Category: Colour Schemes
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FW 190 – Part Three – The Red Field Queen

That’s like a hangar queen but one they keep out in the open. This FW 190 was captured in Belgium at St. Trond (Sint Truiden ) and started life as White 11 of JG4. It was given a strong red coat of paint, USAAF markings, and a made-up registration number: OO-L as well as a…
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Curtiss Model 75 A-4 – Part Four – Ugly Duckling

The painting stage for some models can be a beautiful and uplifting experience. Car modellers may experience this as they apply colourful and glossy finishes. Railway modellers also have bright colours in the liveries. In the case of this Curtiss 75 the chosen palette seems to contain nothing but expired motor oil and dirt. Of…
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Well, It’s Official

You saw it here first. Ruritania, Liechtenstein, and Andorra have entered into a triple military alliance. This agreement – known as The Pact Of Zinc – should ensure mutual defence for the three nations and secure them from enemies in the east. Vaduz, Strelsau, and Andorra la Vella were bedecked with national flags entwined 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…
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Bristol Mk32 Superfreighter – Part Three – Who Was That Masked Whale?

Balance it up in your mind – whether you trust the decal makers to put a product out that will look like a painted surface, or whether you can make a painted surface look like a decal. If you can fold a 2-dimansional sheet of plastic paint to conform to a 3D surface with convex…
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Bristol Mk32 Superfreighter – Part Two – Bristol Box

Just seeing the kit parts in the cardboard box doesn’t prepare you for the shape of the Bristol 170…it is too unbelievably boxy to exist. Yet, it did. And my wife was a passenger on a number of flights on Bristol 170 air ferries between Lydd and Le Touquet. So the RCAF conversion has been…
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You Can Be Colour Deaf As Well As Blind

Some unfortunates cannot see certain colours. This must be a challenge for them when they undertake scale modelling, though the provision of reference material that makes use of standard paint numbers might see them through. As long as the kit makers and paint makers tell the truth to the builder ( and each other )…
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Walk On

What does Pablo Picasso think of your models? Hard to say. Sr. Picasso turned in his paella spoon many years ago. Anything we say about his opinions now would be just imagining. But I do suspect Pablo would approve of them…on one condition. Do you approve of them? Pablo Picasso walked his own line for…
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Hurricane Night Fighter – Part Three – Dirty Black

Or clean black, as in this case. I have not had the courage to spray the characteristic iridescent exhaust plume patterns on the side of this fighter -perhaps when the wing lights are ready… The shiny gloss coat over the black and the three days in the window for the old Matchbox decals worked well…
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Hurricane Night Fighter – Part One – The Leftover Matchbox

Orphaned on the club’s Shelf Of Neglect. Donated to yours truly, and eagerly seized upon. The kit was minus a canopy, but I have an extensive spares box. So this Hawker came to life. The Matchbox kits are sometimes criticised for having pronounced panel lines. As this was to be a semi-matt coal black finish…
