Category: design
-
Bristol Belvedere – Part One – Dire Warnings
And why I never heed them… This kit appeared in my local hobby shop before I read a review of it. It was reasonably priced, a Vintage Classic, and a type I had never built before. I forked over the cash and took it home. The review was not mealy-mouthed; it said this was the…
-
Airfix Junkers 87 – Part Two – Inside The Office
Approaching an aircraft build with trepidation is always disheartening. But some kits beg it – the Czech short-run ones or the Russian re-pops often have too much inside or nothing at all. We have all seen the pilot figure stuck to a post from one side of the fuselage – or worse; nothing whatsoever under…
-
Stealth Aircraft – Part Four – B2 Spirit
Northrop are finally vindicated. After suffering the indignity of having their pioneer flying wing bombers canned by the US Air Force in the 1940’s due to commercial and political pressure, they have won the day by producing the B2 Spirit stealth bomber. It is in service and has done service. It will likely be replaced…
-
Stealth Aircraft – Part One – The Unseen Gift
The 1/144 scale kit for the B2 bomber and the F-117A fighter snuck up on me at the modelling club. Rick Slattery presented them to me as a gift – he usually concentrates upon larger scales – and I was delighted to take them. I am starting to appreciate this simplified scale as a way…
-
RCAF Wellington Mk II – Part Four – It’s No Sin To Fill
But it’s no great honour, either… I’ve no idea if Tevye built model airplanes, but if he did, he would have been philosophical about it. For my part I accept the inevitability of gaps and defects and the need for a good fill and sand. AIrfix, on the other hand seem to have decided to…
-
Have I Got The Latest, Latest Kit?
With the photo-etch and the resin and the masks and the pots of paint and the signed copy of the designer’s baby photo? Gee, I hope not; I don’t think I could stand the pressure to perform. The 14th coat of weathering oil/lacquer/authenticity magic would reduce me to tears. I could not win a court…
-
The Mark II Had The Window On The Left
And they never painted the underside blue. And so starts another anorak dogfight. The two combatants have both seen pictures of the Fosdyke-Heppelberry ” Flapdoodle ” in RAF service and both are convinced that they are the recognised experts on the type. Both are unwilling to give up the title. The pictures they have seen…
-
Dewoitine D.500 – Part Two – Aeronavale
It is a pity that the development of the French Navy’s air arm was cut short by being the country being defeated on the land. It would have been interesting to see them engaged with the Italian Navy in the Mediterranean. As it was, the two sides might have been evenly matched. This version of…
-
Vickers Viscount – Part Two – Dry Fit Morning
When a kit has 18 parts, you do not need to spend much time building… One morning at the club, with time out for coffee and a slice of cake ( We celebrate birthdays in the correct style…) was all that was needed to assemble the major components of the Viscount. The surface of the…
-
The Odd Model
Occasionally you encounter a scale model kit that has as its primary characteristic…oddity. It may be a remarkable rendition, well-moulded, with good instructions and a decent decal sheet, but the basic thing is so strange as to make you, and most of the buying public, shy away. It is the kit that sits on the…
The Little World 