Category: Scale Models
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JAS 39 Gripen – Part Two – Loaded For Bear

Quite literally – whether on the ground, in the air, or on the sea. This Gripen is painted as a demonstrator model for an air show – no unit mark, no wear and tear, but a full load of missiles, tanks, and a designator pod. With a load-out this intense, I think its greatest feat…
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JAS 39 Gripen – Part One – The Export Model

That’s good enough for home. This Italeri kit is probably based upon an early model JAS 39 Gripen. Since its introduction into the Swedish Air Force it has been sold to the Czech Republic, Hungary, and South Africa. Did you wish to add a modern aircraft to your collection for these services, there are decals…
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Several Hours Later…

You have a variety of outcomes. a. Drinking – intoxication, lethargy, nausea, shame. b. Weeding – a clean garden. c. Reading – knowledge or entertainment. d. Phone scrolling – vapidity, tiredness. e. Eating – biliousness. f. Scale modelling – pride, satisfaction. Well, it is your time after all…
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Are Your Models Getting Enough Exposure?

I don’t mean in the sunshine – most plastic kits do badly when the temperature rises. I mean in your home, workplace, club, or other places. Are you hiding your light under a bushel? Do you need to show off a little? Once a year you can display in the WASMex show. Your audience will…
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Hawker Typhoon 1B – Part One – Squashed Kit

Another flattened amphibian from 1974 – a WW2 Typhoon fighter-bomber. A kind gift from a club-mate – to whom I was able to reciprocate. This old Typhoon is in excellent shape, even if the box is not. All sprue trees complete and the canopy has not cracked. The instructions are not snail-eaten and the decal…
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Too Hard?

Possibly. But remember that clean joints and clear canopies were too hard when you were 11 years old. You are now 67, and all the joints are good and all the canopies are clean. Life has progressed, and so have you. If the scheme on the colour call-out looks impossibly complex, do not worry. Take…
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When You Rethink…

And you do it for yourself – free of any prompting from necessity, or advertising, or other people’s opinions… You step up to the bridge of life and take command. You decide the course and the speed. You decide the cargo and the loading. You take the risk and make the profit or loss. It’s…
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Ural Starter Truck Part Three – Part By Part

I’ll amend that; part by precise part. The Ural is going together exactly as per instructions – and each part is straight and plumb as it adds to the model. The 6 wheels do, indeed, hit the ground together and the cab needs only the slightest fettling to fit over the engine. Here the tolerances…
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Ural Starter Truck – Part Two – Straight Into It

And likely to remain straight, as well. The designers of this Ural kit are smarter than the average bear. The moulded the basic frame as one piece with springs attached and a number of extremely precise location holes throughout it. This meant that, even in the hurley burley of a club morning – with the…

