The Little World

When you go past the new kit shelf at the hobby shop and notice that you can get a 1:72 fighter plane for $ 14.95…but if you add another $ 5.00 they’ll give you an extra engine and tail…well it would be foolish not to go with the bargain. Hence the new Hobby Boss Lockheed P-38 Lightning.

It is the same top-and-bottom basic structure that I found in the Brewster Buffalo and the Republic Thunderbolt – a decision I thoroughly approve of for my purposes. So far I have not found the seam lines intrusive at all and welcome the positive alignment of the wings and tailplane.

The nose of this example has guns aplenty but I will be shaving them off – the examples of this type I found seem to have been used for photo-reconnaissance and lost their armament. There were oblique-camera windows in the nose, however, so those will get painted on. The colour is quite handsome and there USAAF-certified photos of the real things to go by. They had quite a few of them in service, though.

I’m a little sad to be losing most of the decals, as they look pretty good. The instruction leaflet is clear enough but there are a couple of spelling errors – However that is just a writer’s quibble and should not affect the build.

Of course, as commander of my own Little World air forces, I can acquire whatever aircraft I like, but my sense of fitness restricts me when it comes to never-weres. I’ll accept one-offs but they need to be documented. Once I can see that they were actually on roster with whichever air force I am dealing – however briefly – then I’m free to make up my own complex stories.