Category: Model Airplane
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” Slice Me Off About $ 5.00 Worth, Love…”

” And is the polony fresh…? “ A reader of this column who lives in my same town has raised an interesting question re. the dearly-remembered Antonov AN 225 cargo jet. Apparently there is a 1:72 kit of it from the Ukrainian maker ” Modelsvit “. A massive thing, of course, and one of those…
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Timing…

A ticka, ticka, ticka…Good Timing. A tocka, tocka, tocka. If you model by the clock you’ll never go wrong…until Daylight Savings starts or your Big Ben falls off the bench. Then you’ll be back to counting up to one thousand before letting go of the cemented parts. The intrusion of time into a hobby is…
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72 ÷ 2 = 36

And 36 ÷ 2 = 18. So you can see the logical mathematical connection between the standard small plastic model airplane scale and the cast-metal car hobby. But what is 1:36 doing in between? Not a lot, if Google is accurate. A few die-cast cars but nowhere near as many as adjacent scales. I think…
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Revell Sopwith Camel – Part Four – A Terrible Death

But a nice finish…Old vaudeville joke. Laugh now. Please. The Revell kit was never going to be a show-winner, but then that was never going to be me anyway. And I am happy to say that it has turned out rather pleasingly. I’ve compared it to the Academy kit of a Camel built last year…
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Revell Sopwith Camel – Part Three – Putt Putt Putty

If you are averse to the plastic arts you would do well never to panel-beat a motor car, plaster a wall, or build an old Revell kit. Because at some stage of the game you are going to be sitting there with a bricklayer’s towel and half a hundredweight of plaster, bog, or Mr White…
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Revell Sopwith Camel – Part Two – Those Were Apparently The Days

And I was just the right age -14 – to fail to appreciate just how awful the Revell kits were at the time. I had built Revell planes and ships since the 1950’s and they were a sort of base standard upon which other maker’s efforts were judged. Aurora was worse, Monogram was better, Eaglewall…
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Revell Sopwith Camel – Part One – Not My First Rodeo

Nor my first Camel, either. This example is from Friend Paul. The previous one was from Friend Warren. You can become my friend by presenting me with a model airplane, too. The first camel was an Academy model, and I think I should have built this one first, as an old Revell vs a new…
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SAAB Tunnen – Part Four – Neutral Corner Fighter

Just how neutral is Sweden – really? I know they are always telling us that they defend only themselves, and it is damned difficult to get them to go on exercises with other countries – though this has changed lately. But in the world wars they were shipping arms and raw materials to both sides…somewhat…
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SAAB Tunnen – Part Three – Not Scot Free

As you can see in the heading image, the SAAB Tunnen has not gone scot-free from the need for filler. The culprit is the optional piece for the underside of the nose – it is either a cannon-armed fighter like this or the photo-recon version with camera windows. You are faced with a curved seam…
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SAAB Tunnen – Part Two – Spacious Swede

Nearly all tricycle-gear planes need some sort of nose weight to prevent them sitting on their tails. In some cases it can be a geometric nightmare trying to find enough space at the front of the fuselage to accommodate that weight. You are asking for trouble if you try to do it with lumps of…
