Category: design
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How Complex Is Enough?
Engaged in building a Christmas present kit, I was surprised to see how simple it was. A modern jet fighter in 1/72, with smooth lines and little external hardware, the build was nevertheless satisfying. The after-market enthusiasts would have a ball, but there are no ready sources of this that I know – and I’d…
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Are You As Visual As I Am?
Or as the British Lords Of the Admiralty were in the days of sailing ships? The heyday of the Royal Navy in the 18th century saw construction of many wooden ships. Plans for these were a complex thing to see and the contractors proposing them to the Admiralty often had difficulty explaining the lines to…
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Build Your Own Desires
Not those of others. You’re on this earth for a limited amount of time, and if you are reading this, you’ve used up a lot of it. Strive to make the most of the rest by doing what you want to do, in your own way. As long as it is legal and moral –…
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VVS Tupolev SB2 – Part Two – The Honourable Amphibian
Do not despise the frog… The name of FROG models has been in the modellers dictionary for a very long time – and many of the kits that this British firm made are still turning up on the second-hand market as re-pops from older Russian factories. This NOVO Tupolev was boxed in the Soviet era…
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Should You Be First?
Here’s the scenario: Super Hobby Good Times Model Kit Cooperative produces the first-ever model of the Benoit-Farquarrson medium bomber. You can get it in Tanganyikan, Ecuadorian, or Moldavian markings – armed with either blunderbusses or cruise drones. There are PE parts, resin parts, and a genuine wooden voodoo idol included with the kit. Should you…
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Higgins LCVP – Part Two – The Built-up Barge
I can be no more complimentary than to refer to this Airfix landing craft as a barge. I admire barges. My whole family admired them – so much so that we built them for years for service on Canadian rivers and lakes. To our credit, none of them ever sank. The LCVP kit from Airfix…
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When Is An Apple Not An Apple?
When it is drawn as a diagram on the instruction sheet of a scale model piece of fruit. Then – particularly if the kit is from Prague – the part that looks like a Granny Smith, Mackintosh, or Cox’s Pippin could well be an aileron or de-icing strip. There will be few written notes to…
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MiG-29 Fulcrum – Part Two – Thinking Behind
Thinking behind is opposite from thinking ahead and has different rules. a. You are not meant to feel good. b. You are not going to do a good job. c. The language is different. Shorter and sharper… My second lesson in second thinking came when I had closed up the fuselage of he MiG-29. It…
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RCN Swordfish – Part Three – Careful Observation
Does not necessarily mean sensible painting. The camouflage patterns painted on British aircraft were pretty standardised in WW2. You’ll all have seen the A and B patterns for fighters, bombers, and such and the basic designs were similar. Paint crews were issued with instructions and often masking mats to enable them to put on the…
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RCN Swordfish – Part Two – The Escapee
Normally you escaped from the USSR – it rarely went the other way. In this case the mould for this FROG Swordfish did cross to the east when the British company closed their shop. The Soviets made a few printed additions to the box and instructions then just wiped its bum and sent it out…
The Little World 