Category: Czech models
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Mirage III CJ – Part Five – The Cavalry
That was the phrase used to describe the Mirage IIIC in a recent YouTube story about the Yom Kippur war. Apparently two Israeli F4 Phantoms were engaging a vastly greater number of MiGs that were trying to destroy a desert airfield. The Mirages were touted as the cavalry coming to save the Phantoms, but I…
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Mirage III CJ – Part Three – Let’s Give The Customers Something…
What shall it be? Accurate instruction sheets? Flawless mouldings? Adequate colour information? I have it – let’s just give them trouble. It’ll be fun and cheap and we can do it by making bad decisions. Like avoiding a centre seam on the top of the Mirage fuselage that could be smoothed and polished easily –…
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Mirage III CJ – Part Two – The Approximate Cockpit
I confess myself mystified at the philosophy that spends money to mould a resin seat of truly superb quality and then cannot make adequate provision to anchor it accurately within the fuselage. I admit that it is unlikely to escape once the two halves of the thing are cemented together, but the business of deciding…
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Curtiss Model 75 A-4 – Part Three – Wings Over The Workbench
I was right – a model with no filler needed. Not to be sneezed at, even with Spring bring hay fever. The minute shaving and sanding of the wing roots has resulted in no gaps. The tail likewise, though this has been pinned for strength. This is not to praise inordinately. The achievement of a…
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Curtiss Model 75 A-4 – Part Two – Interior Precision
I am not a fan of super-detailed cockpits. They seem to be too much trouble for too little reward. But I do admire the AML company for the all-resin cockpit tub produced for this fighter plane. I has popped together with a precision that is rarely seen. Not without effort, I might add. Resin parts…
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Charles Schultz Said Happiness Was A Warm Puppy
Charles Addams agreed, but recommended gravy with it. So it is with the scale model building hobby. We are offered many kits of things that are essentially the same, but with a different twist. Take the example of the Japanese battleship YAMATO. I have seen it in commercial form in every scale from 1:3000 to…
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When Is An Apple Not An Apple?
When it is drawn as a diagram on the instruction sheet of a scale model piece of fruit. Then – particularly if the kit is from Prague – the part that looks like a Granny Smith, Mackintosh, or Cox’s Pippin could well be an aileron or de-icing strip. There will be few written notes to…
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Fokker D.XXI – Part Three – 1939
Ist Fighter Squadron, De Kooy, Netherlands. Autumn 1939. Den Helder was the location and the Dutch had about 30 operational Fokker D.XXI fighters at the base. They were used in May 1940 as defence against the Luftwaffe and the official history records some remarkable successes for the type. It was more manoeuvrable than the Bf…
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Fokker D.XXI – Part Two – Dutch Canals
And a surprise – as the rest of this MPM kit fit together superbly. The gaps either side of the wing fillet were the only areas on this fighter that needed a filling. Fully deep, but narrow, possible to bridge with Vallejo acrylic putty. It dries quickly enough not to be an impediment to the…
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Fokker D.XXI – Part One -SOOTB Fighter
I have so few Dutch aircraft in my collection that this stash buy is a real asset – Let us hope the kit is up to MPM standards. New MPM standards, I hasten to add. The canopy is clear injection and there is only the wretched resin propeller boss and separate blades to gloom the…
The Little World 