Category: Scale Models
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Grumman F3F – Part Four – Red Ripper
Well, that’s what the colour call-out said. VF-4 Red Rippers embarked on the USS RANGER – pre 1941. I have been adding steadily to the Yellow Wing Navy shelf for years. So far I’ve resisted the temptation to paint the scheme on planes that never carried it and I’m glad to see that there were…
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Grumman F3F – Part Three – The Toy Shop
Well, at this stage of the game it looks like this aircraft has been made by Mattel or Fisher-Price. Solid bright colour and basic shapes. But all is well – a careful evening was spent getting the struts to join the wings in a decent fashion. Czech kits have little markings on the wing surfaces…
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Grumman F3F – Part Two – The Cockpit Of Thomas Hobbes
The cockpit tub and landing gear platform of this American shipboard fighter are evidence that the Czech kit makers believe in free will. No part of the fuselage compels the struts and legs to be where they should be – they must do it of their own accord. This was probably sound philosophy during the…
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Grumman F3F – Part One – At Long Last
I have been looking for a 1:72 scale model of this aircraft for years – and wouldn’t you know – one turned up at a swap meet sale a few weeks ago. It may not be the Monogram Four-Start Plastikit of my youth, but it is a perfectly good Czech MPM model sealed in it’s…
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Nakajima Ki-27 – Part Two – Sitting On The Wing
Because that’s what it looks like the pilot of this fighter is doing. The curved structure of the wing continues inside the fuselage. Not a feature seen anywhere else, in my experience. I bow to ICM’s superior knowledge, however and build as they direct. The options provided in the kit are simple enough – wheels…
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Nakajima Ki-27 – Part One – Not A Nate
This evocation of the Nakajima Ki-27 fighter is for a different war; before it became and Allied ” Nate “. The type is the first monoplane fighter for he Imperial Japanese Army, and this time it is moulded by ICM. Their attention to detail is typical for the Ukrainian firm – every part fits and…
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The PREMIER Club…
I listened to a chap tell me that one of the scale modelling clubs that he belonged to was the PREMIER club in Western Australia. There was a touch of gas and o’erweening pride in the announcement, but it set me to wondering about club rankings. What constitutes supremacy? Is it member numbers, models turned…
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The Scale Sketch
Versus the final model painting. Which is better? Which is more authentic? Which is likely to get you a medallion on a ribbon at the Big Local Scale Model Exhibition? I think we all know the answer to that one… But not every model is destined to be under the eye of the Judgemental Committee.…
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Dassault Super Mystere – Part Four – White 43
Well, the long saga has concluded – the Dassault Super Mystere is ready for the IAF museum at Schmattarim. The display of older aircraft at the museum is a mixed affair -some of the older relics have been left in as-received condition after the air force has wrung all the good they could out of…
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Dassault Super Mystere – Part Three – Masking and Painting
Which would be good things to do if you did them in the right order. Perhaps that’s the disadvantage of working on a fortnight-only model. You forget where you were and skip a stage. Then you have to backtrack and do it the hard way. I proceeded well with the basic construction – attached the…
The Little World 