The Little World

If that seems like a funny way to think of a kit, consider that the Hobby Boss products are sometimes served on plastic trays within the external box – rather like the tasty Japanese food that we get from shopping centres. The kit is just as well presented – all that is missing is the radish, wasabi, and little plastic fish full of soy sauce…

Okay, whimsy aside, Hobby Boss do something that no-one else seems to. In other kits I am pleased to see things packed in separate plastic bags ( Never mind the supermarket nonsense about plastic…) for security. It doesn’t prevent rough handling from breaking things…wait’ll you see the Mach 2 kit…but it does corral the bits so you can effect repairs. I particularly want to see the clear parts a long way away from scratching. Sadly, Airfix does not agree with this sometimes.

Well, when you start on a Hobby Boss fighter, it is not long at all before you are gluing. The parts can be wonderfully free of flash and failure – all you need to do is the lightest scrape at the edge with a knife blade and you can dry-try it. And I am starting to be a serious fan of the top-and-bottom casting technique. The lines are good and certainly no harder to assess and fill than the traditional centreline seam. I do ease the holes in one half of the fuselage to allow the top to drop in easily – then there is little clamping needed.

There is also little need for extra detailing in the cockpit – at least not in my model collection. I googled the colour – took an average of all the images seen – and painted it. Again I give full marks to Hobby Boss for a sensible amount of moulding detail and the basic fact that the tub fits in the fuselage without having to hack anything apart. Special Hobby please note…

Also a compliment to the designer who decided to mould decent-sized attachment points for the tailplane struts. Had these been done by the miniscule school of mould makers I would have been cursing all afternoon – as it was they went into place in three minutes.