The Little World

Boxing Day Sales are a potent lure for many people in the town – if they have been abstemious during the pre-Christmas rush, have not over-indulged at Chrissie lunch, and are not trying to clean the house …they can rush out and try to buy the things that the retailers weren’t able to flog off two days previously. The chief bargains to look for are seasonal or impulse gifts that did not catch the public’s eye – the retailer knows that they are mega-stale and will not be an asset in a month. Time to open the doors and throw them out.

I mooched around to my hobby shop to see if they followed this pattern – possibly they did, but it was not in the aisles that I frequent. if there were Star Wars, Lego, or robot toys to be discounted, someone got lucky.

I got lucky too, in that just prior to Christmas I had a brilliant idea for a photo exhibition next year that involves model airplanes. And I knew which ones were going to be required for it…so I have a shopping list. When I went to the 1:72 Airfix section I found the last of the Curtiss Tomahawks at a very favourable price.

Now, it was not quite as cheap as a Hobby Boss P-40 that was the other side of town, but the difference in the price would have been less than the cost of petrol to go over there and get it. Score one for not being on the freeway. The Hobby Boss would have had the precise decal sheet for my idea, but I have a printer and a box of Testor’s decal paper…so there we were. The fact that I have a small credit of loyalty points made a difference too.

Airfix kits are reliable – at least the modern ones are. No flash, good fitting parts, and accurate depictions of real aircraft. You can depart from that depiction as far as you like but the basic structure is good. In the case of the Flying Tiger, all it really needed was teeth and Nationalist Chinese roundels. Easy as…

The problem with P-40’s is the number of marques that existed and the fact that they can have the same number but markedly different engines and fuselages. And the reproduced aircraft can be any of the production painted in any of the liveries – you gotta be careful. I will rebuild this aircraft in the later marque with markedly different paintwork.

For now – it joins the air museum and features in my June photo exhibition. For a little over $ 11.00 it was a wonderful exercise during the Christmas break.