Category: American aircraft
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When In Doubt…
When in doubt, do it the way the original was done. There was generally a reason for this and you may have stumbled upon it again. Case in point: doing the second blue paint coat on the PRU Lockheed P-38 Lightning. The first coat had cured for a day, and the second one was due…
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The Kiddy Model And the Adult Modeller
Sometimes it’s hard to resist being a kid – particularly when you are in a hobby shop that also sells toys. You know you’re in there for a serious adult purpose ( like buying toy airplane kits ) but part of you is still a child and wants to buy toy airplanes… I mean it…
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Modelling To A Theme – Building For A Purpose
I have a confession to make. I have a mental condition that permeates my life. It has affected me ever since childhood and makes itself felt in everything I do. It is sometimes a good thing and sometimes bad…but I have come to realise what it is and to accept it. It is the need…
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Lockheed P-38 – Part Six – The Dirty Bluebird
As I’ve written before, every new build is a chance to have a new experience. This one has been my baptism in how to change horses in mid-stream, how to concentrate the mind, and how to make a deliberately dirty mess. I hasten to add that I already know how to make an accidentally dirty…
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Lockheed P-38 – Part Five – The Wild Blue Yonder
What do you do when you discover that you are going the wrong way? If you are Douglas Corrigan you just keep on going and hope to hit Ireland eventually. If you are me, you stop and see if you can turn around. I stopped after I did some more research on the RAAF’s only…
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Lockheed P-38 – Part Four – The Drive Shaft
The Hobby Boss model of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning has something I have not seen before on any plastic model airplane – it has a driveshaft. Or put more accurately, it has two. All the other models I’ve encountered have had just the opposite – a precise hole in the crankcase or nose where a…
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Lockheed P-38 – Part Three – Every Plane You Build…
Every plane, train, car, and structure you build in scale makes your brain better. The act of turning over the parts, relating them to the instructions, fitting them together, and observing the relationships between the surfaces teaches you far more about the particular full-size object than any photograph or screen representation ever can. And if…
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Lockheed P-38 – Part Two – The Hobby Shop
Well, you get to see a new thing every day – it is just a matter of keeping your eyes open. The purchase of the Hobby Boss Lockheed P-38 brought me two remarkable experiences. I visited a hobby shop here in Perth that I rarely call at. It is some distance from my house and…
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Lockheed P-38 – Part One – Smile For the Camera
When you go past the new kit shelf at the hobby shop and notice that you can get a 1:72 fighter plane for $ 14.95…but if you add another $ 5.00 they’ll give you an extra engine and tail…well it would be foolish not to go with the bargain. Hence the new Hobby Boss Lockheed…
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The Integrated Multi-Level Spatial Constructional Workflow Paradigm
Oops, sorry. I had the Dilbert switch turned on there when I typed that. Lemme turn it off. Here we go again. ” When To Glue Things On. ” That’s better. As a topic it may seem a lot more complex than it really is…because the whole thing basically is not to stick something on…
The Little World 