Category: Uncategorized
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Strutting Around The Workshop

With my clothes on, I hasten to add… There comes a time in any modeller’s life when they are faced with the difficult decision; do I build a biplane with cabanes and inter-plane struts or do I run amok with a dagger in the mall? I can’t tell you how many times I have faced…
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How Do You Sell Yourself On The Open Market?

And still keep your clothes on? This question arose when I was looking at the business of attracting more members to join the scale modelling club I belong to. Everyone seems to agree that it would be a good thing to attract new enthusiasts for the retired or active divisions of the club. And to…
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CAC Boomerang – Part Three – Let’s Take Stock

The start of this build was unpromising. The cardboard box from Tasman Models had all the appeal of a damp surgical appliance and the instruction sheets looked like a practical joke. A Kiwi practical joke at that. It was the sort of kit that you sold on eBay if you were lucky, or bought on…
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My New Air Friend

I have had a number of air friends in the past; The RCAF, the IDF, and the Ruritanian Royal Army Air Force amongst others. They feature largely in my collection, and more examples of aircraft will be added as the years go by. But I have a new friend, and it looks like I’ll be…
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The Curse of the Were-Decal

A modeller’s Halloween horror story… I had just gotten to the decal stage for a new model – a tiny little Academy 1:72 Sopwith camel. Lovely model, with interplane and cabane struts that just fell into place. And a simple colour scheme for mine – the RAF museum plane at Hendon; khaki and linen. The…
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Sopwith Camel – Part Four – Marking The Territory

And the next time I do, it will be with an incontinent dog. The colour scheme chosen for the Academy Sopwith Camel is the closest I could come to the preserved example in the RAF museum at Hendon. Working on the assumption that if any knew what a Camel would look like it would be…
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Sopwith Camel – Part Three – Decision Time

Decision time comes at many stages of a build – Shop, Shelf, Box, and Bench. For the desperadoes amongst us we can add the Screen. a. Shop. Which one to go to? The closest one? The one with the biggest range? The one who gets the newest kits in? The one with the best prices?…
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Sopwith Camel – Part Two – The Bagatelle Trap

How many times have you dismissed something as too minor to much concern yourself with? And how many times have you been proved wrong? The casual builder of this little Academy kit may well miss some of the joys of the universe if they take a flippant attitude. Admittedly, the cockpit is nothing at all.…
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The Big Local Model Show Competition

I was talking to a friend recently and he suggested we try a joint entry into one of the competitions at the big local model show – the one to be held at the Cannington Exhibition Centre next April. There is to be a class of contest that allows multiple builders within one entry. This…
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Northrop BT 1 – Part Seven – Why Was It Not Named?

Dauntless, Helldiver, Avenger, Hellcat…all good historic names for US Navy aircraft. The Army Air Force had Mustangs and Thunderbolts and such. Why was the BT 1 just a code, instead of a name? I suspect it is because it never established itself in the affections of the press – or at least in the press…
