Category: research
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The Colour Of Your Model Is Wrong
But it’s not the fault of the paint – or of you. It’s the result of history. Cast your mind back to when you were a kid during the Boer war. When you could still get that crispy bacon. Remember what the photographs taken at the Battle of Bloemfontein looked like? The videos taken by…
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Give Us A Sign!
Or at least a good line drawing. The quality of instruction manuals for our kits is one thing that we often overlook – until we get to the stage of constructing the landing gear or rigging the sails. Then we can look them over as much as we like without being any wiser. Often the…
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H-34 Choctaw – Part One – Third Little Indian
The naming convention for US Army helicopters uses the Indian tribes of the nation – a delightful thing. This is the third helicopter in the collection with a tribal connection. There are more helos in the display cabinet, but they are either civilian or international versions that adopt their own names. So far I only…
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MiG 21R – Part One – Who Condor?
Who, indeed. When I encountered this model of a Mig 21R at Hobbytech I wondered at it. It was a slow day and I wanted a new kit and I was prepared to buy anything cheap…without really knowing what I’d do with it. Turns out Condor is a Ukrainian maker who specialises in agricultural-grade models…
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AI And The Scale Modeller – Part Two – The Electro-Boss
Let us imagine for a moment that the model making firm of Plasti-Prag decides to download a computer program for AI to help out the staff. In it goes to the works Mac or PC, settling in amongst the porn and unpaid invoices, and the design section tries to use it to draw up box…
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RAF BE2c – Part Three – Sky Rocket
Ten of them, to be precise. And probably as likely to set the BE2c alight as to down an enemy zeppelin. I have a weakness for sky rockets on aircraft ever since my Aurora 1:48 scale Nieuport 11 model back in 1957. They seemed such dramatic weapons. I have yet to read an authentic account…
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RAF Wellington – Part One – Another Legacy Bomber
This kit is the second legacy purchase from a deceased estate. The club member who passed away had not started it. A short google search turned up a number of RAF squadrons who flew this type and several clear illustrations showing camouflage pattern and squadron markings. As I had built a Wellington Mk 1c before…
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Aichi Seiran – Part Four – Underwater Bomber
I puzzled a bit at the Tamiya box for this float-plane. No Allied code-name. Normally they give that to let people know what it was called – but this one wasn’t called anything…I suspect the Allies never saw one flying. It was meant to be an attack bomber carried by a very large submarine –…
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Be Prepared To Be Wrong
Those of you who are married will find it a familiar feeling… But making mistakes in scale modelling is slightly different from the errors experienced during marital bliss. For one, they are quieter… And less permanent. You can paint something wrong, or badly, and realise it…and never do it again…without having to hear about it…
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Miniature Demicturation
Or ” taking the piss out of someone with the hobby “… I have been guilty of just this – with written articles in my web column and imaginative labels on some of my display models. So far no-one has exploded in rage, but I still have hopes. But have I done so with any…
The Little World 