Category: Model Airplane
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Heinkel He-70 F2 – Part Five – The Paint Shop

Ruritanians are, on the whole, a conservative people. They rarely throw over old forms or designs just to revel in novelty. The motto ” Neuheit Ist Scheit ” is ingrained in them. Thus they hold to traditional colour schemes for most of the aircraft in the RRAAF. In some cases this tradition has been the…
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Heinkel He-70 F2 – Part Four – Respec’

I have gained a massive amount of respect for the ICM model making firm – the one who originated the mould for this Revell kit. The fit of the first components is quite superb. Not as definite as Tamiya, but precise enough to allow some serious structure to be built. The actual cockpit of the…
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Heinkel He 70 F-2 – Part Three – Dryfit

Dryfit is not just the brand name of a battery. It is the essential part of nearly all model kit making. It was one of the chief pleasures I had as a kid with the kits. When you dry fit a model you get to play with it far longer than just gluing it together.…
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Heinkel He70 F-2 – Part Two – Methinks I Doth Smell A Ratte

And it may be a Ukrainian ratte at that. The kit has just been started – the cockpit tray completed and some preliminary wing work to box in the wheel wells – and already I am suspicious that this kit has Eastern European origins. Or at least Middle Europe. Middler than Germany, at any rate.…
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Heinkel He70 F-2 – Part One – Herr Verkäufer

I mentioned in the history of the Royal Ruritanian Army Air Force that a number of the planes acquired for the service – and for later use in the Royal Ruritanian Airline – were of German origin. Of course this is simple to explain – Germany is next door to Ruritania and they share a…
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Green Is The Colour Of My True Love’s Cockpit…

And it would appear that I must needs have many loves. I have two pots of paint in the Little Workshop stocks at present – both green – that I use to paint USAAF aircraft of the WW2 period’s insides. One is a custom mix zinc chromate and the other a Testor’s cockpit green. Neither…
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1200 Reasons To Be Happy

” I’m happy with that. ” is a trademark phrase from the master at Matchbox car restoration – Marty from Melbourne. And one of the things he has always been happy with is the white undercoat that Tamiya put in a spray can. He uses it on pretty much all of the toy restorations that…
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Douglas Havoc – Part Eight – The Faulty Gear

Looks like 42547 will be sitting for a bit longer on the hardstand at RCAF WET DOG. The Russian ferry pilot has complained about the front landing gear strut – and we can’t say we disagree with him. It has been put on the service sheet for a rebuild. The front gear leg does indeed…
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Douglas A-20 Havoc – Part Seven – The Work Of Art

Masking tape is one of the few artistic mediums overlooked in the catalogues of the famous galleries. Yet it is the chosen vehicle of expression for so many of us. And it is such a transient thing – here one hour and stripped off and thrown in the trash the next. Truly a metaphor for…
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Douglas A-20 Havoc – Part Six – A Pleasant Surprise

After the trauma of the undercarriage construction on the Havoc, I was not looking forward to the assembly of the rest of the nacelle. I had done some preliminary dry fitting and trimming of the housing – noting that the aft fairing was going to need either a great deal of putty or forgiveness. As…
