Category: design
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Pilatus PC-21 – Part Three – The Double Mask
The look of this Swiss trainer in RAAF service is a bit daunting – all that colour and complex markings. Yet, like every paint job in the world, it yields to careful study of individual parts. You just have to mentally look past the complex decals to the basic colours – red, blue and white.…
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Pilatus PC-21 – Part Two – My Faith Rewarded
Remember I said I was confident in the new Swiss kit? Well, it is getting better. A dry-fit stage is not a perfect thing – you can miss slightly less obvious gaps and misalignment…only to have them show up and bite at cement time. However this time it looks as if the cockpit tub fits…
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Barrier In Action
The experimental exhibition barrier went into action today. Fits on the standard trestle very well and is secure. The colour does stand out, and people capable of reading it do so. However, it was no use against a 2 1/2 year-old grabbing up over the edge – one model was damaged before the attending parent…
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The Curse Of The Rivet
The curse of the riveted kit is most often seen with the older moulds. The days were when it was simpler to represent the details of an aircraft fuselage or wing by drilling minute depressions in the mould block. Everyone did it, and only in the last 20+ years have they made an effort to…
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Stand Off!
It looks as if the warning sign idea for exhibition tables is a success – at least in the making. The wood was purchased at the Big Clawhammer but the rest of the materials were all to hand in the workshop. Even the red and yellow paint. The later is a mix of all the…
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Model Airfield Hobby Part One
In case you think I have become addled or have narrowed myself too much, let me make a modest proposal. Model airfields and airports form the basis for a complete division of the little world hobby – every bit as much as model railways or miniature houses. The concept just needs organization. I’ve done a…
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Too Hard?
Possibly. But remember that clean joints and clear canopies were too hard when you were 11 years old. You are now 67, and all the joints are good and all the canopies are clean. Life has progressed, and so have you. If the scheme on the colour call-out looks impossibly complex, do not worry. Take…
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Ural Starter Truck – Part Four – Arctic
My decision to paint the Ural starter truck in yellow-orange was initially based on a picture from Taganrog in Russia. As it is, this truck will be on the hardstand at Wet Dog Regional so the winter yellow is perfectly appropriate. The aircraft at Wet Dog are exposed to cold just as intense and Russia…
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Ural Starter Truck – Part Two – Straight Into It
And likely to remain straight, as well. The designers of this Ural kit are smarter than the average bear. The moulded the basic frame as one piece with springs attached and a number of extremely precise location holes throughout it. This meant that, even in the hurley burley of a club morning – with the…
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Whirling Or Non-Whirling?
Decide the section in which you wish to be seated. The business of the propeller on a scale model kit can be a painful one. Some makers mould them with fine detail but flimsy construction – expect to have to straighten them repeatedly. Some are just hubs and blades and these can be horrible to…
The Little World 