Category: Decals
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Republic Thunderflash – Part Five – Box Art
I tips me lid to the artist who painted this Republic RF-84F Thunderflash on the kit box. His rendition proved to be the most helpful reference I could find for this aircraft. I find colour call-outs fun to look at as snapshots of what one might make from the box. But I still want other…
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Republic Thunderflash – Part One – The Flying Photographer
Without realising it I completed a couple of builds that could start a new shelf in the Air Museum – and now I have No. 3 and No. 4 in the stash; a Republic RF84F Thunderflash and A Lockheed RT33. Together with the P-38 PRU and Spitfire PRXIX they are the eyes in the sky…
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Polikarpov I-16 – Part Four – Stalin’s Falcons
Well, they had to be different from the Adlers of the Germans and the Bald Eagles of the Americans. And these fighters were tiny things – so it was either going to be Falcons or Tits. And you can play with tits as much as you wish… Actually, I think the Falcon name was attached…
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Boeing Kaydet – Part Three – The Hills Are Alive – With the Sound Of Cursing
How so many biplanes and triplanes are sold as model kits astounds me. Every time I encounter one I have ” a time “. All goes well until the step where you cement the struts on and add the top wing. There are rarely any mechanical aids or structures that help the biplane builder get…
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Boeing Kaydet – Part One – Older Than The Hills
I pulled the Revell baggie of the Boeing N2S-5 Kaydet out of the stash with mixed feelings. On one hand it was a pretty good looking silver airplane and on the other it was so old as to be listed by the National Trust – was I going to build it or desecrate it? The…
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Ilyushin 4 – Part Four – Baltic Bomber
When I picked the Ilyushin off the Hobbytech shelf before Father’s Day I knew it would be somewhat of a gamble – Mister Craft kits are always that. They would be the sort of kit that Forrest Gump would buy. However, this is a Zvezda, not an old FROG, and the basic structure is perfectly…
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Ilyushin 4 – Part One – Bob’s Your Uncle
My brother-in-law, actually. We have Christmas lunch at his house most years. Not a prolific model builder, but he has completed some from-the-plan models of ships and boats. He’s more of a full-size builder of houses and cars. But back to the Bob. This model of the Ilyushin 4 was part of the Father’s Day…
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Open The Lightning Rods, Igor! – Part Three
And they called me mad! MAD, I tell you! Now let them see who’s mad…! More soaking, more decaling. More thoughts on the process. a. Revell. 45 seconds soak and slid off beautifully. A dip did no extra good. b. Walthers. An old US model train firm. Fragile, friable decals, but they could be soaked…
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In The Laboratory – Part Two
Well, the experiment was a success. We can now create artificial life in the zombies at the SMCWA clubrooms. The only difficulty will be telling it from normal behaviour. I set up a standard soaking bath for the decals I wanted to test. There were plenty of unused ones from various makers so I carefully…
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Science Mystery Theatre – Part One – The Evans Effect
You can learn a great deal from John Evans if you listen. Occasionally you have to feed him fruitcake but you do get results. However you have to listen carefully. I didn’t and learned a lot. John advised me on how to decal effectively early in my attendance at the club. He told me to…
The Little World 