Category: subassembly
-
Yakovlev 6 – Part Three – The Beauty Within
The crude nature of some kits is so overwhelming that many people just cannot bring themselves to build them. This is the result of the continuing development of the hobby over the last 70 Years. We in the west have benefited tremendously from the initial efforts of the British, American, and French firms that took…
-
Do Kit Designers Hang Upside-Down In Caves?
I ask this because I have noted some of the priorities they assign to their kit designs. In the case of the beer, pretzel, and borscht bureaux, the decisions they make about the level of photo-etch to include in a cockpit area vs the basic fit of the thing into the fuselage hints at it.…
-
RCAF Privateer – Part Four – When To Commit Yourself…
Or alternately…when to have yourself committed… You have to make a decision eventually – whether to cement every blessed little part on the model and then try to paint and decal around them, or to break it down into stages and make your errors in a more orderly fashion. One road leads to madness and…
-
RCAF Privateer – Part Three – I Hate Windows
Not just the computer operating system – windows in general. Particularly when they are all down the side of a model airplane but only on the inside. If I want them to be open I have to carefully cut them out myself. That’s one of the horrors of the multi-purpose kit. I thought this sort…
-
Heinkel He 177 – Part Three – Having A Fit
Pink or otherwise – sometimes you get things that you just wouldn’t do. I’ve yet to find my limits but to be honest I’ve stopped looking… The dry-fit stage of the Heinkel promised to be a time of tears and gnashing of teeth. I’d seen what old Airfix moulds could do when stored in hobby…
-
Heinkel He 177 – Part Two – Riveting Detail
There are those in the world who would have me sand down the rivet detail of the 1967 Airfix Heinkel Greif, scribe lines between the panels, and re-mark sunken rivets. There are also people who would have me eat rutabagas and ground cockroaches…and I am here to tell you that I am as likely to…
-
Hawker Demon – Part Two – That Sinking Feeling
Bovril would have prevented this… Actually the problem is ejector post marks in the wings of the Demon. They are as marked as any I’ve ever seen, but fortunately Airfix configured the mould to place them on the underside of the wings and tailplane. Equally fortunatly I have an unused tube of Mr. Hobby white…
-
Junkers Ju 87 – Part Three – Fuselage
If ever the doctors start looking at radiographs of me and wondering why there are ulcers in my stomach and gaps in my brain, I am going to show them the business of fitting two fuselage halves together. I expect sympathy and understanding. Remember this is 1975, this kit. Margaret Thatcher has been elected Prime…
-
Junkers Ju 87 – Part Two – Dry Fit
After learning how to correctly cut parts from sprue trees ( learned last year… ) the next most important thing I’ve discovered is the importance of the dry fit stage. And the more of the kit you can get to hang onto itself in this preliminary exercise, the better idea you’ll have of how to…
-
The Work-Rounds For Genius Modellers
There is more than one way to skin a cat, but you’d be wise not to tell this to pet owners. However, if you are a scale modeller there are a number of solutions to common problems that appear if you are prepared to think outside the box. Or, in the case of old Airfix…
The Little World 