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Vickers Delta Mk III – Part One – One From the Book

Never pass by a book on a shelf. This may make you a menace in the public library, but trust me that your modelling will improve. I found a copy of ” Canadian Aircraft Of WW II ” in the now-defunct Hylands bookshop in Melbourne. There were multiple copies of what must have been a…
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Australian Hurricane – Part Two – The Fairly Green Machine

The RAAF wartime colours of Foliage Green and Sky Blue were not shown on the DK decals sheet that prompted the construction of this Hurricane, but they crop up in innumerable other sets of decals and aircraft profiles. As I have not done one exactly like this, it became the logical choice. And fortunately most…
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Australian Hurricane – Part One – The Oncer

I was surprised as I could be to see a set of markings on an Australian 1:72 decal sheet that were purported to be for a Hawker Hurricane. I thought the RAAF never had them here in Australia. As it turned out, I was nearly right – they had one. The plane, V7476 was sent…
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Stop Laughing – This Is Serious

Stan Cross fans will recognise the reference… The red plastic cup is my scale model club coffee cup. Taken faithfully every Tuesday for my 50¢ cup of coffee in preference to the club cups which are washed every coentury or so… It is a Decor cup with a plastic lid and keeps things fine and…
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Ooh! We’ll Build THAT One…

Aaaaaand We’re there! We’ve succeeded in the most difficult part of scale modelling – deciding which model to make. The question and decision may have been asked and made in several ways: There is a picture of a ship, plane, or tank that we’ve seen on the net…or in a book…that just calls to us.…
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Northrop P-61 Black Widow – Part Six – Any Colour You Want

As long as it’s black. Henry Ford woulda been proud… The Northrop night fighter is ready to roam the dark skies. I have a feeling that it was just good luck on the part of the Japanese and Germans that it was so late in development. Had the Northrop designers not footled about with that…
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Northrop P-61 Black Widow – Part Five – The Ghost Decal

I was a bit puzzled when I opened the box for the Hobby Boss Northrop P-61 Black Widow and saw that there were two sheets of decals; a big one and a little one. The big one had all the usual insignia, tail codes, and wing lines ( BTW, I hate wing lines as they…
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Northrop P-61 Black Widow – Part Four – The Black

If you want to be nervous, spray an undercoat of grey or white on your model kit. Then you’ll see just how good you were at spotting gaps and crevices. Of course then you’ll get a chance to correct them with putty or paint and you can get set to get nervous a second time.…
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Northrop P-61 Black Widow – Part Three – Under Tension

Remember I mentioned that the disparate parts of the P-61 Black Widow fit well together? Well that was before I tried to mate the belly pan to the rest of the fuselage. The basic fit is fine, but tight. The makers have exercised computer machines to measure where the parts slide over each other –…
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Northrop P-61 Black Widow – Part Two – The Parts Are Greater Than The Whole

I am often overwhelmed when I open a new kit and see the dozens of sprues that they pack in the box. Well, make that several, rather than dozens, but you get the idea. Seeing the bits laid out on the runners makes the whole project seem more formidable, mysterious, and complex than it often…
