Category: American aircraft
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Vought CorsairF4U-1 – Part Three – Thanks, Doc…
Thank you, Dr. Tamiya. I needed that. That slap in the face with a model kit: That fits together without sanding or filing. With an entire cockpit in 1:72 as a matter of course. With wing seams that need no putty. With the engine where all cylinders are part of the injection moulding and no…
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Vought Corsair F4U-1 – Part Two – Which Came First?
Well, which came first; the chikin or the tamago? Did Tamiya get a good reputation by building precise model kits or did they build precise model kits because they had a good reputation? At what point did they say to themselves ” We must make excellent products above all…”. Did they have a modelling adolescence in which…
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Vought Corsair F4U-1 – Part One – Birdcage
I wandered into Hobbytech for a bottle of paint. I came out with three bottles of paint and a Birdcage Corsair. This is why I’m not allowed in Bunnings or the beer shop unaccompanied. To be fair I was responding to an internet search session that showed the prototype XF4U-1 aircraft Vought showed to the…
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Grumman Widgeon – Part Two – Port and Cheese
I cannot decide now that the Grumman Widgeon is done and sitting on the photo floor, whether I enjoyed myself building it or not. If you go by the mis-fitting engines, nacelles, windscreen, and landing gear, it was a misery. If you looked at the wing, fuselage, and tail assemblies as they mated, it wasn’t…
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Grumman Widgeon – Part One – The Small Goose
The Sherriff’s Mini Cars shelves had some of the best and oddest kit shopping I have been able to do for some time. Stashes had disgorged treasures and/or trash and they were sensibly priced for all that. I have no idea how new the Widgeon is, not how long it may have mouldered on the…
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Boxing Day Is Only Good If You Need Boxes
And I do. In my cases I need boxes with plastic model airplane kits in them. This year I opted for the do-it-yourself-later option. I asked for gift vouchers for the local hobby shop. The good family delivered as requested and I am now cashed up for the next few months – whenever I need…
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Curtiss P-40 – Part Three – Ready For Alaska
It seems no time at all was needed to mbuild the new P-40’s for the Northwest Staging Route. They are already sitting on the hardstand at RCAF WET DOG jostling for space with all the other planes heading for Ladd AFB. I have taken advantage of the additional fuel tanks as ferry tanks but opted…
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Curtiss P-40- Part Two – A Hawk By Any Other Name
I have always been frustrated by the renaming and fuddling about with the P-40. I mean that business of calling it alternately the Warhawk, Tomahawk, or Kittyhawk, depending upon model number and air force it was flying for. I have given up trying to sort it all out and just call it the P-40 no…
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Curtiss P-40 – Part One – The Roaring Forties
This is to be a dual-build…two kits constructed at the same time to make a team for display. But the team members will not to be entirely identical – one plane is a short-tailed P40E and one a long-tailed P40N. Their common point of reference is the Curtiss design and the fact that both marques…
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Martin Marauder – Part Four – The Slippery Olive
The Marauder had a strange reputation for quite some while but eventually setled down as a very capable ship in the European theatre. It also featured in several Pacific battles and guarded Alaska as well. I was tempted to attach a torpedo to this Marauder just to show that it had been done – and…
The Little World 