Category: subassembly
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De Havilland Beaver – Part Two – Let Me Clear Something Up…
A recent build of another Airfix Vintage Classic kit – a Westland Whirlwind helicopter – pointed out the perils of remoulding 1950’s models. The clear plastic on that one was appalling. This Vintage Classic is of a newer year – 1971 – and the clear parts have improved immensely. But they are still just the…
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Every Time You Bolt On A Main Spar
A Fairey gets its wings… The magic of scale model building is far greater than any mousey studio could dream up – we actually get to do things instead of just watch other people do them. One of the things we do is cement wings onto aircraft. We can do this neatly or not, but…
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Avia B-135 – Part Two – Pretty Darn Good
For a short-run Czech kit. The dry fit for the Avia has been a pleasure. Say what you will about the rudimentary nature of these kits, there is a wealth of engraved detail in the parts and the dry fit has been exemplary. Deep in the tiny cockpit are stick, seat, straps, dash with glazing…
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Shinden – Part Two – Future Fighter
I am immensely impressed by this 1:48 scale Hasegawa model. It seems to have everything you’d want in a different adventure. The plastic is Hasegawa – brittle – and that frightens you when you imagine the amount of sanding that will be required…but then the parts dry-snap into each other and there is really no…
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Renault R-35 – Part Three – Running Gear
There must have been as many designs of tank suspension as there were designers – so few seemed to quite agree with each other. Even when one tank was the norm – like the Sherman – there were a number of suspensions and wheel arrangements This Renault R-35 seems to make use of the squeeze-a-rubber…
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Academy SPAD XIII – Part Three – Not Goin’ Nowhere
And not surprising – it’s 38º C outside and 43º C in my work shed. I shall be lurking near the beer cooler and doing the final assembly and decal work inside. I praise the luxury of the choice. The ticklish job of assembly with a bi- or tri-plane is the stage at which you…
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Academy SPAD XIII – Part Two – Ick…
Perhaps I am getting too fussy – or watching too many YouTube speakers complaining about sink holes and ejector pin marks. I am starting to see them more and more. Of course some kits make them more obvious than others – the Academy SPAD XIII being one of them. Note the pink spots of sprue-goo…
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Airfix Boomerang – Part Two – Furrows And Fillers
How appropriate – I am writing this post on Australia Day 2023 – about a distinctively Australian airplane. And I’m eating a sausage roll and drinking a XXXX. I may go out and wrestle a crocodile later… The Boomerang has distinctively British grooves in it – down the wing roots and in the tail assembly.…
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Pfalz D.IIIa – Part Two – You Only Find Out By Cutting
Scale model building with a new maker’s kits is really like draining an abscess. You never really know what is going to happen till you plunge the knife in. The Rodin Pfalz is actually quite nice, if you can forgive a few inadvertent flash episodes. The fuselage sides came together after being flattened on a…
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Italeri F/A 18 Hornet – Part Two – The Mock-up That Doesn’t Mock
I’ve given up a lot of things in my old age: marathon running, ballet, and regular bathing. But I have not given up dry-fitting models. As a kid it was a major part of a build, with gradual dry assembly taking weeks before any cementation. I’m faster these days ( no school homework ), and…
