Category: research
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TKS Tankette – Part Three – I Cover My Tracks

And so I should – they are horrible. The plastic track option for the TKS was all I feared it would be. I’d seen club mates constructing their own 1:35 tanks with separate track links and just thought it a charming pretension on their part. Hypertension more likely – what looked to be a difficult…
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TKS Tankette – Part Two – A Perfect Companion

Imagine my joy when I looked more closely at my $ 1.00 tankette and discovered it was and up-gunned variant of the previous model. The hull parts are commendably well-fitting, though the suspension and side members are a little fiddly to assemble. I am new to 1:35 armour and I am starting to suspect that…
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Polish Tankette – Part Two – Better Than Nostalgia

Remember that great nostalgia we got before the war – it always fried up crispy and you could go from here to Sydney on it for 17 shillings… Well, I never went to Sydney for 17 shillings, but I did go to Don’s Hobby Shop in Calgary on Saturday mornings and spent my pennies on…
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Northrop Black Widow – Part Four – White Widow

Before you think this has gotten political or I’ve lost my mind, let me assure you that there is a very good reason for painting the P-61 Black Widow white. Before I go into that, notice how smooth the basic structure ( despite the rivets ) is. There was surprisingly little putty needed – or…
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Northrop Black Widow – Part One – ‘Tis A Gift…

And ’tis the only thing gifted about me – the ability to attract free model aircraft. This one is from a lady in payment for some Christmas family pictures. Again, it is a case of telling the client the scale I model in and letting them go and pick out something they fancy. So far…
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Mitsubishi A6M – Part Two – Tending To Madness

Just when you think you have become sane again, someone shows up with a gift model and away you go, over the hill… I needed a Zero some time ago and bought a Tamiya kit. Had I waited a while, my friend John would have arrived with this A6M5 and I would not have needed…
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Scale Modelling And Interpretive Dance

Or ” It’s My Party, And I’ll Glue If I Want To. “ A. Are you a bold and original individual? Are you a trend setter? Have some of the trends you’ve set gone off in your face prematurely? Well join the Queens Own Scale Modellers and we’ll make it All Right. The first thing…
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Com Pro Mise

Don’t turn away. And don’t make that noise in your throat. Compromise is not a filthy word. You’ll find this out soon enough when you are a scale model builder – particularly if you build from commercial kits. They have compromises on every sprue tree. You can also buy after-market brass approximations and resin-cast bad…
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Farman NC 223.3 – Part One – A Packet Of French Letters

Specifically, SNCAC NC 223.3 B.N.5. Hereafter referred to as the Farman – it’s the only one in the stable so I don’t need to be specific. This Azur kit promises to be several weeks worth of advanced building – it is definitely short-run but of the better sort. There are only the vaguest of interior…
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Dornier Do-17Z – Part Six – Discrete Dornier

The Finnish Air Force roundels on this Post-War Dornier seemed a little small when seen in the illustration. They were also depicted this size on another modeller’s effort…so I finally had to accept them as real. The colours of this ex-Luftwaffe aircraft were very close to that of the German Air Force in the late…
