Category: Workshop
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North American Sabre – Part Three – The Putty Worms Win Again

The debate about how to put on soft-edge British camouflage seems to have finally been decided – the J. Burrows Tuff Tac is the answer for most effects. The Sabre needs a simple day fighter scheme and in this case the contours are very smooth – no better time to trial the new technique. There…
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The More Chemicals You Use…

The closer you get to TNT. I was drawn to this conclusion by a painting disaster. I’d masked over AK lacquer paint with the GSI Creos firm’s Mr Masking Neo solution – the light blue rubber solution that remains elastic after it dries. The material came in an attractive bottle with a brush and I…
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Lowering The Pressure

And this has nothing to do with a Johnny Farnham song either. Come to think of it he’s about due for another farewell concert tour soon… No, I mean lower the pressure on your airbrush. I know that Phil Flory has very sensibly said that there is no particular prescribed pressure for the air in…
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Douglas Havoc – Part Eight – The Faulty Gear

Looks like 42547 will be sitting for a bit longer on the hardstand at RCAF WET DOG. The Russian ferry pilot has complained about the front landing gear strut – and we can’t say we disagree with him. It has been put on the service sheet for a rebuild. The front gear leg does indeed…
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Douglas A-20 Havoc – Part Seven – The Work Of Art

Masking tape is one of the few artistic mediums overlooked in the catalogues of the famous galleries. Yet it is the chosen vehicle of expression for so many of us. And it is such a transient thing – here one hour and stripped off and thrown in the trash the next. Truly a metaphor for…
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Douglas A-20 Havoc – Part Three – Subassembly Time

The Douglas Havoc by MPM models ( are they the same as Special Hobby? I’ll have to Czech up on that…) is old school in that it is all injection moulding – no resin or brass to confuse the issue. I welcome this but will have to do some cheap detailing in the cockpit if…
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The Airfix of Old Is Dead

And from the corpse has risen a new and shining phoenix. I, for one, am delighted. When I commenced a new Airfix bomber kit – one of last year’s releases – I was blown away in just one day of assembly – the level of detail moulded into the parts was outstanding and the sensible…
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Blackburn Buccaneer – Part Four – Sleeker and Sleeker

The last posting about the Bucc was a little discouraging – you saw the massive seams and holes in the thing for what they were. Like seeing an old actress without her makeup on. Well this time you get the effect of art and science. The holes have been filled and the layers of lacquer…
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Yeah, It Exists…

My piece on paint dilution and the accurate way to measure it was answered by a click on Google. You can, indeed, get a flow dilution meter for paints that electronically measures them. it costs $ 665 AUD and you can order it on-line. Go-on…fill yer boots. Or not, if you consider that $ 665…
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The AK Paint Tip

AK paints are good material to work with – I found this out by buying a couple of box sets at the Melbourne plastic model exhibition. They are three-bottle collections for RAF fighter aircraft of WW2. One is for early schemes and one for late. Think green/brown/sky and grey/green/grey. Before I purchased them I asked…
