Category: Scale Models
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Spitfire Mk IX – Part Four – Is This A Decal Or A Tarpaulin?
I spent one morning recently decalling airplanes – a simple but delightful exercise in cut and paste. The surfaces of the planes were a clear smooth gloss and the first two decal sets – from Hobby Boss – were all that you could want. They were not pretentious markings – just stars, numbers, and a…
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Spitfire Mk IX – Part Three – The Grey Ghost
I am currently working with three bottles of undercoat paint – but not because I need to. Any one of the three choices would be fine…except I cannot resist trying new brews as they appear in the hobby shop. I am perfectly satisfied with Tamiya undercoat in the spray can and have used up many…
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Spitfire Mk IX – Part Two – The Patchwork Quilt
I am always in awe of the kit builder who has every seam perfect, every wheel straight, and every panel line scribed out. Awe and horror. Awe, horror, and unreasoning anger… Well, it’s not quite that bad, but I do regard perfection with some suspicion. Fortunately the Matchbox Spitfire Mk IX is a very soothing…
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Spitfire Mk IX – Part One – Never Look A Gift Kit In The Box
I was at dinner with a group of friends in Sydney when one of them pulled out a couple of old 1:72 kits from a shopping bag. They were historic remainders from his teenage stash…and as he’s distanced from that somewhat, they are truly historic. One’s a Matchbox Spitfire and one’s an Airfix Buccaneer. I…
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Blu, White, Or Yellow?
Tack, I mean. Which stickum do you prefer? I’ve been googling about BluTac just now and apparently the formula is non-toxic, rubber based, and secret. It is made by the original people and half a dozen imitators – two of which I’ve been experimenting with. Useful for tacking posters to dorm wall and kid’s drawings…
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Good Morning, Walter – Part Nine – The Mistake
Well, Walter I am going to let you into a secret – I make mistakes in my Little Workshop. This one’s not the first one I’ve made when building my Little World. I suspect it won’t be the last. The grey Spitfire model you see at the top of the page looks pretty well weathered…
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Bell P 39 Airacobra – Part Four – The Northwest Staging Route
You might wonder a bit at the presence of a Bell P-39 Airacobra with red stars in a white circle appearing at an Alberta RCAF station in the 1940’s. The explanation is simple – the Northwest Staging Route flowed right through RCAF WET DOG as soon as Lend-lease was established and there were enough aircraft…
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Bell P-39 – Part Three – Weight A Minute
Or forever sit on your tail. I applaud the tricycle landing gear for aircraft – in the case of civilian airliners it allows a steady takeoff and landing – I would not want to spill my champagne. On military planes it probably allows the pilot a lot better view of the field or carrier deck…
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Good Morning, Walter – Part Eight – The Truckies
Over the last seven years, Walter I’ve seen a division of the Little World grow right before my eyes. I have only been a spectator but even so I am very impressed with it. it’s the business of radio-controlled trucking and transport. The R/C chaps have always had some sort of display at the various…
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Someone Wants Me…
I’m a 1/48th scale model of a dust cart. In a world of Messerschmitts, Super Hornets, and Saturn V rockets…I’m a dust cart. Two wheels, a bin, and a handle. You get a broom and a shovel on the sprue and a set of decals that look like banana peels and cat puke. The instruction…
The Little World 