Category: Model Airplane
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McDonnell Banshee – Part One – The Holiday Kit

On my holidays to Melbourne, I slipped into the new Metro Models shop in Bourke Street to see what I could find. This Academy model of the McDonnell F2H-3 Banshee did not call to me at first until I turned up the side of the box and was staring at three colour profiles of Royal…
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Douglas Devastator – Part Three – Did I Get My Money’s Worth?

That’s always a pertinent question as far as my hobbies go. Indeed it also applies to clothing purchases, dinners at restaurants, and holiday trips. Sometimes the answer is no – for instance when they bring a tiny dinner out on a vast white plate and then hover like a Sikorski asking whether it is to…
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Douglas Devastator – Part Two – Crates

” My God, Carruthers! They’re sending boys up in crates like those…” Well, don’t write off the Douglas Devastator TBD so soon. Admittedly they did not have sterling success as fighting machines in the battles they fought…but they did get some torpedo strikes. If the US Navy had addressed the problems of the Mk XIII…
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Douglas Devastator – Part One – I Was Devastated

Well, not actually devastated…which apparently means ruined with overwhelming shock and grief. More like surprised and delighted, in a geeky way. Someone was selling old dead plastic model kits for tiny prices. It was not even the swap-meet portion of the Victorian plastic model show – just a few table-holders who decided to get in…
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When To Reach For The Pointed Stick – Part Five – The Primitives

Painting and masking need not always be done with conventional tools. Spray cans, spray guns, airbrushes and bristle brushes are all very well, but we can take a lesson from the indigenous Australians who had none of these tools. For millenia they picked up a pointed stick and cheerfully painted away. In many cases they…
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When To Reach For The Can – Part Four – Rattle me Timbers, Matey…

The aerosol paint can for model work has been around nearly as long as I have, though I did not come to them as a resource until I was in my teens. The cans were small then, as they are now, and just as expensive in relative terms. An AMT model car might cost $…
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Canadair Sabre – Part Five – Better Than I Expected

An up and down experience, the Canadair Sabre. As are many aircraft…that’s why they have elevators and engines. The Airfix kit was delightful – the Mr Color paint was not what I wanted…but that was my fault. The clear coatings went very well. The decals were an experience. But the ensemble has come together better…
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Canadair Sabre – Part Four – A Delicate Matter

I am going to broach a delicate subject in a sensitive manner – surely a new thing for me. I normally try to make a point in an argument with a 17 pounder round. I am going to criticize someone for a product I have tried – in the full knowledge that I may be…
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Canadair Sabre – Part Three – Read The Label On The Jar, Dummy…

Observe the heading image. Four pots of Mr. Color lacquer paint. All of them say ” silver ” somewhere on the label. One, however, also says ” trouble “. The saga started when I painted the Airfix Brewster Buffalo earlier in the year. I had two pots of Mr Color Super Silver – No. 159…
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Canadair Sabre – Part Two – Basic Airframe

Well, I will tip my hat to Airfix – this is one lovely build. I am almost going to get away with no putty, and if the Mr. Surfacer can be coaxed to thicken up by letting it evaporate a little, I can paste it on instead. There was only one little bit of fettling…
