Category: research
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Douglas RB-66B – Part Five – Super Snooper
The first B-66 Destroyer I had was a Monogram model with lots of moving parts and a bomb bay that worked. I remember destroying a small city with it. Play was more robust in the 1950’s, I can tell you. But the Italeri RB-66B is no bomber – it’s an electronics warfare and reconnaissance bird.…
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Douglas RB-66B – Part One – The Shelf Queen
Some kits fly out the door of the hobby shop as soon as they arrive. Some stay until the sales. Some stay until the owner dies and the executors hacksaw the door open. The reasons for this can be many – the kit is horrible – the kit is so obscure than no living being…
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The Hiatus
The Hiatus was a heavy triplane bomber designed by Handley Page…but they paused the production… All modellers stop occasionally to take stock. To draw a breath. To pacify the wife. It doesn’t mean that they will not be building again – it just means that it will not be today. Today will be devoted to…
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The Shady Business Of Uploading Images
Or how I tried to tame the computer. Here is a typical image of a model airplane. One I built. Modest model, modest builder… Now I am trying to see if it will save, then preview, then publish. If you are confused, please don’t be concerned. I have been so for years and it is…
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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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Junkers Ju 87 – Part One – Hoping For A Revellation…
My first ever plastic model kit was by Revell – made when they were located in California. Now that they are a German firm, things may have changed. I see reports from the British modelling press that they are a curate’s egg – some kits fine and some foul. I also see cries of derision…
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Gloster Meteor – Part Two – The Wrong Road
I would be the first person to admit my mistakes – at least the ones I cannot hide under the rug. Or blame on other people. This kit prompted a mistake. I thought that I was going to make an Israeli Meteor to be displayed in 1956 colours at my air museum at Schmatterim. The…
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Sopwith Camel – Part Five – Hendon’s Prize
On some occasions I will have all I need to decorate a model but miss out on one thing. In this case it is a set of small decals for the airframe number. There is one on the Academy decal sheet, but it’s wrong for the Hendon camel. I adopt a sensible attitude to these…
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Sopwith Camel – Part Three – Decision Time
Decision time comes at many stages of a build – Shop, Shelf, Box, and Bench. For the desperadoes amongst us we can add the Screen. a. Shop. Which one to go to? The closest one? The one with the biggest range? The one who gets the newest kits in? The one with the best prices?…
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Northrop BT 1 – Part Seven – Why Was It Not Named?
Dauntless, Helldiver, Avenger, Hellcat…all good historic names for US Navy aircraft. The Army Air Force had Mustangs and Thunderbolts and such. Why was the BT 1 just a code, instead of a name? I suspect it is because it never established itself in the affections of the press – or at least in the press…
The Little World 