The Little World

As I’ve written before, every new build is a chance to have a new experience. This one has been my baptism in how to change horses in mid-stream, how to concentrate the mind, and how to make a deliberately dirty mess.

I hasten to add that I already know how to make an accidentally dirty mess, a moderately dirty mess, and a hideously dirty mess…and have been able to do so for many years*. But this is the first time I’ve studied evidence photographs and very deliberately tried to duplicate a rat’s nest of grunge…

The Lockheed P-38 Lightning had to switch from the RAAF to the USAAF and from a fighter plane to a recon ship. Google put up a coloured photo of what I suspect is a reconstructed flying P-38 in PRU colour: artificial haze. Same airframe as the kit I bought and that was good enough for me.

I have come to respect the cheaper modern kits as good value and reasonable quality. They exactly fit into my scheme of Little World modelling without driving me mad in the actual construction. I can look forward to many hours of enjoyment, provided life gives me many hours.

The USAAF PRU Lightning has a wonderful bonus – you don’t have to do any camouflage masking. Just blue it all over and then do the decals and surface coating. Of course there’s a bit of cutting and filling prior to this, but no more than an average amount.

The really fun part of the decoration was the filthy mess aft of the engine turbo superchargers and exhaust. I’ve got the Google image showing a brown patch of unburnt gasoline and rusty oil streaks and a more modern picture of a restored P-38. It proves that the crud appears every time they operate the machinery – so you can legitimately blow a half pound of khaki paint back there and not be over the top.

It is an intoxicating thing to do. I have a feeling that if you let your mental belt loose and weathered everything that the whole of the collection would end up looking like it should be on the verge for rubbish collection day. I’ll stop before I get to that point.

*  You should see what the rest of the family can do…

Note: Thank you to all who read this little column from the Little World. You are very patient with me. Do write in and tell me what you’d like to see – there is lots more to show.