Category: Decals
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Finnish Brewster Buffalo – Part One – The Herd Increases

As a child I once had an unbuilt balsa model of a Brewster Buffalo. It was well beyond my skills at the time but the design always intrigued me. Perhaps that is why I have built four of the beasts so far for my 1:72 collection. This one is the Hobby Boss version – a…
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Chance Vought Cutlass – Part Three – Bit By Slow Bit

And if you rush it, the demons leap on you out of the shadows… I have rushed it before – and I can show you the demon scars. Kits that started well and finished poorly – because I rushed a stage through. This Cutlass was not going to be one of the sad cases. The…
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The Double Decal

The idea of a commercial double decal is not new…but it might be just the answer for your home-made ones. Some decals come on Cartograf or other printer’s sheets as a two layer plan. I have made up French Air Force planes where not only the tail tricolor but the main roundels require two applications;…
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AVIA B.534 – Part One – A Newcastle Model Kit

Newcastle model? A Newcastle model is one you encounter unexpectedly and seize upon. It is a case of never letting a chance go by…refer to Bob Hudson’s song for further instructions. This old Czech KP kit is from the 1980’s. The box had seen service, but at least protected the sprue trees, decals and instructions.…
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Take It Off

Take it aaaaall off… If your mind replayed the music of Dave Rose – ” The Stripper ” – you are a reprobate. I am ashamed to be seen with you. This morning I have to strip paint from an old Airfix kit to get enough parts to complete a stash build. I have rejected…
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ME 262 – Part Four – A New Name

A new name for a new country – this has now become an Avia S92 Turbina…and has ended its days in a Prague air museum. Not a bad fate for an airframe that was on the cutting edge of technology at the time. The remaining stocks of the Me 262 that German war production had…
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Me 262 – Part Three – Shinee!

I am starting to see why a friend of mine is so attracted by shiny objects. I have just glossed the Messerschmitt and it is all I can do to stop myself from touching the surface! I know it needs time to cure, but so does my infatuation with the gloss. I wish someone had…
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Me 262 – Part One – Another Childhood Ambition

As a child, I had many model aircraft kits – but one that always eluded me was the Airfix baggie of the ME 262 jet fighter. I have since seen them as Hobby Boss and Czech kits, but never gave it much thought. Then a Revell kit called to me through a fog of disinterest…
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Potez 63-11 – Part One – Smooth Potez

As opposed to lumpy Potez. The designs of interwar and early-war French aircraft form a fascinating subdivision of aeronautical insanity. From the angular designs of the late twenties and early thirties to the sleek over-designs of the forties, they seem to have decided to over-run the buffer stops every time they drew up to the…
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The Home Printer

A guide for the scale modeller. I have long come to grips with the business of home printing. It started in the dear old darkroom days of film photography and locked the family out of the bathroom/darkroom many a night. Now we are digital, they can get in at any time, and I just sit…
