Tag: jigs
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Foam

I have a theory about the Universe: If it cannot be done with foam-core board, it cannot be done. And I think I have Adam Savage to thank for that. He was seen on a YouTube feature constructing an architectural model of a house with foam-core board and hot glue. The facility with which he…
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Westland Wallace – Part Four – Struttin’ Wid Some Barbecue

Or ” Jigging On The Spot “. The prospect of attaching eight interplane struts and four cabanes on the Westland Wallace called forth the engineer in me. Also the foam board fanatic. The basic requirement was that the struts sit straight but canted forward from the lower to the upper wing and that they allow…
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Short Sunderland – Part Three – The Problem Of Dimension

The choice of 1:72 scale to model for my collection is politic – I can only fit so much in a small space. Most of the aircraft can be built on a bench and shown on shelf. My new jigs make this a real pleasure. But occasionally the sheer scale of the subject defeats this…
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Hillson Praga Air Baby – Part Three – See What You Get When You Listen To Yourself

Particularly when it is the voice of experience and has arrived at wisdom through previous bad decisions. The Australian civil registration code on this plane is on clear decal film – the sort that the Czechs do well. The sheet is finely-printed and seems to be in register, but I know from past jobs that…
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Jet Jig Jive

I’ve just used the second of my new Slovakian assembly jigs for a jet. It is the Tornado GR.1 from Italeri – a perfect testing piece for the tool. There are square fuselage panels to rest upon. The geometry is markedly different from the WW2 small jig – though the construction materials are just the…
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Doing The Slovakian Jig – Part One

I cannot say when my new jig kits were shipped from the port of Pressburg, but presumably it was before the Covid shutdown. My wife was able to order them from BNA in Melbourne a week before Christmas and they arrived in time to sit under the tree. I spent Boxing day with a new…
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When In Trouble, Reach For The Foam Board

I found myself in another of those awkward positions. Not as bad as Page 38 of the Kama Sutra, but nearly so…I was under the workbench, in a pretzel shape, trying to decal a fighter plane. The sort of procedure you work yourself up to gradually in an evening of modelling. Before you realise it…
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Boeing KB29A – Part Six – A Bigger Jig

The value of the Little Workshop adjustable jig is proving itself daily. It comes in handy for all builds to steady aircraft in either normal or inverted mode and to allow me to rest planes on the trailing edge of the wings to apply propellers. If I turn the fuselages sideways I can do side…
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The Two Fingered Salute…

Actually, that should be two-pronged, but I wanted to grasp your attention quickly with a slightly risqué title. I was going to add something about Mae West or Sabrina but the younger readers wouldn’t have any reference points… The business of painting bombers and transports is a little tougher than fighters. To start with, they…
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Faith and Begorrah…

” Tis a green jig. It must be Irish. ” Well, ’tis green now but it’s about to become feldgrau and then olive drab, and then azure blue in patches. And then you can assign whatever nationality you want to it. It’s Mk III painting jig – the foamboard structure upon which I hang the…
