Category: Model Airplane
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Convair F-106 – Part Two – Delta Dart

I have been fascinated by this aircraft for decades – they were flying north of my home province during some of the more critical parts of the Cold War. Every new Fifty Cent Fighter Series aircraft seems to be getting a slightly different treatment. In this case it is Mr Hobby aqueous primer and surface…
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Convair F-106 – Part One – The Workshop Drawer

This baggie was found in an old workshop drawer by a friend in the eastern states, He kindly thought of me and sent it along unbuilt. I suspect it was an repackage of an old LS kit that Revell did in the 1980’s. A modest item, but surprisingly detailed. The instructions were classic fold-over baggie…
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The Arrogant Strut

Those who saw Mussolini were impressed with the way he strutted. Likewise with Al Jolson and Kaiser Wilhelm II. However, none of them were as arrogant as the Airfix company when it comes to strutting…as witnessed by their production of a 1:72 Bristol F.2B. They have produced a kit that is nearly impossible to assemble.…
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Trying To Get That Exclusive Prototype

And hoping that it is one that everyone secretly always wanted to build. This can be the only explanation for a number of short-run kits that flow out of Eastern Europe. There can be only a few individuals on the planet that dream of building failed designs that are both ugly and insignificant. Even driven…
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Is Your Rainbow Biased?

Relax. Not going all political on you here. But do you have better results with certain colours? Not certain paints – that’s a different debate – I mean a certain hue within the paint range you use. I rarely paint dark sea blue or coal black, but when I do, it is nearly always a…
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Sukhoi Su-22 Fitter – Part Three – Up and Flying

The 1/144 scale model is a wonderful thing – but you have to remember that it is an abstract of a thumbnail sketch of a miniature painted on ivory. The average person will not be able to rig the hydraulic hoses in the wheel wells. The person who can do this is watched carefully by…
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Sukhoi Su-22 Fitter – Part One – First Of The Fifty Cent Series.

First cab off the rank is the Academy Sukhoi Su-22 Fitter. The tiny box contains three tiny sprue trees – two in hard grey plastic and one clear. There is no flash whatsoever and no sinkholes are evident. Surprisingly, there is room in the cockpit for a separate seat and instrument panel. The canopy is…
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To Paint Or Not To Paint

That is the question. Whether ’tis nobler to coat the photo etched brass parts of your kit with the same paint as the injected plastic ones and let them sink into oblivion or to leave them unpainted and declare your skill and investment to the world. For those of my clubmates who might feel I…
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It’s Fun To Be Ignorant…

Until something even more fun comes along. For years I have avoided building in scales other than 1/72 and 1/76. My model airfields were this size and I needed goods for them. I could shop in the OO model railway shelves and the plastic model shelves for a long time. Then shopping got harder as…
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Boeing Dreamliner – Part Four – Going Up In The Old Style

Retro is a word that is bandied a lot – but it can be a very flexible one – in this case as far back as the 1960’s. El Al got a new Boeing 787 Dreamliner in 2018 and decided to paint it in an older livery. I think this was a superb decision –…
