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Swedish NA-16 – Part One – The Beechnut Models Company

You’ll want to remember that name – in case you are ever faced with one of their kits. If so, you have choices: a. Buy it, spend days of your life coping with its awful nature, and eventually turn out a masterpiece. Then die. b. Save time. Fall to the floor grasping your chest. c.…
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Really Good Water Is Hard To Find

And not just in the Sahara – you’ll be struggling if you search in your local hobby shop. I’ve wanted it for several projects but rarely found a good representation. Were I a dedicated ship modeller I would find the problem to be central to my builds. i suppose this would either drive me to…
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The Freedom To Explore

Includes the opportunity to achieve great things. And to fall down holes. If you can do this cheaply you are all the better. I use the opportunity provided by donated model kits to try out fresh ideas. Being honest, some of them are thrust upon me by the nature of the kits – and they…
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Straight Out of The Aftermarket Box

Or not, as the case may be… The decision of whether to use aftermarket parts or just what is in the kit box is often a hard one to make. It’s one of the marvels of the age we live in that we have this choice. At one time there was nothing between the Airfix…
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If You Didn’t Build It Then

Build it now. If you couldn’t afford it then, but can now – build it. If you can’t afford it now… Build something else. If you tried to build it then, and failed…if it was a bad kit then…if you were worried that people would think you were just a geek… Build it now. If…
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Aero Vodochody Delfin – Part Three – Uganda

How could you not love an air force that puts a chicken on their roundel. After the Entebbe raid in the 70’s Uganda got a transfusion of ex-Soviet and Warsaw Pact aircraft including this Czech L-29 Delfin. The net says that it was used as a training aircraft with occasional military operations. Whether that meant…
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Aero Vodochody Delfin – Part Two – If You Call For Your Czech Early

You don’t have to leave a tip. A morning at my scale modelling club begins with 45-60 minutes on the road – coping with a series of traffic lights and a clogged-up river bridge. It is wearisome but I figure you have to pay for your pleasures somehow. The comes up to 3 hours of…
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Aero Vodochody Delfin – Part One – Red Trainer

Well, they could hardly place an order with North American or LVT in the Cold War, could they… This Czech design became a standard trainer for the Warsaw Pact air forces in the 1950’s and 60’s and was exported to satellites and allies later. The KP kit is of an age, but surprisingly good for…
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The 1/285th Scale Model

Don’t let those pedants force you to 1/350 or 1/200 or anything else. If 1/285th was good enough for the 1950’s it is good enough for now. All we need is for the kit manufacturers to cut new moulds to this scale and box them. We desperately need another MISSOURI and BISMARCK…preferably with box art…

