Category: Colour Schemes
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CAC Wirraway – Part Five – Foliage Green

And Sky Blue, and let the colour contestants retire to their corners and come out fighting. I was fortunate to receive a book from a friend full of careful tests and colour patches for WW2 aircraft. It contained references for RAAF Foliage Green and Earth Brown and I was able to mix reasonable matches with…
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RCAF Hudson – Part Four – 145 (BR) Sqn

Eastern Air Command, Torbay, Newfoundland. Well, if you cannot have dedicated patrol bombers from the British Air Ministry, you buy or borrow them from the USAAF. Pressed into service for a long time, they did succeed in sinking a U-Boat and damaging several, The last few years of their service was arduous and even the…
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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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We Need A Dedicated Decal Printer

The internet is always going on about 3D printing and the way it will revolutionise the hobby. Some people have these devices and do wonders with commercial programs and models. Yet the same facility is not extended to the decal makers – we are thrown back on commercial inkjet or laser printers. Or we order…
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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 Four – Mask, Spray…

Rinse, Repeat, repeat, repeat. It’s all your own fault, you know. You chose a scheme that has more than one colour and spurned the maker’s decal sheet. You could have done it as a prototype with bare metal, a works number, and be done in time for tea. But no, you had to pick something…
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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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Gloster Meteor F.8 – Part Two – IAF

And wasn’t that a clever idea, Great Britain? Selling Gloster Meteors to the Israelis and De Havilland Vampires to the Egyptians? Bit of export cash in the old exchequer, What? And a good leg in either bed, no matter who won, eh? Pip,Pip…! Looks like GB supplied Meteors to Egypt and Syria as well. Jordan…
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A Good Reason

Vs no reason at all. If you want a history of design you have no further to look than the RFC/RAF roundels. Airborne identification is very sensible indeed – people bent on murder need to positively identify their enemies. The roundel, cross, star, or other symbol on an aircraft wing lets you see it at…
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Mirage III CJ – Part Four – Who’s Hiding?

And from whom? Where are they lurking? Is it all just nonsense these days? I have no idea – I presume the various air forces have worked out how to hide in the air with grey paint and rubber knobs on every sharp point of an aircraft. The business of greying out national insignia to…
