-
Polikarpov U-2 – Part Three – Time To Box Clever
When you are confronted with a complex model design – multiple wings or complex landing gear – it pays to stop and think. You need to get your sequence of painting and assembly right to avoid making hard work even harder. Or worse – to avoid the risk of spoiling vital parts. No-one likes to…
-
Polikarpov U-2 – Part Two – Small Steppes
Well, they would be with a model from Ukraine, wouldn’t they… Boom Boom. The odd little slippers are not for feet – they are the over-wing gondolas that were apparently fitted to the Polikarpov U-2 to evacuate wounded Soviet soldiers. The instruction sheet shows a U-2 in winter camouflage with ski landing gear and these…
-
Polikarpov U-2 – Part One – Washing Machine Charley
I’ll explain that later. In the meantime I need to start work on the ICM model of the Polikarpov U-2. This is not the U-2 that was shot down with Francis Gary Powers in it. Very similar but a different engine… In any case, the ICM kit was quite inexpensive in a hobby shop where…
-
Craquelure
The word is from the art world and it describes a fine network of lines or cracks in the surface of an oil painting. This is observable in most famous paintings in galleries and is not considered a fault. However, when it invades our scale model workshop it is to be deplored. We may be…
-
Bomber In A Box
No, it’s not a horrible new addition to home delivery of food and parcels. This bomber is in a box for a good reason. When you start a collection of scale models, you really need to start with the biggest darn one you’re ever going to build and work back from that. Then, when you…
-
Isuzu TX-40 – Part Three – Now You Don’t
But the Isuzu is there in full glory. And the people at Hasegawa have been thoughtful enough to provide a hand trolley and two ground crewmen to push it, plus 5 fuel drums. This has been one of the best little mojo builds I’ve encountered in a long time. Every part went on it and…
-
Isuzu TX-40 – Part Two – Now You See Him
Yoshi is a driver for the Imperial Japanese Army on Lakanuki Island. He is in charge of the refuelling truck. Always impeccable in his freshly-pressed uniform, he wheels the Isuzu TX-40 around the airfield servicing army and navy planes as they land and take off. Everyone else on the island is dressed in rags and…
-
Isuzu TX-40 – Part One – Fuel For The Empire
You never think of the more humble vehicles in war – the dump trucks, re-fuelling trucks, and dustcarts. Yet they were manned by service personnel just as dedicated as the tankers and aircrew they served. I always leap on 1:76 service vehicles when I find them in the hobby shop. This Isuzu showed up at…
-
The Big Local Scale Model Exhibition – Part Seven – Tanks For The Memories
At one time I would have regarded armour models and military vehicles with only minor interest – I am an aviation modeller. Yet, the need for prop vehicles for my airfields, and then civilian vehicles, has meant an increased recognition of the little machines. And recently a dollar purchase of a Polish armoured car in…
-
The Big Local Scale Model Exhibition – Part Six – Mark Your Calendar
But make sure you have an eraser, because you can’t tell when you might have to start rubbing things out. The Big Local Scale Model exhibition has run very well for quite a number of years. It seems to have been the 21st one this year and that would have been a higher number except…
The Little World
Close focus on the world of scale models
The Little World 