Category: camouflage
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Consolidated B-24 D – Part Five – Unloved 23790

I am not going to assign a position to Unloved in the various waves of USAAF bombers that hit Ploesti in Romania. There are scholarly books that can report on every ship and crew that made the raid. I am just satisfied that it has most of the salient features of that early B-24 model…
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Consolidated B-24 D – Part Four – If It Was Any Uglier

It could stand for Parliament in a Queensland marginal seat… As it is, the basic airframe is a beauty – straight and true and that with very little filling or fettling. The wings slipped into a recess in the fuselage sides so that the cement joint was completely hidden. I am a nervous modeller and…
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Well, Hello Masking Fluid

Goodbye putty worms. My Facebook feed has just put up a reel of the world’s only flying Avro Anson Mk I in preparation for take-off. The shot is of the starboard wing, engine, and nose. The colour scheme is the standard RAF Dark Earth and Dark Green. And all the colour edges are sharp lines.…
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Junkers D.1 – Part Three – Gerry And The Wrinkles

Sounds like a geriatric pop group, doesn’t it? In this case it is good old Junkers and their good old metal folding mill. They had an idea and they stuck to it, and we are stuck with it. Don’t get me wrong – I understand the principle of the corrugation and applaud it in fences…
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When Physics Doesn’t Help

There is a rule in motion picture production when using scale models in action scenes; fire and water won’t work. Not that it isn’t done…but it is very rarely done well. The physics of fluids mean that scale ships never sail as well as real ones. A miniature explosion always gives itself away. Note that…
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LeO 45 – Part Four – Art Deco Bomber

People who google images of this French early-war bomber may see something stuck underneath it. There is a dust-bin turret that drops down from a position just aft of the cockpit to allow an unfortunate crew member to fire a single short machine gun at attackers under the plane. It is included in the kit,…
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Mitsubishi Babs – Part Three – An Observant Aircraft

It goes to temple every weekend… The Mitsubishi Ki-15 was possibly very useful to the Imperial Japanese Army – depending upon where it was sent and what was going on down on the ground. The aerial observation of enemy movements – whether that was Chinese or Soviet – could have guided the high command to…
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Mitsubishi Babs – Part Two – Just When You Thought…

Just when you thought modelling could not become uglier…I had a good idea. The camouflage patterns for many aircraft are wavy, blobby things. You can spray them freehand or mask them, but in most cases of 1:72 planes, masking is better. I’ve tried many different ways of doing it, but settled upon the putty worms…
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Mitsubishi Babs – Part One – The Name

I have heard it put forward that the designations we give to our land, sea and air models should conform to the original languages of the makers. Thus, this Mitsubishi product should be known as a Ki-15-I Karigane or Army Type 97 Command Reconnaissance Aircraft. Or alternately, the Wild Goose. All of which will bewilder,…
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Dornier Do 27 – Part Four – Dror

Hebrew word for ” freedom ” or ” sparrow “. I favour the latter meaning when applied to this little Dornier observation aircraft. They were active in the IDF between 1964 and 1981 – a very active period. The internet says they were initially attached to the delightfully-named ” flying camel ” squadron. Observation, liaison,…
