The Little World

I mentioned in the first column of this build that I was not going to notice the raised rivets of this older Airfix kit – I have to say now that I have not adhered to this blasé attitude. In truth, I do notice them. And I love them. The choice of clear silver lacquer for the bulk of the aircraft gives the rivets a real presence and makes me feel as though I have gotten value for money in the build.

Well, indeed I have – the model kit was less than $ 20 Australian at my local hobby shop, and it was money well-spent. The more modest kits can yield as much or more fun than the expensive ones – and you do not have to approach them with the nervous reverence of the special limited editions or the super-detailed ones. I don’t suggest that you adopt the attitude of near enough being good enough, but occasionally that is exactly the case.

I do wish the canopies had been better made – the clear plastic is somewhat translucent and contained s good deal of flash – only to be expected with an older kit. But the bow-pen treatment to paint the framing worked well, and the fit of the thing was pretty good.

The other daunting portions of the Duck build were the wheel struts and the interplane/cabane strutting. I think I was on the edge of fit with the top wing – fortunately it all pulled in together to glue. I am more nervous about 1:72 multi-wings than I ever was with the 1:48 Aurora Famous Fighters, though they were probably moulded pretty crudely.

The Royal Mail Canada? Well, before there was Canada Post there was the older organisation – just as there was the PMG here in Australia before they hived off telecommunications and postal services to different operators. Make no mistake – the technology and delivery methods were cruder in the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s but you could depend upon the message getting through no matter what. I miss the PMG.

I need more bushplanes. Airfix used to make a Noorduyn Norseman and there must be Beavers and Otters around somewhere. But there is a strange dearth of 1:72 Cessnas, Beechs, Pipers, and Mooneys – either modern or historic. I can only hope that the kit makers will go on a civil aviation kick soon – and that our local shops will deign to stock them.