Category: Decals
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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…
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Dornier Do.17E – Part One – The German Pencil

I am going have a lot of fun with The German Pencil – the Dornier Do. 17E that was interned by the Royal Ruritanian Army Air Force. It is a kit from my friend Paul and I’m going to try a wholly new idea for my display. This one will not be parked – it’ll…
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The Under- Wing Numbers

F/O Prune calling. ” Hey, Look At Me! Look What I Can Do! And No-One Knows It Was Me…! “ On the contrary, Prune. They might not see your face but the buzz numbers on the underside of your wings identify your aircraft – coming and going – and if you have been shooting up…
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Ryan Spirit of St. Louis – Part Three – In Soviet Union…

Decals put you on. On the spot, on the griddle, on the booze. I’m going to give the Novo factory a pass on this one – and for all I know they are long gone. They may have done their best at the time. Unfortunately the time was the 1970’s and 80’s and this is…
