Category: design
-
Fairey Firefly Mk V – Part Two – Stub Wings

The first day of work on a new kit can be either basic cockpit or even more basic part sanding. Imagine my surprise when I got through a club meeting with the stub wings joined to the fuselage.The Airfix engineering has large mating surfaces for the wing roots onto the fuselage so you can proceed…
-
Bristol F.2B – Part Two – Struttin’ Wif’ Some Styrene

And I had much rather it had been wif’ some barbecue… The point at which you regret your choices in life occurs to all of us, but it comes repeatedly to the scale modeller who builds biplanes. The original designers of the aircraft were forced to use multiple wings and sticks and wire between them…
-
PZL – The Karas Yet Again

You might have to avoid me on the street – I seem to have become slightly fixated with this old Heller kit. I may start babbling… At least I am logical maniac. I do not subscribe to conspiracy theories – I recognise the randomly idiotic nature of the world and do not attribute any of…
-
Radio Controlled Daily Driver?

Are all R/C cars racers? Or 4WD buggies? Has no-one got the ambition to drive a scale model Toyota Camry to a scale model shopping centre and spend a half hour trying to back it into a parking space? I was brought to this when visiting the doctor recently. In the car park was a…
-
RAAF Spitfire Mk Vc – Part Three – Peg ‘0 My Heart

I love you… Okay, there is an earworm for you. If you are too young to know the tune put your cap on backwards, go away, and stare at your mobile phone. I am the strange old guy in the supermarket that looks at clothes pegs. Or the weirdo in Bunnings that tests out every…
-
RAAF Spitfire Mk Vc – Part Two – The Universal Kit

Universal if you want to make a Spitfire, that is. Not a lot of good if you are trying for a ’59 Ford Anglia… This Italeri kit comes with more parts than you’d think. I note the wing tips are flat with a key-slot and you can join rounded elliptical tips or clipped square tips.…
-
Don’t, Don’t You Believe It, Girlie…

Whenever someone tells you a kit is unbuildable, doubt them. Ditto when they tell you it is the best thing since sliced styrene. People’s opinions quickly convert to folklore and just as rapidly to gospel truth. There are scale model flat earths all about us. A case in point was given to me by a…
-
FW 190 – Part Two – Bigger Is Better?

A question for those starting in 1/48 from a lifetime of 1/72. And does that mean better detail, better shape, or better fit? Are the clear parts going to be better? How about the decals? Is it fair to judge the scale on an old retro kit? Well, I build old retro kits in 1/72…
-
Curtiss Model 75 A-4 – Part Three – Wings Over The Workbench

I was right – a model with no filler needed. Not to be sneezed at, even with Spring bring hay fever. The minute shaving and sanding of the wing roots has resulted in no gaps. The tail likewise, though this has been pinned for strength. This is not to praise inordinately. The achievement of a…
-
Curtiss Model 75 A-4 – Part One – Mohawk IV

This ain’t my first rodeo, nor my first Curtiss Model 75. Review the old posts and find the Revell kit I built in Norwegian colours. This kit, however is a new variant of this interesting aircraft, and an entirely new kit maker as well. AML seems to be a Czech firm who supply entire kits…
