Category: Painting
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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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I Miss The Old China Station Scheme

I mean I miss the warship paint scheme that was favored in Victorian times: a white hull and upperworks with buff funnels and the occasional black funnel cap. Brass, too, just to trim up the works. Oh, I understand perfectly the need to paint them a uniform grey in wartime to let the ship approach…
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Sikorski Sea Dragon – Part Three – Grey On Gray

I just did that to gee up the Pommie Pedants who will insist that there should never be two spellings of the colour…or the color… The helicopter is surprisingly handsome for something that hangs its engines out on stalks and puts rubbish bins in front of them. I could have asked Italeri to mould the…
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Sikorski Sea Dragon – Part Two – Changed My Mind

Not the JMSDF – this one will be the US Navy version. It has the big refuelling probe and the Gunship Grey overall finish. I was given a bottle of Model Master Gunship Grey enamel a few years ago and this is exactly the model for it. Model Master worried me for a whiie as…
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CAC Wirraway – Part Six – No. 4 Sqn RAAF

I have been googling No. 4 Sqn in WW2 with reference to the Wirraway. These were busy aircraft. The squadron was generally intended for reconnaissance when it was formed before the war and was working closely with the Australian Army and US Army in New Guinea throughout the conflict. It looks as if this was…
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CAC Wirraway – Part Five – Foliage Green

And Sky Blue, and let the colour contestants retire to their corners and come out fighting. I was fortunate to receive a book from a friend full of careful tests and colour patches for WW2 aircraft. It contained references for RAAF Foliage Green and Earth Brown and I was able to mix reasonable matches with…
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RCAF Hudson – Part Four – 145 (BR) Sqn

Eastern Air Command, Torbay, Newfoundland. Well, if you cannot have dedicated patrol bombers from the British Air Ministry, you buy or borrow them from the USAAF. Pressed into service for a long time, they did succeed in sinking a U-Boat and damaging several, The last few years of their service was arduous and even the…
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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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Academy C118 Liftmaster – Part Three – Presidential Plane

There were a number of choices of livery for this Douglas aircraft kit. I chose the Republic Of China version as it was a presidential transport for a number of decades – replacing a previous DC-3. It is hard to find positive evidence on the net about the Academy decals but the actual plane itself…
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Academy C118 Liftmaster – Part Two – It’s All Outside

One of the distinct advantages/failings of the 1/144th scale kit is the fact that the insides are rarely seen. Indeed, for many of the airliners there are no side windows to cope with – it is all to be done at the decal stage. I welcome this if the decals are decently printed. However, you…
