Tag: wings
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Tupolev TB-3 – Part Two – More Pegs Than A Dublin Phone Book

And every one of them working… The next time you hear someone blithely tell you that they ” winged it “…and make out that it was all so easy…refer them to me. I have winged the Tupolev TB-3 and I know what the abyss looks like. The basic bracing inside was actually very precise –…
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Fairchild Argus – Part Four – Struttin’

An’ not wid no barbeque… I hope some readers are old enough to get that one. And I hope it gets past the social media censors. In any case, In any case the struts and braces on this Argus have come out splendidly. Not for lack of work, I might add – the wing braces…
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Petlyakov Pe-8 – Part Five – A Wing And Several Prayers

I am never so nervous as when I see a plastic model aircraft with a multiple-part wing. I don’t mean a top and bottom – that’s normal. I mean a top and bottom outer, top and bottom inner, internal brace, wheel well, separate nacelles, and no cementing tabs. Add two gun positions and it starts…
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AVIA B.534 – Part Two – When One Wing Is Not Enough

Not enough to cause you enough unease… Try two or more. Add the struts and see if your eyes are starting to swim. With a bit of luck there will be eight or more and your happiness will recede so far that you’ll never see it. I was worried when I saw that the AVIA…
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Fairey Swordfish Mk I – Part Three – Wings Over The Workbench

I walk in awe of the people who build scale model biplanes and then rig them. They have condemned themselves to the sort of stage act that used to involve Chinese jugglers, bamboo poles, and spinning bowls…and then added the sort of things that would make a spider burst into tears. I don’t know what…
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Decal Or Paint?

Not a difficult choice when the design is complicated. Also not a tough decision when the decal sheet has something exactly as needed. There are any number of decal setting solutions today that will let you drape a design over a wet porcupine, so just take your time. When it comes to bigger scales and…
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Every Time You Bolt On A Main Spar

A Fairey gets its wings… The magic of scale model building is far greater than any mousey studio could dream up – we actually get to do things instead of just watch other people do them. One of the things we do is cement wings onto aircraft. We can do this neatly or not, but…
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Grumman F3F – Part Three – The Toy Shop

Well, at this stage of the game it looks like this aircraft has been made by Mattel or Fisher-Price. Solid bright colour and basic shapes. But all is well – a careful evening was spent getting the struts to join the wings in a decent fashion. Czech kits have little markings on the wing surfaces…
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Tupolev ANT-5 – Part Four – Trebly Armed…

On a wing and a half. This model of the Tupolev ANT-5…or 4 – it’s hard to make head or tail of the Soviet numbering system – is a curate’s egg in many respects. The basic kit is buildable, but there are breakable parts that do so and then need to be joined with cement…
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De Havilland DH2 – Part Three – Wing Day

Well there is no point in putting it off and just sitting in the club rooms drinking coffee. Glue the bastard together or go home. 12 struts – reasonably formed for all that. 4 cabanes and 8 inter-plane ones. Socket dimples in fuselage and wings, but everything’s separate. The only saving grace is that all…
