Category: subassembly
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Mitsubishi Peggy – Part Five – Airframe Day

Well, the Peggy is closed up and winged. Airframe day passed successfully. I do not decry the Czech makers of short-run kits for their economies of production – at least I do not condemn them too much. I appreciate the fact that they bring me things I could otherwise never have. But I do miss…
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Mitsubishi Peggy – Part Four – A Detour

I have an ongoing problem with model kit building – one that is exacerbated by the fact that I build my kits in three locations. This involves hauling kit boxes and part-made structures around with me. The problem is that parts can go missing. I have tried to prevent this by adhering to the practice…
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Mitsubishi Peggy – Part Three – The Offices

Notify the Department Of Occupational Health And Safety, Yoshi. I think we have a situation. If we are to be the crew of the Mitsubishi ” Hiryu ” bomber we certainly do. See the three big green objects on the flight deck just behind the navigator and radio operator’s station? These are petrol tanks. Un-armoured…
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Mitsubishi Peggy – Part Two – First Club Day

The Peggy will be a Tuesday Plane – the name I give to models that I dedicate for my scale modelling club outing each week. If I am rigorous in sticking to this schedule it should last quite some time – I do not work on it on other days of the week. Were the…
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De Havilland Heron Mk II – Part Four – Air Crash

Every build has a mistake – a flaw – a piece of bad judgement. In the case of the Airfix DH Heron Mk II it has come in a rush. I was shifting photographic backdrops in the workshop this morning and inadvertently hit the wing of the Heron. It slid off the building stand and…
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De Havilland Heron Mk II – Part Three – The Suitcase Closes

Always that moment when you have packed up your clothing at the end of a holiday and are gingerly trying to get the suitcase closed – against the pressure of dirty laundry and souvenirs. Will it creak shut…? Before I could latch the Heron together I tested the balance – Airfix said 15 gms of…
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De Havilland Heron Mk II – Part Two – The Split Heron

As far as the approach to this vintage Airfix De Havilland Heron kit goes, I am – as Kinky Friedman would have put it – out past where the buses run. I am in new mental territory. It started when I did the part count and some dry fitting – I noted the provision of…
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Avro Tutor – Part Three – Aptly Named

The Avro Tutor may have taught hundreds of British and Commonwealth pilots to fly. The AZ kit of this has certainly taught me something: never buy another Czech biplane kit. It is a bloody nightmare. A variation on the bad dream that was the Avro Anson ( is it Avro…? ). In this case the…
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Avro Tutor – Part Two – So Far, So Good

The assembly of the AZ Avro Tutor so far is encouraging. the fuselage is straight and the interior built up nicely – I even managed the photo-etch seat belts as the cockpit is open. The landing gear is solid once the three struts are braced against each other. The tail wheel will never last…
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Hawker Tempest – Part Two – It Might Just As Well…

It might just as well be a Buster…and it might just as well be a Hobby Boss kit rather than an Academy product. The building experience has been just as rapid. I washed the sprue trees for this Tempest at about 12:30 – the basic airframe enclosing a painted cockpit was ready for the photo…
