Category: Model Airplane
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Lockheed RT 33 – Part Five – Snowbird Hack
Well, that was rewarding. The decal set that cost $ 5.00 went down like a cold beer in a country pub. Decals are always a lottery – even from the reputable makers. Specials from shows? Like licking a light socket and betting the current is off. The CT133 that followed the ‘Birds for a few…
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Lockheed RT 33 – Part Four – Don’t Mind If I Do
For all my tootling about over the use of an airbrush, I finally have to confess that there are times when a rattle can is a comfort. Painting the walls of the Police Station, for instance. You try dragging a compressor there in the middle of the night and asking the desk sergeant for the…
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Lockheed Rt 33 – Part Three – Lockup Stage
The point of time when we have an airplane. One that encloses a well fitted wheel well complex, a nose weight, and a cockpit tub. Wings on, tail on, tip tanks on. It went surprisingly fast as the day wore on. The Sword kits are basically quite good – they are square and plumb. This…
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Lockheed RT 33 – Part Two – Do they Drink At Lunch In Prague?
I’m willing to bet they do – it would explain a number of the design decisions that are found in Czech short-run kits. Not that I should complain, but I am slightly puzzled as to why basic components cannot be moulded as parts of the main fuselage or wing sections. They obviously have the skill…
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Lockheed RT 33 – Part One – An Unexpected Delight
In 2019 I visited a model exhibition in Melbourne and scoured the secondhand tables for bargains. I think I did pretty well in the decal files – the RCAF Lancaster decals were found as well as a $ 5.00 set of commemorative ones for the Lockheed CT-133. This was the Canadian version of the T-33…
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Kawanishi George – Part Three – George of the Jungle
Watch out for that tree! The Kawanishi George is complete, after a week of delight. I have never spent $ 5.00 better, and that is truly all that came out of my pocket for this fighter. Not a scrap of filler anywhere, scraped seams, and no weathering needed. It is a museum piece after all.…
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Kawanishi George – Part Two – No Colour Known To Man
I am always intrigued by the colours of the styrene plastic that kit makers choose to mould their little fighter airplanes. I’ve seen silver in early Revell kits, red, blue, oliveish-green from Aurora, and a vile yellow from Monogram. Matchbox outdid them all choosing greens, browns, and greys for their kits. And even went so…
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Kawanishi George – Part One – A Fin
It was the modelling club AGM and a notice had gone out telling people to bring models for sell or swap. Like a fool I did not remember this and rocked up for the AGM barbeque with hardly any money in my pocket. These virus days we pay for most things with credit or debit…
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Landing Gear
I’ve just re-glued some landing gear on a Grumman Guardian. It was cemented yesterday but I guess i put weight on it before it was entirely set – the joints gave way. it’s a Ukrainian kit and the fitting surfaces are Soviet-era. To be fair, Grumman asked the gear legs to do a lot with…
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Boeing P26 – Part One – Two Shameful Confessions
I have two painful confessions to make in regard to the Boeing P-26 peashooter fighter plane. The first was in 1961 when I was in the 9th grade. I formed a friendship with a kid in my grade at school who was also an enthusiastic model airplane builder. He introduced me to matte paints –…
The Little World 