Category: design
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The Scale Sketch
Versus the final model painting. Which is better? Which is more authentic? Which is likely to get you a medallion on a ribbon at the Big Local Scale Model Exhibition? I think we all know the answer to that one… But not every model is destined to be under the eye of the Judgemental Committee.…
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Dassault Super Mystere – Part Two – Come In And Sit Down
A model aircraft cockpit can be a highlight of the build or it can be a pit of cocks. It is all dependent upon the skill of the kit moulders and their level of interest. The classic Airfix or Monogram cockpit that consisted of two posts running horizontally inside and a seat that straddled them…
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Getting Out Of Your Comfort Zone
For the most part…don’t. Spend a good deal of your modelling time trying to locate it and when you find an entry point, crawl right in and close the hatch after yourself. Your ancestors lived largely outside comfort zones, as it happened, and spent a lot of time trying to locate them. They worked and…
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Let Us Now Praise Famous Buildings
Particularly if they are made by obscure companies. I needed a building for a desert museum layout. I have many small structures but they all look vaguely North American or British. It was with dubious enthusiasm I rolled into my local hobby shop. As I suspected – the Superquick and Meltcalf offerings were mostly railway…
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SE5A – Part One – Is There A Model In There?
A good question – this old Esci baggie was sitting forlorn and unbuilt – and likely to be touched for many a year until the Kit Whisperer found it. I will be frank – I deliberately seek out the most modest of kits to build. The $ 500 aircraft carrier is not for me –…
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Give Us A Sign!
Or at least a good line drawing. The quality of instruction manuals for our kits is one thing that we often overlook – until we get to the stage of constructing the landing gear or rigging the sails. Then we can look them over as much as we like without being any wiser. Often the…
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Do Not Sell Your Models
Build them. Whether you build them SOOTB, or tricked out with a dozen packets of after-market…build them. Build them painted or plain, weathered or fresh, well or otherwise…but build them. That is why they were made. That is why the designers sat at the drafting board or computer screen until their eyes turned red. That…
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Yakovlev 15 – Stalin’s Stopgap
Don’t panic and start to look for previous posts about this Soviet fighter – this is the one and only mention it’ll get. The PM models Yak 15 was cheap enough by any standards – even in Perth. It cannot be said to occupy many minds nor cause much lust, no matter who kits it.…
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H-34 Choctaw – Part One – Third Little Indian
The naming convention for US Army helicopters uses the Indian tribes of the nation – a delightful thing. This is the third helicopter in the collection with a tribal connection. There are more helos in the display cabinet, but they are either civilian or international versions that adopt their own names. So far I only…
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Squadron Leader Blimp
Ah Haw, Ah Haw, Ah Haw…what? I am not sure if he is a Squadron Leader, Wing Commander, or Air Marshall…but Blimp is alive and well. He has lost the walrus moustache and rarely reeks of gin, but he’s still haunting the clubs. It is cruel to bait him…but fun nevertheless. And so tempting –…
