Category: Decals
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FROG Stash Avenger – Part One – Inadvertent Baggie
Got for a very low price in a plastic freezer bag, this FROG Avenger of 1973 is going to be a beautiful model to build. The parts photo shows some work already done at the SMCWA clubrooms: cutting and sanding plus Sprue Goo filling of numerous FROG sinkholes. The week’s interval between club dates means…
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SAAB J22 – Part Three – Defender Of Neutrality
You have to give the Swedes credit for neutrality. Otherwise they might sell themselves to your enemies. Perhaps this is a little harsh on them. They have not been officially at war for over 200 years, though they were key players in Scandinavia and Middle Europe prior to that. They made a number of enemies…
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SAAB J22 – Part One – Small And Cheap
And it doesn’t come with meatballs or an Allen wrench. Here is yet another newie for me – a genuine Swedish home-grown fighter moulded in Lund, Sweden. Box long gone, but the top and sides preserved to give a colour reference. The plane is a well-designed stop-gap Swedish product along the lines of the CAC…
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Douglas Skyray F4D – Part Two – Peacetime Colours
Or at least as peaceful as a Cold War aircraft could get… I am always happy to see military aircraft in bright colours – the yellow wings of the pre-war US Navy – the dazzling squadron codes of the pre-war RAF – the bright stripes of the pre-war Italians. Because brightly coloured aircraft are not…
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Douglas Skyray F4D – Part One – Unloved Tamiya
Don’t raise your eyebrows and make that noise – this Tamiya kit was half the price of other 1/72 models from the same maker in their Warbirds range. That tells me that it is not a big seller – rather like the Japanese submarine seaplane in the same line. People concentrate on the famous fighters…
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Mureaux 117 – Part Two – The Green Frog
Not FROG – this one is the Heller kit of 1967. The kit has fallen together beautifully. I lost a part, made a replacement, and steamed right on. The struts I worried about went in with absolute precision, and there was no filler needed anywhere. I feel myself fully rewarded for the price and will…
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Mureaux 117 – Part One – The Bargain Heller
Again a good opportunity to build a by-gone kit has come my way – a legacy kit being cleared out at a very low price. Part of that may have been prompted by the appearance of the box – squashed and scuffed, and of a Heller era that seems crude to our eyes. It debuted…
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English Electric Lightning – Part Four – The Cold Warrior
The English Electric company made several notable aircraft in the 50’s and 60’s. This interceptor was designed to tackle Soviet bombers before they could get to the UK – hence the high speed climb and short range of the prototypes. The over-wing tanks were a novel way to supply enough fuel to permit this remarkable…
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Chinese Flying Animal – Part One – The Dollar Army
I need to find a Chinese airplane enthusiast who can tell me whether the Polikarpov I-16 in Nationalist Chinese service in the 1930’s and 40’s carried an animal’s name. When the Soviets used them they were the Ishak – mule. When the Spanish Nationalists flew them they were the Rata – rat. And the Spanish…
The Little World 