Category: Scale Models
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Curtiss SBC-4 – Part One – The Old Photo In The National Geographic

I used to pore over wartime copies of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC. I found a trove of them in a school library in the 1960’s and read all I could. I wasn’t after pictures of native girls with bare chests – I wanted colour photos of fighter planes. NG had access to the US Navy and Kodachrome…
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Imagination Is The New Word For Lying To Yourself

If you’re a fan of Facebook or any other general social media site you’ll have seen the memes that encourage you to imagine things. Many of them will have mountain scenes or unicorns and rainbows. I came from Alberta and used to live in the Crows Nest Pass, so I can testify to the accuracy…
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F-15 Eagle – Part Three – Baz

Not Bazza – this is not an Australian fighter. Baz, as in Hebrew. One of the couple of dozen of this type the IDF flies. The tail markings were initially meant to be two red triangles inside and an eagle on the outer but the home printing proved difficult – they were impossible to actually…
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F-15 Eagle – Part Two – Flaps, Gaps, And Traps

I used to think traps were for the unwary. Then I found myself carefully sticking my fingers in to get the cheese and reaping a snappy reward. There are also traps in the Academy F-15 kit – mainly slight sinks in the intakes and screeching big troubles between the top and bottom halves of the…
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Paint Pot No. 2

The business of spray can and bottle was covered in a previous post. Now it’s the turn of the choice of alcohol/water acrylics and acrylic lacquers. Like a lot of people who remembered enamels, I commenced my latter-day modelling with alcohol/water acrylics. A well-known brand that starts with ” T “. The paints worked well,…
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Yak 3 – Part Four _ Speed Is As Speed Does

When you are not bending up connecting rods from brass PE sheets for a 1/72 kit, it seems to go a lot faster in the construction. Not as liable to win Best-of-Show at the Anorak Expo, but you have to be realistic. And Hobby Boss are the most realistic moulders I know. The Yak 3…
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Yak 3 – Part Two – There’s An Hour Of My Life…

Well-spent, as it happens. The Yak 3 basic structure is cemented together with the cockpit painted already. You can see why I like Hobby Boss products – particularly in a case where there is a time constraint. I don’t want to turn out a shoddy model, but I don’t have time for Boola-Boolavarde stops, as…
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The Kit Whisperer

We are to have our scale model exhibition in a few months and I will be there showing some of my builds and taking pictures of other people’s efforts. I’ll also browse the trade stands and the second-hand sales that go on. Of the two, I think I’ll have the most fun with the junk.…
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Where Does The Money Trail Go To?

When we buy a model kit, or a pot of paint, or a roll of masking tape, where does the money we pay go? I shop at a local dealer who has a good stock – I occasionally go to rival firms if they have special goods. In all the shops, I pay my money…
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North American Yale – Part Three – Canadian Peculiarities

It’s a nation that pours tree sap on its food. That eats strawberry jam pies. That considers chips in gravy and cheese to be healthy. Peculiarity is in the air. This also extended to the products of Canadian Car Foundry and the training airfields. Hence the odd hole in the side of the engine cover…
