Category: Uncategorized
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Morane- Saulnier N – Part Three – Russian Silver
And Imperial Russian at that. The finest Fabergé egg I could make for myself. The sadness occasioned by ruining a model has disappeared ( though I still have a sin to atone for when next I come to a military vehicle…) and I can start my WW1 collection in fine style. I have avoided this…
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Morane-Saulnier N – Part One – Off The Horse, On The Horse
I had fallen off the horse. A model that was proceeding well became bogged down with a bad paint choice and nasty wash job – incompatible chemistry. Efforts to rectify it made it worse – parts were bent, then broken. It looked appalling, and I knew that every time I saw the finished product it…
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Matchbox Helldiver – Part Four – The Curtiss Lollypop
Having mastered the Mr. Color range of metallizer paints I do not cringe in fear from natural metal finishes. Indeed I welcome them where appropriate. Thus my delight in the pictures of the prototype Curtiss SB2C rolling out of the factory in the early 40’s. Still early enough to have the pre-war yellow wing. A…
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Matchbox Helldiver – Part Three – The Hubley Kit
If you are from North America you’ll recognise the name Hubley. They were a die-cast toy maker of the 40’s and 50’s who made larger size offerings. I owned a Hubley Bell telephone truck with working winch and pole trailer – surely an odd choice of prototype even for the times. I observed other kids…
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Matchbox Helldiver – Part Two – Wing It Or Sling It?
Here’s a dilemma. I’ve pictures of the prototype SB2C with folded wings. And the Matchbox kit has folding wings. But they are folded on the toy principle and look bloody awful. I have low standards but every now and then something shows up that undercuts them. I have built folded wings on an Airfix Devastator…
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Matchbox Helldiver – Part One – Progressing Backwards
I already own two Curtiss SB2C models – one a US Navy version and one a USAAF A25 Shrike. They were respectively a Sword and a Dragon kit. Both characteristic of their countries of origin – the Czech one a challenge of approximation and the Hong Kong one a masterpiece of precision. But two were…
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How Many, Oh Lord?
How many Messerschmitts can people buy? How many do they need? What are they doing with them? I asked this in grey desperation as I cruised the kit aisle of three of Perth’s hobby shops searching for cheap new models of interesting subjects. I saw kits from what must be two dozen various makers and…
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Perverse Hopes
Relax. This is Safe For Work. If they have accepted the fact that you build plastic model kits, the worst is over. You can stop pretending to respectability and go back to looking at Airfix magazine in the toilets. The perverse hopes we speak of are: a. The hope that a major manufacturer will mould…
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Lockheed CT-133 Silver Star – Part Four – Moose Jaw, Here We Come
The real 261 is flying the Canadian air show circuit , to judge from the photos found on the internet. I was delighted to see it as it combined the features I love; RCAF prototype,simple colour scheme, decals I could duplicate. That, BTW is the big one. I use inkjet printing and have a few…
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Lockheed CT-133 Silver Star – Part Three – Star On A Stick
Well, this is a re-run of a number of previously-learned lessons – how to mask, how to hold, how to finish. As I have made the mistakes that lead to wisdom before, I need not make them now. But I will… However, here’s the internal structure that I mentioned in the last post. That’s so…
The Little World 