Category: subassembly
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CAC Boomerang – Part Three – Let’s Take Stock
The start of this build was unpromising. The cardboard box from Tasman Models had all the appeal of a damp surgical appliance and the instruction sheets looked like a practical joke. A Kiwi practical joke at that. It was the sort of kit that you sold on eBay if you were lucky, or bought on…
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CAC Boomerang – Part Two – Wrong
Cicero famously said that any man may be wrong but only a fool persists in error. I wish to state now that I was wrong in my judgement of the Tasman Models Boomerang kit and wish to change my mind. I thought it was going to prove an unbuildable thing – a mere box of…
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The Curse of the Were-Decal
A modeller’s Halloween horror story… I had just gotten to the decal stage for a new model – a tiny little Academy 1:72 Sopwith camel. Lovely model, with interplane and cabane struts that just fell into place. And a simple colour scheme for mine – the RAF museum plane at Hendon; khaki and linen. The…
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Sopwith Camel – Part Four – Marking The Territory
And the next time I do, it will be with an incontinent dog. The colour scheme chosen for the Academy Sopwith Camel is the closest I could come to the preserved example in the RAF museum at Hendon. Working on the assumption that if any knew what a Camel would look like it would be…
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Sopwith Camel – Part Two – The Bagatelle Trap
How many times have you dismissed something as too minor to much concern yourself with? And how many times have you been proved wrong? The casual builder of this little Academy kit may well miss some of the joys of the universe if they take a flippant attitude. Admittedly, the cockpit is nothing at all.…
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Northrop BT 1 – Part Five – A Pit Of Cocks
Settle down class. Stop giggling. You in the back, too. The cockpit on the BT 1 had every chance of being awkward – PE rudder pedals and control knobs and such Czecherie – but I refused to let it daunt me. I have already made a Douglas SBD-4 and I am dauntless… The green colour…
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Northrop BT 1 – Part Four – The Donkey
And I spent a morning pinning the tail on it. No blindfold. Czech and other short-run airplane kits have many flaws, but one of the most worrying is the fact that they often provide no way of attaching the tail securely. If there is a tab and slot it is rudimentary, clogged with flash and…
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Northrop BT 1 – Part Three – It’s A Böhm
With apologies to Peter Sellers… The 500 lb bomb that the BT 1 is carrying is the first resin-cast weapon I’ve encountered. It is very encouraging, though I generally refuse to pay aftermarket prices for accessories. But the fit of the fins and their cross-pieces is superb. It is almost a pity to bury it…
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Northrop BT 1 – Part Two – Teeth Gritting Time
The start of a build is either going to be heaven or hell. The choice of which is largely up to the builder, but it can be more attitude than anything that determines which destination you’re heading for. In the case of a lot of short-run kits the removal of parts from the sprue tree…
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Repairing Our Mistakes
If we repair our mistakes we gain a great deal of control over our modelling. And it can make us better workers. a. We recognise a mistake. This is better when we do it before we commit it…sort of dry-fit your way out of danger – but even if we have gone all the way…
The Little World 