Category: Utility Models
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Tasman Airspeed Oxford Mk I – Part Three – Oh, Just Grit Yer Teeth…
Pull up your Big-Girl panties, and get on with it. It’s not going to make itself. The first thing that has to go is the upper turret. Tasman have made a decent job of it, and the whitemetal gun mount will be saved for the future, but the aircraft I’m modelling has no turret. so…
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Tasman Airspeed Oxford Mk I – Part Two – The Apology
At least Tasman Models are scrupulously honest. They recognised the problems of short-run manufacturing and the times when it just doesn’t come out like a Disney movie. The under-wing parts of this model apparently were consistently short-shooting at the wing tip. They realised it , modified the panel on the mould, and added two extra…
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Tasman Airspeed Oxford Mk I – Part One – Agricultural
New Zealand is a superb agricultural country. Their wool and meat, dairy and fruit, and all things related are absolutely first-class. Their 1:32 scale model kits – when produced in China to NZ designs, are also world-beaters. Their 1:72 kits moulded in Rollaston, near Christchurch are an experience. I have made one before – a…
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The Disappointment
I read a review once in a modelling magazine that was quite scathing about a brand of short-run kit: Merlin. I don’t pay too much attention to this sort of bagging as I have made quite decent aircraft out of kits that other people would avoid. The garage kit may look bad to start with…
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I’m Starting Up My Own Model Kit Company
And I aim to cater for all those modellers who have embraced masochism. The Far King Orville Model Company will be an extremely short-run venture dedicated to producing garage-quality kits in a carport. No cut will be too short to take and no design too unsuitable for our kits. Have you seen our Mucus Canopy?…
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A Model Philosopher’s Stone
Alchemy in scale. The old concept of the Philosopher’s Stone that would transmute lead into gold never quite got off the ground – both substances defying the power of 18th century aero engines to achieve lift. Even when modern jets and rockets were strapped to freight cars full of lead and the vehicles sent down…
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Nothing To Excess
This is a fine philosophy, but I wouldn’t go overboard on it… It is also good counsel for the people who make the moulds for plastic kits. I was dealing with an old Revell B-24 D kit from the late 70’s that had recessed panel lines and raised rivets. They were the size that would…
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Grumman Hawkeye – Part Two – Filling And Filing
And not just in one stage, either. When you take on an older kit, you accept the limitations of the art at the time that it was made. You can build it with the skills of that time or with modern ones. Either way is a sort of compromise. Here we have a combination of…
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Once You’ve Done The Worst Of The Kit
You need not fear the rest of the kit. My club-mate Michael Marchant showed me the tank tracks he was working on – they were from one of those Czech productions that have multiple parts per link, and multiple links per track, and no fun anywhere. I sympathised with him but left before any of…
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Could You Deliberately Retro-Build?
I’ve been looking at a website that refers to itself as Dem Brudders; it deals with reproduction and re-issued kits. A number of small makers have ended up with moulds from major American firms; Revell, AMT, Aurora, Monogram, etc. The smaller speciality moulders have re-issued some of the classics that were favourites during the 50’s…
The Little World 