Category: design
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Heinkel HE 111 – Part Three – The Aerodynamic Engine
I do not know enough about the differences between British and German aero engines to be able to debate their good and bad points. Suffice it to say I think the British practice of mounting the Merlin engine upright seems to be a darn sight more sensible than the inverted Daimler Benz of the German…
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Fokker F-27 Friendship – Part Two – Paying Customers
I admire Italeri greatly for including the interiors on their airliners – after all, these are planes designed to carry people for money, and just moulding up a bare interior is a slack way of doing it. I am prepared to put up with the absence of overhead luggage lockers as these can be made…
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Boeing KB29A – Part Six – A Bigger Jig
The value of the Little Workshop adjustable jig is proving itself daily. It comes in handy for all builds to steady aircraft in either normal or inverted mode and to allow me to rest planes on the trailing edge of the wings to apply propellers. If I turn the fuselages sideways I can do side…
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The Kiss Of Death
If you would like to destroy a commercial firm – to lay waste to its factories and plunge its former employees into miserable poverty, you must follow this simple procedure: Buy one of the products that they make. Try it and find that it is excellent. Become proficient in its use. Expect that you’ll be…
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Vought Kingfisher – Part Three – Clean
My friend Warren and I have often remarked to each other that an airplane that looks good, flies good. That isn’t to say that the rule cannot be violated. The Brewster Buccaneer/Bemuda looked well but was so underpowered as to be a menace. Ditto a number of Italian aircraft. The same might be true of…
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Vought Kingfisher – Part Two – The Inside Job
Well, if you’re gonna be inside for weeks, you might as well do airplane interiors. In the case of some of the short-run Czech kits, just a few hours can seem like weeks. But sometimes you can be fooled. When I saw this Kingfisher’s insides I could see all the Czech troubles beginning again; no…
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The Display Trays
The first batch of display trays has come out well. You remember I wrote about the breakages inherent with moving modes about a club showroom during maintenance. Well these trays are designed to reduce this for my models. They are convenient digital paper sizes; A3+, A3, A4, and 5 x 7. Did experiment with the…
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A Lesson Learned
The smart people learn by reading, the less smart learn by listening, and the least smart end up pissing on the electric fence themselves. The recent club renovations and the destruction that could be wrought on plastic models by repeated moving set me thinking; the reading, listening and pissing came later. There are a number…
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Vickers Delta Mk III – Part Four – Tall Tails From The Canadian Woods
I mentioned the fact that I had secured two copies of the Special Hobby Vickers Delta Mk III kit from Metro Hobbies by post. They languished for some time before I felt the urge to build, but now that MX-B has come out so well, I’ve decided to keep up the momentum and start on…
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Vickers Delta Mk III – Part Two – A Sensible Cockpit
I wonder why the designers of the Vickers Delta Mk III kit in The Czech Republic resisted the temptation to put photo-etch brass and resin castings in the kit? Perhaps they relegated this on to the apprentice with instructions to make it simple. if so, I am grateful. The interior parts were sturdy enough to…
The Little World 