Category: British aircraft
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Gloster Gladiator Mk I – Part One – I’m 14 Again
The last time I built an Airfix Gladiator I was 14 and had 50¢ to spend. I am older than that now, and richer, and glad to see that Airfix have kept up the pace – issuing this new kit a couple of years ago. It is vastly more detailed, with weighted tyres, alternate propellers,…
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Westland Whirlwind – Part Three – The Admiral’s Barge
Part of my research material about this green -and-white helicopter suggests that it wore these colour so that it could function as an ornate flying Admiral’s barge for part of the Royal Navy. Other sources assign it a training role at a Naval Air Station. Whichever is correct – and they both may be –…
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Westland Whirlwind – Part Two – Building Someone Else’s Memories
This Westland helicopter model of the late 50’s from Airfix seems to figure largely in the memories of other people. Everyone I have shown the box to seems to have built it back in the day and are scathing about it. I am fresh to the neighbourhood and am starting to feel somewhat wary –…
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Westland Whirlwind – Part One – A Green Stranger
The Vintage Classic shelf again – this time something I have never built before – the Airfix Westland Whirlwind HAS.22. In reality, it was a Sikorsky S-55 sold to the Royal Navy. The original kit is apparently of late 50’s vintage though I never saw one in shops in Canada. Basic, as you would expect,…
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The Royal Fly-Under
At the recent coronation of the British king we saw a fly-past by the RAF. Helicopters first, for some obscure reason, then the Red Arrows trailing multicoloured smoke, then a Royal anthem, and then nothing… The RAF may have been booked elsewhere for the day. At least the Royal Navy did them proud. As the…
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Who Decided My Childhood?
No, I don’t mean my parents or the school teachers or the rock and roll industry – I mean who decided which prototypes to make into the plastic models that I built? Bear in mind it was a childhood in a part of North America that was under both American and British influence. Airfix, FROG,…
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De Havilland DH2 – Part Four – You Got To Push It
To make it go… Think of this as a proto-Vampire made of wood and cloth. The SOOTB Revell WW1 kit can be good or bad. So far most of mine have been in the former category. I realise that further construction may push the joke too far, and will switch makers shortly. But while I’m…
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De Havilland DH2 – Part Three – Wing Day
Well there is no point in putting it off and just sitting in the club rooms drinking coffee. Glue the bastard together or go home. 12 struts – reasonably formed for all that. 4 cabanes and 8 inter-plane ones. Socket dimples in fuselage and wings, but everything’s separate. The only saving grace is that all…
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De Havilland DH2 – Part Two – Shit Muckeldy Dun
You rarely see that shade on paint racks these days. There are plenty of colours that qualify, but they tend to have kinder names. The Spanish make a small fortune in tiny squeeze bottles of them. They invent names that suggest you need them for your model – in reality you just need olive green…
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De Havilland DH2 – Part One – Another Revellation
This little guy was sitting forlornly in the legacy sale box – along with the Fokker Eindekker and the Nieuport 28. Well, if you are in for a penny… The idea of making a 1:72 scale model of something this spindly is pretty desperate – as much on my part as on that of Revell…
The Little World 