-
The Cockpit – Part Three – The Pen Is Mightier Than The Canopy

You’ve read before in this column about using a drafting pen as an instrument to paint the frames of a model airplane canopy. It is a perfectly valid technique – and one that I use all the time. If I am going to attach the canopy later with PVA glue, I can sit with it…
-
The Cockpit Tapes – Part Two – Liquidation

Okay. You have looked at your 1:72 scale bomber and decided that you do not want to spend another $ 23 on pre-cut masks and you don’t want to spend a week trying to cut your own. What’s the alternative? Microscale, Humbrol, and GSI Creos would have you believe that painting a liquid mask on…
-
Do Not Cock Up Your Pit – Part one – Wear A Mask And Talk Dirty…

Or ” Keeping the windows clean in a shit storm “. If airplanes were built like army tanks ( and some, Like the A-10 Warthog – are…) we modellers would have an easy time of it. Indeed if pilots were not such wusses and kept on insisting that they needed to be inside out of…
-
When You Cannot Figure Out What It Is…

You’ll know this one. You go to the tool section of the hobby shop, possibly with a definite purpose. You have need of a tool and possess sufficient spare cash to be able to afford it. You rush to the place before the family demand money with menaces ( school shoes, food, medical attention…). As…
-
The Plastic Casino

Are you an inveterate gambler? Are they always hauling you out of casinos and racetracks and putting you on 12-step anti-addiction plans? Well cheer up – you can put the cards down, throw the dice away, and say farewell to the horses. I’ve got a new outlet for your mania and it’s all legit. Betcha…
-
Caudron Renault 714 CI – Part Three – The Rocketeer

Well, the Caudron Renault is ready to join the Jagdschwader of the RRAAF armed with the new Ruritanian secret weapon – the rocket. Fussy types will want to know if this is an air-to-air missile or and air-to-ground missile and the answer is yes. After the pilot presses one of four buttons the rocket no…
-
Caudron Renault 714 CI – Part Two – Flip Her Over, Maurie

Well, she’s got pretty good seams on the top and bottom of the fuselage, and the wing roots are no worse than an Amodel or RS kit. But oh, Lord the ailerons… It looks as though the mould that was supposed to close up for that portion of the wing shifted in the machine. There…
-
Caudron Renault 714 CI – Part One – Yet Another Hill To Climb

I was extremely fortunate to wander into a hobby shop that had just relocated to new premises. They decided to have a sale on plastic kits to gain shelf space and the little Mister Craft Caudron Renault CR 714 CI was on the bargain table. Disregarding the free donations, this is my second cheapest model…
-
Seriously Successful Decals

I’ve written before about the traumas of trying to get old decals to work – and failing miserably with some of them. But now I can brighten the day – Even 1959 decals can be brought back. There is a little of the Transylvanian laboratory about it, but you can do it. All you need…
-
Hot And Wet

I used to dream of this, but times have changed. Now I dread it. It stops the fun. Perth, Western Australia is occasionally hot – very hot. It is also occasionally wet – very wet. Both of these weather conditions are a signal to go somewhere and do something…but it is generally to the pub…
