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Martin Canberra – Part Three – Da Nang 1966

With three good choices for a scheme, it was only the toss of a coin that painted this bomber high speed silver. The paint itself is the good old French silver grey melange now topped up with more fresh silver for a shinier finish. One of the extant B-57 aircraft at a museum in the…
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Martin Canberra – Part Two – Dry Fit Champ

As soon as the cockpit tub went in – along with the 3/4 of a musket ball – I knew I was on a winner. A fuselage cementation stage can be heaven or hell, depending on whether the moulders have proportioned the cockpit tub or platform to the actual inside of the shell. Many Czech…
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Martin Canberra – Part One – Old Italeri

I am always on the alert for Italeri kits – I find them an ideal blend of simplicity and precise moulding. This Italeri No 144 box was no exception – it was half-way down a pile of unwanted kits at a recent stash sale for the very reasonable price of $ 20. I balanced my…
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The Club Visit

In this case to a famous regiment’s museum. Members of the SMCWA were recently honoured to visit the regimental museum of the SAS regiment here in Perth. Overseas readers are urged to google up the history of the regiment – it is far too extensive and interesting for me to tally up. Prepare for a…
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The Trains Now Arriving…

In my local hobby shop are wonderful. They have digital control, digital sound, and completely realistic motion. Their couplers are tiny and there are a full complement of passengers and crew. The wagons and carriages are lined and decaled and the only thing that deters me from sweeping up an armful of them is the…
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Could You Deliberately Retro-Build?

I’ve been looking at a website that refers to itself as Dem Brudders; it deals with reproduction and re-issued kits. A number of small makers have ended up with moulds from major American firms; Revell, AMT, Aurora, Monogram, etc. The smaller speciality moulders have re-issued some of the classics that were favourites during the 50’s…
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Location, Location, Location

I visit at a number of hobby shops here in the Perth metro area and generally drop a little money in each one. I note, however, that some of them are struggling against the fact of their location, as much as the prices and supply chain. No names, no pack drill, but here are my…
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Čmelák – Part Four – Flying Fertiliser

I was fascinated with the instruction sheet for this Czech model as it detailed the service life of the Z-37A agricultural aircraft. It would appear that they are used for crop dusting and spraying in equal measure in middle Europe and are in some areas of the west as well. The planes are working for…
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Čmelák – Part Three – Jaundice

Or – dicing with yellow… Doing a good yellow is harder than you’d think. and it gets harder as you try to preserve more detail on a model surface. When you look down into the pot containing a yellow paint it all looks so easy – the colour is whatever the maker has specified, with…
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Čmelák – Part Two – Nothing Agricultural

Nothing crude about Eduard scale model kits. At least if this little crop duster is anything to go by. The mouldings on the sprue trees are superb. In fact I would rate them as highly as some people rate Tamiya offerings in the same scale. For a person who built some of the very early…
