Category: Workshop
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Olfa – The Second Present

No good feeling your wrapped presents or shaking them round if your friends are imaginative enough to shop outside of the boundaries. They can buy something that looks like nothing that you recognise under a coat of paper. Thus it was when my friend Warren handed over a strange lumpy parcel at the Chrissie dinner.…
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Curtiss Hawk Model 75 – Part Three – Trench Warfare

The fit of the parts on the Revell Curtiss Hawk was very good – square, plumb, and true, but the top surfaces of the wings stood clear of the fuselage fairing by a good millimeter on both sides. If this part was subject to no stress nor expected to flex in any way, it could…
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Curtiss Hawk Model 75 – Part Two – Scowling At The Cowling

No spinach is ever entirely free of sand and no model kit is entirely free of flaws. The Tamiya ones get close, but you can still get picky. In the case of the Revell Curtiss Hawk, the stumbling blocks are – so far – minor. a. Look at the way the top half of the…
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Little Pricks

And I’m not referring to your nephews. This article is about needles. Let’s start right out by admitting that few of us like being jabbed with needles. Of course some of the readers of this column may be addicts who regularly inject themselves with expensive stimulants. Indeed, nearly all plastic modellers can be put into…
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Shed O’ Doom

Are you a North American or European modeller this December? I want you to do an experiment for me. I want you to set up your modelling bench in your garage or in a metal shed out on the back lawn at your house. ( No apartment dwellers need apply. ) then I want to…
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Mitsubishi Peggy – Part Seven – Payday!

The gamble paid off! The wheel spun and the ball landed on my number and I got to rake in all the chips! Or in more staid terms, the pre-shading trick seems to have worked for the Mitsubishi bomber I’m building. I cannot claim invention – only emulation. But I seem to have hit upon…
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Mitsubishi Peggy – Part Four – A Detour

I have an ongoing problem with model kit building – one that is exacerbated by the fact that I build my kits in three locations. This involves hauling kit boxes and part-made structures around with me. The problem is that parts can go missing. I have tried to prevent this by adhering to the practice…
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Mitsubishi Peggy – Part Two – First Club Day

The Peggy will be a Tuesday Plane – the name I give to models that I dedicate for my scale modelling club outing each week. If I am rigorous in sticking to this schedule it should last quite some time – I do not work on it on other days of the week. Were the…
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De Havilland Heron Mk II – Part Five – Whew

Well, the colour coats are done – the trim stripe is done – the decals are on. The various pieces are being cemented and snapped in. The air crash did not destroy the bird. Every speculative colour scheme that you think up – every set of decals you print yourself – every artistic decision you…
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Avro Tutor – Part Two – So Far, So Good

The assembly of the AZ Avro Tutor so far is encouraging. the fuselage is straight and the interior built up nicely – I even managed the photo-etch seat belts as the cockpit is open. The landing gear is solid once the three struts are braced against each other. The tail wheel will never last…
