mask Of Comedy

Or of tragedy. I cannot be sure which it is to be until tomorrow when the paint has cured…Here is the tale of too much coffee and too much time to think. The painting of a British camouflage pattern on a model of a WW II aircraft was always easy when I was a child.…
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De Havilland Mosquito Mk II – Part Two – The Peek Into The Box

I must confess to a slightly pusillanimous nature when it comes to buying model airplane kits sight-unseen. I was bit by a Revell Tradewind kit as a child and the scar still throbs in wet weather. I prefer to look carefully at what I’ve got before I spend my money. Nevertheless I do read reviews…
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Hawker Hurricane Mk II – Part Five – The Newfie

Those of you from the Dominion of Canada will know I speak with affection about Newfoundland – The place where this Hawker Hurricane was based. Specifically at Torbay in 1943 when German U boats were feared. They had successfully sunk ships nearby in the previous year and the RCAF needed to have a quick-response answer.…
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Hawker Hurricane Mk II – Part Four – The Next Grievous Error

Well, I added one today. The next foolish error. The one that separates the men from the boys. And I know which side I’m on… I had masked the new Hawker Hurricane Mk II very well and I was ready to shoot the upper works. As it was a cold day. I selected lacquer thinner…
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Hawker Hurricane Mk II – Part Three – The Beauty Salon

It was cold tonight. Rainy. I adjourned into the computer room with a portable modelling tray to proceed with the Hurricane in some comfort – the Little Workshop was just too miserable to work in, even with the heater on. The task was masking the pattern illustrated in the Avia publication on Canadian warplanes. I…
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The Aisle Of The Darned

Never mind the Isle Of The Damned or the Isle Of The Doomed – they are just comic book fiction. We have a real Aisle Of The Darned at my local hobby shop. From the start of it to the end, it is shelf after shelf of paint. No-one I know has ever successfully traversed…
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Macchi MC.200 Saetta – Part Two – A or B?

The usual procedure for my painting of camouflaged aircraft up until now has been: a. Smooth and fill seams and make the basic airframe ready. Prime with a Tamiya spray can. b. Paint the solid underside colour. c. Cover this with tape and occasionally with Maskol. d. Paint the lighter of the top colours. e.…
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Mustard On The Side Of The Plate

The English firm Colman’s made their fortune in mustard. There’s probably a biblical analogy in there somewhere, but the idea that always stuck in my mind was that they really made their fortune on the amount of the product that people left on the side of their plate. It’s strong mustard; we all take too…
