Tag: floatplane
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Kawanishi Norm – Part Four – A Powerful Flop

From all accounts great things were expected from the Kawanishi reconnaissance float plane. And then the contra-rotating propellers and jettison-able float proved problematical and the service missions undertaken with the type were failures. So it was quietly shoved back into a training role. The appearance of the aircraft in the box art was what attracted…
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Fairey Swordfish Mk I – Part Four – Splish Splash

If I was a kid in a bathtub I would be sorely tempted to play battleships with this Fairey float plane – probably to its detriment. As it is, I will have to think up some way of simulating water to display it – and that is a tough thing to do. The final result…
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Fairey Swordfish Mk I – Part One – Tradesies

I know the most interesting people. A friend contacted me on Facebook and asked where she could get a 1:12 scale lamp post. It so happened that I had a new one – long spare from an old project that had passed by. She offered to trade for it and I named a 1:72 model…
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No Apologies Kingfisher

This post is somewhat different from my normal practise…You get to see it built without seeing it a’building. This is because it is very nearly the same as the wheeled version made by the same maker – AZ. I built one last year in that configuration with a full report. Refer to it if you…
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Junkers F.13 – Part Three – A Tail Of A City

The original tail of the F.13 is a beauty – looks like a bird’s plumage made in tin…very reminiscent of a WW1 design. But when the City Of Prince George was delivered it had a very much more modern and conventional fin with a balanced rudder. Fortunately this sort of model was also made by…
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Junkers F.13 -Part One – Corrugated Iron

Corrugated aluminium, actually. Hugo Junkers’ favourite material. He built a lot of things out of it – I suspect that it featured in water heaters, aircraft, and possibly underwear. The twenties roared in Dessau… This example of a Junkers all-metal airliner caught my eye on the Revell shelf. Then research showed it to be a…
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Vickers Delta Mk III – Part Two – A Sensible Cockpit

I wonder why the designers of the Vickers Delta Mk III kit in The Czech Republic resisted the temptation to put photo-etch brass and resin castings in the kit? Perhaps they relegated this on to the apprentice with instructions to make it simple. if so, I am grateful. The interior parts were sturdy enough to…
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Grumman Duck – Part Three – A Riveting Build

I mentioned in the first column of this build that I was not going to notice the raised rivets of this older Airfix kit – I have to say now that I have not adhered to this blasé attitude. In truth, I do notice them. And I love them. The choice of clear silver lacquer…
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Grumman Duck – Part Two – Ungainly Is As Ungainly Does

Like most seaplanes – the Rufe, the Spitfire on floats, the Seamew – the Grumman Duck looks vaguely like a practical joke the designers played on the factory that leaked out past the drafting table, and they were too embarrased to admit it was all in fun. Yet the planes worked and were very useful…
