Category: Scale Models
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Sprue Trees – The Movie

May the Swarf be with you… Modellers get a bad rap in movies. We are seen as small-scale weirdos – harmless at best but psychotic at worst. It all started with Marilyn Monroe’s ” Niagara ” of 1953 when the husband of Marilyn is seen as a shell-shocked loser addicted to building plastic car kits.…
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Swedish NA-16 – Part Five – Courage, Sven.

You will be protected by the mighty orange wings of the Flygvapnet. And the black metallic fuselage. I am not sure if the paint has gone a little off in the pot, but we will spray it and see what happens. We have not bothered with wing walks on this trainer as we looked more…
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Straight Out of The Aftermarket Box

Or not, as the case may be… The decision of whether to use aftermarket parts or just what is in the kit box is often a hard one to make. It’s one of the marvels of the age we live in that we have this choice. At one time there was nothing between the Airfix…
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Ansaldo SVA 5 – Part Three – And There It Is…

The sting. The bit where the kit bites back. The inter-plane struts that look so promising lure you on to fasten them to the bottom assembly and then offer up the top wing – only to have your hopes dashed. I do not mind parts that fit where they touch, but that argues that they…
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Ansaldo SVA 5 – Part Two – López De Media Cara

Or, in English, half-face Lopez. Because that is all this little 1:50th Spaniard has – his body is moulded well and he has a uniform, flying boots, and a helmet, but half his face is still in the mould. Just as well that he has been depicted facing to Port – the deformity is masked.…
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Ansaldo SVA 5 – Part One – Czech, Box, And Soviet

Normally a set of red flags for me. In this case a boon. This is a gift from my club – an abandoned kit that sat on the shelf in the storage room for all the years I’ve been a member. It is box scale – 1:50th. It is early Czech production, and is presented…
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The Blank Slate Model

Few scale models are built on an original idea – nearly everything is a good or bad copy of something that already exists. The prototypes might have been just a one-off or even just a plan, but it was in someone’s mind before that of the modeller. However, there are exceptions. I think I have…
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The Rites Of Scale Model Passage

If you have not done these yet, you will… a. Cut yourself severely with your modelling knife. You will bleed profusely, and probably onto your decal sheet. The bit you cut will be the digit you use for most delicate and detailed work, and you will be bandaged for a month. If you manage to…
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Hawker Hunter FGA 9 – Part Five – Singapore 1962

A squadron brought into Singapore for ground support in what was to become a confrontation of the Cold War. This one was with Indonesia – at that time backed by the USSR and Communist China. The Hunters worked with spotter aircraft to deliver effective air support for Commonwealth and Malaysian troops on the ground. The…
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Hawker Hunter FGA 9 – Part Two – One Day…

My Prince will come… Oh, wait, that was Disney; this is Airfix. Well the Hunter at dry fit was one of the best experiences in the hobby. Not a bit of flash and the locating pins were in just the right position. It snapped together at the club so satisfyingly that I could just get…
