The Little World

I’m never completely prepared for the end of a build. Whether it is a 1:18th scale post office or the newest of the 1:72nd scale aircraft, the final touches seem to sneak up on me. I just put down the brush or the knife and then…realise that I should not pick it up again.

I’ve gotten to recognise that point. If you’ve ever done any house renovations or furniture painting – or for that matter any fine-art work – you’ll reach a point where the excess paint should be thrown away to prevent the temptation to use it on something inappropriate. I suspect the old brushes and dull Xacto blades should also be ditched at this point and the model put on a display shelf for a week. Genug ist genug…

The ‘ Kate ‘ has reached that stage and I’ve been strong enough to resist doing more. It is somewhat unique in the collection at present – Airfix having provided a flap set that can be up or down, I have deliberately secured them in place with yellow Uhu putty. This will allow me to have the flying shots as well as the static ones. The gear is also Uhu’d into place and there is a spare set of doors and wheels that can be popped in for flight.

The torpedo has become a bomb, as this plane is definitely pictured in a Japanese photo from Dec 7 in this colour scheme with that armament.

The prop and hub pop off – one day there’ll be a flying disc on the front – the day I figure out how to make one look realistic.

The plane has a crew. Indeed I will probably try to crew most of my future builds as I’d rather fill a cockpit with the figure than seatbelts. I must talk to a figure painter to see how to do it well.

That was a real pleasure.