The Little World

” Sir? ”

” Yes, Sub-Lt.? ”

” Sir, why to the Yanks call us chinless wonders? ”

” Jealousy, Chondomley-Smythe…pure jealousy. They look upon our Fairey Fulmars with a horrible envy while they are forced to fly their F6F Hellcats and F4U Corsairs. Now glue your oxygen mask on with this surgical plaster and report to your aircraft. And don’t break your landing gear this time, there’s a good fellow… ”

I must record my entire satisfaction with the Mister Craft kit that has just been completed. I’ll cheerfully admit that selecting it from the hobby shop shelf was an act of faith or curiosity, but I shall definitely look for more products from this company. It has entirely restored my faith in Polish products.

My faith in the Mr Color paints was also well-placed – the entire scheme was done with solvent lacquers and there wasn’t a problem at any time – apart from the slightly wide margins of the upper camouflage pattern – and that’s down to me deciding to try it freehand. Back to the Blutac snakes and paper masks next time. The underside masking went particularly well and there was no overspray or marking of the lacquer surface.

The experiment of laying decals upon a direct paint surface – in this case both matt and semi-matt was successful, but I suspect I just squeaked it in. The carrier film for the squadron lettering is just on the edge of visibility. So it’ll be back to a gloss coat after the basic paints in the future. As it was, the Mister Craft decals laid down well and are on very narrow margins but are as thick as leather and did not drop into panel lines at all. I’m not bothered.

The canopy was masked with classic Ustar tape and some Mr. Mask Neo. I am delighted with the lines…perhaps I should train myself to mask more rather than paint freehand. Of course these perspex panels were mostly straight and flat.

The final coat was the last of a bottle of Tamiya matt varnish applied carefully without flooding any surface. And I treated myself to a bit of time with a Fineliner pen to pick out control surfaces. Not at the oil wash stage yet.

” Sir? ”

” Yes, Sub-Lt.?”

” Sir, why do I have a yellow tail on my aircraft? ”

” So that the flight deck crew can see you coming and have a sporting chance… ”

Note: The landing gear on the model is fine. Google up images of the real things landing on British aircraft carriers, however, and be prepared to wince. I always thought the Royal Navy had armoured decks on their carriers to resist enemy bombs, but I’m beginning to think they actually had Chondomley-Smythe in mind…