Category: design
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1932 Chrysler – Part Two – The Curate’s Egg

I quite approve of the level of detail on the Chrysler engine – enough to look interesting without asking for insane complication. The wheels are rewarding. The white sidewalls are a stiff insert but once in are perfectly acceptable. The hubcaps have been touched up with that marvel of modern modelling; the Molotow pen. The…
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Time To Ditch The Camouflage

Air warfare ain’t what it used to be. Gone are the days when you had to hide amongst the clouds by painting your machine light blue – or a multi-colour if it was to sit on the ground. Nowadays the electronics look past any colour you might spray on and see the true signature of…
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All These Sprue Trees…

Of which i am collecting more and more each week… What the devil do I do with them? I’ve been in the habit of throwing them into the trash after I finish a build – minus the spare parts, of course. In some instances chopped up as I progress through the box, but in some…
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This Model Ain’t Makin’ Itself…

The lazy modellers guide to workflow. We are told that youthful modellers in the 1970’s used to buy a kit at their local shop, have it together by teatime, and destroyed by the next morning. I think this is one of those old-guy stories that is made up of fibs, lies, and political promises. I…
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Okay, Ben….Now What?

Poor Richard Saunders, aka Ben Franklin, kept telling us that time is money and we should do today rather than putting off until tomorrow. Sound advice, and then we go and take it and rack up another $ 50 debt with Bunnings for overpriced wood. This goes directly against Ben’s other constant song of frugality…
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Airfix Vintage Val – Part Two – So Far, So Good

The last couple of plague days were very productive – and the Airfix Aichi Val was coming along splendidly. Fuselage seams needed progressive assembly but in the end little filler would be needed – so little that it would probably be only thickened undercoat. So far a victory over the Fujimi product. Wings needed no…
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Fujimi Aichi Val – Part One – Oh Boy Oh Boy Oh Boy

I finally got to build a model of an airplane my uncle Jack shot at on Dec. 7, 1941. Fujimi kits are thin on the ground here in Western Australia at the best of times and these aren’t the best of times. But a shelf of them turned up at the local shop and I…
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CT-155 Hawk – Part Two – First Mistake

First mistake was not reading the colour call-out fine print – and painting the wheel wells the wrong colour. A tiny print panel says they are all white inside. I painted them grey, same as the cockpit. ( The cockpit is correct. ) Fortunately this can be taken to mean I have primed them with…
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CT-155 Hawk – Part One – Idly Interneting…

I drifted past the RCAF historian’s site and glanced at the trainers – in this case at the new ones. The BAE 100-series two-seat Hawk seems to have been a hit with the RCAF as an advanced fighter trainer. I looked at Scalemates and was encouraged to see that AIrfix make a new kit of…
