Category: Model Airplane
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Vautour IIN – Part Two – Czech This One Out

I am becoming a critic of instruction sheets. Though I might have become a literary or food critic in another career, I now look closely at the sheets and books that we get when we buy a kit. Part of the job of a critic is to praise, but it’s low-down on the list. Most…
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Vautour IIN – Part One – Who Made it?

I initially thought it was Dassault. Then I thought it was SNCAO or SNCASE and then Pret a Manger and then eventually I didn’t care any more. It was designed and produced by someone in France, for some reason, at some stage of the game. Many were made and quite a few flew. Past that…
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Kicked In The Zip

Normally an unpleasant sensation, I found out today that it was quite all right. And I will be looking to do it again in the future. Now don’t get nervous, and stop wincing. I am writing about the use of an accelerant to get cyanoacrylate cement to set quickly. I have bought a bottle of…
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Curtiss Shrike – Part Five – Bombs Away

And to think I was considering chopping the tail off this plane and making it into a silver prototype. I’m so glad I’m lazy. The Dragon model of the Shrike A25-A has come out very well, despite the funny landing gear doors. The interior is detailed enough that if I had wished, the glasswork could…
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Curtiss Shrike – Part Four – Dragon Boo Boo

I generally have complete faith in things I read. This has served me well with all the elections I’ve ever voted in – I follow the instructions on the how-to-vote card and so far all my candidates have been elected. I also follow the printed instructions on the back of the Betty Sydney cake packets…
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Curtiss Shrike – Part Three – Army Green

” Is That Olive Drab? “ Yes it is. ” Is that the correct shade of Olive Drab? “ No, it isn’t. There is no correct shade of olive drab – it is a fluid, melding hue that goes from light pink to deep violet depending upon the phase of the moon. It was a…
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Curtiss Shrike – Part Two – Folding Wing Or Not?

Not. The USAAF was not concerned about squashing a dive bomber onto a deck-edge lift to strike it down to a hangar deck. They could specify a fixed wing and get a stronger one that would hold more bombs. The Dragon model company makes this kit serve several purposes – US Navy SB2C as well…
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Curtiss Shrike – Part One – Down From The Shelf

This Dragon Models kit of the Curtiss A-25-A has been sitting in Hobbytech for ages. In the early days I would have put it down to a high price…but this has been surpassed by Czech kits since then. Or to the odd-looking box art. But this is no worse than some Eastern European stuff. Or by…
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Revell Brewster Buffalo – Part Three – Good Enough For the Dutch

Poor old Hollanders. They never seemed to have a good time of it in their wars. The English beat them off the sea in the 1700’s and the Japanese scoured them out of the Dutch East Indies in the 1940’s . I wonder if they have ever won anything? Perhaps they do when they retell…

