Category: Painting
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Northrop P-61 Black Widow – Part One – My Second Widow

Ninth grade – Christmas in Calgary, Alberta. The tree held a number of real surprises…a Guillows SE5A and and Aurora 1:48 Northrop Black WIdow amongst others. It was the first time I had ever seen the aircraft and I was astounded. The Aurora kits were fun for their time but their time was a long…
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The Perils Of the Hot Box

Now we’re not talking about a broken bearing f on a railroad car – the proverbial North American ” hot box ” that leads to the failure of the axle and derailment of the train. No, our hot box is the plastic curing box that sits on top of an electric oil-reservoir heater in the…
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IAI Kfir C-1 – Part Four – Clean And Neat Lion Cub

Pardon any typographical errors in this post, but I have just finished two days of decalling and I am now waiting by the side of the road for the wagon from the asylum to pick me up. I shall send the bill for treatment to Cartograf. The Italeri Kfir is ready for the clean section…
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IAI Kfir C-1 – Part Three – Camouflage

Camouflage in two shades is easy – just paint the lightest colour first, mask it off, and then paint the darker shade. Do the demarkation line as you like – hard or soft, and pay attention to whether the prototype wrapped any of its colours past a natural contour. Move to three colours and you…
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Douglas Dauntless – Part Four – Old No. 18

Well, the Dountless is done. And a nicer kit I could not have asked for. As the firm that kitted it also makes an Avenger and several other planes, I shall return to the shop where I bought it, chloroform the lone staff member, and run away with them. It’s handy having a source of…
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Douglas C-47 – Part Four – The Romantic Gooney Bird

Do not adjust your set or your eyes. The green is supposed to look like that. VH – CGQ or ” Honeymoon Express ” was a lot dirtier in her flying days than she appears in the museum. Not a scrap of shine on her in the three photos that appear on the net. I…
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Douglas C-47 – Part Two – Honeymoon Express

The plane I’m building has a real history – apart from being a special scheme on a set of aftermarket decals. ” Honeymoon Express ” was the lead ship on a paratroop assault on Nadzab in New Guinea in 1943 in conjunction with an assault on Lae. It is a good point of interest as…
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Brewster Bermuda – Part Eight – A Lovely Surprise

Well, mustard gas is always a surprise anyway, but this experimental Brewster Bermuda adds a stylish note to it. Not sure if I’m proud to have made an experimental Canadian gas plane of it, but the other options weren’t all that much better. The new technique of masking off the greenhouse entirely and temporarily gluing…
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Brewster Bermuda – Part Seven – Ray Stevens…

Ray Stevens once had a big hit song in which he suggested that everything is beautiful in its own way. I take it that Mr. Stevens never saw a Brewster Bermuda half-way through a camouflage job. I’m building it and I rather like the Brewster airplanes but even so I think it’s as ugly as sin.…
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Brewster Buccaneer – Part Three – A Small Change Of Plans, Eh?

I keep telling myself I will not do this, and I keep ignoring myself. The Buccaneer for Special Hobby is about to change hands…into the care of the RCAF at Suffield, Alberta for “special duties “. While my meagre internet resources do not yet say what these duties are, I can guess: Beer runs. Large…
