Category: Canadian aircraft
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Douglas Boston MkIII – Part One – A Plum

Every so often a piece of ripe fruit – a plum of a model kit in this case – falls right into my lap. Upon reflection, it might have fallen to me 8 months ago when I was in Melbourne, but no matter – it has plopped down now, and I am delighted. I build…
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Cessna Crane – Part Three – You May Not Have Noticed

I just thought – you may not have noticed that the newly-completed RCAF Cessna Crane has been painted yellow. They do that in case you are likely to stumble into it in a darkened hangar… So I follow suit. I make up a mixture of Mr. Color lacquer – one full bottle of No. 109…
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Cessna Crane – Part Two – It’s Not A Trainer

At least, I don’t think it is. I think it’s a small transport aircraft that can be disguised as a trainer. The Cessna Crane that I speculated about in the first post appears in bright yellow RCAF trainer livery in every historic shot I can find of it. Nowhere so far does it appear in…
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Cessna UC-78A – Part One – A Cat Becomes A Bird

I’ve written before about the RCAF’s aircraft nomenclature and how it can be alternately logical and puzzling. I’m not sure if this is because it is an armed service or an armed service run by Ottawa… In any case, I leaped upon the KP model of the USAAF Cessna UC-78A Bobcat when it showed on…
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Lockheed Electra Junior – Part Four – RCAF 1941

My model building hobby is a focused thing, but it is soft focus…I love to build nearly any kind of 1:72 airplane…but I have a special preference for planes flown by the RCAF. Whenever I’m cruising the aisles of the hobby shops I am measuring up prospective purchases on the basis of whether they ever…
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Lockheed Electra Junior – Part Three – The Bare Torso

The two colours of plastic in the Lockheed kit were startling on the sprue trees but have become less so when assembled together. As they will shortly disappear under an undercoat and then silver they are of no consequence. Of greater import is the splendid fit of the structure. Making up the twin-rudder tail separately…
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Lockheed Electra Junior – Part Two – A Surprising Amount Of Fit

Experience with Czech short-run kits can be mixed. Fit issues, over-complex construction, and unclear instructions all loom every time you pop the box top or open the side door. However, the first stages of the Electra Junior have been pleasant. The cockpit is a resin casting. though nowhere near as complex as it might have…
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Lockheed Electra Junior – Part One – Dutch Surprise

The third purchase on a happy visit to a distant hobby shop was a Special Hobby kit. These are always more expensive than the big maker’s offerings but can be had for subjects that would never be kitted otherwise. I am always surprised at the things I see in this class of model. Measuring the…
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Curtiss Hawk Model 75 – Part Five – Ready To Fly, Ole

The Curtiss Hawk Model 75 Has joined the Royal Norwegian Air Force at their base in Little Norway… AKA Toronto Island Airport in Canada. A hub of Norwegian training. They were delivered to the Norwegian training base on the shore of Lake Ontario from the US – part of an order that had not been…

