Category: Scale Models
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RCAF Twin Otter – Part Four – The Canvas Stretched

The Twin Otter fuselage is closed, puttied, and smoothed. The wings are ready for their undercoat. All the ancillary parts are stuck to bits of matchstick or alligator clips awaiting the airbrush. It’s at this point that sprue trees in a box have become an aircraft. There’s still plenty of work to do but the…
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RCAF Twin Otter – Part Three – Bare But Clean

After building a number of Airfix and Italeri 1:72 models with rather comprehensive interiors, I am not sure I’m pleased with the approach Revell have taken with the Twin Otter. The cockpit is fine; seats, control columns, and instruments in a closed space. Painted light grey/dark grey and with the added fillip of seatbelt decals…
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RCAF Twin Otter – Part Two – Familiar Territory

The Revell Twin Otter is familiar territory for me – I rescued one and completed it as CF-ALO some time ago and got a general feel for the layout. The new kit I am dealing with is exactly the same structure – though in this case I do not have to repair – just build.…
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What Is A Senior Model? Part One.

And don’t get funny with the Mick Jagger or Keith Richards jokes…I mean scale models. What do people over 60 want in a scale model kit, and how can they get it? I can speak for myself as I passed that mark twelve years ago, but I am hesitant to decide for others. However, I…
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Grumman F9F-2 Panther – Part Four – The Simoom

Or is that sirocco? Whichever, it is the hot dry wind that blows nobody any good, and it blew into my workshop the other day. Had I been smart, I would have closed the flaming door… The day was hot, but not the spectacular heat that drives people into air conditioning and makes the newspaper…
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Grumman F9F-2 Panther – Part Three – You Only Forget Once

Putting together a model of a jet airplane is pretty straightforward in comparison to a biplane or a WWII bomber. Fewer parts, no propellors, and usually a much sturdier undercarriage. But there is one thing that most modern jets have in common – tricycle landing gear and a tendency to sit on their tails. The…
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Grumman F9F-2 Panther – Part Two – Tubby Little Devil

The cockpit assembly of the Panther has just been completed and I must say it’s pretty nice for a $ 20 model. 5-piece, and some fine moulding on the sidewalls and instrument panel. And for a change the panel decal actually fit the piece. Micro-Sol doesn’t hurt either. The interior of the fuselage is…
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Grumman F9F-2 Panther – Part One – The Cheap Cat

I have long admitted a weakness for bargain model kits. You have only to show me a shelf full of the expensive ones with a cheap runt at the end and you know which one I’ll take. In the case of the Hobby Boss F9F-2 Panther it was sitting next to a similar kit in…
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Next!

This post may anger some people. It is predicated upon bourgeoise riches and wretched excess. The proletariat has likely been trodden under the iron heel of capitalism and no mercy has been shown to the victims. I have a stash. A stash of 1:72 model kits, I hasten to add – and the thing grows…
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Airbrushing Outside The Box

My learning curve with the airbrush was a bit steep a few years ago. It has become easier lately, but occasionally jags upward again. To be fair, it’s me kicking it up. I continually decide that I need to improve upon proven techniques. Even if I got a good result last time. I seem incapable…
