Category: subassembly
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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…
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Blackburn Buccaneer – Part Three – Well, It Is…
…What it is… The engine compartment is full now, and it’s time to mate the sections of fuselage and attach the wings and tail. The initial dismay at the fit of these things can be alleviated with a little discrete carving and sanding, and the lips of the mouldings at least come pretty close to…
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Blackburn Buccaneer – Part Two – The Hollow Man
No, wait – that was Bing Crosby. This Airfix model of the naval strike fighter is nowhere near as empty as he was…but nevertheless there’s a lot of unused space inside. Note that the dear old instruction sheet makes this painfully clear – though I will say that it is entirely adequate for the job.…
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De Havilland Twin Otter – Part Four – They Said It Couldn’t Be Done
But they didn’t say it to me. When I saw the separate wings for the Twin Otter with no tab to fasten them back onto the fuselage, I started to worry. I know modern cements can do a great deal to weld plastic surfaces together but those long, thin wings stretch out quite a distance…
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De Havilland Twin Otter – Part Three – The Airliner Window
Airliner windows are a nervous part of model building for me – at least in 1:72 scale. You see, it is too small to make them easy to handle and too big to get away with decals or painted dots. The first time I tried putting individual plastic panes in was on a Northrop Delta…
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De Havilland Twin Otter – Part Two – ” I’m Melting…! “
That was the catch cry of the Wicked Witch Of the West in the Wizard Of Oz when Dorothy threw a bucket of water on her. I’m here to tell you that this was just fiction; I tried it on one of the in-laws and all I got was yelled at. No melting. Next time…
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De Havilland Twin Otter – Part One – Old Recalcitrant
No, I am not referring to the Prime Minister of Lamaysia. I’m sure he is a very biddable old buffer – as long as the right approach is taken. What I mean is this Revell kit of the De Havilland Twin Otter aircraft. It’s Revell Germany, so it may have been sourced from another maker*…
The Little World 