Category: British aircraft
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Sopwith Pup – Part Three – Anzac

Interestingly enough, this turns out to be an aircraft of the RNAS. Was it flown by someone from Australia or New Zealand? never mind – the decals are excellent and have gone on with no silvering at all. They are not so complex as to require softening solutions, either. A thoroughly enjoyable two days build…
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Sopwith Pup – Part Two – Bits And Pieces

It took me a long time to realise that you get further if you go slower. Specifically, you get a better paint job if you can do all the pieces separately. This is most easily done with biplanes and other early fliers ; their joints are natural divisions for paint colour. Nothing is faired into…
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Sopwith Pup – Part One – Fresh In The Shop

Fresh from 1973, mind – courtesy of Airfix’s Vintage Classics range. This is fresh this week from the local shop, and at a price that seems laughably low. I have just this sense of humour, so I grabbed it and chortled my way to the till. The opening of the old-style box was not a…
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Swedish Hampden – Part One – An Excuse

A very good excuse… a. For a trip to the local hobby shop. b. To purchase a fresh Airfix ” Vintage Classic “. c. To use up the decals that I got with my first Hampden. d. To see if Airix have corrected the flaws of that first kit. I do not really expect (d.)…
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Short Skyvan – Part One – Never Saw It Coming

Which is remarkably short-sighted of me – this thing is as wide as a house trailer. And as long and as high. In fact, if it had an oil stove and a porch you could take your muddy boots off in, you could park it in Peace River for the winter… Never before have I…
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RAF Puma – Part Three – Old Faithful

The Colde Wellcombe helicopter hack. When you need to be moved from one miserable part of the country to another, you call out the Colde Wellcombe duty Puma. Bob and Ian are always ready to do their duty, as long as the mess is closed. You may wish to avoid calling them out on Saturday…
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RAF Puma – Part Two – Seats

” You know what, Bob? We’re not flying a helicopter…” Well, what are we flying? ” A bus. We’re flying a bloody bus. Look at that row of seats aft and tell me we’re not just bus drivers. God, I dread it when school comes back…” And so it goes in the RAF helicopter trade.…
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RAF Puma – Part One – Vintage Helo

Another Airfix Vintage Classic on the shelf – don’t mind if I do… Yikes – Scalemates says this kit was first released in 1973 and has been steadily re-released with different artwork ever since. It is like a bus on a roundabout – just wait to get aboard until it next circles past… I am…
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Don’t Forget The Aerogard…

And the mosquito netting. Otherwise you’ll be bothered to death. Kudos to the SMCWA for their depictions of TV and movie themes in the recent WASMex exhibition. The idea made very good use of models that were already in the member’s collections as well as some new ones made especially for the show. Recognise the…
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Canada Geese

In Autumn, you can hear them in the sky as they fly south: ” Honk, Honk, Honk “. In Spring you hear them flying north. ” Eh, Eh, Eh…” You sportsmen and sporting gals get to gun them down on the journey south but the Mounties’ll arrest you if you do the same on their…
