Category: British aircraft
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Percival Provost T Mk 1 – Part two – Just Wants A Red Nose

And clown shoes. And a tiny little car to leap out of… I am quite taken with the Percival Provost as a sensible little training aircraft. The idea of putting the student and instructor side by side is excellent, and the fact that it can be done behind a radial engine even better. The landing…
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Percival Provost T Mk1 – Part One – The Box In A Box

I was delighted when my friend Warren presented me with this Matchbox Percival Provost – inasmuch as it has passed through three sets of hands for free I hope to make mine the last ones before it becomes an airplane. It was found inside another model box purchased at a secondhand arms and militaria fair…
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Hawker Sea Hawk – Part Three – All Ready, Murphy.

” Well, she’s ready for delivery, Murphy. I’ve rung up Air World and they’ll be sending a low loader to get it. Don’t fold them wings up until it gets here, in case they won’t unfold again. And you might unbolt the rockets for the trip – don’t want ’em getting loose on the highway.…
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Hawker Seahawk – Part Two – Ess Bend Aviation

Now that the contract for refurbishing aircraft has been let out to Ess bend Aviation in Alberta, Stein’s Air World can concentrate upon preparing museum displays rather than spreading an aircraft over an entire shop for years. This is what happens when in-house restoration is undertaken. Here are a couple of pictures of the work…
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Hawker Sea Hawk – Part One – Memories of the 60’s

A casual post on the internet alerted me that my favourite go-to model company had released a 1:72 version of one of my favourite models of the 1960’s: the Hawker Sea Hawk. And this one from Hobby Boss was reported to be more than just a quick-build kid’s kit. Be that as it may, I…
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Airfix Mosquito – Part One – The Free Skeeter

Is there any nicer word in the English language than ” free “?* I was attracted to this Airfix model of the Mosquito NF MkII when I saw it on the free kit table of the Model Car Spectacular earlier in the year. If you put in an entry you got a number that was…
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De Havilland Vampire T.11 – Part Four – Baked Bat

It’s not your eyes. Your eyes are fine. It’s not your computer. You need not re-calibrate it. The scale model Vampire T.11 really looks like that. And its counterpart in the Negev does too. The desert sun has very little air shade, no ground shade, and winds that blast from all directions. The paint that…
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De Havilland Vampire T.11 – Part Three – Do Not Decal

At least do not decal when you can paint. I am in awe of modellers who can make a decal panel lay down over an undulating wing or fuselage and have it come out taut and flat with no silvering or air bubbles. Even more so when the decal involves several panels abutting each other.…
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De Havilland Vampire T.11 – Part Two – Voila

No apologies for going from the bare kit parts to the glued-together carcass…it has been a busy two days. The model building club’s rooms have air conditioning and so does my computer room – I have repaired to them to escape the 40º plus heat in Perth. My workshop goes far above that on a…
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De Havilland Vampire T.11 – Part One – Going Batty
By now you probably feel you have reason to question my sanity – I am starting to build my third De Havilland Vampire in 1:72 scale. One DH.100 as a Canadian museum piece, then a Swiss Vampire with extended nose, and now a two-seat trainer. What is it with these bats? Well, the first was…
