Modellings tips and answers - Inspiration - Plane dogfights and more
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Don't forget to read our latest modelling tips located at the bottom of the newsletter.
Latest News
In line with the government's guidelines, we plan to re-open the shop in Sandown on Tuesday 13th of April. Our opening times will then be Tuesday to Saturday 10am till 4.30pm.
Inspiration
This week in history
On April the 11th 1933, the Great Western Railway initiated an air service connecting Cardiff and Plymouth using a Westland Wessex chartered aircraft from Imperial Airways.
Not your usual dogfight
Think model aeroplanes, and most hobbyists immediately think of an Airfix Spitfire with a big toothy grin painted on its engine cowling, but sometimes we desire something a little more unusual or unique.
Meeting this desire is a range of model aircraft from manufacturers such as Arma and Italeri, they produce some beautiful 1:72 scale models that can be used to recreate lesser-known battles such as the 1941 raids over the coasts of Kent and Essex, it was here the Hurricanes of 257 Squadron fought some quite unexpected Italian fighters including all but obsolete bi-planes.
Another good example of an unusual encounter involves MPM's rare model of a V1 flying bomb (Doodlebug). By the end of the war, over ten thousand V1s had been launched against Britain, the majority were shot down by anti-aircraft guns, however, the role of the RAF should not be underestimated. Thwarted V1 missions were on occasion the result of an encounter with Tempests, Mosquitos or Spitfires. Such a scene can be easily recreated using a Fieseler FI 103 up against an Academy Spitfire MK XIV both in 1:48 scale.
A couple of decades earlier and the skies above central France were alive with the terrifying sound track of dogfights between Jerry and the Royal Flying Corps. Recreated for us in 1:72 scale Airfix's Handley Page 0/400 is a portrayal of one of the first heavy bombers used by Great Britain during the First World War. Tasked with the objective of stopping them reaching their targets is the German Fokker D.VII created in model form by Eduard. With a world of model aircraft out there waiting to be modelled, we have so much more variety and choice than the good old toothy grin Spitfire!
If you're creating a war-themed diorama back on terra firma, there are plenty of models to help, especially in 1:76 scale which railway modellers use to create 00 gauge layouts. From a plastic kit of a pillbox to a cardboard kit of an aircraft hanger, a quick search will reveal no shortage of wartime themed models including those used to dress or finish a scene such as personnel, camouflage netting, barbed wire or vehicles.
We keep on adding modelling tips to our website. Here are the latest ones:
- What is "crab" steam locomotive?
- What glue and paint should I buy for my airfix kit?
- What are different watt soldering irons for?
- What is AWS is railways?
- What is an open-top baseboard?
Send us an email or give us a call to check availability or to reserve anything, whatever scale you model in. As usual, if we do not have in stock what you are looking for, we will order it for you and you will get it fast (usually within a week if the manufacturer has it in stock). We place weekly orders with most suppliers.
Upstairs Downstairs is open Tuesday to Saturday 10am till 4.30pm. Please call us if you are on the Isle of Wight and want to collect an order. If you are further afield, simply place your order on our website as usual as we are dispatching daily.Upstairs Downstairs
3 Pier Street
Sandown, PO36 8JR
Isle of Wight
Tel: 01983 406 616
http://www.trainshop.co.uk or find us on Facebook
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