Category: Model Airplane
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Northrop Nomad – Part Two – A Sea Of Plastic

I have never been so happy to see a plastic bag full of parts before. Particularly as they are all injection-moulded with nary a resin part in sight. The new Northrop Nomad kit ( also known as the DB8A3N ) is a return to traditional construction. There is evidence of thought throughout the box. In…
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Northrop Nomad – Part One – Starting To See A Pattern Develop

I’m not the brightest of individuals but I can see a trend emerging – the Czechs are taking over*. At least they seem to be taking over the shelves of the local hobby shops with their 1:72 scale plastic model kits. I’ve encountered them in Melbourne and again here in Perth and it would appear…
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Tamiya Acrylic – The Viable Challenger

Note: in this test I used the Tamiya acrylic paints, but I could slso have used the Creos Mr. Hobby acrylics as well – they can interchange thinners and brush cleaners. Well, as the Avro Anson MkI was slowly being painted and cured, I decided to fill the time with two other kits – a…
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Enamel Is The First Bottle Off The Shelf

Well, in for a penny, in for a Pound…I decided that the Special Hobby Avro Anson MkI was the test bed for the Humbrol system. Other people may know it as the Angst-on but I make my own discoveries… After painting up the interior and locking it into the fuselage, I covered over the windows…
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The Small Encouragement – F2A Five

The people who have been reading about my Anson Encounter may have formed the opinion that it was a difficult time. That it may have been driving me to blasphemy, murder, or federal politics. Rest assured, while I have no problem with the first two, I would never stoop to the last. But there was…
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I Only Know What I Don’t Read In The Papers – F2A Four

My misquotation of Will Rogers is not meant to be disrespectful – I have always thought him one of the finest humourists that the Americas have produced. But he was long before the era of the internet and the wonderful collection of bad information that it provides. Note that I’m not using this column to…
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” Hey You! What’s The Small Idea? ” – F2A Three

If I were a spray painter on a full-size airplane I’d have no troubles spraying a fine line between colours. A few sheets of newspaper to screen off the overspray and away I’d go matching up the instructions. But I am working in 1:72 scale and I don’t think that my hand skills are such…
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I Can See Clearly Now! – F2A Two

Woah! That’s a revelation! I’ve been learning the business of masking and painting clear canopies and turrets for the 1:72 aircraft over the past couple of months. It has not been an easy process, as I have discovered just how un-detailed parts can be in some kits. If you combine this with the propensity of…
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Cheap Refreshment – F2A One

After the recent spate of complexity – the Special Hobby Avro Anson Mk1 – I found myself with a thirst for simplicity and strong drink. My desire prompted me to look over the kit shelves at Hobbytech in Myaree. I have more Special Hobby and some Airfix on the stash shelf, but quite frankly I…
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Envy Is As Envy Does…Sin Seven

We’ve all heard of peer pressure but really that term is more applicable to our last sin…Envy. What envy generally does, is peer. It peers into catalogs, peers into other people’s mail, peers over the fence, peers over shoulders. It is never happy with what it sees…because what it sees is someone else with something…
