Tag: landing gear
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Grumman Wildcat – Part Two – Four-Part Harmony
In each of the two pictures on this post there are four plastic parts. They’re glued up and setting overnight. The time taken to get to this point, including the washing of the parts, was about one hour. I’ve spent longer in the barbers. This would be a terrible thing for some modellers to contemplate.…
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Grumman F9F-2 Panther – Part Three – You Only Forget Once
Putting together a model of a jet airplane is pretty straightforward in comparison to a biplane or a WWII bomber. Fewer parts, no propellors, and usually a much sturdier undercarriage. But there is one thing that most modern jets have in common – tricycle landing gear and a tendency to sit on their tails. The…
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Douglas A-20 Havoc – Part Five – Just Because Someone Was A Fool…
…Doesn’t mean you have to follow them. This might be the phrase best suited to the stage of building that we are up to today – the landing gear on the A-20 Havoc. It is tricycle gear and the original designers of the ship wanted to make the wheels and tyres disappear from the airstream…
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North American Mitchell – Part Four – The Tail Gunner
Every good bomber needs a tail gunner – the chap who sits at the back and is the first one to get killed. And every model airplane build needs a tail gunner as well – but for a better reason. Unfortunately the model of the B-25 I am making is one with no rear gun……
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Canadair Sabre – Part Two – Basic Airframe
Well, I will tip my hat to Airfix – this is one lovely build. I am almost going to get away with no putty, and if the Mr. Surfacer can be coaxed to thicken up by letting it evaporate a little, I can paste it on instead. There was only one little bit of fettling…
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Shaky Legs, Don’t Just Stand There…
And bite that trembling lip. A good idea has just surfaced. Model airplane kit builders can access any number of specialized kits and parts these days. If you find something crude in the box, you just keep shopping until you find a Czech firm that have made a better replacement part for it. Of course…
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Convair 440 – Part Seven – Thinking Outside The Box
Getting a kit that is deeply flawed – or undertaking any other modelling task that is doomed to failure from the start – is a wonderful opportunity to put the prop on coarse, turn on the water injection, and shove the throttle past the military stop. You might as well see what the hell happens……
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Bristol Blenheim Mk I – Part Three – Goodbad Badgood Ideas
You know what a goodbad idea is? it’s a brilliant thought that you have had, carried out, and been sorry for. The opposite is a badgood idea…You’ve done something dodgy that has turned out well. The ratio of the two in some fields is 4:1…in politics 40:1. The best thing about the goodbad is that…
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Handley Page Hampden – Part Four – Either Up Or Down! Make Up Your Darned Mind!
I am currently looking with disfavour at the Airfix Handley Page Hampden model. It is upside down on the building jig with its legs in the air and it is not a pretty sight. This is not a Vargas pin-up girl… This is the first occasion in a long while that I’ve encountered a scale…
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To Break, Or Not To Break
That is the question. Whether ’tis nobler to cement the landing gear in while you can still get access to the nacelles and housings or wait until the paint job is finished. Which choice brings a better or worse chance of breaking the things off prematurely? And must we use Shakespearean language after the fact?…
The Little World 