Category: research
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Mitsubishi A6M – Part One – Baggie
Look at the yellow price tag on the Revell baggie kit. 50¢. A very important number when you were 13 years old as it was the amount of your weekly allowance. A salary-by-another-name paid by your parents in exchange for making your own bed and doing the dishes. As a valid salary there were no…
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Operating Vs Poseable
Also known as detached parts…and what you do with ’em. As a kid 60+ years ago I built Airfix, Monogram, and AMT kits that had working parts. Ailerons, tail surfaces, car bonnets, ship’s turrets, etc. were made with joints and sockets that allowed things to wave, swivel, and retract. This was a major attraction that…
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Grumman F8F Bearcat – Part Three – The Highboy
You may be forgiven for raising your eyebrows at the final stance of the Monogram F8F Bearcat…it looks impossibly high off the runway on the main legs. I assure you it was built strictly according to instructions and the landing gear legs were firmly inserted into the bottom of the sockets in the wing. I…
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Lockheed Electra Junior – Part One – Dutch Surprise
The third purchase on a happy visit to a distant hobby shop was a Special Hobby kit. These are always more expensive than the big maker’s offerings but can be had for subjects that would never be kitted otherwise. I am always surprised at the things I see in this class of model. Measuring the…
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Beech AT-11 – Part One – Johnny Ran Away To The Army
When I saw the advertisement for the PM models from Metro Hobbies in Melbourne I was struck by the low price and the unusual subject. At $ 19 each I could afford two, so I got the Beech 18 and the AT-11. The 18 is serving in a civilian role for Alberta Central Airways but…
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Focke Wulf 190A – Part Four – Et Voila!
Voici le NC900. Produit de l’SNCAC a Cravant en France. This is a product of the S.N.C.A.C. from parts and items found in a disused chalk quarry in Cravant near Auxerre in the centre of France. These were made up after the war as an interim squadron for the French Air Force – some 20…
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Focke Wulf 190A – Part Three – The Internet Evening
When you want to build a kit straight out of the box, the first thing you do is cut the seals and open the box. When you want to build it to a different variant the first thing you do is go to the computer and open Google. It is the source of much of…
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Mitsubishi Peggy – Part Nine – Trials Ship
I wish to compliment Hasegawa on this model – it has been one of the most well-balanced builds undertaken in a long time. The glide bomb fitted perfectly into the open bomb bay – the doors of which were made to swing inwards . All this was provided in the kit parts and was very…
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Mitsubishi Peggy – Part Three – The Offices
Notify the Department Of Occupational Health And Safety, Yoshi. I think we have a situation. If we are to be the crew of the Mitsubishi ” Hiryu ” bomber we certainly do. See the three big green objects on the flight deck just behind the navigator and radio operator’s station? These are petrol tanks. Un-armoured…
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Messerschmitt Me 109 E – Part Three – Never Mind If You Don’t Read German
Get up in that airplane, Pilot, and fly it. Ignore the instruments on the dashboard. You’ll be fine. Okay, it’s a small cockpit and you’re very tall. We can fix this. The fitters will unscrew the canopy and take it off. Wear a flying helmet. Or a wooly cap. You’ll be fine. Yes, I know…
The Little World 