Category: Modelling materials
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Mil 24 Hind F – Part Three – Goo Time

In some cases that is a good time and in some just a goo time. I have written before about making my own sprue goo and using it for seam and gap filling. I have largely thrown away the Vallejo, Perfect Plastic Putty, and Mr Hobby products in favour of this home-made solution. I also…
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Scaling Up Your Scaling Down

When you are presented with requests. You give positive answers. Someone wanted decals for a model aircraft but couldn’t find them on the net. I did, but that probably wasn’t the question anyway. Fortunately the decal sheet needed was simple and illustrated cleanly in colour. Getting it onto Photoshop Elements was simple. Not so simple…
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You Can Save Yourself Into The Bin

Or the poorhouse. The first comes about when you decide to buy raw materials to bypass the commercial products. If you have been used to using a rattle can for spraying undercoat or varnish, you can replace this consistent and successful method with a single-action airbrush, little pots of clear lacquer, and a great deal…
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CAC Wirraway – Part Four – Gappy vs Gapless

It is pretty simple to guess whether kit builders prefer their models with good or bad fit. But if there is going to be a situation in between – where do you want the gaps to fall? The aircraft modeller generally sees it in wings and tail, with the ambitious factories inventing new places to…
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The Bad Batch

Whenever something goes wrong we search for an explanation…that’s just human inability to accept fate. Sometimes it turns out not to be our fault – though smart money always bets the other way. When it is genuinely not us, it can be the maker. The kit that is moulded wrongly. Or warped in the packaging.…
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Norcanair Bristol Freighter – Part Three – Goo-ing It

You have to wonder how we did it. I mean back in the last century when we built scale model kits and did not use putty to fill in seams. Were the kits seamless them? Were we blind? Was filling a gap considered a disreputable act? Well times have changed, and many of you have…
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MiG 3 – Part Two – Can O’ Worms Canopy

You have to confront your fears as they come up. Or run away. I have been dreading the missing/broken/spoiled canopy situation ever since my first cement fingerprints on a P-47. I hasten to add, that was when I was seven – I now glue the little beggars on with PVA glue and all is serene.…
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Can You Wait Too Long?

I suspect you can… And I am not writing about the 5 hr delay between when your family asks you whether you are ready…you standing at the door jiggling the car keys…and when they actually get in the vehicle. No, I mean between stages of a scale model build. Here are the reasons why I…
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You Only Really Aim High Or Low In Scale Modelling

The centre of the target is not interesting – a direct contrast to rifle shooting. When you buy a model, or are fortunate to receive one as a gift, you are either going to chop out a lot of money or very little at all. Oddly, most modellers don’t notice either sum. The large expensive…

