Category: Workshop
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Bell P-39 – Part Three – Weight A Minute

Or forever sit on your tail. I applaud the tricycle landing gear for aircraft – in the case of civilian airliners it allows a steady takeoff and landing – I would not want to spill my champagne. On military planes it probably allows the pilot a lot better view of the field or carrier deck…
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Consolidated Liberator B.VI – Part Four – Weigh Day

Well, I learned my lesson early. I built an Airfix model of a Vickers Wellington back in the 1960’s and no-one told me about nose weights. The plane turned out to be a tail-sitter… I was cautious with the new Airfix Liberator I am building in case the plastic model company was going to fool…
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Rain, Rain, Went Away

And the humidity dropped and the sun came out. Shows you that sacrificing virgins really works, eh?* Having secured the Mandate Of Heaven…or at least the mandate of the Meteorological Department, I mixed up 50% Supercheap clear acrylic lacquer and 50% Mr. Color Levelling Thinner and started spraying. The mixing was done in a large…
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Rain, Rain, Go Away

Come again after I have sprayed the clear lacquer. I have been glaring at the sky all day for the temerity it has shown in clouding over and raining. This is not convenient, and I demand that it stop. If not, there will be trouble. Actually, I have been avoiding trouble all day. The seven…
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Batch Processing*

I have spent the last three days batch processing US Army fighters, attack planes, and bombers. It started as a whim, became an experiment, and is looking to be a darned good technique for the future. It started with an idea – in my case these may be vast ideas or half-vast ideas, but you…
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The Dawning Of Peace

Have you ever been in the middle of an internal war? When your heart says ” I must have it! “…and your brain says ” You cannot afford it! ” and then the two organs glare and spit at each other? It is particularly likely when you have just been to the hobby shop or…
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A Spectacular Sunday’s Discovery

For several years I have tried to get to the model Car Sunday, but failed – yesterday I succeeded and found a very interesting product made by a local craftsman. The product is a range of portable modelling boxes and the maker Garrett McIntyre from Collie in Western Australia. His basic aim was to make…
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Boeing Fortress Mk III – Part Three – Washing Day

I’m gonna hang out the washing on the Mildenhall Line…and so on. Dad’s Air Force musters again. Today is washing day for the two new kits – the Grumman TBF-1 and the Boeing Fortress Mk III. I have beautiful weather for it – bone dry and a very modest 27º C temperature in the shed.…
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What’s In This Stuff, Anyway? – Part Three – Masking Solutions

I counted up the bottles on my Little Workshop shelf and I now have more masks than Zorro. That’s not counting the tiny rolls of modellers masking tape or the big ones from Bunnings – I’m talking about bottles of goo designed to mask under spray paint. a. Maskol from Humbrol – the heading image.…
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What’s In This Stuff, Anyway? – Part Two – Decal Solutions

If I want to enjoy myself in the Little Workshop I can either fasten decals on a freshly-painted model or hammer nails into the back of my hand. Some days I am torn in an agony of choice… It was never like this in the old young days – I just found the place on…
