Category: Model Airplane
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SAAB Tunnen – Part One – Swedish Birthday Present

I always keep an eye out these days for old or re-issued Heller kits. Either way, they are good value for money, with subjects that you just don’t see otherwise. Which is not to say that other makers do not do the prototypes – just that we never see them here. Thus, once I see…
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PZL 23.b Karas – Part Three – Brown Bomber

This post marks a departure – the incorporation of two separate models into one report – this is caused by repeating the build for a separate purpose. Of course they are the same moulding sold from two separate firms, so there is no basic design difference. Both liveries are supported by colour call-out information and…
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PZL 23b Karas – Part Two – L’Airfixe

At least that is what it seems. And I am not complaining at all. The mould quality of the Heller kits seems to be of a piece with the better Airfix of the times. Of course there was a period when the two companies were aligned for business reasons but then went their separate ways.…
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PZL 23b Karas – Part One – Oh, What The Heller

My local hobby shop gets in batches of Mister Craft kits every year or so. They stick around a long time, as some of them are repeaters – say a Focke-Wolfe mould just reboxed endlessly with different decals. Others are unique and you snap them up as they appear – always hoping that they are…
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PZL 37a – Part Two – Club Time

This PZL bomber was reserved for a club time build and missed out on some of the workshop photos that other builds get. But in the end it came out well. The frontal view of the aircraft tells a unique story – the dual wheels set onto the landing gear legs. It is the first…
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PZL 37a Los – Part One – Heart In Hand…

Or mouth, as the case might be. I plucked this Mister Craft bomber off the hobby shop shelf as part of a Christmas present…wondering if I was going to get another dud. Mister Craft can mould some real curate’s eggs… In thus case I was not too dismayed by the sprue trees, but I did…
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Grigorovich IP-1 – Part Four – The Winter Coat

Part of the appeal of the Grigorovich is the seasonal one…the fact that it’s a winter fighter with skis for landing in the snow. I am not an Australian fan-boy for snow…I passed my childhood in Alberta and I got all the show I needed, thank you. The skis are a novelty, but so is…
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Grigorovich IP-1 – Part Three – Close Enough For Jazzski

And there I was, getting along so very well…and then winter set in. I knew it was winter because the snow started drifting into the gaps between the wing roots and the fuselage on this Avis model. I was delighted, as it obscured the giant trenches that had appeared. But come spring, the ruse would…
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Grigorovich IP-1 – Part Two – The Soviet Engine

I might not have been paying attention in the past to the details of aero engineering…but I do now that the kit makers are making much more detailed efforts. For instance, I always built the Airfix and Monogram fighters with radial engines that fit inside cowlings. In many cases they were just engine fronts inside…
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Grigorovich IP-1 – Part One – Out Of Left Field

The rise of the eastern bloc modelling industry is a blessing and a curse – the former because it gives us good models to build and the latter because it chooses some of the most obscure prototypes. At least they are obscure to a modeller in Western Australia. They might be household names in Minsk.…
