Category: Model Airplane
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Extraordinary Models
Out of the ordinary. Unusual. Remarkable. Etc. The devil is in the etc. Manufacturers of kits are sometimes thrown to the edge of the cliff when it comes to the selection of a prototype for their latest kit. In their various divisions they have usually fallen back upon a well-known kit to get quick money.…
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Mitsubishi Betty – Part Three -Tour Of Inspection
Orders to Ground Crew: Rabaul 17 April, 1943 Prepare G4M1 bomber serial 323 for inspection tour by Admiral Yamamoto tomorrow. Aircraft is to be cleaned thoroughly including all windows. Make sure the defensive tail armament is in correct working order. The side positions may be left closed. As the flight will be leaving at 0600…
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Mitsubishi Betty – Part Two – Not-So-Ghostly Seam
I wondered what that cracking noise was… It was the top fuselage seam giving way. I must have flexed a wing too much and surpassed the tensile strength of the thin cement used to seal the fuselage. Well that’s what undercoat painting is designed to catch – the flaw that occurs before you add a…
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Mitsubishi Betty – Part One – Flying Cigar
The Mitsubishi G4M bomber – the Betty – was given this nickname because of the fuselage. It featured an almost constant cylindrical shape aft of the wing roots and terminated in many models in a rounded tailpiece. This model kit contains this shape, thought he specific aircraft being modelled had the round-off removed to give…
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Curtiss H16 – Part Six – Long Yellow Wings
And a remarkable scale model. The history of the Curtiss H16, as well as the British-built Felixstowe types, is available on the net. They were patrol birds in the WW1 period and undoubtedly endured very hard service over the waters. It is not surprising that so few have survived to become museum exhibits. This Roden…
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Curtiss H16 – Part Four – Donks Are Shön
With my sincere apologies to Wayne Newton… These two donks have been the most complex engines I’ve yet seen in a 1:72 kit. The fuel pipes and cooling assembly alone should have frightened me away, but I was too foolish to run. Over a couple of weeks the constituent parts have been cemented on –…
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Curtiss H16 – Part One – King Kong
Well, just look at the box art. This is undoubtedly the most bizarre illustration of a seaplane that I have ever seen. It holds together in an artistic sense if you are prepared to forget the horizon and just let the illustrator have his, or her, head. The kiddies balloons loose above the Chrysler building…
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If It Was On The Box Top…
It must have been real. If it was in a book, it must have happened. If it was an illustration, it must be accurate. Right? Well, that is how I used to predicate my modelling. I bought the kits, read the library books, and thumbed through the magazines at the drug store to get my…
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Swedish NA 16 – Part Six – Uncle Dick’s Kit O’ Doom
Inside every silver lining is a cloud. My week building the Beechnut Models CAC Wirraway into a Swedish NA 16 trainer was a humbling experience. No, that is not quite right – that should be ” bumbling “. With a kit this bad you are feeling your way from the start – over a carpet…
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Swedish NA-16 – Part Five – Courage, Sven.
You will be protected by the mighty orange wings of the Flygvapnet. And the black metallic fuselage. I am not sure if the paint has gone a little off in the pot, but we will spray it and see what happens. We have not bothered with wing walks on this trainer as we looked more…
The Little World 