Category: Decals
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Gloster Gladiator Mk I – Part One – I’m 14 Again
The last time I built an Airfix Gladiator I was 14 and had 50¢ to spend. I am older than that now, and richer, and glad to see that Airfix have kept up the pace – issuing this new kit a couple of years ago. It is vastly more detailed, with weighted tyres, alternate propellers,…
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Westland Whirlwind – Part Three – The Admiral’s Barge
Part of my research material about this green -and-white helicopter suggests that it wore these colour so that it could function as an ornate flying Admiral’s barge for part of the Royal Navy. Other sources assign it a training role at a Naval Air Station. Whichever is correct – and they both may be –…
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Westland Whirlwind – Part One – A Green Stranger
The Vintage Classic shelf again – this time something I have never built before – the Airfix Westland Whirlwind HAS.22. In reality, it was a Sikorsky S-55 sold to the Royal Navy. The original kit is apparently of late 50’s vintage though I never saw one in shops in Canada. Basic, as you would expect,…
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Roland C II – Part Two – Blue Whale
Say what you might about the shape of the Roland C II, it makes for a good small scale model. The interplane struts are broad plates and there are no cabanes. There is a good exposed engine, unusual fuselage windows, and two German fliers in enthusiastic positions. The gunner is attending to his duties, but…
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Decals of Death
We’ve all bought an old kit from a garage sale or a swap meet. It may have started out in perfect shape, but then so did Hannibal before he crossed the Alps. Some of the kits I’ve bought still have elephant poop in the crushed old boxes… And they have sad sheets of decals. Sheets…
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Messerschmitt 410 – Part One – Family Connection
You might be surprised at a family connection with a German night fighter, but there is one. Not my family – the wife’s uncle. A Mosquito pilot in the RAF in 1944, he was on night-fighter patrol over France when he encountered a Messerschmitt 410 Hornisse. He shot it down, the thing was confirmed on…
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Science To The Rescue – Part Two
How many ships have foundered in the Succitan Sea? There is no better way to find out if an old bomb is a dud than hitting the fuse with a hammer. Or, in the case of home-made decals, soaking them and trying them out. The 7 candidates were soaked, applied over Mr. Mark Setter, and…
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Science To The Rescue – Part One
Having recently made a batch of bad decals, I determined to investigate the problem before printing the next sheet. The surface of the previous ones was cracked and broken – and I reasoned that it was the brittle nature of the Tamiya Gloss Lacquer spray that did it. I looked out all the bottles of…
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De Havilland DH2 – Part Four – You Got To Push It
To make it go… Think of this as a proto-Vampire made of wood and cloth. The SOOTB Revell WW1 kit can be good or bad. So far most of mine have been in the former category. I realise that further construction may push the joke too far, and will switch makers shortly. But while I’m…
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De Havilland DH2 – Part One – Another Revellation
This little guy was sitting forlornly in the legacy sale box – along with the Fokker Eindekker and the Nieuport 28. Well, if you are in for a penny… The idea of making a 1:72 scale model of something this spindly is pretty desperate – as much on my part as on that of Revell…
The Little World 