Category: subassembly
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Gloster Javelin – FAW 9 – Part Three – Trench Warfare

Try as you might to buy kits that need no major work, you are still at the mercy of the moulding shop. Tamiya may be a safer bet than FROG but do not let the tube of putty out of your sight… This was a case of trying the new sprue goo mixture. I finally…
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Gloster Javelin FAW 9 – Part Two – Evolving A FROG

I have been googling the Javelin kit I bought and have come to some interesting conclusions – it is the Mister Craft mould but there are marked differences between these two and the original FROG sprue trees for the 1950’s. These chiefly revolve about the addition of a long whale-rib probe on the starboard side…
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S.P. – Part Four – Precision Is As Precision Does

I had no idea what to expect with the Mirage model of the little armoured car – the firm was a mystery to me. I was pleasantly surprised. Precision in some scale modelling is everything…and in other cases it is nothing. Some makers have magnificent box art disguising parts that frankly do not fit together.…
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S.P. – Part Three – Chassis

I have to keep reminding myself that I am basically playing with a dollar coin here. The kit is progressing well, with a club day spent making wheel and tyre assemblies and getting the running gear on the chassis. The top casing fits down with perfect precision, so it can be finished separately from the…
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S.P. – Part Two – Polish Soft Serve

The plastic with which this Polish kit is moulded is not quite as soft and flaky as that used in the French Mach 2 offerings…but not too much harder. It is softer than new Airfix styrene and it pays not to cut too close to a moulded surface for fear of gouging or tearing. However,…
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Dewoitine D- 510 – Part Two – I Underestimated Them

I should not have been so cynical about the KP moulders. The wings of the Dewoitine D-510 looked a little unsure at the start – the tabs seemed vestigial. The fitting surfaces minimal. I foresaw structural re-enforcement needed. I was wrong. The kit fits. The cockpit goes into the fuselage without trimming – the fuselage…
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Albatros D.III – Part Three – Little Pink

Which, if I recall, was the title of a Damon Runyan short story….and nothing to do with today’s topic. Some months back, in the midst of the viral shortages at our hobby shop, I was reduced to purchasing a pot of Mr. Surfacer 1200 in pink..my normal buy – Mr Surfacer 1000 – being off…
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Albatros D.III – Part Two – Sleek

There only seem to be two types of WW1 aircraft – the impossibly sleek and the improbably bulky. This Albatros fits the first category, as would Pfalz and Roland machines. The second type is represented in my mind by the Bristol fighters and the Russian bombers. Brought about by different design bureaux comprised of different…
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Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 – Part Two – Club Model

The discipline of building specific models in specific circumstances seems to be working out reasonably well – I keep two separate model kits for the two clubs I attend, and one kit a’building in my home workshop. Of course there are cross-overs when one comes to the painting stage – then I use my own…
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WW1 Female Tank – Part Three – Makin’ Tracks

The tanquistas at my scale model club are variable creatures. It pays to be careful when you talk to them. While they are building the hulls and turrets they are cheery. You can have a jest about anything. While they are painting interiors they are happy and contented. When they are assembling tracks from a…
