Category: Model Airplane
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Airbus 320-200 – Part Three – Safely Flying

I was going to title the wrap-up post ” Safely Landed “, but then I realised that the gear was up… At the outset I must admit this kit surprised me. I expected little, but got a lot. There have been moments, but these were predictable, and the difficulties were surmounted. Difficulties? Not the fit…
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Airbus 320-200 – Part Two – A Curate’s Egg

And parts of it are excellent. So far the only cavil is a few lumps in the line of the engine mounts and a short-shot in a trailing edge. Sprue Goo takes care of the latter and a filing stick the former. The fuselage sides are a commendably close fit, and the clear cockpit windows…
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Airbus 320-200 – Part One – Box Scale

Here we go – doin’ things I said I’d never do again. Box scale, and a factory that has turned out some awful junk before… Be fair, me. It has only turned out junk when the moulds they bought from former moulders were time-expired. Some of them were junk in their first iteration, so they…
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Spend Half Your Time Learning How To Do It Right

Then spend the rest learning how to recover when it goes wrong. All kits have flaws…if not in the box, then in the buyer. Something will go awry in the build. If you are fortunate it will be small and early, and you can fix it before you go on. These are the times that…
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The Old Kid Modeller

As a young kid, your scale model building is limited by one thing: money. You have little of it and are largely dependent upon birthdays and Christmas to supply you with your kits. You may have desires, but you recognise that you’re going to be building whatever you are given. If you are articulate and…
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Vought Crusader F-8 – Part Four – In The Med

And fresh as a daisy. I was delighted to find very clear photographic support for the French naval air service on the web. A number of the Vought Crusader aircraft that operated from the FOCH and CLEMENCEAU were photographed from the islands of those carriers while taking off or landing – and these evolutions were…
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Vought Crusader F-8 – Part Three – Between Thinners

I was torn between thinners for this Crusader. I had enough Light Gull Grey to do the upper side easily – and a new bottle of semi-gloss white for the under side. But one was a water-based acrylic and the other lacquer based. Would it matter? Was there going to be a fizzing explosion along…
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Vought Crusader F-8 – Part One – Iconic

As a young person, this was the naval jet aircraft I was most impressed by. It seemed to encompass all there was about flying. Yet I never possessed a model of one until now – and for years the Italeri kit had been offered on the shelves without getting a nod. I cannot explain the…
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Leonardo Da Vinci’s Cartoons

No, you fools, not the ninja turtles. The real Da Vinci and the preparatory drawings he used to do in chalk and charcoal before launching out onto canvas and oil paint. Think you can pick one up for a bargain price? I mean it’s just a chalk sketch, right? How much could chalk cost…? You…
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The No Step Two Step

Or how I stencilled myself into the asylum. As a kid facing my first decal sheets, I was blazingly confident. Allowed to use water and scissors…what could possibly go wrong? After all, Aurora moulded the position of the USAF and the insignia right there on the top of the wing – all you had to…
