Category: American aircraft
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Grumman F3F – Part Two – The Cockpit Of Thomas Hobbes
The cockpit tub and landing gear platform of this American shipboard fighter are evidence that the Czech kit makers believe in free will. No part of the fuselage compels the struts and legs to be where they should be – they must do it of their own accord. This was probably sound philosophy during the…
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Grumman F3F – Part One – At Long Last
I have been looking for a 1:72 scale model of this aircraft for years – and wouldn’t you know – one turned up at a swap meet sale a few weeks ago. It may not be the Monogram Four-Start Plastikit of my youth, but it is a perfectly good Czech MPM model sealed in it’s…
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H-34 Choctaw – Part Two – The SMCWA Club Build
Tuesday mornings are sacred round here – that is the morning I get to go to the SMCWA clubrooms and build a scale model. Ignore the fact that I have two other modelling stations – here inside and out in my shed. Ignore the airbrush booth and the assembly bench and the rack of 157…
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H-34 Choctaw – Part One – Third Little Indian
The naming convention for US Army helicopters uses the Indian tribes of the nation – a delightful thing. This is the third helicopter in the collection with a tribal connection. There are more helos in the display cabinet, but they are either civilian or international versions that adopt their own names. So far I only…
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The Determined Modeller
I admire determined and steadfast people. As I write this there is a Mort Kunstler print of Ulysses S Grant on the wall facing me. He is raising his hat to celebrate his victory at Vicksburg. The accounts of his trials and his character have always been an inspiration, though I would not follow his…
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Catalina Mk I – Part Five – Z 2138
Well, THAT was a series of good lessons – well learned. The half-built PBY-5A I purchased from the stash stack has been revamped extensively and has emerged onto the hard stand as a Catalina Mk I – Z 2138 of the RCAF. Stationed at Botwood, Newfoundland in April 1943. No, I have no idea what…
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Catalina Mk IV B – Part Two – Major Surgery
In the case of this aircraft, it is going to go from an amphibian to a flying boat. The wheels are to be removed. The landing gear boxes for the PBY 5 are cemented on all sides, but fortunately the ones on this kit had escaped some of the glue. A few strokes of the…
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Catalina Mk IVB – Part One – The Legacy Sale
The thought of buying legacy models is somewhat bittersweet. It always means that someone’s dreams were not fulfilled. It can also be rendered more awkward if those dreams were started, rather than just in anticipation. I mean, of course, the kit that has been started. Fate’s led to its abandonment and if you take it…
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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…
The Little World 