Category: Scale Models
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De Havilland Vampire T.11 – Part One – Going Batty
By now you probably feel you have reason to question my sanity – I am starting to build my third De Havilland Vampire in 1:72 scale. One DH.100 as a Canadian museum piece, then a Swiss Vampire with extended nose, and now a two-seat trainer. What is it with these bats? Well, the first was…
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De Havilland DH. 100 Vampire FB.6 – Part Two – Well That Was Fast…

You’ll forgive me for not taking any pictures of the pignose as it was being assembled. Too much was going on in the house at the time. The build was uneventful – thanks to the precision fit of the components hardly any filler was needed. And the tail sections fitted perfectly with no long packing…
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De Havilland DH.100 Vampire FB.6 – Part One – Those Riotous Swiss

Congratulaions – you have coped with one vampire. now you can cope with another… One thing – you have to hand it to the Swiss. They’re a barrel of laughs. All you have to do is sell them a old jet fighter and they’re out with the paint pots making a carnival float out of…
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De Havilland DH.100 Vampire – Part Four – Whooooosh

Flying a Vampire must have been an exhilarating experience for pilots who had trained on propeller-driven aircraft. Or perhaps I should say propeller-pulled aircraft…as there were very few pusher planes past the WW1 era. Of course pilots who had flown with twin-engine bombers and other multi-craft would be used to a clear field in front…
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De Havilland DH.100 Vampire – Part Three – Tell Me The Truth, Doc

Don’t sugar coat the pill. Give it to me straight. I can take it. Is the Amodel kit going to go fit together or am I just going to end up sobbing in the corner? Well, actually, the news from Kiev is good. The basic pod of the Vampire goes together exceedingly well. If you…
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De Havilland DH.100 Vampire – Part Two – Czech Out The Cockpit – It’s Got Steppes…

Note: There are going to be a lot of Vampire posts in this column. If you are chiropterphobic look away now. As another modeller noted in his daily build column, the quality of fit on a small-run cockpit can be a variable matter. I approach all cockpit tubs, floors, or structures with trepidation these days…with…
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De Havilland DH.100 Vampire – Part One – Going A Little Batty…

I’m told I was scared by the De Havilland Vampire at an early age – my folks took me to the Calgary Stampede one year when I was about 3 and my dad had me perched on his shoulders when a flight of these new acquisitions to the RCAF flew low over the crowd. Apparently…
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When The Only 1:72 Game In Town…

Is: Reputed to be bad. Long sold out. Never seen locally. Not supplied by anyone else… …you are entitled to scuff your feet and make growling noises. I have been reviewing the chances of getting a 1:72 model of the Avro CF 100 Canuck interceptor and it would appear that this aircraft in model kit…
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North American P-51D – Part Three – Giving It The Hatzerim

Go look it up on Google for yourself. The IAF keeps a museum out in the Negev at Hatzerim AFB and parks their exhibits out in the sun. Which then gives them a unique sort of finish – kind of like sandblasting and a UV bake. ” Bozzy “, or old 41 – the P-51D…
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North American P-51D – Part Two – Silver Boss

The Hobby Boss P-51D has proved to be the perfect build for my current project. It is inexpensive, precise, and perfect. And I’m so glad I was able to make another mistake while painting it. I should have thought I was in an alternate universe if I’d gotten entirely through the build without one…that sort…
