Category: Scale Models
-
Beat The Designer
Outwit Fokker, de Havilland, and Sopwith. If you take photos of WW 1 aircraft, you likely miss out on some of the best colour if you fail to use a flash. The design of a bi or tri-plane means that the fuselage is covered by the upper wings – any shots taken from a standing…
-
Soviet Hound – Part Five – ” I Have Maybe Helicopter “
” You need use maybe helicopter ? “ Drive truck to back of tarmac and have roubles in briefcase. Just you and barrels. Wait a minute. You pay for three barrel to fly. I count – here is six barrel. No labels on barrel. What inside? What you mean, ” Never mind? ” . Never…
-
Soviet Hound – Part Four – It Is Never Open And Shut
It used to be – in the dear old days of Airfix and Monogram. You could buy a model kit that did things. Ailerons moved. as did flaps, elevators, and rudders. Canopies slid back over cockpits and wheels retracted into wells. Occasionally a bomb bay door opened and something fell out. It was all over-scale…
-
Soviet Hound – Part One – A Working Dog
The Mil Mi-4a Hound seems to have been a general-purpose worker for the old Soviet Union from 1960 until the late 70’s. It is boxed by Trumpeter in a larger scale but Hobby Boss offer it for 1:72 in a very precise moulding. Four sprue trees, a colour call out sheet for the USSR and…
-
Mirage 2000C – Part One – Birthday Present No. 1
First box off the new stash shelf. A wonderful sensation. The box art for the new Italeri 2000C fighter is all about the first Gulf War of 1990-91 – all browns and sand colours. The call-out on the back plus the decal sheet promise Armée de l’Air and UAE Air Force of the period. Possibly,…
-
A Kit Too Far
If you are observant at stash sales you can tell which models will be coming onto the table at a good price. Not initially, perhaps – we have all seen the ambitious price tag on a scale box. Sometimes it is high enough to over-run new kits currently available in the shops. This can be…
-
Pilatus PC-21 – Part Five – RAAF Roulette
The Pilatus PC-21 were ready to fly – the next batch of pilot trainees due to make their solos. One of them was the son of my niece. I have a short reel of him flying that first solo taken by a squadron mate. It is detailed enough to make out the number of the…
-
Pilatus PC-21 – Part Four – Decal Phobia
Fear of water-slide transfers, if you wish to be pedantic… It strikes us all at one time or another. We see a commemoration scheme on the box lid and are lured into getting a kit with complex curved surfaces. The real-life plane or vehicle is painted by professionals with masks, spray guns, and a lot…
-
Pilatus PC-21 – Part Three – The Double Mask
The look of this Swiss trainer in RAAF service is a bit daunting – all that colour and complex markings. Yet, like every paint job in the world, it yields to careful study of individual parts. You just have to mentally look past the complex decals to the basic colours – red, blue and white.…
-
Pilatus PC-21 – Part Two – My Faith Rewarded
Remember I said I was confident in the new Swiss kit? Well, it is getting better. A dry-fit stage is not a perfect thing – you can miss slightly less obvious gaps and misalignment…only to have them show up and bite at cement time. However this time it looks as if the cockpit tub fits…
The Little World 