Category: Painting
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Swiss Ju-52 – Part Three – Iron Annie In The Alps
The discovery of an unbuilt civilian version of the Ju-52 by Italeri in a legacy sale meant it could join the other post-war airliners at Flugplatz Strelsau. The Lufthansa colour scheme was tempting, but I could see the problems that might arise trying to get large block letters to snuggle down into the corrugations on…
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De Havilland Beaver – Part Four – Bluebell Bay Belle
Kootenay Lake in British Columbia is long, wide, and very deep – and hemmed on every side by mountains. Perfect flying water for an air taxi. Thus was born the idea of providing an air service connecting Kuskanook, Kootenay Bay, and Kaslo – with stops at Riondel. Balfour, and Lardeau. The perfect vehicle is the…
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De Havilland Beaver – Part Three – Beaver On A Stick
When you’re a Cub Scout in the Kootenays, you’ll eat anything… The De Havilland Beaver a’building is using three of my favourite things; Mr Color No. 208 duraluminium paint, 3M double sided foam tape, and plastic clamps from Bunnings. The Airfix kit is slotting together nicely, though you need your wits about you if you…
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Have You Found Your Oeuvre?
Or your œuf? Is your modelling pressing you toward one coherent thing, or are you flailing in all directions? Perhaps flailing is your destiny, and you are fulfilling it. Do not despair. Leonardo Da Vinci was nearly fifty years old before he built his first model of the MISSOURI. And look how he flourished in…
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Avia B-135 – Part Three – Black Green
Or Green Black – you can please yourselves as to what the colour was called. I suspect you will also be flailing about trying to pin it down exactly. Like PRU Blue, Russian Green, and Zinc Chromate, there will be as many shades of Black Green as there are paint manufacturers and club anoraks. I…
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Decal Or Not Decal
That is the question. Whether ’tis nobler to suffer the agonies of masking tape and airbrush or to take scissors and water and end them. I am in the position of Hamlet every time I look a the colour call-out of a kit. I have the decal sheet in one hand and my heart in…
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The Odd Model
Vs the Old Standard. Is it possible to find happiness in the box of your 115th Spitfire if you elect to decorate it in the colours of the Congolese Air Force? Only if the other 114 are in RAF standard Day Fighter green/grey/sky and are distinguishable only by tail code. You started to feel confident…
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Heinkel 51 – Part Three – A “Civil ” Heinkel
I have chosen this title as a nod to the paint scheme on this Heinkel. I am pretending it was a civilian aircraft. Anyone familiar with the history of Germany at the time this was flying – mid thirties – can draw their own conclusions about what was a civil aircraft and what was a…
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Renault R-35 – Part Six – Hit Me With That Rhythm Stick
Or a German tank shell – because that seems to be what the French armoured corps were hoping for when they thought up their paint scheme and then added tricolour insignia at all the best aiming points. I realise that they did not know what they were up against, nor what to do about it,…
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Renault R-35 – Part Five – Pierrot
I have discarded the idea of Art Deco – this tank has been painted by the costume designer for the Commedia Dell’Arte. I expect that there is an ammunition carrier that looks like Pierrette… The business of brush painting a model is both thrillingly new and old. It was my only means of model decoration…
The Little World 