Category: Painting
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RCAF Privateer – Part Four – When To Commit Yourself…

Or alternately…when to have yourself committed… You have to make a decision eventually – whether to cement every blessed little part on the model and then try to paint and decal around them, or to break it down into stages and make your errors in a more orderly fashion. One road leads to madness and…
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MiG 21 – Part One And Only – The Buffer Zone Interceptor

We often forget that there was more than one side to the Cold War. West, East, and Neutral. And Neutral broke down to Undecided, Uneconomic, and Uninterested. The DDR were trusted by their Soviet masters more than you’d think. The Russians were no fools – they knew the quality of the East Germans and had…
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Sopwith Triplane – Part Three – Black Maria

As a straight-out-of-the-bag build I could not have asked more of the Revell Sopwith triplane. It cost me nothing, it delivered a lot of pleasure. The plastic parts fitted as well as any baggie would…but yielded well to the cut and sand that you normally expect to do. The interior is a seat and a…
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Sopwith Triplane – Part Two – The New Techniques

I have decided to risk navigating this PaulPlane in only two uncharted waters: the use of the new decal technique and a new finishing varnish. The third experiment – the plastic rigging – will be postponed until a slightly larger model offers. It’s nice stuff, but a little thick for this job. The decaling system…
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Heinkel He 177 – Part Four – Courtesy Of The Resistance

A captured Heinkel 177 ready to be flown to the RAF for analysis and test flying. The paint shop has been busy making sure the thing is both presentable and safe to cross the Channel. The French roundels and tail flash were easy to do as one always seems to have spares of this sort…
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Gloss, Semi-Gloss, Semi-Satin, Satin, Semi-Matt, Matt, Flat

And all on the same model. Aren’t we a special modeller, then, eh? And these can all be produced by one spray-gun or brush. The most exciting times are when you try for one and get another. This is the point where your education comes in…because that is what has given you your vocabulary. If…
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Hawker Demon – Part Three – I Was Right

Well, it had to happen some time, eh? The Airfix Vintage Classic Hawker Demon is a colourful gem. The decision to pair it with the Bristol Bulldog was brilliant; it is every bit as good. The building fit was straightforward – once the sinks and posts had been dealt with. Very little filling needed on…
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Junkers Ju 87 – Part Five – Temporary Transport

And apparently that was all it was. They captured this one on a Tunisian airfield when the Germans retreated, gave it a quick desert pink and grey spray job, and stencilled it for USAAF and RAF markings. Then they flew it as a unit hack – until someone wrote it off. Bad airplane? Bad pilot?…
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The Work-Rounds For Genius Modellers

There is more than one way to skin a cat, but you’d be wise not to tell this to pet owners. However, if you are a scale modeller there are a number of solutions to common problems that appear if you are prepared to think outside the box. Or, in the case of old Airfix…
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The Difference Between Blazing and Blasé…

…Is generally time and experience. The more of these two you rack up the less you writhe on the rack. This applies to marriage and model building. I’ll leave you to deal with the first set of memories, but consider your experiences with your first plastic model kits. You were keen, you were fussy, you…
