Category: Modelling materials
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Junkers F.13 – Part Three – A Tail Of A City

The original tail of the F.13 is a beauty – looks like a bird’s plumage made in tin…very reminiscent of a WW1 design. But when the City Of Prince George was delivered it had a very much more modern and conventional fin with a balanced rudder. Fortunately this sort of model was also made by…
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Wenn Ist Genug?

A question for all of us – but in this case for the model builder who is puttying up their kit. When do you stop? a. When all the seam lines are full. b. When you run out of putty. c. When you have lost the will to live. If ( b. ) or (…
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” Why Would You Bother…”

Passing remarks should be allowed to pass – after all flatus is allowed to exit the body freely as long as there is a strong breeze to carry it away. So with many opinions. One that I heard of recently ( note the phrase ” heard of ” rather than ” heard “…that defining border…
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Kicked In The Zip

Normally an unpleasant sensation, I found out today that it was quite all right. And I will be looking to do it again in the future. Now don’t get nervous, and stop wincing. I am writing about the use of an accelerant to get cyanoacrylate cement to set quickly. I have bought a bottle of…
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Ol’ Stinky

In the social world of liquid masking agents, Humbrol’s Maskol is the one you rarely invite to the cocktail party. It is purple, stringy, and smelly. A lot like some people I know. I’ve tried it for masking camouflage patterns in 1:72 and found it to be problematical. It sticks, alright, but sometimes long after…
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Martin B10 Bomber – Part Four – If I Want A Pretzel…

…I’ll go to the bakery. The production of a complex fuselage is…well…complex. And sometimes the strange shape must cause the final product to come out of the mould a little distorted. I suspect this was the case with the Martin B 10. There was enough of a warp to render it impossible to set all…
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Martin B10 Bomber – Part Two – Parts Not Needed

The advent of the multi-build kit these days is both a boon and a curse – particularly if you are a fussy sort of modeller who wants to get the thing just right – the particular mark or serial number. The maker may have given you just the pieces to do it with, but they…
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Reaching For Occam’s Hammer

I’ve written before about Occam’s Razor as it applies to scale modelling – the topic at the time was producing rust, and it’s been getting rustier ever after. Today it is Occam’s Hammer. The old chap will forgive me taking his name in vain, but I intend to treat the principles he espoused with affection.…
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The Swiss Army Varnish

My workshop has a shelf in it for varnishes. Read that again. A whole shelf. I call it the Swiss Army Shelf because it has something of everything there – like a Swiss Army knife. And like the famous tool from the Alps, I suspect that about 89% of what’s on the shelf is useless.…
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Curtiss Helldiver – Part Six – A Pot To Peer In

Or into, as the case may be. A pot of paint. 10 ml of potential heaven or hell. A liquid mistake waiting for you to make it. I am a 10ml paint pot guy – Tamiya, GSI Creos, or AK Real Colours are the ones that sit in my paint rack. I’ve experimented with others,…
