Category: Decals
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Chance Vought Corsair – Part One – Familiar Territory

As you’ll have seen from my earlier postings, this kit build is a confidence-building exercise occasioned by a recent failure. It is the second Corsair to get on the deck but this time it will fly. The Hobby Boss presentation is familiar – a clear plastic tray that corrals all the sprues and parts. I…
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Junkers 52 – Part One – The Call Of The Mild

Not all my model aircraft builds are warplanes – though the economics of the model industry mean that they make up the bulk of offerings on the shelves. And even if they are military aircraft, not all of them have to be fighters or bombers…as evinced by the Douglas Dakota with RCAF markings. So there…
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Vultee Vengeance – Part One – The Show Special

When I went to this year’s WASMEX plastic model show I promised myself that I would only get one thing. Of course, I was a liar and a fraud; I purchased three things. The last of which came off the stash today and out in front of the camera – the Special Hobby 1:72 Vultee Vengeance.…
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Convair 440 – Part Eight – Out Past Where The Buses Run

Those of you who are Kinky Friedman fans will know this phrase. It applies to a lot of the work on the Mach 2 Convair 440. Not the least being the choice to eschew the kit decals – big troublesome designs for an airline I do not know – and to paint the thing as…
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Convair 440 – Part Four – When Life Gives You Lemons…

That meme and its associated parodies running through the brain, I’ve been doing a little research on the Mach 2 Convair 440 kit that I bought. It seems that there are a number of variants of it that share the plastic but change the decals, and a number of companies that have produced custom decals…
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De Havilland Mosquito Mk II – Part Six – A Day of Challenges

The markings day has become a day of challenges. Of mistakes and discoveries. It has seen the finishing of the model, but not quite in the way that I expected. a. The markings for the squadron code were nowhere to be found in my stash of decals nor in our local shops. T,W, and Z…
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De Havilland Mosquito Mk II – Part Two – The Peek Into The Box

I must confess to a slightly pusillanimous nature when it comes to buying model airplane kits sight-unseen. I was bit by a Revell Tradewind kit as a child and the scar still throbs in wet weather. I prefer to look carefully at what I’ve got before I spend my money. Nevertheless I do read reviews…
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Messerschmitt 109 – Part Five – The Captive Bird

A surprising number of airplanes have been captured in war and returned to flying on behalf of their enemies. Some as service machines, some as decoys, and some as test beds. This might seem to be a bonus for the people who capture the enemy’s warplanes, but remember that they also need to capture the…
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Douglas Dakota – Part Three – If They’re Not Shooting At You…Paint

There are many reasons for camouflage paint schemes on aircraft: a. A disrupted earthen top pattern prevents the enemy from seeing the plane from above while it is parked on the ground. b. A solid blue or white top pattern can also prevent the enemy from seeing it from above when it flies over water…

