Category: French aircraft
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Mirage 2000C – Part Three – Retired Delta
Or so it says on the internet. At the same time there are plenty of pictures of this type in the air forces of secondary nations. I’ll bet it turns up in Africa and South America for decades – rocketing and gunning down rebellious tribesmen or junta colonels. I am delighted with the colour scheme…
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Mirage 2000C – Part Two – The Gaps
Not a BBC series about a family in the marshes – this is a the business of dealing with Italeri kit fit…that doesn’t. I will be fair – the overall fit of the Italeri Mirage 2000C is superb – most of the panels abut each other perfectly. The only horrors are on the leading edge…
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Mirage 2000C – Part One – Birthday Present No. 1
First box off the new stash shelf. A wonderful sensation. The box art for the new Italeri 2000C fighter is all about the first Gulf War of 1990-91 – all browns and sand colours. The call-out on the back plus the decal sheet promise Armée de l’Air and UAE Air Force of the period. Possibly,…
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French Lancaster – Part Four – The Flying Bribe
I’ve been reading about the donation of WU 16 – a Lancaster patrol aircraft of the Aeronavale to Australia in 1962. The story is detailed elsewhere so do go google it up. It seems to have a number of amusing elements; requests from the local RAAFA for a time-expired Lancaster – refusal by the French…
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French Lancaster – Part Two – Part Works
No, not one of those wretched Paul Hamlyn newsagency schemes that sell you a part and a line of guff each week until you either spend $ 2000 or throw the remains in the bin… This is about the little sub-assemblies you can deal with as the main parts are setting. Cockpit, tailplanes, engine nacelles,…
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Mirage III CJ – Part Three – Let’s Give The Customers Something…
What shall it be? Accurate instruction sheets? Flawless mouldings? Adequate colour information? I have it – let’s just give them trouble. It’ll be fun and cheap and we can do it by making bad decisions. Like avoiding a centre seam on the top of the Mirage fuselage that could be smoothed and polished easily –…
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Mirage III CJ – Part Two – The Approximate Cockpit
I confess myself mystified at the philosophy that spends money to mould a resin seat of truly superb quality and then cannot make adequate provision to anchor it accurately within the fuselage. I admit that it is unlikely to escape once the two halves of the thing are cemented together, but the business of deciding…
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Mirage III CJ – Part One – The Very Thing
I set myself the task of building Israeli aircraft for a desert museum airfield – this kit was sitting on the shelves of a specialist dealer when I went to look for decals. How could I resist? It shows a horrible modification of a beautiful aircraft on the box top…but the sides promise the original…
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Équipe Super Mystère – Part Two – Fleur de Lis
Well, what else would it be for French aircraft… The concept has become reality. Three Heller kits, a base from Spotlight, and a length of 3mm brass rod. The kits are of a period and at a low price. I am grateful that the ancient Heller decals worked perfectly and that the factory moulded guidelines…
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Équipe Super Mystère – Part One – L’idée Dormante
For years these Heller kits have lain on the shelves. Ignored, discarded, unconsidered. Rather the story of many lives, eh? Well the reforming zeal of the SMCWA committee swept them from the storeroom and into my stash cabinet. Whence they have flown to the workbench and photo table. They are 1:100 scale – not a…
The Little World 