Category: Scale Models
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Mirage III CJ – Part Four – Who’s Hiding?
And from whom? Where are they lurking? Is it all just nonsense these days? I have no idea – I presume the various air forces have worked out how to hide in the air with grey paint and rubber knobs on every sharp point of an aircraft. The business of greying out national insignia to…
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Mirage III CJ – Part Three – Let’s Give The Customers Something…
What shall it be? Accurate instruction sheets? Flawless mouldings? Adequate colour information? I have it – let’s just give them trouble. It’ll be fun and cheap and we can do it by making bad decisions. Like avoiding a centre seam on the top of the Mirage fuselage that could be smoothed and polished easily –…
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Mirage III CJ – Part Two – The Approximate Cockpit
I confess myself mystified at the philosophy that spends money to mould a resin seat of truly superb quality and then cannot make adequate provision to anchor it accurately within the fuselage. I admit that it is unlikely to escape once the two halves of the thing are cemented together, but the business of deciding…
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Mirage III CJ – Part One – The Very Thing
I set myself the task of building Israeli aircraft for a desert museum airfield – this kit was sitting on the shelves of a specialist dealer when I went to look for decals. How could I resist? It shows a horrible modification of a beautiful aircraft on the box top…but the sides promise the original…
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MiG 3 – Part Four – Red Eight
Is Hero of Great Patriotic Aviation! Not loved by its pilots, not safe to fly at altitude, not effective as a gun platform….but that didn’t stop PRAVDA from advertising it as the greatest thing since sliced borscht. The model is pleasing, nonetheless – even the slightly odd-looking canopy. Considering that it was an experiment that…
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MiG 3 – Part One – The Bag Of Almost
Another dusty diamond from the bowels of the storeroom. This is No. 180 model in the Italeri catalog – it could have been from any time between 1978 and 2018 but I’m betting on the earlier dates. I’ve no way of confirming this as it’s been supplied in a battered plastic bag full of almost.…
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You Can Only Build What You Can Get
And if you can’t get something, you have to build it… The principle of the scratch-builder. Also of the realistic builder – a person who may not know their own limitations but can list those of the local hobby shops in detail. This is not just snarkiness – the realistic builder knows that not every…
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Seahawk HH-60H – Part Two – Crows Nest Pass
It’s about as close to the sea as Kalgoorlie… But when the military sell off their old aircraft, the local fire authorities get a chance to pick up some useful heavy lifters for the fire fighting role. Queensland has them – so to other states. Why not sell a few to Alberta and strip off…
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Can You Wait Too Long?
I suspect you can… And I am not writing about the 5 hr delay between when your family asks you whether you are ready…you standing at the door jiggling the car keys…and when they actually get in the vehicle. No, I mean between stages of a scale model build. Here are the reasons why I…
