Category: Australian aircraft
-
Pilatus PC-21 – Part Five – RAAF Roulette
The Pilatus PC-21 were ready to fly – the next batch of pilot trainees due to make their solos. One of them was the son of my niece. I have a short reel of him flying that first solo taken by a squadron mate. It is detailed enough to make out the number of the…
-
Pilatus PC-21 – Part Four – Decal Phobia
Fear of water-slide transfers, if you wish to be pedantic… It strikes us all at one time or another. We see a commemoration scheme on the box lid and are lured into getting a kit with complex curved surfaces. The real-life plane or vehicle is painted by professionals with masks, spray guns, and a lot…
-
Pilatus PC-21 – Part Three – The Double Mask
The look of this Swiss trainer in RAAF service is a bit daunting – all that colour and complex markings. Yet, like every paint job in the world, it yields to careful study of individual parts. You just have to mentally look past the complex decals to the basic colours – red, blue and white.…
-
Pilatus PC-21 – Part Two – My Faith Rewarded
Remember I said I was confident in the new Swiss kit? Well, it is getting better. A dry-fit stage is not a perfect thing – you can miss slightly less obvious gaps and misalignment…only to have them show up and bite at cement time. However this time it looks as if the cockpit tub fits…
-
Pilatus PC-21 – Part One – Serendipity
The definition of the word links random occurrences that produce a beneficial result – in short good luck. It has started for me with the donation of this new kit. The firm that makes it – 3D Blitz Models – seem to be Swiss. This will be one of the few occasions when I have…
-
Well Sir, I See’d It
It were right there – right in front of everbody. Ya couldn’t hardly miss it. Little ol’ box – ’bout the size of a 1/72 Mustspitschmitt. Sez it is an 1/72 RAAF trainer with decals. Sorta thing an Australian model plane person might like to build. Might like to build if they have a spare…
-
CAC Wirraway – Part Six – No. 4 Sqn RAAF
I have been googling No. 4 Sqn in WW2 with reference to the Wirraway. These were busy aircraft. The squadron was generally intended for reconnaissance when it was formed before the war and was working closely with the Australian Army and US Army in New Guinea throughout the conflict. It looks as if this was…
-
CAC Wirraway – Part Five – Foliage Green
And Sky Blue, and let the colour contestants retire to their corners and come out fighting. I was fortunate to receive a book from a friend full of careful tests and colour patches for WW2 aircraft. It contained references for RAAF Foliage Green and Earth Brown and I was able to mix reasonable matches with…
-
CAC Wirraway – Part Four – Gappy vs Gapless
It is pretty simple to guess whether kit builders prefer their models with good or bad fit. But if there is going to be a situation in between – where do you want the gaps to fall? The aircraft modeller generally sees it in wings and tail, with the ambitious factories inventing new places to…
-
CAC Wirraway – Part Three – An Evergreen Cockpit
When the world gives you bare cockpits you just go out and build your own. The High planes Wirraway is a kit on a budget and there doesn’t seem to be enough in the kitty for much interior. I count a cockpit floor, two seats, two control sticks, and a couple of instrument panels. As…
The Little World 