Category: Model Airplane
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Mitsubishi Betty – Part One – Flying Cigar
The Mitsubishi G4M bomber – the Betty – was given this nickname because of the fuselage. It featured an almost constant cylindrical shape aft of the wing roots and terminated in many models in a rounded tailpiece. This model kit contains this shape, thought he specific aircraft being modelled had the round-off removed to give…
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Curtiss H16 – Part Six – Long Yellow Wings
And a remarkable scale model. The history of the Curtiss H16, as well as the British-built Felixstowe types, is available on the net. They were patrol birds in the WW1 period and undoubtedly endured very hard service over the waters. It is not surprising that so few have survived to become museum exhibits. This Roden…
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Curtiss H16 – Part Four – Donks Are Shön
With my sincere apologies to Wayne Newton… These two donks have been the most complex engines I’ve yet seen in a 1:72 kit. The fuel pipes and cooling assembly alone should have frightened me away, but I was too foolish to run. Over a couple of weeks the constituent parts have been cemented on –…
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Curtiss H16 – Part One – King Kong
Well, just look at the box art. This is undoubtedly the most bizarre illustration of a seaplane that I have ever seen. It holds together in an artistic sense if you are prepared to forget the horizon and just let the illustrator have his, or her, head. The kiddies balloons loose above the Chrysler building…
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If It Was On The Box Top…
It must have been real. If it was in a book, it must have happened. If it was an illustration, it must be accurate. Right? Well, that is how I used to predicate my modelling. I bought the kits, read the library books, and thumbed through the magazines at the drug store to get my…
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Swedish NA 16 – Part Six – Uncle Dick’s Kit O’ Doom
Inside every silver lining is a cloud. My week building the Beechnut Models CAC Wirraway into a Swedish NA 16 trainer was a humbling experience. No, that is not quite right – that should be ” bumbling “. With a kit this bad you are feeling your way from the start – over a carpet…
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Swedish NA-16 – Part Five – Courage, Sven.
You will be protected by the mighty orange wings of the Flygvapnet. And the black metallic fuselage. I am not sure if the paint has gone a little off in the pot, but we will spray it and see what happens. We have not bothered with wing walks on this trainer as we looked more…
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Swedish NA-16 – Part Four – Pinning Your Hopes
When all else fails, reach for the drill… Sorry, old habits die hard. Actually that should be reach for the forceps and slide that bucket over here. Open wide. The butt joint wing or tail surfaces are the easy way out for many short-run kit designers. They imagine you will square up the fitting surfaces…
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Swedish NA-16 – Part Three – Dr. Phil
Not the TV chap – I’m thinking this kit should have been built by the famous Irish dentist: Dr. Phil McCavity. Six separate applications and removals of two grades of putty plus a styrene sheet fitted to the worst of the gaps. All done in a cheerful frame of mind and without the aid of…
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Swedish NA-16 – Part Two – The Plastic Mangler
I would have written ” wrangler ” but you wouldn’t believe this kit. The fuselage halves are two different sizes. Not by much, but by enough. I reduced them somewhat upon a sandpaper sheet taped to a flat surface, and then attacked the thicker half with a Dremel tool, The centre seam doesn’t fit, but…
The Little World 