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The Colour Of Your Model Is Wrong

But it’s not the fault of the paint – or of you. It’s the result of history. Cast your mind back to when you were a kid during the Boer war. When you could still get that crispy bacon. Remember what the photographs taken at the Battle of Bloemfontein looked like? The videos taken by…
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Italeri F/A 18 Hornet – Part Three – Perkkele!

Not really – I have nothing to complain about. Stay where you are. The finish on this Finnish aircraft is courtesy of the paints that were gifted to me by Warren Jones – I am getting to grips with the business of enamels with lacquer thinners and in many respects they seem to be easier…
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Italeri F/A 18 Hornet – Part Two – The Mock-up That Doesn’t Mock

I’ve given up a lot of things in my old age: marathon running, ballet, and regular bathing. But I have not given up dry-fitting models. As a kid it was a major part of a build, with gradual dry assembly taking weeks before any cementation. I’m faster these days ( no school homework ), and…
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Italeri F/A 18 Hornet – Part One – Who Actually Makes This Thing?

I was nearly going to write ” McDonnell Douglas ” in the title until I saw it was claimed to be a licensed product from Boeing. Whether this means Boeing have bought out McDonnell Douglas, or just the company that makes the cardboard box, is unsure. The kit comes from Italeri, so I’ll go with…
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Understanding The Language of Modelling

And listening to what it tells you about the rest of the world. Welcome to the classroom. Every time we approach a foreign land we look first at the language it speaks. If it is not our native tongue we either try to learn enough to get by or go all arrogant and demand that…
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” Just Popping To The Shop, Dear…”

And I’m only going to buy a pot of silver paint for the new model. That’s all. Oh look. I’ve come home with $125.00 worth of new kits and a pot of silver paint. However did that happen? If you would strengthen yourself in resolve, skill, monetary resource, and marital bliss – don’t pop down…
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Soviet ZIS-5 Part Six – Igor’s Flying Inn

This truck and the accompanying accessories are to be known as Igor’s Flying Inn – named after GK Chesterton’s novel and my friend in Ukraine. It was not hard to find 12 crates of vodka to load onto the truck. Or the table and chairs. Or the wooden box full of cheese and sausages. The…
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Soviet ZIS-5 – Part Five – Fiddler On The Workbench

Oy! The various sub-assemblies of the ZIS-5 have been models in their own right – the Hobby Boss factory having moulded them in such detail as to justify taking a great deal of care with them. This is good practice anyway, but here the diagrams of the instruction sheet were particularly useful – the sequence…
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Soviet ZIS-5 – Part Four – Yes Or No?

Do I take an extra day – and undercoat the body parts of the ZIS-5? Or just spray paint straight onto the tan plastic and hope it doesn’t scratch off? Well, I have decided to be moral, and careful, and cowardly. I have seen too many finishes ruined by me when I try to take…
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Soviet ZIS-5 – Part Three – Non-Rolling Chassis

You can say what you like about Tamiya paints – I swear by their Dark Iron for nearly all the chassis I make – tank, car, or truck. I’ve been under motor vehicles and I know what colour they are… In this case the ZIS-5 truck ( made by the Ural factory, I surmise )…
