Category: Model Airplane
-
North American P-51D – Part Two – Silver Boss
The Hobby Boss P-51D has proved to be the perfect build for my current project. It is inexpensive, precise, and perfect. And I’m so glad I was able to make another mistake while painting it. I should have thought I was in an alternate universe if I’d gotten entirely through the build without one…that sort…
-
North American P-51D – Part One – Spoiled For Choice
Let’s face it – if you want to make a model of a Mustang, Spitfire, Messerschmitt, or Focke Wulf fighter plane, you are not going to be denied the chance by any scarcity of kits. Every major manufacturer of plastic models seems to have these as their basic stock – often in multiple variants and…
-
Ptui On The Pitot!
Particularly the plastic pitot. That final touch on your model airplane that is carefully cemented on and then just as carefully broken off again. Repeatedly. And then repaired until the leading edge of the wing has a quarter inch of dried superglue on it, looking like a snot nugget. I researched what pitot tubes are…
-
Boxing Day Is Only Good If You Need Boxes
And I do. In my cases I need boxes with plastic model airplane kits in them. This year I opted for the do-it-yourself-later option. I asked for gift vouchers for the local hobby shop. The good family delivered as requested and I am now cashed up for the next few months – whenever I need…
-
Curtiss P-40 – Part Three – Ready For Alaska
It seems no time at all was needed to mbuild the new P-40’s for the Northwest Staging Route. They are already sitting on the hardstand at RCAF WET DOG jostling for space with all the other planes heading for Ladd AFB. I have taken advantage of the additional fuel tanks as ferry tanks but opted…
-
Curtiss P-40- Part Two – A Hawk By Any Other Name
I have always been frustrated by the renaming and fuddling about with the P-40. I mean that business of calling it alternately the Warhawk, Tomahawk, or Kittyhawk, depending upon model number and air force it was flying for. I have given up trying to sort it all out and just call it the P-40 no…
-
Curtiss P-40 – Part One – The Roaring Forties
This is to be a dual-build…two kits constructed at the same time to make a team for display. But the team members will not to be entirely identical – one plane is a short-tailed P40E and one a long-tailed P40N. Their common point of reference is the Curtiss design and the fact that both marques…
-
The Two Fingered Salute…
Actually, that should be two-pronged, but I wanted to grasp your attention quickly with a slightly risqué title. I was going to add something about Mae West or Sabrina but the younger readers wouldn’t have any reference points… The business of painting bombers and transports is a little tougher than fighters. To start with, they…
-
Martin Marauder – Part Four – The Slippery Olive
The Marauder had a strange reputation for quite some while but eventually setled down as a very capable ship in the European theatre. It also featured in several Pacific battles and guarded Alaska as well. I was tempted to attach a torpedo to this Marauder just to show that it had been done – and…
-
Martin Marauder – Part Three – The Wobbly Line
A new experiment in painting – the demarcation line on the Martin Marauder is a wavy one – a particularity of the USAAF planes at the time. I am going to try to duplicate it by masking off a mean curved line with Tamiya tape and then developing the curves with masking fluid. See the heading…
The Little World 