Category: subassembly
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Cessna Dragonfly – Part Two – Weighty Nose
You only have to forget once to weight the nose of a three-wheeled plane to impress it on your memory forever. And there is no effective way to excuse it when you are faced with the fact – other than accepting your fate, putting the wheels up, and the model on a flying stand. I…
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Farman NC 223.3 – Part Six – Praise Courageous Me
Thank you, thank you. I fully deserve your applause – I have made propellers and engines the HARD way. Not that I had any choice in the matter. The parts were there and the instructions were uncompromising – ” Do as we say or die “. Or, in the case of the engine mounting struts:…
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Farman – NC 223.3 – Part Five – Almost A Sailplane
Well, you could be fooled into thinking that if you just saw the fueslage and wings, couldn’t you. Angular, but sleek. No-one in the SCNAC stayed sleek for long – eventually their Gallic desire to attach a strut, a window, or a café awning and chairs asserted itself and before you knew it you had…
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Farman NC 223.3 – Part Four – Faire Soi-Même
Or you won’t be faring at all. Scratch-building at the order of the kit maker is a strange feeling. I do not shy from it, as I scratch build many of my airport structures, but it still smacks a little of ” don’t care ” when the instructions demand it and there are no parts…
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Farman NC 223.3 – Part Two – Short Run Need Not Be Vile
I think Forrest Gump would have enjoyed short-run Czech kits – he had a philosophy that would have coped. I may send my next Prague bomb to Tom Hanks. The fuselage halves of this angular bird could have been a disaster – no locating pins and a very long run for twists and warpage. But…
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Dornier Do-17Z – Part Five – Crewed Up
” Skipper to crew: Does anyone have the telephone number for Windscreens O’Brien…? “ Have patience, your canopy is in the preparation stage. Fortunately Monogram/Revell have moulded clear ones with pronounced frames. After-painting should be fairly straightforward. The Dornier is on her legs as well – and here the decision of the moulders to make…
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Dornier Do-17Z – Part Three – So Near…
And yet so far… I was really hoping to get the Dornier 17Z buttoned up with no need for filler as a tribute to the old Monogram moulders. Such was not to be the case, but in the meantime I am puzzling over the inside of the wing. The Monogram engravings are there alright, as…
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Gloster Javelin FAW 9 – Part Four – Bang On
I’ve banged on about this before and I’ll bang on about it in the future – the use of a good jig or model support system is wonderful. Mine are from Vertigo Jigs, Slovakian-made and available through BNA here in Australia. I’ve got the WW2 fighter jig and the modern jet jig. The Gloster Javelin…
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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…
The Little World 