Category: subassembly
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Seibel Si 204A – Part Three – Airframe Day
Ah, that lovely plateau in the model kit build – when the wings and tail are on and magically you do not have a plastic kit in a box – you have an aircraft. The short run Czech nature of the mouldings having been adjusted with knife, chisel*, and sandpaper and a good set of…
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Siebel Si 204A – Part Two – The Smēr Campaign
I read about the various Czech, Polish, Ukrainian, and Russian model manufacturers as they introduce new kits. The scale airplane press is keen to get us to buy the goods and then aftermarket accessories to tizzy them up – so I wonder if there isn’t a pressure on the designers to put out a rather…
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Heinkel He-70 F2 – Part Four – Respec’
I have gained a massive amount of respect for the ICM model making firm – the one who originated the mould for this Revell kit. The fit of the first components is quite superb. Not as definite as Tamiya, but precise enough to allow some serious structure to be built. The actual cockpit of the…
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Heinkel He70 F-2 – Part Two – Methinks I Doth Smell A Ratte
And it may be a Ukrainian ratte at that. The kit has just been started – the cockpit tray completed and some preliminary wing work to box in the wheel wells – and already I am suspicious that this kit has Eastern European origins. Or at least Middle Europe. Middler than Germany, at any rate.…
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1200 Reasons To Be Happy
” I’m happy with that. ” is a trademark phrase from the master at Matchbox car restoration – Marty from Melbourne. And one of the things he has always been happy with is the white undercoat that Tamiya put in a spray can. He uses it on pretty much all of the toy restorations that…
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Douglas A-20 Havoc – Part Six – A Pleasant Surprise
After the trauma of the undercarriage construction on the Havoc, I was not looking forward to the assembly of the rest of the nacelle. I had done some preliminary dry fitting and trimming of the housing – noting that the aft fairing was going to need either a great deal of putty or forgiveness. As…
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Douglas A-20 Havoc – Part Five – Just Because Someone Was A Fool…
…Doesn’t mean you have to follow them. This might be the phrase best suited to the stage of building that we are up to today – the landing gear on the A-20 Havoc. It is tricycle gear and the original designers of the ship wanted to make the wheels and tyres disappear from the airstream…
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Douglas A-20 Havoc – Part Four – I’m Starting To Like…
Well, I am starting to like the Havoc. And not just the plane itself, but the new materials and techniques I’m using on it: a. The plane itself is interesting – the pronounced dihedral and the cant of the tailplanes looked to be daunting when seen in plans, but the makers of the kit have…
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Douglas A-20 Havoc – Part Three – Subassembly Time
The Douglas Havoc by MPM models ( are they the same as Special Hobby? I’ll have to Czech up on that…) is old school in that it is all injection moulding – no resin or brass to confuse the issue. I welcome this but will have to do some cheap detailing in the cockpit if…
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The Airfix of Old Is Dead
And from the corpse has risen a new and shining phoenix. I, for one, am delighted. When I commenced a new Airfix bomber kit – one of last year’s releases – I was blown away in just one day of assembly – the level of detail moulded into the parts was outstanding and the sensible…
The Little World 