Category: History
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Hillson Praga Air Baby – Part Four – It Was A Good Idea At The Time…
Plywood wing, tube-frame fuselage, tiny 4-cylinder engine. What could possibly go wrong? Well you have to hand it to Hillson Praga. They were stylish. The little Air Baby looks good from many angles, and if the history of the type in Australia is to be believed, the three examples that got here were successful. Part…
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The Valid Decision
If you want to drown in Official-Speak, go to Google and start looking up ” valid decision “. I often go and see what poking the bear will do before I write these things. In this case I have been preceded by academia, politics, and the sort of management that can close down a successful…
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Ruritania Poste – Part Five A – RT-ASA
Before I present the newest mail-planes of Ruritania Poste I must address the members of my model building club. Yes, gentlemen, I know we have a motto that extolls being true to scale and true to life. I am always encouraged by this when I see see the egg planes and cardboard police cars in…
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North American F-100 – Part Four – When NATO Meant France As Well
And the French needed American aircraft to fulfil their own defence needs. A long time ago… Long enough to be before the Area Rule in aircraft design – allowing the designers of the Super Sabre a big fuselage space in the mid-rear for the engine. A contemporary of Soviet fighters and interceptors of similar bulk.…
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Handley Page Jetstream – Part Four – Beinbruch Air Ambulance
If you look carefully you can find a use for everything. This was the principle behind the acquisition of the Handley Page Jetstream aircraft that were to have been a part of the USAF transport fleet. Eventually rejected by the US Air Force due to delays and engine problems, the medical turbo props were sold…
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What If It’s Misnamed…?
” What If ” modelling – colloquially known as Whiffery – is an established genre in the scale world. It is the basis for a good deal of science fiction work, and can be very well thought-out indeed. It permeates the doll house genre and appears in many hot rod builds. But it is most…
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RCAF Privateer – Part One – Hello, Old Friend
The last time I saw you, you were in three colours in a Matchbox kit. Scalemates says that you have been sold to Revell and reboxed. It also said that you were originally fitted out with alternate nose and tail sections to make an RCAF transport aircraft. Is it possible that you still have those…
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Heinkel He 177 – Part One – The Griffon Again
This model is a gift from my friend Paul, but it is not the first time I’ve built one. I purchased the same model from a small hobby shop located underneath Trinity Arcade in Perth in the 1960’s – a last gasp of plastic modelling before academic pressures took all my spare time away. I…
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Gloster Meteor – Part Three – Up The Pole, Berkowitz
Up the pole, Berkowitz. The gate guard needs another coat of paint. ” But it’s too early in the morning, Sergeant. And it’s too hot. “ Up the pole, Berkowitz. ” But I get dizzy, Sergeant. And the paint makes my nose itch. And there are flies…” Up the pole, Berkowitz. ” But we just…
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My New Air Friend
I have had a number of air friends in the past; The RCAF, the IDF, and the Ruritanian Royal Army Air Force amongst others. They feature largely in my collection, and more examples of aircraft will be added as the years go by. But I have a new friend, and it looks like I’ll be…
The Little World 