Category: American aircraft
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F-82 Twin Mustang – Part Seven – Long Dong

All right. We might as well get this over with… Those of you inclined to ribaldry may dissolve into laughter at the thought of the Long Dong radar pod joke. Elbow each other in the ribs and snort. The rest of the readers just be patient. The Monogram F-82 is proceeding wonderfully well, with no…
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F-82 Twin Mustang – Part Six – Afternoon, All…

Just sat me down to the Monogram night fighter kit and have progressed well. Progressed by dint of the simple moulding and precise fit of the parts. Make no mistake – when the classic kit makers were in their prime they could turn out some precise work. There might be raised panel lines, but the…
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F-82 Twin Mustang – Part Five – The Black Twin

Lo and Behold. A dear old Monogram F-82 kit at a swap meet. The price of Hobby Boss click-together. What’s not to like! The kit is complete – the decals are reasonable, the canopies are all there. It is out of fashion as an older mould, but the raising of the panel lines has lowered…
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F-82 Twin Mustang – Part Four – Alaska Red

Sigh. So near and yet so far. The F-82 has been completed, will be displayed, and will feel like gravel in my sandal all the days of its existence. The canopies arrived, were fitted, and the job was done. But the canopies only fitted to a certain extent. They have converted a fine front-line model…
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F-82 Twin Mustang – Part Three – It’s All Clear

And that’s not a good thing… The pretty looking set of canopies with this Special Hobby kit were superb. Clear and precise, with well-defined framing. I was looking forward to painting them – perhaps masking them in place for a change. As with all anticipated pleasures, it attracted the attention of a malign universe. One…
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F-82 Twin Mustang – Part Two – Czech Out The Fit

I know what Forrest Gump felt like sometimes – particularly upon opening a Czech kit. The box of czecholates that you get can have hard centres, soft centres, or centres with no positioning tabs whatsoever. You will be challenged. In the case of the Twin Mustang the fit of the cockpits was actually reasonable –…
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F-82 Twin Mustang – Part One – SOOTB Interception

I had no idea I needed it… Until I stated googling the business of North American air interception in the late 40’s. I identified an interceptor base near to where I once lived and looked over its roster. I was amazed to find the F-82 and to read that it was an effective unit. Then…
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Grumman Guardian – Part …Well… The Only Part

I confess. I got greedy. I started building and just couldn’t stop. I didn’t even take build photos. But in the end, I fell back exhausted and satisfied. I had scored a definite win in the game of scale modelling. I had contemplated this model kit for a year at a local shop. The emotion…
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SPAD XIII – Part Four – Rickenbacker’s Ride

The historic enthusiasts of WW1 can make of Eddy Rickenbacker what they will. His 22 aerial victories and 4 balloons downed are not the numbers that rival other aces, but he survived till the 1970’s and that was a definite win for him. The SPAD appears from other accounts not to have had quite the…
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Revell SPAD XIII – Part Three – Tri-Tone Again

My old nemesis – three-coloured camouflage – rears its attractive head again. This is a love-hate relationship. I do love the way the planes look once they are successfully painted and I do hate the extra work to get to that stage. The ones that have either a fracture pattern or a swooping one are…
