Category: Decals
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RCAF Avro Lancaster – Part One – The Second Lucky Chance

Well, you get lucky sometimes. I got lucky lots of times in practice – not so many in my second career. But one of the memorable ones in 2014 was a trip to Japan as a corporate guest. We were hauled around but occasionally let loose in the shops or cafes to give the tour…
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Savoia Marchetti S.79 Sparviero – Part Seven – Under New Management

A notable milestone; my first Lebanese aircraft. All courtesy of a colour photo taken sometime during 1949 of an S.79 taxiing out to a runway past a pair of contemporary piston-engined fighter planes of the Lebanese Air Force. That, and a couple more found lurking on the net of similar aircraft in the middle East.…
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Dewoitine D.520 – Part One – Allo, Allo…

I have passed the Hobby Boss Dewoitine D-520 kit on the hobby shop shelves for a couple of years now with no regrets. I’d built a Morane Saulnier and a Caudron and the prospect of an diminutive French plane was no urgent call. But I’ve recently borrowed one of those profile books of WW2 fighters…
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Mitsubishi Dinah – Part Two – The Bright Bird

I knew at the outset that the Dinah in IJAF trainer colours was rather special. The yellow is not the pure chrome of the RAF or RCAF trainers nor the red/yellow of a prewar US Navy aircraft wing – it has a distinct orange glow to it. I wasn’t sure whether the plastic that the…
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Mitsubishi Dinah – Part One – The Japanese Shop

My daughter visited Japan for a two-week holiday last year. Thoroughly loved the place and will go again. On this first visit I primed her to visit a model shop in Akihabara with instructions to bring me back a small 1:72 model kit of something that we don’t get in Australia. Her choice of whatever…
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RCAF Twin Otter – Part Six – Over The Line

Way-hay – completed the De Havilland Twin Otter before teatime. And onto the photo floor just afterwards. The planned assembly of the plane went well – I propped the fuselage up on the jig and glued one wing and supporting strut with liquid cement. An hour later I was able to flip it over and…
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RCAF Twin Otter – Part Two – Familiar Territory

The Revell Twin Otter is familiar territory for me – I rescued one and completed it as CF-ALO some time ago and got a general feel for the layout. The new kit I am dealing with is exactly the same structure – though in this case I do not have to repair – just build.…
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Grumman F9F-2 Panther – Part Two – Tubby Little Devil

The cockpit assembly of the Panther has just been completed and I must say it’s pretty nice for a $ 20 model. 5-piece, and some fine moulding on the sidewalls and instrument panel. And for a change the panel decal actually fit the piece. Micro-Sol doesn’t hurt either. The interior of the fuselage is…
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Grumman F9F-2 Panther – Part One – The Cheap Cat

I have long admitted a weakness for bargain model kits. You have only to show me a shelf full of the expensive ones with a cheap runt at the end and you know which one I’ll take. In the case of the Hobby Boss F9F-2 Panther it was sitting next to a similar kit in…

