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Fairey Fulmar Mk I – Part One – The Easter Airplane

I have no idea why the tradition started in our family, but every Easter I got a model airplane kit. Of course there were chocolate bunnies and candy eggs and the fun of dying hard-boiled real eggs, but the big surprise was to hunt around the living room to see what plane was there. This…
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The Different Modellers

I don’t mean the ones that come to the modelling club wearing fishnet stockings and the basque. That’s only to be expected from some English migrants…Just don’t make eye contact. No, I mean the modellers who elect to do something different with their hobby. Here’s some: a. The person who researches completely obscure equipment that…
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Fairchild Flying Boxcar – Part Four – A Little Dodgy

Actually a little Dodge truck. The box says it is a ” WC-51 Light Truck “. The Italeri moulding is fine – with too much detail for convenient building and a high-boy aspect to it that cannot be right. But as it is cargo for the C-119, it will do nicely. Halfway up the ramp…
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Fairchild Flying Boxcar – Part Three – The Smear Campaign

My efforts to obtain 1:72 decals from Canada for the C-119 Fairchild Flying Boxcar came to nought – the sets that were made are long out of production. In the event, this is just as well, because they would have necessitated a major reconstruction of the aircraft’s tail to be authentic. I was thrown back…
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Fairchild Flying Boxcar – Part Two – The Silver Carcase

The Fairchild Flying Boxcar model is proceeding apace, but the pace is slow. This is a deliberate decision as I am using it as my weekly Men’s Shed project. This means I do most of the work on it in the Tuesday 9:00 to 12:30 time slot when I can attend the modelling club. So…
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Fairchild Flying Boxcar – Part One – The Gift Horse

I am either the best father in the world or the worst one. The decision will not be mine, though I would like to be told so that I can dress appropriately. The chance to be best came when my daughter was an airplane enthusiast a few years back ( she still is…) and took…
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Hot Glue Gun, Hot Glue Gun…

Ow Ow Ow Ow Ow! Oy! Repeat, while leaping about the workshop doing the traditional dance of the Impatient Modeller. The one who has just touched the glue to see if it is cool yet. Klezma music is good for this. You will be connected to your art – by hot, drooping, strings of…
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Good Local Advice

I am benefitting today from the fact that this column automatically circulates out to our local social media network. One of my friends has seen the recent post regarding paint and has responded with what i needed to know. He mentioned in a Facebook reply that many paints have more than just evaporation happening as…
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That Blasted YouTube

Just when you thought hat you had the rock-solid, universal, standard-of-the-industry advice from every model making magazine and reference article….the YouTube brings more experts to you who decry generally perceived wisdom. This has just occurred with the business of Future floor polish and other clear coats, and now I am back at square one. Up…

