Category: research
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The Royal Ruritanian Army Air Force – Part Four – The Royal Trainees
Every Ruritanian boy has a burning desire to fly – frequently far from home and the endless cultivation of vegetables in the cold, damp soil. In the centuries before flight this urge was satisfied by sneaking over the border into Austria, Hungary, Poland, Russia, or Germany. There, the life choices of the Ruritanian peasant could…
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The Royal Ruritanian Army Air Force – Part One – Hope For The Future
The construction of a Little World can be a casual thing – a few paper dolls and a cereal box becomes an entire population in a city. Or endless years of painstaking research and modelling yields a vast empire. There can be accuracy and fantasy in anything…but for those of us who were raised on…
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Grumman Avenger – Part Two – Bathed And Naked
Settle down, class. You’ve seen uncovered airplanes before. No need to get excited. The preliminary researches on the TBF for the USS BUNKER HILL all point to the same visual conclusion; the colour scheme that the box art shows is accurate enough for a direct build. Perhaps a little modification of the yellow nose around…
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North American AT6 – Part Five – One From Column A…
And one from Column B. That’s how you make an air force out of bits from the scrap heap. That’s how the Israelis did it in ’48. I’ve been reading of the formation of the IAF and the war of independence against the Egyptians, Jordanians, Lebanese, Syrians, and British. It would appear that the supply…
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North American AT6 – Part Four – Nailing The Colour
I have discovered many interesting things about colour since I returned to scale modelling – both upon the original subjects and on our models: a. The best colour reference is the actual article – untouched by time and not modified by any curators or experts. The fact that nothing is ever this perfect is beside…
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North American AT6 – Part Three – The Universal Airplane
What do you want from a model kit? A unique subject that was only ever built once, by one maker, for one flyer? A model that can never be made in an alternative form? Buy yourself a ” Spirit of St. Louis ” and a pot of silver paint, Charlie, and away you go. After…
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Mitsubishi A5M-2 – Part Two – A Nipponese Quickie
I’m not sure if I should leave money on the mantlepiece. I’ve just had my moment of pleasure and it’s all over. But I don’t regret it at all. Lets face it – building a Hobby Boss fighter plane is never going to be a case of long-term employment. Unless you pace yourself, you’ll find…
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Shaky Legs, Don’t Just Stand There…
And bite that trembling lip. A good idea has just surfaced. Model airplane kit builders can access any number of specialized kits and parts these days. If you find something crude in the box, you just keep shopping until you find a Czech firm that have made a better replacement part for it. Of course…
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Good Local Advice
I am benefitting today from the fact that this column automatically circulates out to our local social media network. One of my friends has seen the recent post regarding paint and has responded with what i needed to know. He mentioned in a Facebook reply that many paints have more than just evaporation happening as…
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That Blasted YouTube
Just when you thought hat you had the rock-solid, universal, standard-of-the-industry advice from every model making magazine and reference article….the YouTube brings more experts to you who decry generally perceived wisdom. This has just occurred with the business of Future floor polish and other clear coats, and now I am back at square one. Up…
The Little World 