Category: British aircraft
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Bristol Beaufighter – Part Three – The Principle Of Opposing Forces
Relax. This isn’t a political philosophy book. It’s still about plastic airplanes. The warped Airfix Beaufighter fuselage has been tamed. It took all day to do what might have been accomplished in a half hour, but we were on lockdown and time was elastic. The warp in the fuselage also warped the perception of how…
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Bristol Beaufighter – Part Two – Ce N’est Pas…
Ce n’est pas de plus beau… Oh, it’s a Beaufighter all right, and a marvellously complex moulding design. But someone in India pulled it out of the mould early and hot and it cooled on the bench. So the two halves of the fuselage have taken their own particular set – and the interior floor…
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Bristol Beaufighter – Part One – The Beginning Of A Beautiful Friendship
I’ll just round up the usual suspects… I can’t think why I have not pulled a new Airfix Beaufighter off the shelf at Hobbytech sooner. Goodness knows they have had them for some time – both this version and a later model with a radar…
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Hawker Sea Fury – Part Four – Perfect Paki
The PM model of the Hawker Sea Fury is just done and onto the photo table. It has been a symphony of pleasant surprises right from the start. And it’s a good lesson for the modern modeller – particularly the person who hangs on every internet report and thinks that there are experts who know…
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Hawker Sea Fury – Part Three – If You Look Very Carefully…
And I did. I did look carefully. And I’m glad I did. The external fuel tanks of the PM Models Hawker Sea Fury fit together very well. A lick of MEK, a clamp, and they were ready for sanding. And not a lot of that needed – the seams fit very well. As I had…
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Hawker Sea Fury – Part Two – Hours Of Building
About two, as it happened. And part of the time was spent making beef pies in the kitchen. This aircraft kit is a fair way shy of the 1000-piece puzzle… But the pieces that do exist are rewarding. Well-shaped, and with few flaws. The wings and fuselage went together with the kind of precision that…
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Hawker Sea Fury – Part One – A New Maker
I’m a bigger sucker for novelty than I readily admit – I make noises like all the old goods and methods are the best and the new ones are rubbish, and you’d think I have not advanced since the 1950’s. But in truth l’m always buying something new from the shops just to try it…
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Armstrong Whitworth Whitley Mk V – Part Six – Wet Dog Whitley
As a departure from my normal reveal photos, I have delved into the archives of RCAF WET DOG and found three pictures – taken on period Kodachrome A film by an Air Force publicity photographer – documenting a visit of the Whitley to the Alberta prairies. I think there must have been an official delegation…
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Armstrong Whitworth Whitley Mk V – Part Five – Decision Time
The decision must be taken – and in this case the materials available for the job have decided me. The AW will be all-black. Before it will be so, It will be all grey, of course. In this case the undercoat is Mr. Surfacer 1000. This, or the Mr. Surfacer 1200, is my preferred undercoat…
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Armstrong Whitworth Whitley Mk V – Part Four – We Have An Airplane
That magic stage of a build when the sprue trees have blossomed and fruited, and we have a recognisable airplane on the bench. It is one of the most heartening experiences in a modeller’s day. Of course some people spend literally weeks detailing subassemblies and parts for the eventual assembly, but I like to get…
The Little World 