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Landing Hard – Part two – Lolly Legs
You can google that one up to read the full horror of Australian vernacular, but for now just concentrate on the landing gear of scale model aircraft. Landing gear on real aircraft are the structures that allow the aircraft to land safely, supporting it as it rolls down the runway. On scale aircraft they are…
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Landing Hard – Part One – Spindly Is As Spindly Does
And if you occasionally collapse onto the airfield in a welter of tin tubes and screaming passengers…well, that’s British engineering. Also French and Russian aero design. For people too cheap to build proper airports with runways, they seem to have had a propensity for iffy landing gear. Thin legs splayed at impossible angles guyed up…
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Big Pinch – Little Pinch
A gripping story… The best tool I ever purchased from Stanbridges was a set of clamps by Xacto. The buy was in 1974 when Stanbridges was Stanbridges and Xacto was Xacto… The clamps are made of metal, though I often wonder which one. I would have guessed aluminium but lately I’m not so sure. Originally…
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They Do Better Than I Do Now…
And I do better than I did then. And that keeps me from being anxious about other modeller’s efforts. The fact that I am improving – slowly – in my own skills means that I can take pride in my latest efforts. It doesn’t mean that I need to be ashamed of my previous ones.…
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Israeli Bell 47 – Part Three – A Bubble In The Desert Sun
It cannot have been much fun to climb into a Bell 47 bubble in the desert sun of the Negev. Even on a cold day, it would have been hot in there and the overhead fan would not have helped if you had the doors shut… The Italeri kit has proved as good as it…
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Israeli Bell 47 – Part Two – Production Lines For The Win
The idea of serial building is working out, but there is still a place for sub-assembly lines in the scale model factory Even with modern super-glues there is still time required for re-enforcement to set, and of course the drying and setting times of the various paint coats. So there is a real advantage to…
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Israeli Bell 47 – Part One – Legacy Build
My friend, Warren Hughes, gave me four 1:72 scale kits in the months before he died. He knew he would not get to them, and it was my honour to complete three of them before his passing and show him how well they came out. We were both pleased with the results. This last kit…
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Make At Least One Little World
No matter what the size. The Little World is a fun column to write. I draw on the individual scale models I build and sometimes get to expand to several at once. Then I get to arrange them in dioramas and eventually into layouts. I’ve been fortunate to have enough space to do this, though…
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The House Brand
My latest trip to my hobby shop was successful and I am just about to find out whether the business of house brands is a good idea. The shop normally sells Tamiya and Ustar masking tape for scale models…both brands are excellent. In the past it has also sold off-brands that may or may not…
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Swiss Ju-52 – Part Three – Iron Annie In The Alps
The discovery of an unbuilt civilian version of the Ju-52 by Italeri in a legacy sale meant it could join the other post-war airliners at Flugplatz Strelsau. The Lufthansa colour scheme was tempting, but I could see the problems that might arise trying to get large block letters to snuggle down into the corrugations on…
The Little World
Close focus on the world of scale models
The Little World 