Category: research
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Avia B-135 – Part Three – Black Green

Or Green Black – you can please yourselves as to what the colour was called. I suspect you will also be flailing about trying to pin it down exactly. Like PRU Blue, Russian Green, and Zinc Chromate, there will be as many shades of Black Green as there are paint manufacturers and club anoraks. I…
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Soviet AS Truck – Part Two – The Light Dawns

The ” Aha! ” moment in this build came as I tried to figure out what the platforms and driveshafts were all about and I ran across the term ” Huck starter “. A google hour then filled me in. And filled in a question I had about a number of airplane designs. On a…
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Soviet AS Truck – Part One – Diorama Time

I am so ignorant. I know nothing. I know less than John Banner as Sgt. Schultz. But I get to find out a lot of things. In this case the impetus proved to be the Library diorama business. I wanted to do the Soviet airfield at Uszhitmi and needed a vehicle for it. I thought…
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Heinkel 51 – Part One – An Unexpected Subject

As most know, I do not, as a rule, model Axis subjects. Oh, I have done so where historically appropriate to tell a story, or as captured aircraft, but few in their own livery. The recent completion of a Heinkel 70 G-1 Blitz was an exception – it forms part of the civilian scene at…
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Airfix Boomerang – Part Three – Jackson’s Art Mask

Well, in for a penny, in for a pound…I tried the Art Spectrum masking fluid from Jackson’s Art Supplies in earnest. The bottle seems a lot like Humbrol Maskol, except slightly thinner. It doesn’t have quite the strong formaldehyde odour of Maskol, but it’s latex, all right. If you do not clean a brush in…
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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…
