Category: Czech models
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Čmelák – Part Four – Flying Fertiliser

I was fascinated with the instruction sheet for this Czech model as it detailed the service life of the Z-37A agricultural aircraft. It would appear that they are used for crop dusting and spraying in equal measure in middle Europe and are in some areas of the west as well. The planes are working for…
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Čmelák – Part Two – Nothing Agricultural

Nothing crude about Eduard scale model kits. At least if this little crop duster is anything to go by. The mouldings on the sprue trees are superb. In fact I would rate them as highly as some people rate Tamiya offerings in the same scale. For a person who built some of the very early…
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Čmelák – Part One – Oh, I Don’t Know

” I’ve never built an Eduard kit – I might as well… And here are two versions – the Profipack and the Weekend. Three dollars difference in them…but I suspect that the dearer one would have photo-etch that I hate. Why not save a few bucks? Looks like I get four choices of Czech markings…
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Airfix Junkers 87 – Part Two – Inside The Office

Approaching an aircraft build with trepidation is always disheartening. But some kits beg it – the Czech short-run ones or the Russian re-pops often have too much inside or nothing at all. We have all seen the pilot figure stuck to a post from one side of the fuselage – or worse; nothing whatsoever under…
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Finnish Brewster Buffalo – Part Two – All In A Day’s Play

I have given up days of work. Now I slave away at a hobby… it is much more trouble… And I should not have it otherwise. I can remember employment and practice and professional education and have no desire whatsoever to go back and re-commence them. If I had to do it all over again,…
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AVIA B.534 – Part Three – Great Patriotic Uprising

October 1944. The Slovaks rose up against the German occupation. They failed. But while they tried, they gained eternal fame, and part of that attempt was made with the Czech AVIA B.543 fighters. Biplanes against modern Messerschmitts and Focke Wulfes. You can guess what happened… I never knew this – the odd insignia on the…
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AVIA B.534 – Part Two – When One Wing Is Not Enough

Not enough to cause you enough unease… Try two or more. Add the struts and see if your eyes are starting to swim. With a bit of luck there will be eight or more and your happiness will recede so far that you’ll never see it. I was worried when I saw that the AVIA…
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AVIA B.534 – Part One – A Newcastle Model Kit

Newcastle model? A Newcastle model is one you encounter unexpectedly and seize upon. It is a case of never letting a chance go by…refer to Bob Hudson’s song for further instructions. This old Czech KP kit is from the 1980’s. The box had seen service, but at least protected the sprue trees, decals and instructions.…
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ME 262 – Part Four – A New Name

A new name for a new country – this has now become an Avia S92 Turbina…and has ended its days in a Prague air museum. Not a bad fate for an airframe that was on the cutting edge of technology at the time. The remaining stocks of the Me 262 that German war production had…
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Potez 63-11 – Part Two – Having A Fit

A tight fit. The Azur model of the Potez 63-11 is probably fairly old in the Czech modelling world. I think the firm that makes these models has retired the name in favour of their ” Special Hobby ” marque. This one is from the multi-media days of styrene/resin/brass. So far the fit of the…
