Category: Australian aircraft
-
RAAF Spitfire Mk Vc – Part Five – Dawn

Australian historians of the RAAF, of WW2, of the Spitfire, and of No. 79 Sqn should have a field day with this Italeri model. They can spend hours finding faults in it and listing them, from the failure to have the exact wing to the lack of seatbelts to the inclusion of the Maytag washing…
-
RAAF Spitfire Mk Vc – Part Four – Where You Can Stick It

On your underside… On the workbench – in the spray booth. And with the comforting knowledge that it won’t fall off. I have tried a dozen different ways of holding scale model aircraft during the painting process; by the tail, by the nose, with a stick up the jet pipe, etc. All have their uses,…
-
RAAF Spitfire Mk Vc – Part Three – Peg ‘0 My Heart

I love you… Okay, there is an earworm for you. If you are too young to know the tune put your cap on backwards, go away, and stare at your mobile phone. I am the strange old guy in the supermarket that looks at clothes pegs. Or the weirdo in Bunnings that tests out every…
-
RAAF Spitfire Mk Vc – Part One – A Plane Chasing A Decal

The impetus for this Spitfire build came from a recently-completed model of a High Planes Wirraway. It went so well and the Czech DK Decals sheet for it was so easy to use that I glanced down to discover there was a full Spit layout on the sheet as well. A White-tail too, which I…
-
What Do You Do When It All Starts?

Starts to go pear-shaped… Make cider, possibly. Or begin to panic. Panic is always a good choice as it gets the circulation going nicely. And you get a lot more done when you are screaming. Some kit builds progress well – they are logical procedures that flow from one to another as the structure matures.…
-
Historical Friends

I hope that’s right – I tried ” Hysterical Friends ” and the auto-correct passed that as well… One of the groups I belong to is called ” Historical Modelling Friends “. We meet either at the Cambridge Public Library in Floreat or at my studio in Willetton. The sessions are always modelling afternoons –…
-
The Peculiar Model

The oddity. The kit that everyone else avoids. The scratch-built model that no-one has ever heard of. In other words – just down your alley. I have been the recipient of numerous models that fit into this category – and I’ve gone out and spent actual money on others. Not a lot of it, mind,…
-
Airfix Boomerang – Part Four – Classy Vintage

Well, if the Airfix 2023 announcements are anything to go by, it is going to be a good year for Vintage Classics. And if this kit is a sample of what will come along I shall buy the entire range. The result at the end of the build has been all I could ask for…
-
Airfix Boomerang – Part Three – Jackson’s Art Mask

Well, in for a penny, in for a pound…I tried the Art Spectrum masking fluid from Jackson’s Art Supplies in earnest. The bottle seems a lot like Humbrol Maskol, except slightly thinner. It doesn’t have quite the strong formaldehyde odour of Maskol, but it’s latex, all right. If you do not clean a brush in…

