Category: Civil aircraft
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Junkers F.13 -Part One – Corrugated Iron
Corrugated aluminium, actually. Hugo Junkers’ favourite material. He built a lot of things out of it – I suspect that it featured in water heaters, aircraft, and possibly underwear. The twenties roared in Dessau… This example of a Junkers all-metal airliner caught my eye on the Revell shelf. Then research showed it to be a…
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Wenn Ist Genug?
A question for all of us – but in this case for the model builder who is puttying up their kit. When do you stop? a. When all the seam lines are full. b. When you run out of putty. c. When you have lost the will to live. If ( b. ) or (…
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I Remember Air Travel…
And that lovely crispy bacon you got before the war… The local airlines used to get a yearly contribution from me to visit Sydney or Melbourne. Not last year, and not this one, and maybe not next year, either…but hopefully some year after that. I hope the Sandowne Park model expo is still going then.…
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Morane Saulnier MS 230 – Part Four – The First Of The Few
The Morane Saulnier MS 230 trainer is ready to fly. The cadets of the RRAAF will finally have their own aircraft. It has been especially blessed by the Bishop of Strelsau – a comfort to the cadets. This was not possible at Hentzau Field, of course, but His Reverence blessed the individual parts as they…
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Morane Saulnier MS 230 – Part Two – End Of The Evening
I am vastly pleased so far with the Morane Saulnier MS 230 kit. I have a wing, a fuselage, wheels, and an aero engine. The fit of the kit is superb. No open seams and no filler needed. I may run afoul of the struts and wheel braces but I am being soothed by the…
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Ryan Spirit of St. Louis – Part Three – In Soviet Union…
Decals put you on. On the spot, on the griddle, on the booze. I’m going to give the Novo factory a pass on this one – and for all I know they are long gone. They may have done their best at the time. Unfortunately the time was the 1970’s and 80’s and this is…
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Ryan Spirit Of St. Louis – Part Two – Lonely
Well, he is lonely. But to give FROG/Novo their due, he is a pretty good representation of Lindberg dressed in period flying gear. He gets three slightly foggy windows to peer out of and a hard plastic seat, but then the real aircraft has a wicker seat in it that doesn’t look much better. The…
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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…
The Little World 