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text by Kai-Mikael Jää-Aro photos by Martin Waligorski de Havilland had a hit with the D.H. 60 Moth, a cheap, sturdy two-seater with pleasant flying characteristics, first flown in 1925. Flying clubs, private individuals and air forces all bought Moths to use for flight training or just pleasure flights. The […]

de Havilland D.H. 82 Tiger Moth in Detail

text by Kai-Mikael Jää-Aro photos by Harald Barth and Kai-Mikael Jää-Aro In the heady days after the Second World War, experimentation with jet engines and new wing configurations was rife and lots of futuristic designs were tested and even more proposed. Fairey started experimenting with delta aircraft with the Fairey […]

BAC 221 in Detail

by Rick Kent A small but significant number of Spitfire Mk. I’s were converted to photo reconnaissance aircraft from even before World War II started. Indeed, it was one of these early reconnaissance Spitfires that was the first Spitfire to be captured intact by the Germans at one of the Paris airfields […]

Early Armed Reconnaissance Spitfires

Tech Tips by Martin Waligorski   Few household products have made more significant career in the world of scale modelling than Future Floor Wax. A clear acrylic high-gloss floor finish, it was discovered for our hobby through the improvement it could bring to clear plastic parts – aircraft canopies in […]

Improving Clear Parts With Future Floor Wax

Lockheed Hercules 842 in 1/200th Scale by Rickard Malmborg photos by Magnus Fridsell and Martin Waligorski   I have already modelled an entire series of Swedish Air Force aircraft, most single-engine fighters but also trainers and twin-engine bombers. I must admit I have focused on numbers rather than quality, but […]

Sweden’s First Aerial Tanker

Modelling a Swedish Airforce J8 from the Finnish Winter War  by Thomas Olsson English translation by Magnus Fridsell I have been modelling since the 70s with the Swedish Air Force as my main interest. As a youngster I built two Gladiators, one each from Heller and Matchbox. After a ten […]

A Gladiator in a Wintry Setting

Tech Tips by Urs Bopp, IPMS Matterhorn Circle A common finish to many interesting aircraft of the World War II and 1950s era is natural metal. Producing a convincing look of a metal surface on a model is widely considered to be the hardest finish to get right. During recent […]

Natural Metal for the Masses

Tech Tips by Rafi Ben-Shahar We all know that camouflage schemes are better at concealing their subjects when less light is reflected from the paint coats, thus blending with the surrounding backgrounds. Aircraft however, are tricky subjects. While a matt coat would certainly serve its purpose, a close inspection of […]

Henschel Hs-129B and the Magic of Buffing

Camouflage & Markings ..and the New Hasegawa B-24 Kit by Alan Griffith 2008 will see my first book released. Coincidentally, it is on nose-turreted versions of the Consolidated B-24 Liberator in USAAF service. In response to the announcement by Hasegawa of their B-24J ’Cocktail Hour’, I thought I should share […]

B-24J Cocktail Hour

The Rocket that Launched Telecom and an Irony of the Cold War by Barry Davidoff and Tomas Kladiva   The Thor Able Star played a major role in the development of satellite communications. In 1960 it launched the world’s first active repeater communications satellite, Courier 1B. For 17 days Courier 1B received and […]

Modellers’ Guide To Thor-Able Star and Delta

An Almost Forgotten Story About P-47 Thunderbolt in SwAF Service by Björn Goldman   This is the story about the Swedish J 27 Åskbollen. During the past 50 years, it has been one of the many classified and undisclosed stories of the Swedish Air Force. In fact, all but one […]

The Swedish ”Dunderbult”

av Johan Hugogård Denna artikel beskriver hur man snabbt kan ordna en tryckutjämningstank, med hjälp av det man har med sig på ett byggmöte. Bakgrund Det hela började med en förfrågan på vårt forum. Det var en kille (Fredde) som ställde en fråga på vårt forum. Han hade fått problem […]

Att snabbygga en tryckutjämningstank

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av Bruce Grinstead Denna artikel är en kort översikt över hur man målar ett figuransikte… avsedd som en riktlinje så att du kan komma igång med att experimentera själv och komma fram till ett sätt som du själv trivs bäst med. Ett antal färger användes: Model Masters light och warm […]

Att måla ansikten

by Martin Waligorski As a modeller returning to the hobby after several years’ inactivity, I found a whole new world of research about aircraft colors. During the seventies, every Luftwaffe aircraft model could be painted PLM 70/71/65 ”for accuracy”, and RAF Sky was still referred to as Duck Egg Blue or […]

Notes About RAF Colors, World War II period

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 text and photos by Magnus Fridsell The CR 42 came into Swedish service via Finland. During the winter war the Finish Air Force ordered a few CR 42 aircraft. They arrived too late to see service in the winter war and for some reason Finns sold them to the Swedish […]

Fiat CR 42 Falco (J 11) in Detail