The Little World

I have no idea why the tradition started in our family, but every Easter I got a model airplane kit. Of course there were chocolate bunnies and candy eggs and the fun of dying hard-boiled real eggs, but the big surprise was to hunt around the living room to see what plane was there.

This is my tribute to that family tradition – I went to a hobby shop and searched amongst the cheaper models for a suitable Easter gift for myself. I’ve no other excuse for this other than nostalgia, as I have two other kits in stash as well as one in a club build. But I can always tell myself that I need the Fulmar to test out a new paint scheme.

It is also testing out a new maker – the box says Mister Craft and it appears to come from Poland. There are further notices that it is ” Made in European Comunity ” with the misspelling, and that it is made for Olymp Aircraft in Wroclaw. Research shows it to be likely derived from a Smer kit as a rebox and redecal job. At least it is said to be better than an old Frog mould, but I’d be willing to bet there is an amphibian somewhere in the ancestry…

Be that as it may, the product looks good – just the sort of thing i would have loved as a kid and am prepared to love right now. Full injection moulding and good decals.

I am impressed by the packaging – in several ways. The box art is, well…, ugly. It’s a Fulmar, all right, but done with a light sketchy palette that makes it look like the box has been sitting in the sun in a shop window far too long, The side profile, however, is lovely and is enough to act as an antidote to the main panel.

The box is superb – a double wall to stiffen the thing up and perfect protection for the plastic bag inside. No crushed Fulmar.

The sprues are good, with minimal flash. The engraved panel lines are even, if a little deep – but this is good if I use a heavy hand with the paint. I can see no sink marks, and the ejector pin positions are no worse than the average kit. All things that can be coped with.

The decal sheet looks fine, flat and thin, but I note that the instructions promise decals for a plane that was captured by the Vichy French in 1942. These are just not there. I don’t feel dudded, as I will be building the FAA version anyway. Perhaps they were meant to be on a separate sheet for sales in France.

The instructions are superb – really a good set of diagrams – and with a useful colour call-out as well. However, the real rewards are in the careful reading of the aircraft history…thus, and I quote:

Fleet Air Army

Fiurricane

belonGed

applianNces

reconnaissanNce

I freely admit that I should be at a loss to write in the Polish language so perhaps this is poking fun unfairly.

Or is that un-Fairey…?