Category: Scale Models
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Finally – Products that Do What They Promise
Having stuffed things up for years when it got to the final stages of a project – through incautious spray painting or impatience – I have finally gotten products that will do what I need. I tip my Little Workshop hat to Testors for their Dullcote and to Supercheap Auto for their clear acrylic lacquer.…
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Resin – Do I Love It Or Hate It?
My return to scale aircraft modelling these last few years has brought me into contact with one of the most interesting materials on the market – polyurethane resin. It is not the first time that I’ve dealt with building plastic – I worked with acrylic polymers and monomers as a dentist for 40 years and…
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When To Decal
When to pause from your day’s task of cutting, cementing, painting, and cursing to apply your model’s decals? Is there a right time? Is there a wrong time? Don’t just depend on the maker’s instruction sheet – they have their own priorities and one of them might be to sell more sheets of decals. It’s…
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North American Sabre – Part Five – NATO Defenders
The RCAF maintained a presence in Europe all during the Cold War, contributing fighter and reconnaissance units to continental defence. Whether the Sabres would have been all that effective in later years is debatable but by then there were CF 104 Starfighters as well. The basic colour scheme was that of the British units of…
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North American Sabre – Part Four – The Aliens Are Not Coming
But that doesn’t stop me from putting on my tinfoil hat. I’m not repelling mind control – I’m keeping out stray spray paint. I find occasionally that I have a need for a trim colour that is too big for brushing but too small for a major masking stage. In the case of the Sabre…
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North American Sabre – Part Three – The Putty Worms Win Again
The debate about how to put on soft-edge British camouflage seems to have finally been decided – the J. Burrows Tuff Tac is the answer for most effects. The Sabre needs a simple day fighter scheme and in this case the contours are very smooth – no better time to trial the new technique. There…
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North American Sabre – Part Two – Two Evenings
I settled into a pleasant routine of an day – since the weather has turned hot I have decided to adjourn at 1:00 PM to the indoor modelling desk and complete small tasks. If these are brush painting or cementing jobs I can do them in comfort – the Little Computer room has an air…
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North American Sabre – Part One – Why Is It So Hard To Build It Easy?
Answer – because we have so many choices. The Airfix North American F-86 E Sabre and the Canadair Mk 4 Sabre seem very similar in their boxes. The outside art changes and the decal sheets are different but I’m willing to bet I’m going to find the same plastic inside the clear bag on this…
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The More Chemicals You Use…
The closer you get to TNT. I was drawn to this conclusion by a painting disaster. I’d masked over AK lacquer paint with the GSI Creos firm’s Mr Masking Neo solution – the light blue rubber solution that remains elastic after it dries. The material came in an attractive bottle with a brush and I…
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The Rough Finish
My modelling club has a number of senior members who seem to build model armour as their specialty. I don’t know if they are former members of the Royal Australian Armoured Corps or not, though from conversations a number certainly seem to be ex-servicemen. I am envious of their kits – the modern tanks in…
The Little World 