After many months I’ve finally completed one of the A.330 that I set out to make a couple of years ago. (Let this be a lesson to you, don’t move house, don’t do renovations and don’t live through an epidemic.) It’s more or less straight out of the box with Hawkeye decals.
North American L-17 by Valom
Having taken so long with the A.330 I wanted something quick and easy to make and pulled this Valom kit out of my Treasure. It looked simple and easy to begin with but things started to go off the rails not long after. Let me summarize all the problems by simply saying this is not an easy kit to make. The one thing I did like about this kit is that the all-over drab olive scheme was easy to apply and doesn’t look as dour as I had expected.
OUT OF THE MISTS OF TIME
Short Sunderland Mk.V in 1/72 converted from the Airfix
Digging back into some of my oldest models here is the Sunderland that I made in 2004. It used to be white but this is what happens to Testors Dulcoat over a period of about 18 years. If I only knew then what I know now ...
Republic RF-84F in 1/72 by Italeri
This is a fairly standard kit for its time and not difficult to put together, though it doesn’t stand up by modern day standards. The paint finish is not great, and it’s still something I’m working on.
Avro Canada C-120 Jetliner in 1/144 by F-Rsin
I saw the nose of this aircraft in the Canadian aviation museum so could not pass up on a model of it when I came across one. This is the first resin kit I made, back in 2008, and it was a steep learning curve.
Boeing 737-700 (Virgin Blue) in 1/144 by Revell
The think I miss about the change in brand from Virgin Blue to Virgin Australia is that we no longer have these gorgeous red airliners flying on our airways. The decals came from Underworld, I don’t know if they are still available.
IN THE WORKS
I know it’s an old excuse, but the reason I couldn’t get the BOAC/Qantas Comet 4 completed in time for this month’s report is because the cat ate my decals. Honest! So Peter of Hawkeye of sent me a replacement set and, in the same envelope, sent decals for two more Australian Airbus A.320s. Those have pushed other kits on my to-do list down a couple of notches. If the cat can stay away from the decals the Comet should be completed by the next month. The Neptune might have to sit on the sidelines for a while yet.
