Category: American aircraft
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General Dynamics F111 – Part One – A New Maker
I am never happier than when building a kit from a maker that I have not encountered before. It is a new land to explore. This Arii kit from Japan came with very rudimentary instructions - really nothing to help with decal placement or colouring save the box art. Yet the individual components and the decals…
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General Dynamics F-1 – Part Two – Viper!
Well, I have decided to go with the Air Force crews and call this the Viper. I am also less than impressed with a company the calls itself by such a generic name; General Dynamics. Sounds as if they could be making light switches or selling time-share weeks. I think they should change the name…
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General Dynamics F-1 – Part One – Falcon?
Not, apparently, to the people flying them. They call them ” Vipers “. And they ought to know… This is my third F-16 - two others having been completed in 1/72 for the USAF and the IDF. I am starting to like the type a lot. The Academy kit is simple, small, and well-moulded. The only…
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McDonnell Douglas Phantom – Part Two – Vietnam Era
Little of my aero collection so far shows schemes of the Vietnam War period, but gradually this will change. Many of the kits now seem to have decals for the period and If I can overcome my aversion to both stencil decals and three-colour camouflage schemes, I can go right ahead. The call-out for this…
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McDonnell Douglas Phantom – Part One – The Iconic Fighter
As a young person I was as susceptible to hype as anyone – including that put out about modern aircraft. The jet fighter that seemed to get most of it was the McDonnell Douglas Phantom. For a while I confused it with the older McDonnell Phantom – a late 1940’s straight-wing jet. But it was…
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Grumman Albatross – Part Three – Before 1965
If you look closely at some of my RCAF aircraft, they look odd; there is no lightning flash down the sides and the the flag is wrong. Wrong. The planes are pre-1965 with the old national flag on the tail. And if you look closely you’ll see that it flies with the Union Jack to…
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Grumman Albatross – Part Two – Shipmates Stand Together
Don’t give up the ship. Or the kit, for that matter. My first club morning with this kit went very well - the dry parts fit was excellent for a period piece and I was ready to work on the interior by the time I left for home. I did paint the inside and started to…
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Grumman Albatross – Part One – Rescued From The Past
At last – my chance to do a classic Monogram kit that I never built before. Whatever the flaws there may be in this old kit – the raised rivets, etc, it has the priceless advantage of being part of plastic history. There will be movable landing gear, and I shall not hesitate to make…
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Supermarine Swift FR.5 – Part Four – Get Thee Behind Me, Stencils…
You cannot escape decals on model aircraft – they are needed to complete everything. But they can completely ruin the job. Or your day, if you let them. I’m thinking of the friable, misprinted, graphic horrors that flow out of eastern Europe. You can tame them somewhat, but you are never really satisfied with the…
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Spend Half Your Time Learning How To Do It Right
Then spend the rest learning how to recover when it goes wrong. All kits have flaws…if not in the box, then in the buyer. Something will go awry in the build. If you are fortunate it will be small and early, and you can fix it before you go on. These are the times that…
The Little World 