Category: History
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RCN Swordfish – Part Three – Careful Observation
Does not necessarily mean sensible painting. The camouflage patterns painted on British aircraft were pretty standardised in WW2. You’ll all have seen the A and B patterns for fighters, bombers, and such and the basic designs were similar. Paint crews were issued with instructions and often masking mats to enable them to put on the…
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Heinkel He-111c – Part Six – German Republik Luft
I have decided to please myself and indulge in a little whiffery with this Heinkel aircraft. Not assigning it to Ruritania or imagining it sold to some other power – I have decided to base it upon continued existence of a German Republic past 1933. Hence the black/white/red tail colours and the naming of the…
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Republic P-47D – Part Two – Rum And Coca Cola
And another rare bird for my Middle and South American section; a Cuban P-47. Donated under Pan-American defence treaties, this came to Havana in the 1950’s – part of the FAEC under Batista. So far I cannot find out whether it saw any battle before or during the revolution, but at least is it a…
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Define Nostalgia
Easy to do for yourself – hard to do for others… The theme for some of the displays seen at the WAMA exhibition revolved around nostalgia. The vague meaning of the word – a pain for the past – may be a lot more apposite than you’d think if your past was a pain. Some…
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We Regard You As Innocent
Until someone suggests you could be guilty. A big local scale model exhibition seems to have attracted a very unusual visitor: A 1:1 scale replica of a motor vehicle from 80 years ago. It was parked in the front of the Cannington Exhibition Centre on the second afternoon of the show. I did not see…
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Fokker DR.1 – Part Two – Schwartz
Specifically, Wilhelm Schwartz – in 1918 at Mesniles. That’s the plate that I have based my Fokker triplane upon. The kits that come out of this iconic aircraft all seem to assign it to Manfred v. Richthofen and mould it in red plastic. An understandable choice, as he was possibly the most famous ace of…
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Don’t You Have Something Better To Do?
Well, frankly, no. I used to have professional practice to do, attended with terrible anxiety. It paid me money for awhile, and then didn’t. A signal… So I took up trade, and it was attended by less angst, and more money. Eventually I had accumulated enough of both to be satisfied. Now I have decided…
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The Coconut Bow
Look up the history of the WW2 cruiser USS NEW ORLEANS at the Battle of Tassafaronga. You’ll find that a Japanese 21″ Long Lance torpedo hot it at night and blew the bow off just aft of the first turret. The bow then rotated to port and passed down the port side of the ship,…
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Fokker D.XXI – Part Three – 1939
Ist Fighter Squadron, De Kooy, Netherlands. Autumn 1939. Den Helder was the location and the Dutch had about 30 operational Fokker D.XXI fighters at the base. They were used in May 1940 as defence against the Luftwaffe and the official history records some remarkable successes for the type. It was more manoeuvrable than the Bf…
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Grumman Tracker – Part Three – A Bonnie Aircraft
Bonnie, but not magnificent… The Idea Model Company Grumman S2F-1 model that came to me at a low price has proved to be an excellent bargain. It might not have the precision of a Hasegawa or Tamiya product, but it is here, now, and has built up to a good stand-off model. The Royal Canadian…
The Little World 