Category: French aircraft
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” Model Not Recommended For Novices “
I have seen this on reviews and appended to the end of kit boxes. It warns the unwary that the designers have exceeded their dosage again and moulded up something that is near-on impossible to build. It is even more poignant when it appears next to a completed model – making you wonder if somewhere…
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LeO 45 – Part Four – Art Deco Bomber
People who google images of this French early-war bomber may see something stuck underneath it. There is a dust-bin turret that drops down from a position just aft of the cockpit to allow an unfortunate crew member to fire a single short machine gun at attackers under the plane. It is included in the kit,…
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LeO 45 – Part Three – The Unseen Hand
Ooh. Sounds like the title of a Sax Rohmer novel, doesn’t it? Well no, but don’t let me stop you from suspecting villains lurking in the dark. Some of them were responsible for this kit. The idea of masking off the canopy and nose area with the clear plastic parts that would eventually be cemented…
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LeO 45 – Part Two – This Is Fine…
The initial burst of admiration for this Heller kit has been tempered by building it. The wings are on, and at a reasonable dihedral – set by the internal tab on each wing sliding all the way across to the opposite side of the fuselage and locking itself in place. This is admirable. Less so…
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LeO 45 – Part One – The French Fish
This title is prompted by the shape of the Liore et Olivier 45 bomber – the last time you will see the entire name in this report. It is a fish – a codfish or salmon, by the look of it – attached to two streamlined wings, two streamlined nacelles, and two inverted rudders. This…
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FROG Stash Avenger – Part Four – Show Bird
Casting about for a role for the FROG Avenger, I came upon a series of photos taken at a recent Dutch air show. They show a Grumman Avenger painted in what I assume are authentic colours for the Aéronavale – the air arm of the French Navy. I expect the aircraft would have been a…
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Mureaux 117 – Part Two – The Green Frog
Not FROG – this one is the Heller kit of 1967. The kit has fallen together beautifully. I lost a part, made a replacement, and steamed right on. The struts I worried about went in with absolute precision, and there was no filler needed anywhere. I feel myself fully rewarded for the price and will…
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Mureaux 117 – Part One – The Bargain Heller
Again a good opportunity to build a by-gone kit has come my way – a legacy kit being cleared out at a very low price. Part of that may have been prompted by the appearance of the box – squashed and scuffed, and of a Heller era that seems crude to our eyes. It debuted…
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Nieuport 24Bis – Part One – So What’s With The Bis, Eh?
What was wrong with the plain letter B? Not European enough to be sophisticated? Well, the dictionary defines it as meaning ” again ” so the Bis version is the second one. Like we couldn’t have gotten that from a simple ” B ” ? Son of a Bis… This is another Roden kit, and…
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Vought Crusader F-8 – Part Four – In The Med
And fresh as a daisy. I was delighted to find very clear photographic support for the French naval air service on the web. A number of the Vought Crusader aircraft that operated from the FOCH and CLEMENCEAU were photographed from the islands of those carriers while taking off or landing – and these evolutions were…
The Little World 