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Douglas B-18 Bolo – Part One – The First Idea Was The Right One

Readers of this column will have seen my report on the Special Hobby 1:72 Douglas Digby Mk I – the RCAF version of the USAAC B-18 bomber. I was thrilled to find that kit and quite enjoyed the building experience – even though some parts of it went down the silly rabbit holes of too…
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Airbrush Designers, Please Take Note

I love my airbrushes now. The first one was a daunting challenge a few years ago but I have progressed since then – acquiring 4 altogether by now. I’m proud to say that using the latest model to spray an aircraft was…a daunting challenge. It is not the fault of the airbrush maker, nor of…
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Why Is I Here?

” So tell me, Boss, why is I here? In the stash. In my little bag with my decal sheet and dodgy instructions. Why am I not back in the hobby shop with all the other kits? Why did I get chosen? ” a. You were the only kit of the essential model I need…
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Douglas Digby Mk I – Part Four – The Full Measure

I use that title because in many respects this Special Hobby build has taken the full measure of several things; my patience, my eyesight, and the remnants of several paint containers. The patience started to run out early on when the instructions called for the rudder pedals to be folded up out of photo-etched brass.…
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Douglas Digby Mk I – Part Three – The Name…

I am puzzled. The name doesn’t seem to fit. When US airplanes got a name – as opposed to a model number – they generally got one that tied in with an established pattern – as a for instance, take the Boeing series of bombers – from B 17 to B-52 in four steps –…
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Douglas Digby Mk I – Part Two – The Split Herring

Well, you gotta admit the heading image looks a bit like that. I decided to show the office before I closed it up as the thing took the best part of two days to do. The club session was spent assembling big structures like wings and tailplanes but the rest of that day and all…
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Douglas Digby Mk I – Part One – The Show Find

Another show find from last year’s Victorian Scale modelling exhibition, folks, but this time it was not on the bargain tables. It was firmly in the fancy kit section – an area in which I look but do not touch. However, it had the magic word on the box ; ” Canadian ” and that…
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If All Your Pigs Are Dark Green…

Suppose you are a person who makes scale models of pigs…in the internationally standard scale of 1:26.8. And suppose you are a stickler for accuracy; you subscribe to International Pig Modeller Monthly, you regularly submit your models for scrutiny on the Masochistic Modellers Forum, and you have won Pig Modeller Of The Year at the…
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Bring Me More Chemicals, Igor!

If you want to be nervous but don’t like dark houses or cobwebs, try a walk down the paint aisle of your local hobby shop. You’ll find enough there to fuel all your anxieties. I did recently and encountered racks filled with products from nine different chemical manufacturers – eleven if I counted the off-market…

