Category: Civil aircraft
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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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Douglas DC-3 – Part Five – Et Voila

There is a lesson to be learned with this Airfix model of a DC-3 in Aéronavale colours – and I must compel myself to learn it. It is a lesson of humility. At the start I thought this a marginal model – the sort of ugly cousin kit from an old company that had been…
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Stash Time

We are just starting a 5-day covid lockdown and fortunately our house has toilet paper, food, and books to read. The family has the goggle box and I have a stash. There are three kits a’building at present – one for the Tuesday Soviet Mens Shed meeting, one for the fortnightly glue and talk session,…
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Caudron C-635 – The Blue French Gem

To be specific; Bleu Baltique Metallique. This is the only post for this build – because I forgot to picture the early stages of it. They were fast ones – this Heller kit has only 34 pieces. But how lovely they are. The plane itself is a light aircraft of the 1930’s – purchased in…
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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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De Havilland Heron Mk II – Part One – Raised Expectations

And raised rivets, too. I had a happy childhood, and a great many of the happy occasions revolved around model kits. This included a number of the 1950’s and 60’s Airfix products. Merit, Monogram, Aurora, and Revell as well. So it’s with great delight that I see Airfix re-issue classic models from the era. I…
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Beechcraft Model 18 – Part Four – Spirit Of Lodgepole

CF-ACL is ready for service. The Spirit of Lodgepole is named after a small town in the Pembina that serves the oil industry and was once the main service town for the Brazeau Dam project. It had an RCMP post, a hotel, a school, and a general store, as well as repair shops for the…
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Fokker F-27 Friendship – Part Four – More Planning Needed

Relax, folks..all is going well. But I cannot help but think that it could have gone well more easily. I am not a patient man with puzzles. I can stand about 15 minutes of a jigsaw before I go out looking for strong drink. I do not read mysteries. I should have set fire to…
