Making scale models is my hobby. I’ve been doing it for around sixty years. Here is some of what I’ve written about it for my local club newsletter since 2000 and updates of what I’ve been making.
(September 2021) INTRODUCTION Many modellers like to tell stories with their models and do it in the form of dioramas or vignettes which describe in model form a moment in time and the people, machines and places of that moment. In this way one model and its setting tell one story. I also like to … More Royal Australian Air Force Mirage IIIs, 1963 to 1989, in 1/72 by Frog.
The Convair 880 is a gorgeous looking but rather sad airliner. It was designed by Convair to compete with the new jet airliners being designed and build by Boeing and Douglas, the 707 and the DC-8. Convair hoped to compete by building a smaller and faster airliner so while the Convair 880 cruised at … More Convair 880 in 1/144 by Eastern Express
New this month: Eastern Express 1/144 Convair 880; Zvezda 1/144 Airbus A.320; FRsin Lockheed 18; Dujin 1/72 Centrair C201; Adrien Roy Bernard HV.41. From the time vault: Matchbox 1/72 Westland Lysander I. The Eastern Express 1/144 Convair 880 is one of the most enjoyable model build experiences I’ve had in months. Apart from the fact … More Models for August 2021
This month begins with a couple more Zvezda 1/144 Airbus A.320s that are a little unusual. Air New Zealand have painted their A.320s in a number of schemes over the years and this all-black one is one of the more common schemes. The decals come from the Russian company Ascensio but there are not enough … More Models for July 2021
(July 2021) It started like this. I was out in my shed fondling some of the kits in my Treasure when I came across a box that caught my attention. It is not one of the world’s great masterpieces of box art but it shows a light aeroplane flying over a wartime scene, bearing … More Stinson OY-1 in 1/72 by AZmodel
Attached is a PDF of an item I wrote for the MoB’s newsletter in 2014 about assembling the resin Planet 1/72 Arsenal Delanne using Blu Tack to create a jig.
(June 2021) The Douglas XA2D looks a lot like the earlier piston engined Douglas AD Skyraider and was supposed to be an attack fighter to fly off the US Navy’s escort carriers. These carriers were too small for the new generation of pure jet aircraft so a turboprop engine was ordered instead. It actually … More Douglas A2D in 1/72 by Mach 2
Here’s another of Zvezda’s 1/144 Airbus A.320s, this time in the special Air New Zealand livery of ‘Airline to Middle Earth’ that ZK-OJA was decorated in the period around 2004. The decals come from PAS who make some very nice decals of all kinds of desirable airliners. I was not planning to make this particular … More Models for June 2021
(May 2021) Another French Beauty On the basis of a couple of rather unfortunate French bombers made during the interwar period all French aeroplanes made during that period have been dubbed ‘ugly’ by the great unwashed. What would then know? Not all French aeroplanes are Amiot 143s, Potez 540s or even Farman 220s. And … More Bernard 74 in 1/72 by Adrien Roy
The Airbus A320 production line continues and here is the latest model, the Zvezda 1/144 A.320 in the livery of Virgin Australia. It is the same airliner as the two A.320s I finished last month, registered VH-VNB and this time flown by Virgin Australia in 2019 after it took over ownership of TigerAir. Like most … More Models for May 2021
