Category: Modelling materials
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Hut, Hut, Hut…

All three huts, in fact, destined for either the radar station at Wet Dog Regional or the ablutions block at RCAF Wet Dog – wherever they will do the most good. They are the first fruits of Frugal Days – the week in which I do not build an expensive plastic kit, but rather turn…
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How Much Movement Do You Need To Be Alive?

If you are lichen…not a lot. Then again, you’ll never get to see much of the world on your holidays. You’ll end up being jealous of the toadstools and mushrooms…because they are such fungis…* The question is how much action do you need to have in your Little World to make it come alive –…
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Unsticking – Part Three – The Results

Well the experiment went as planned – I waited 24 full hours before masking and spraying two mules. I checked that the red surfaces felt absolutely dry, then used both the cheap and the expensive masking tape to make a pattern. A spray with the vile turquoise colour and an hour’s wait until it had…
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Unsticking – Part Two – The Experiments

The mules were back in business today – 8 plastic panels coated with aqueous acrylic paint – 4 with the same Mr. Hobby gloss red that featured on the Piasecki Flying Banana – four with a Tamiya flat red. I sprayed, then let the paint cure in a hot workshop for a couple of hours.…
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Unsticking – Part One – The Problem

A recent paint job that required three colours sprayed onto a model aircraft fuselage went pretty well – the lightest colour first and then two more in layers with masking tape application between the coats. I have the business of dilution and air pressure pretty well sussed for the types of paint. Note that in…
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Macchi MC 205 Veltro – Part Two – There We Was…

Well, Poo…I realised today that I published Part Four before Part Two and Part Three. You must have gotten a disjointed view of the process. Forgive me and read on today and tomorrow – you’ll get the rest of the story. Blame early mornings… There we was at the Men’s Shed session of the…
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Every Dinner Is A New Dinner – Every Model Is A New Model

Every dinner does you good – if you eat it in pleasant company. Keep this analogy in mind when you sit down and think of doing some scale modelling. Every dinner needs preparation – oh, you might go to some restaurant and have it placed in front of you, but you will pay heavily for…
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Lockheed Lodestar Part Six – Finished For The Time Being…

The Mannix Ltd Lodestar – CF-TDI – will land at Wet Dog Regional Airport tomorrow and be hangared for a space. It waits on the appearance of clear Testor’s decal film in the local hobby shops – there is really no other practical way to get the speed lines and the company logo on the…
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The Positive And Negative Mask

If there is one thing that model airplane building brings you to, it is the knowledge of how to do masking. You may do it badly or well, but you will be doing it for nearly every model you work on. I’ve just been taping up the Grumman Duck and it has prompted me to set…
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A New Superhero For The DC Or Marvel Universe

I don’t know which comic book empire is which, but I can recognise super-talent when I see it. I’m even more delighted to be able to report that it has surfaced in one of my favourite people – me. Captain Frugal. Nicknamed Cheap John. One afternoon I decided to get down to it and build…
