Category: Workshop
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De Havilland Twin Otter – Part Three – The Airliner Window

Airliner windows are a nervous part of model building for me – at least in 1:72 scale. You see, it is too small to make them easy to handle and too big to get away with decals or painted dots. The first time I tried putting individual plastic panes in was on a Northrop Delta…
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De Havilland Twin Otter – Part Two – ” I’m Melting…! “

That was the catch cry of the Wicked Witch Of the West in the Wizard Of Oz when Dorothy threw a bucket of water on her. I’m here to tell you that this was just fiction; I tried it on one of the in-laws and all I got was yelled at. No melting. Next time…
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De Havilland Twin Otter – Part One – Old Recalcitrant

No, I am not referring to the Prime Minister of Lamaysia. I’m sure he is a very biddable old buffer – as long as the right approach is taken. What I mean is this Revell kit of the De Havilland Twin Otter aircraft. It’s Revell Germany, so it may have been sourced from another maker*…
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North American Mitchell – Part Five – Nothing Is Uglier…

Nothing is uglier than a handsome or beautiful person before they are ready to be seen. Dressing-room portraits are invariably a strained thing and the more of them you don’t see, the better you feel. The B-25 Mitchell bomber is no exception – The heading image may be excused for showing the prima donna with…
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North American Mitchell – Part Three – Cementing A Friendship

The world seems to be divided into two camps – those who don’t care about Brexit, and those who don’t care about Justin Trudeau. There are a few of us who have sought to bridge the gap and heal the rift by not caring about both subjects at the same time. Given a cup of…
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North American Mitchell – Part Two – Sparring For My Attention

The Airfix company are pursuing a theme with their latest moulds of multi-engine aircraft. They are giving us far more detail than ever before and the walls of the fuselages and the wings are becoming thinner. When we see the edge of a window or an opening it is far more in-scale than the old…
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Drat The Weather

We are supposed to be having an Australian Spring – you know, balmy nights, sunny days, outbreaks of venomous spiders and snakes. The usual thing. Well, apart from today’s sighting of a shark in the local river during vacation time. That’ll make a nice change from the venomous bottom feeding fish and the giant jellyfish…
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McDonnell Banshee – Part Two – The Body On The Rack

My new building rack was ready when I was working on the fuselage of the Banshee. The heading image shows the bare thing taped down to the rack with cheap masking tape. Note that I have standardised upon the Bear brand painter’s tape from Bunnings for most non-critical tape jobs They do a very low-tack…
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When To Reach For The Airbrush – Part Three – The Fashionable Choice

Ever notice how everyone is using the airbrush nowadays? Is this really an advance or is it just fashion? Well, if you try to do what an airbrush does with a spray can, you can’t. The airbrush can be dialled down to a very small spray indeed and can introduce colour in subtle ways that…
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When To Reach For Your Gun – Part One – Soul Searching
When to reach for your can. Or your brush. Or your soul. What’s the best decision you can make about the way you are going to paint a model? How do you arrive at it? What are the factors that influence that decision? Let’s start out with the basics – what are you trying to…
