The Little World

Oops. Sniff. Looks like it is all together….

Well, it almost seems like that with Hobby Boss. You sit there idly scraping down a seam line…that is nearly perfect anyway…and then you dry fit a couple of parts and then you decide to glue one in…

And the thing is done.

It’s not quite that bad or good with the Hurricane. But I did get the tailplanes on and the wing/fuselage assembly together and already I can swoop around with it and make airplane noises. And I do – I’m not proud. It’s my airplane.

This is my first assembly, however, using the technique of clamping and then running extremely thin cement into the gaps of the parts with a paintbrush. The Hobby boss pegs that fit into holes were a tight fit – I eased them, and then found a very slight tension that needed clamping. Once this was done, it was the cement time. I must admit to being worried as I started it for fear of flooding the surface and ruining the job – but it all worked well.

I can see using the thin cement in the bottle for a lot more work – I’ve largely gotten over the Humbrol tube stuff, though I can see it is fine for internal work. And I am rather frustrated with the thin cement in the squeeze bottle that delivers drops down the end of a long steel tube. I stuck a wire down the end of the tube to clear it, fractured the wire, and now will need to decant the stuff if I ever hope to use it up. I wonder if Humbrol makes money on this cement in the same way that Colmans made money on mustard – by the amount left on the side of the plate…

Ah, well, the Hurricane seems in fine shape. This is also the first model in which I am going to take advantage of the provision of a two-part canopy. The interior of the cockpit is not terribly detailed, but I’ll make the most of what they have given – no photoetch belts for me, thank you. I do not decry those who paint ivory miniatures, but I find a more impressionistic brush suits me.

I also suspect that this is the answer to the kits that are re-issued decade by decade. Eventually they are decried as just toys  ( but still re-issued ) and eventually I suspect that our brush needs to be wider and our breadth of vision more sweeping to make use of them.

That, or we just swoop around with them and make airplane noises…