Category: Uncategorized
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Curtiss SBC-4 – Part Two – In Praise Of Heller
It is unfashionable in the British Commonwealth to speak well of the French. The old prejudices born of war and ambition stretch back as far as William the Conqueror and have been topped up and re-aligned every century since then. It goes the other way, of course – the French despise the English nearly as…
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Curtiss SBC-4 – Part One – The Old Photo In The National Geographic
I used to pore over wartime copies of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC. I found a trove of them in a school library in the 1960’s and read all I could. I wasn’t after pictures of native girls with bare chests – I wanted colour photos of fighter planes. NG had access to the US Navy and Kodachrome…
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Imagination Is The New Word For Lying To Yourself
If you’re a fan of Facebook or any other general social media site you’ll have seen the memes that encourage you to imagine things. Many of them will have mountain scenes or unicorns and rainbows. I came from Alberta and used to live in the Crows Nest Pass, so I can testify to the accuracy…
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Well, It’s Not Gonna Buy Itself, Now Is It?
If you have any money, or a birthday coming up, or know where the household emergency cash is kept, you’re ready for a hobby shopping trip. But like every worthwhile and/or criminal activity, there are rules, and you’ll need to learn them. a. Do not shop on an empty stomach. When you try to concentrate…
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F-15 Eagle – Part One – The Gift Bird
If you are reading this I have conquered. Weeks have passed while I tried to post a simple blog about this Academy kit, but every time I tried it the WordPress system made something go missing. If I were a suspicious man I would think of censorship. The kit was the gift of a club…
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Paint Pot No. 2
The business of spray can and bottle was covered in a previous post. Now it’s the turn of the choice of alcohol/water acrylics and acrylic lacquers. Like a lot of people who remembered enamels, I commenced my latter-day modelling with alcohol/water acrylics. A well-known brand that starts with ” T “. The paints worked well,…
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Grey Is Not Gray
And unfortunately, it’s not grey, either. At least not the grey it was a minute ago. If the colour call-out sheet calls for grey, start sweating early. It will sometimes specify which grey it wants, but just when you think you’re safe, you’ll discover that it specifies it by: a. A paint maker’s paint number.…
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Yak 3 – Part Four _ Speed Is As Speed Does
When you are not bending up connecting rods from brass PE sheets for a 1/72 kit, it seems to go a lot faster in the construction. Not as liable to win Best-of-Show at the Anorak Expo, but you have to be realistic. And Hobby Boss are the most realistic moulders I know. The Yak 3…
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Yak 3 – Part Three – Portable Yak
When you build model kits you need not do it in just one place. I have four locations at which I can endeavour to cut my fingers and damage table tops; two at home and two in other premises. If I was a travelling salesman who was sleeping in a different hotel every night I…
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Yak 3 – Part One – Yak On
Do not be frightened off by the complexity of the Hobby Boss Yak 3 fighter plane kit. I shall master it. I snatched it off the hobby shop shelf in relief – I need one more Soviet fighter for a diorama and there is limited time for the build. What better than Hobby Boss. While…
The Little World 