Category: Uncategorized
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RCN Avenger – Part One – The Eh Model

Another Sword model in the post – this one was a certain purchase as soon as I saw it had Royal Canadian Navy markings. The ASW and replenishment role that the Avenger took after service in the US Navy and Royal Navy in WWII eventually brought them to the RCN. It got rid of the…
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When In Trouble, Reach For The Foam Board

I found myself in another of those awkward positions. Not as bad as Page 38 of the Kama Sutra, but nearly so…I was under the workbench, in a pretzel shape, trying to decal a fighter plane. The sort of procedure you work yourself up to gradually in an evening of modelling. Before you realise it…
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Vautour IIN – Part Two – Czech This One Out

I am becoming a critic of instruction sheets. Though I might have become a literary or food critic in another career, I now look closely at the sheets and books that we get when we buy a kit. Part of the job of a critic is to praise, but it’s low-down on the list. Most…
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Vautour IIN – Part One – Who Made it?

I initially thought it was Dassault. Then I thought it was SNCAO or SNCASE and then Pret a Manger and then eventually I didn’t care any more. It was designed and produced by someone in France, for some reason, at some stage of the game. Many were made and quite a few flew. Past that…
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Curtiss Shrike – Part Two – Folding Wing Or Not?

Not. The USAAF was not concerned about squashing a dive bomber onto a deck-edge lift to strike it down to a hangar deck. They could specify a fixed wing and get a stronger one that would hold more bombs. The Dragon model company makes this kit serve several purposes – US Navy SB2C as well…
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Ol’ Stinky

In the social world of liquid masking agents, Humbrol’s Maskol is the one you rarely invite to the cocktail party. It is purple, stringy, and smelly. A lot like some people I know. I’ve tried it for masking camouflage patterns in 1:72 and found it to be problematical. It sticks, alright, but sometimes long after…
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Revell Brewster Buffalo – Part Two – Dashing Away With The Smoothing Iron

I am nothing if not buoyant when it comes to really bad kits. It is the effect of cheerful optimism and iron-bound stupidity. I welcome a challenge…much as I welcome Redback spiders. Considered as an artistic thing, the port wing of the Revell Buffalo is rather elegant. It has a french curve to it. I…
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Revell Brewster Buffalo – Part One – Baggie Of Doom

They make a joke about the Shelf Of Doom on the Flory show…but we all know of kits that are headed there no matter what we do. The little Revell baggie containing the F2A model looked to be a prime example. It had resided in a hot and cold attic for decades before my friend…
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When Something Tickles Your Fancy

Rejoice. It means you still have a fancy and it is still capable of being tickled. There are people in the world for whom this is just a distant dream. Celebrate the fact that you can still be amused. If the thing that captures your attention is just a passing phenomenon you can take some…

