The Little World

The author of the wonderful illustration of the Canadian Anson Mk1 – Mr Reidel –  will forgive me, I hope, for making a desktop image of his drawing. I’m posting it up on my computer to cheer myself up. I have a suspicion that I will need the inspiration during the next few weeks as I come to grips with a new model.

It’s a Special Hobby kit again in 1:72 – and a deliberate choice to join the WWII trainers at my little Alberta airfield. I was originally tempted to consider a die-cast Oxford or Corgi model but this kit turned up on the shelves of Metro Hobbies out in Box Hill at a price that was considerably under that of the metal replicas. Also it was actually there as opposed to just possibly obtainable by internet scrabbling. I’ve long learned in Western Australia to seize opportunities in the shops as they are presented…because in this state they generally only get presented once.

Well, kit secured, I set out on a search for what it should become. The standard Special Model builds as presented inside are fine, and I was tempted to the trainer version as seen in the UK in the early 40’s. But there were no really definite pictures on Google of a Canadian or Australian Anson Mk1 with the turret in place – most were covered over at that spot. So I agonized. I’m not that pedantic a rivet-counter that I could not be happy, but…then I found that very nice drawing by Mr. Reidel on the net and knew there was help on the horizon…

In the end, I need not have been concerned – inside the kit, after I opened the plastic bag, was a part on the sprue to cover over the turret. Green light from the tower.

Then I spread out the little bags inside and commenced to be horrified. First at the photoetched seat belts…then at the resin-cast cylinders for the engines…and finally at the resin-cast interior braces and frames. All to be clearly seen through that vastly open crew compart- ment. I can’t even be sure that the resin parts for the interior are intact…

This is not a kit for kids. Or the faint-hearted. Or those with sausage fingers. I can see that the sub-assemblies will be weeks in preparation if the thing is to be a success. I’m glad that I’ve chosen the simple Trainer Yellow Canadian colour scheme for the outside because by the time I get there I will probably need consolation and strong drink – not a marathon camouflage masking session.

And then I looked more closely at the kit and at the internet. In Alberta there are a couple of Anson MkII’s in museums, with a lot less glass showing in the greenhouse – they were navigation trainers, I guess. The nacelles are the same but the engine covers are much less complex than the Mk I’s…and Glory Be! Special Hobby have included them in the kit as well. So it looks like I can go off the photos on the net for window treatment and engines and finish up with a much more specific model in the end. And you won’t be able to see my blunders in the pipework inside…Win. The photo is by courtesy of the Airfix forum and an enthusiast who visited the museum in Edmonton – thank you, sir!

Note that this will be my first experiment with an enamel paint job. I visited a different hobby shop, consulted with the sales assistant, and chose Humbrol satin and gloss colours to try, together with a Humbrol finishing coat. I know this sounds pretty basic to those who regularly use enamel, but I have been working in acrylics for the last couple of years and feel that I need to get more experience. It will also give me a chance to try out the various systems of integrating decals into the scheme – here there will be very few roundels and flashes to deal with.

Every day a new adventure…