Category: design
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Lockheed CT 133 Silver Star – Part Two – You May Have Noticed…

You may have noticed that the box art shown in the first episode refers to a T-33A aircraft – a Shooting Star. Well by the time the RCAF got their Canadian-built variants of this US trainer, it had become the CT-133 Silver Star. There were a few modifications; a different thickness of perspex in the…
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Mirage F.1C – Part Two –

I am not a naturally suspicious person. I do not see conspiracies in every coup, assassination, or Disney movie. I regularly send money to Nigerian princesses. Yet I suspect every tricycle-geared airplane that they build…they are all tail-sitters just waiting for us to have a moment’s lapse of attention. I regularly weigh and balance planes…
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The Serious Modeller

Vs the chronic modeller. The difference is slight – more a case of emotion than skill. The former is a staid and sober citizen, carefully measuring between rivets on their one and only model – which they have been building since 1987. The fuselage of the kit is nearly complete and the serious modeller will…
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Junkers F.13 – Part Two – Twenties Elegance

For 5 bucks a throw. That was the price of a joy ride on the City Of Prince George – the Junkers float plane that was anchored near that town in the 30’s. Takla Landing, I believe. it had a civic christening and everything as they probably hoped to make a regular passenger service with…
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Junkers F.13 – Part Three – A Tail Of A City

The original tail of the F.13 is a beauty – looks like a bird’s plumage made in tin…very reminiscent of a WW1 design. But when the City Of Prince George was delivered it had a very much more modern and conventional fin with a balanced rudder. Fortunately this sort of model was also made by…
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Junkers F.13 -Part One – Corrugated Iron

Corrugated aluminium, actually. Hugo Junkers’ favourite material. He built a lot of things out of it – I suspect that it featured in water heaters, aircraft, and possibly underwear. The twenties roared in Dessau… This example of a Junkers all-metal airliner caught my eye on the Revell shelf. Then research showed it to be a…
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Stash MiG – Part Two – The Brown Article

I am always a little chary of Hasegawa plastic. it is quite a bit more brittle than that used by the other makers like Airfix or the Czech firms. I appreciate the fact that it can be drawn to finer points, but I dread cutting things off the sprue trees for fear of crazing. The…
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Cougar F9F-8P – Part Two – Bass Ackward

I am not a naturally suspicious man. I allow people to control my computer frequently and am always sending out my credit card details. I’ve invested frequently in Nigerian investments. But I now look upon any Czech model aircraft instruction sheets with the same trust that I would give a 500Kg German bomb that was…
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” Why Would You Bother…”

Passing remarks should be allowed to pass – after all flatus is allowed to exit the body freely as long as there is a strong breeze to carry it away. So with many opinions. One that I heard of recently ( note the phrase ” heard of ” rather than ” heard “…that defining border…
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Convictions

Either you have the courage to uphold them or the criminal skill to have them quashed… But when it comes to building plastic kits there are a number of moral issues that you must address if you are to feel right about what you do. Consider: a. Do you build what you want to build…
