Category: Scale Models
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Boeing 314 Clipper – Part One – It’s Not Old Gold
It’s new – in the shops and on my workbench. If you have never built a certain model made by a certain manufacturer of a certain aircraft, it is, by definition, a new model. It might be reissued, it might be remaindered, it might be stash-sold…no matter. You and that model are meeting for the…
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What’s The Biggest Headache In Model Aircraft Kits?
Is it gaps in the joints? Impossibly big sprue feed gates? Dodgy decals? Nope – the worst thing about a model aircraft kit is the landing gear. Unless you’re building a flying boat ( and they have their own problems ) you will encounter your worst moment with the legs. Your problem will be balanced…
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Open Form Modelling
You might think that individuality and enterprise would be rewarded enough in scale modelling when we choose one of the options on the kit instructions. Or when we go the whole hog and get a packet of aftermarket resin or brass. Past that, there are the heady heights of what-iffery and enthusiast sci-fi to absorb…
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De Havilland Kate Moth – Part Two – Bobbing On The Lake
Nothing said sport flying like a Kate Moth on floats. Whether it was in the Yukon or Ontario, the Kate Moth formed reliable transportation for hunters, fishermen, and prospectors. Of course nothing heavier than a dead chipmunk could be flown out strapped to the floats, but these were prized anyway. Red floats are good for…
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The Search For New Plastic
Are you at an impasse? Have you built yourself out of a hobby? Are you standing in the hobby shop but not feeling the buzz? Relax – it happens to all of us one time or another. The people who have a lot of spare hobby money to burn have it happen a lot more…
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Tupolev Tu-2 – Part Four – A Straight Bat
And a fair wicket. This Tupolev Tu-2 WWII bomber eventually got a NATO designation: ” Bat “. It seems to have been exported all over the place after it was second-line for the VVS. The Communist Chinese got some and there are preserved copies in their air museum – presumably Hobby Boss were able to…
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Tupolev Tu-2 – Part Three – No Fill Nowhere
Watching a friend struggle with a small-run Czech model of a P-38 Lightning has been a sobering experience. Every corner of the model as it has been constructed from tiny sub-assemblies has been filled with white plastic putty. I don’t know which one he is using, but I hope it is economical. The mutterings have…
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Tupolev Tu-2 -Part Two – The Modern Mould
Whoever makes the plans, designs, and moulds for Hobby Boss is brilliant. The kits they have put on the shelf can be simple or complex, but even in the case of the less expensive ones there is a sense of purpose and level of finish that many other makers could well copy. The fact that…
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Promoting A Hobby Shop
I visit two hobby shops regularly – another two every six months – and a couple more not at all. The chosen ones are close at hand when I am at home or coming from my weekly club meeting. The occasional ones are out of the way but rewarding for small items. The rejects are…
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Sikorski Sea Dragon – Part One – A Matter Of Numbers
I think there is trouble in the Italeri printing works where they make the boxes for their kits. The top of the box has superb artwork depicting a Sikorski MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopter in US Navy colours. One end of the box repeats this. But one end and one side are marked as MH-47E –…
The Little World 