Category: Czech models
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Mitsubishi Peggy – Part One – Buddy Holly

At the risk of alienating my readers, I would like to recall them to the 1957 song by Buddy Holly: ” Peggy Sue ” and let it play in their minds. It will do so all day, I assure you… The Mitsubishi ” Hiryu ” bomber is a Hasegawa kit that came up in the…
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Avro Tutor – Part Four – The Yellow Sheep Of The Fold

Well that was an instructive two weeks. I’ve had as much as I can take and the Avro Tutor has had as much construction as it is going to get. Purists will cavil at the lack of rigging but I know my limitations. I will eventually try to rig something but it’ll be a better…
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Avro Tutor – Part Two – So Far, So Good

The assembly of the AZ Avro Tutor so far is encouraging. the fuselage is straight and the interior built up nicely – I even managed the photo-etch seat belts as the cockpit is open. The landing gear is solid once the three struts are braced against each other. The tail wheel will never last…
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Avro Tutor – Part One – A Venture Into The Unknown

I am not a novice in the business of a Czech kit. I know that there are beauties and beasts amongst them – I cut my teeth on one of the latter and am always grateful now when I meet with the former. This AZ model was ordered in the same batch that saw the…
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Good To Go

One of the favourite expressions of Phil Flory on his vlog shows. I like it as it is a comfortable thing to hear – at least something has succeeded. The latest model may be a festering mass of foam and fingerprints but by the time it has hardened and you’ve gotten your fingers unstuck from…
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Miles Magister – Part Three – Yellow And Silver

The Miles Magister will join my club of planes that look like they can fly right – sweet, sleek craft that give confidence in their aerodynamics and do not depend upon brute force to heave themselves off the ground. Aircraft that swoop, not lurch. I do like some of the cruder planes as well, but…
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Miles Magister – Part Two – Square and Solid

Well, I was right about the RS Magister – It is a nice kit. As there is so little to do in making it – though it is by no means a Hobby Boss production – the assembly is not boring. Of course there is the PE to deal with but even that is simple.…
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Miles Magister – Part One – Cute And Clean

Every so often you need to have a change from heavily-armed warplanes or state-of-the-art jets. You need something small and simple and bright. You need a trainer. Of course the real things were all this and more and perfectly able to kill instructors and students who made mistakes…but that is not what I am intending…
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Vought Kingfisher – Part Four – Neutrality Patrol

And armed with a couple of 100 pound bombs to enforce it. I cannot decide whether the Kingfisher as a land plane is gainly or ungainly compared to the floatplane version. The gear is not too spindly but difficult enough to assemble. It must have been quite a drag for the plane – otherwise quite…
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Vought Kingfisher – Part Two – The Inside Job

Well, if you’re gonna be inside for weeks, you might as well do airplane interiors. In the case of some of the short-run Czech kits, just a few hours can seem like weeks. But sometimes you can be fooled. When I saw this Kingfisher’s insides I could see all the Czech troubles beginning again; no…
