Category: Civil aircraft
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De Havilland Kate Moth – Part Two – Bobbing On The Lake
Nothing said sport flying like a Kate Moth on floats. Whether it was in the Yukon or Ontario, the Kate Moth formed reliable transportation for hunters, fishermen, and prospectors. Of course nothing heavier than a dead chipmunk could be flown out strapped to the floats, but these were prized anyway. Red floats are good for…
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De Havilland Kate Moth – Part One – Airfix of Middle Age
Grown old in the mould – but tarted up with a new box. This Airfix model is a 1990 re-box of a series of Moths that originally hatched in 1957. It started in a plastic baggie cocoon but eventually graduated to the small cardboard box. At least that allowed Airfix more surface area to print…
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Academy C118 Liftmaster – Part Three – Presidential Plane
There were a number of choices of livery for this Douglas aircraft kit. I chose the Republic Of China version as it was a presidential transport for a number of decades – replacing a previous DC-3. It is hard to find positive evidence on the net about the Academy decals but the actual plane itself…
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Academy C118 Liftmaster – Part Two – It’s All Outside
One of the distinct advantages/failings of the 1/144th scale kit is the fact that the insides are rarely seen. Indeed, for many of the airliners there are no side windows to cope with – it is all to be done at the decal stage. I welcome this if the decals are decently printed. However, you…
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Academy C118 Liftmaster – Part One – A Deliberate Choice
Having been given a number of 1:144th scale aircraft and successfully completed them…I have decided the scale is a good thing. My main collection is 1:72, of course, but many aircraft are just not made in this size. If they are, the larger ones like transports and bombers become behemoths that devour display space. It…
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Norcanair Bristol Freighter – Part Six – Manitoba
Winnipeg, actually. Remarkable place. When I was a child I spent a month there one week and I shall never forget it. The pills help, though… It is the site of the museum that houses CF-WCE – the Norcanair Bristol Freighter. Ex-RCAF, it served many years flying out of Saskatchewan to points north. Now it…
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Norcanair Bristol Freighter – Part Five – Winging It
At a certain point in the build, your new airplane becomes a nuisance. Up until then, it is a manageable fuselage, some tailplanes, and a pair of wings. Or many wings, if you are making a bi or tri-plane. All the parts can be kept in the original box. When the erection stage comes around,…
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Norcanair Bristol Freighter – Part Two – The Evitable
You can only put off the inevitable so long. Eventually it becomes horribly evitable and you either have to shit or climb off the pot. I finally had to start sawing on the Bristol. The vac-form plate was a surprisingly easy task. I’d YouTubed a group of modellers in Canberra who were discussing vac-form modelling…
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Norcanair Bristol Freighter – Part One – Airfix Again
And I could not be more delighted. Some years ago I purchased an Airfix kit for a Mk32 Bristol Superfreighter at WASMex. It cost a dizzying $ 10 and included a vac-form part for a new nose and tail assembly. I decided to build the Superfreighter in the original Airfix form and configure it as…
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Bristol Mk32 Superfreighter – Part Four – Ferryfield
Also known as Lydd Airport. Still exists in Kent and does a roaring trade in light plane movements. But the Bristol 170 era was the 50’s to the 80’s before roll-on-roll-off ferries at the seaports took the vehicular Channel traffic and the Channel Tunnel took the train passengers. They were flying an amazing number of…
The Little World 