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Grumman Guardian – Part …Well… The Only Part
I confess. I got greedy. I started building and just couldn’t stop. I didn’t even take build photos. But in the end, I fell back exhausted and satisfied. I had scored a definite win in the game of scale modelling. I had contemplated this model kit for a year at a local shop. The emotion…
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Beaufighter TFX – Part Three – Lights, Camera, Ection Already
The Israeli Beaufighter you see here – D 171 – was part of a group of five planes that were purchased in the UK in the 40’s by Israeli agents. They were supposed to be used by a film company in Scotland to make a documentary on Coastal Command. They were given permission to fly…
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Beaufighter TFX – Part Two – The 50’s Revisited
The quality of the Airfix Beaufighter is actually quite good when you get to the cut and glue stage. You must imagine the insides, but then you do that when you study anatomy as well and at least the kit doesn’t smell of formalin. All seams fit well, though I suspect the silver plastic used…
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Beaufighter TFX – Part One – The Alternate Version
I built an Airfix Beaufighter model a year or so ago – the modern kit – and was extremely pleased with the result. It was completed as an RCAF model with a famous pilot in it. This Beau is a very much older version of the plane from Airfix. Scalemates tells me it is a…
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The Easternisation Of the Hobby
When I first started building plastic models in the 1950’s there were few Soviet-bloc models to be found. A few oddities, like the Aurora MiG 19 which proved to be totally imaginary…or the Airfix MiG 15 which was somewhat better. And a lone copy of the Bison bomber that Revell put out in the 60’s.…
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The Stoic Modeller
Or ” Epictetus Builds A Short-Run Kit “. Stoicism is not just about cold showers and lumpy porridge. It is a whole philosophic outlook designed to increase the happiness and tranquillity of the practitioner. A good deal of it is internal dialogue with someone who should listen more. This applies particularly to the scale modeller…the…
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Fokker D VII – Part Five – The Starter Kit Ended
My determination to make a starter kit in period style has resulted in a delightful model. It was not all retro-perfect. I did resort to a computer program and an inkjet printer for the lozenge-pattern decals. I did add little licks from several paint pots that Revell did not supply. And I did poke a…
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Fokker D VII – Part Four – The Sweet Lozenge
Well, I claim privilege. This is my column and my model and I can break step when I like. I stopped being 14 years old long enough to operate the computer and the printer and printed out that decal sheet you saw in Part Two. It was coated with a matt varnish and left for…
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Fokker D VII – Part Three – A Kid At The Club
True to my original promise, I started the Revell Fokker D VII as if I was an adolescent. I took it to the club and set upon it with the pots of paint supplied; one red and one blue. I also cracked three other colours from the general stock to improve the details, but the…
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Fokker D VII – Part Two – Not That Much Of A Kid
My resolve to build the Revell Fokker as if I was fourteen has foundered somewhat. The basic paints did not go anywhere near being enough to make a good representation and the decal sheet was a nightmare. As I needed to ring in more paint I decided to reprint the decals too. The novelty of…
The Little World
Close focus on the world of scale models
The Little World 