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Bristol Belvedere – Part Three – The Mehcopter

Cue enthusiasm…reboot…reboot. I think this is the first of the Airfix Vintage Classics that has disappointed. It is undoubtedly what it was in the original release, but like the original Blackburn Buccaneer, the Hovercraft, the Fairey Rotodyne, and the prototype Harrier, it strangely fails to please. Perhaps Airfix were precipitate in issuing something that was…
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Bristol Belvedere – Part Two – How Right They Were

This kit has all the appeal of a Revell re-box. The two halves of the fuselage may have been pulled out of the mould while still hot and allowed to cool on a window sill. The result is a progressive rolling distortion that will never allow the parts to join in one cementation I decided…
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Bristol Belvedere – Part One – Dire Warnings

And why I never heed them… This kit appeared in my local hobby shop before I read a review of it. It was reasonably priced, a Vintage Classic, and a type I had never built before. I forked over the cash and took it home. The review was not mealy-mouthed; it said this was the…
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No Box Art

No colour call-out. No decal sheet. No safety instructions. No history of the prototype. Just sprue trees and a basic diagram. If this describes a lot of the kits you buy, congratulations – but only if you got them cheaply. If you paid full price you deserved all the added extras. What good would a…
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We Get What They Got

And if they don’t have it, neither will we. Shopping at the local hobby shops is a good idea. It gives business and employment to local people and keeps vital supplies available to us year-round. Except when it doesn’t. Shops can run dry of all sorts of things for all sorts of reasons – and…
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Airfix Junkers 87 – Part Five – Partisan

The Junkers 87 used by the Luftwaffe was terrifying enough – but as a captured dive bomber in the hands of Marko and Miloš…Eeeeek. The aircraft was captured by Yugoslav partisans in Feb 1945 when the two German crew landed by mistake at the wrong airfield. It was subsequently flown in battle by the partisans…
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Airfix Junkers 87 – Part Four – By The End Of The 27th

This year I did not holiday on a coast; neither Gold, Rainbow, Iron, or Mosquito variety – stayed home. And built my AIrfix Christmas kit – as a proper person would. You have turkey, Santa, and Airfix – do not try to better a winning combination. By the end of the 27th the kit was…
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Airfix Junkers 87 – Part Three – Boxing Day

If you are wondering what to do on Boxing day and your Christmas kits are sitting there…well, I ask you. As this Stuka was destined to have a dark-coloured scheme, it was a chance to use my black cement. It’s a 50/50 mix between a thin and thick cement. Perfect for parts that need to…
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Airfix Junkers 87 – Part Two – Inside The Office

Approaching an aircraft build with trepidation is always disheartening. But some kits beg it – the Czech short-run ones or the Russian re-pops often have too much inside or nothing at all. We have all seen the pilot figure stuck to a post from one side of the fuselage – or worse; nothing whatsoever under…

