Category: camouflage
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Curtiss P-40 – Part One – The Roaring Forties
This is to be a dual-build…two kits constructed at the same time to make a team for display. But the team members will not to be entirely identical – one plane is a short-tailed P40E and one a long-tailed P40N. Their common point of reference is the Curtiss design and the fact that both marques…
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Martin Marauder – Part Three – The Wobbly Line
A new experiment in painting – the demarcation line on the Martin Marauder is a wavy one – a particularity of the USAAF planes at the time. I am going to try to duplicate it by masking off a mean curved line with Tamiya tape and then developing the curves with masking fluid. See the heading…
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Post Mask Masking
The rise in the hobby of airbrushing models is the best business gift that could ever have been handed to the makers of masking tape. It they are prepared to slice it, we are prepared to buy it…and at exorbitant prices. And we’re prepared to use it lavishly. Everyone I know who does plastic kits…
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When To Decal
When to pause from your day’s task of cutting, cementing, painting, and cursing to apply your model’s decals? Is there a right time? Is there a wrong time? Don’t just depend on the maker’s instruction sheet – they have their own priorities and one of them might be to sell more sheets of decals. It’s…
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North American Sabre – Part Five – NATO Defenders
The RCAF maintained a presence in Europe all during the Cold War, contributing fighter and reconnaissance units to continental defence. Whether the Sabres would have been all that effective in later years is debatable but by then there were CF 104 Starfighters as well. The basic colour scheme was that of the British units of…
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North American Sabre – Part Four – The Aliens Are Not Coming
But that doesn’t stop me from putting on my tinfoil hat. I’m not repelling mind control – I’m keeping out stray spray paint. I find occasionally that I have a need for a trim colour that is too big for brushing but too small for a major masking stage. In the case of the Sabre…
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North American Sabre – Part Three – The Putty Worms Win Again
The debate about how to put on soft-edge British camouflage seems to have finally been decided – the J. Burrows Tuff Tac is the answer for most effects. The Sabre needs a simple day fighter scheme and in this case the contours are very smooth – no better time to trial the new technique. There…
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North American Sabre – Part One – Why Is It So Hard To Build It Easy?
Answer – because we have so many choices. The Airfix North American F-86 E Sabre and the Canadair Mk 4 Sabre seem very similar in their boxes. The outside art changes and the decal sheets are different but I’m willing to bet I’m going to find the same plastic inside the clear bag on this…
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The More Chemicals You Use…
The closer you get to TNT. I was drawn to this conclusion by a painting disaster. I’d masked over AK lacquer paint with the GSI Creos firm’s Mr Masking Neo solution – the light blue rubber solution that remains elastic after it dries. The material came in an attractive bottle with a brush and I…
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The Rough Finish
My modelling club has a number of senior members who seem to build model armour as their specialty. I don’t know if they are former members of the Royal Australian Armoured Corps or not, though from conversations a number certainly seem to be ex-servicemen. I am envious of their kits – the modern tanks in…
The Little World 