Tag: camouflage
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The Anti- Camo Stand

If, like me, you like to build model aircraft – and if, like me, you like bright colours… Join the Western Front club. They concentrate themselves upon WW1 subjects and, while the allied planes may be a bit formulaic or muted, the German ones can give you all the colour you want. I concentrate on…
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The Swedish Curse

Cold winters. Long nights. Trapped in the hangar with nothing to do. Add an active crew in the paint shop and an account down the local Bunnings paint department… And there you go. Camouflage schemes that involve 45 different colours with hard lines and geometric angles. And every modeller who wants a Viggen or a…
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If I Can See It

You win. If the enemy can see it – you lose. Basic rule of camouflage. And it is also a principle to remember when building a scale model for display – especially for public exhibition. If you want ’em to look, attract their eye. This is a challenge for the modeller who is depicting a…
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JAS 39 Gripen – Part One – The Export Model

That’s good enough for home. This Italeri kit is probably based upon an early model JAS 39 Gripen. Since its introduction into the Swedish Air Force it has been sold to the Czech Republic, Hungary, and South Africa. Did you wish to add a modern aircraft to your collection for these services, there are decals…
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Mirage III CJ – Part Four – Who’s Hiding?

And from whom? Where are they lurking? Is it all just nonsense these days? I have no idea – I presume the various air forces have worked out how to hide in the air with grey paint and rubber knobs on every sharp point of an aircraft. The business of greying out national insignia to…
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Curtiss Model 75 A-4 – Part Four – Ugly Duckling

The painting stage for some models can be a beautiful and uplifting experience. Car modellers may experience this as they apply colourful and glossy finishes. Railway modellers also have bright colours in the liveries. In the case of this Curtiss 75 the chosen palette seems to contain nothing but expired motor oil and dirt. Of…
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You Can Be Colour Deaf As Well As Blind

Some unfortunates cannot see certain colours. This must be a challenge for them when they undertake scale modelling, though the provision of reference material that makes use of standard paint numbers might see them through. As long as the kit makers and paint makers tell the truth to the builder ( and each other )…
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VVS Tupolev SB2 – Part Three – Freehand

Not a choice I frequently make – I am a mask and spray person. In this case the photos of an SB2 in the Winter War were pretty thin on the ground ( and that was covered in snow,…) and the delineation of the two areas of colour in the monochrome pictures is poor. Not…
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RCAF Wellington Mk II – Part Five – Night Black

The RAF night bomber scheme is a grim sort of design. Well I guess flying 300 miles in the dark, amongst a thousand other flying bomb dumps, and through radar-directed flak is a pretty grim business anyway. With a German Chancellor at one end and Arthur Harris at the other it seems like a murderous…
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Well, Hello Masking Fluid

Goodbye putty worms. My Facebook feed has just put up a reel of the world’s only flying Avro Anson Mk I in preparation for take-off. The shot is of the starboard wing, engine, and nose. The colour scheme is the standard RAF Dark Earth and Dark Green. And all the colour edges are sharp lines.…
