Category: Model Airplane
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Nieuport 24Bis – Part One – So What’s With The Bis, Eh?

What was wrong with the plain letter B? Not European enough to be sophisticated? Well, the dictionary defines it as meaning ” again ” so the Bis version is the second one. Like we couldn’t have gotten that from a simple ” B ” ? Son of a Bis… This is another Roden kit, and…
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The Underside

And differences in opinion. Nothing is more striking when looking at aircraft camouflage than the variety of colours and shades that the different air forces used under the Plimsoll line. A glance at any of the Profiles books, a visit to an air museum, or the call-out sheets from any kit maker show colours like…
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Junkers Ju-86 – Part Three – Lady Anne Barnard

Of course you name a German bomber after a Scottish lady of the Georgian period who walked up Table Mountain. Perfectly normal, what? And so they did – this Junkers-86 K passing from the South African airline to the South African Air Force when war commenced and the South Africans decided which side they wanted…
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Junkers Ju-86 – Part Two – The Four-Part Scheme

You have no idea how hard it was to resist writing ” Four-play “… The horror I experienced painting my first four-part camouflage scheme still exists in my display cabinet – wrapped around a Morane-Saulnier fighter of the French air force in early WW2. I was relying upon a back-of-packet colour call-out and masking fluid.…
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Junkers Ju-86 – Part One – The Lumbering South African

And I am not talking about elephants here… How often do you get to see South Africans flying overhead? Or landing on a local field? Or eating things off your lawn? Those of you who live in Perth know that the chances are quite good – we have seen many South African migrants over the…
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The Birthday Money

I got my birthday money and went to the hobby shops to spend it. I went to three different ones in my city, and enjoyed myself in each…though not as much as you might expect. It was like being a fussy kid in candy stores that either did not have any fresh lollies…or had priced…
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Is It Light Into Dark?

Or the other way around? I can’t remember the correct sequence for mixing custom colours that need several hues or shades in one pot. Do I put light drops into a dark base or vice versa? I ask this because I need a purple for the top of a WW1 German aircraft and there are…
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The Itch Builder

And I write because I am just that when the need arises. These days I build mostly model aircraft in one scale. I like to photograph them in my studio and need structures and accessories to go with the kit-built planes. The trade is pretty lax about making things for model aircraft…very much so in…
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Handley Page Heracles – Part Four – Night Flight To Hyderabad

This aircraft model gave two choices of registration – G-AAXC or G-AAXF. I chose the latter – ” Helena ” and noted that it was assigned to eastern flights for Imperial Airways – when there was an empire in the east to fly to. As I intend to do with most 1:144 models in my…
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Handley Page Heracles – Part Three – Mask And Silver

I shall never understand the remark that someone once made about silver-finish aircraft being boring. The amount of work that goes into preparing a model for a silvered finish – and the sheer terror involved in spraying it – would seem to be enough excitement for anyone. Follow this with decaling and sealing and you…
