Category: American aircraft
-
Piper J3 – Part Three – Yellow; Mellow Or Perilous?
The heading image is not yellow – it’s a combination of Mr. Surfacer white and some old Mr. Color flat white. The bottles are low and a combination of forces was needed. The end result is fine – and is absolutely essential for any yellow painting. I discovered this long ago while painting an Avro…
-
Piper J3 – Part Two – Inky, Winky, and Dinky
I don’t think I would be able to build things in smaller scale than 1:72 unless they were of very big prototypes – the parts would be too small. As it is I curse the nonsense of PE and resin details. The heading image shows a pretty good result for the interior of the J3…
-
Piper J3 – Part One -The Household Word
Hoover. Not Herbert, you herbert. Hoover like in vacuum cleaner. The brand name. Except, in England it isn’t a brand name – it’s the name of a class of product – the vacuum cleaner. People don’t vacuum the house, they hoover it. Losing that capital letter was the greatest piece of industrial and advertising good…
-
Grumman Goblin I – Part One – The New Appearance
I regularly cruise through Hobbytech in Myaree to see what’s new. Of course, no cruise is ever painless. I buy something every time. If it is not paint or a new tool, it is a kit of some sort. I am not complaining or bragging – just stating a fact of life. Like gravity or…
-
The Commemorative Scheme
We’ve all seen one that we liked – and ten that made us wince. I mean the commemorative scheme applied to a current airplane in someone’s roster. It may be a warplane, a civil airliner, or a private plane. It might be an R/C model or a static one. But as soon as you see…
-
Matchbox Helldiver – Part Four – The Curtiss Lollypop
Having mastered the Mr. Color range of metallizer paints I do not cringe in fear from natural metal finishes. Indeed I welcome them where appropriate. Thus my delight in the pictures of the prototype Curtiss SB2C rolling out of the factory in the early 40’s. Still early enough to have the pre-war yellow wing. A…
-
Matchbox Helldiver – Part Three – The Hubley Kit
If you are from North America you’ll recognise the name Hubley. They were a die-cast toy maker of the 40’s and 50’s who made larger size offerings. I owned a Hubley Bell telephone truck with working winch and pole trailer – surely an odd choice of prototype even for the times. I observed other kids…
-
Matchbox Helldiver – Part Two – Wing It Or Sling It?
Here’s a dilemma. I’ve pictures of the prototype SB2C with folded wings. And the Matchbox kit has folding wings. But they are folded on the toy principle and look bloody awful. I have low standards but every now and then something shows up that undercuts them. I have built folded wings on an Airfix Devastator…
-
Matchbox Helldiver – Part One – Progressing Backwards
I already own two Curtiss SB2C models – one a US Navy version and one a USAAF A25 Shrike. They were respectively a Sword and a Dragon kit. Both characteristic of their countries of origin – the Czech one a challenge of approximation and the Hong Kong one a masterpiece of precision. But two were…
-
Cougar F9F-8P – Part Three – Despite Sword
I’m being mean. Really this has been a very good kit to build. Minimal trimming, minimal filling. Fit everywhere. Just the minefield of the instruction sheets. It is a warning for the future, however, not to build anything straight out of the box and straight off the instructions. Get a third-party reference and keep it…
The Little World 