The Little World

What do you want from a model kit? A unique subject that was only ever built once, by one maker, for one flyer? A model that can never be made in an alternative form? Buy yourself a ” Spirit of St. Louis ” and a pot of silver paint, Charlie, and away you go. After you’ve finished that there are Bell X 1 models and a few European specials. And then you can stop modelling and go out and grow tomatoes.

Or do you want something that can be made in any of a dozen different schemes for as many operators? Well, there are Mustang kits and DC3 kits on the shelf that can provide that dozen and possibly dozens more, if you’ve the time to research them. The aftermarket decal makers will have you on speed-dial. Of course you may not want to have the world’s largest collection of P-51’s and the people around you definitely don’t want to hear about it all day. But there is probably a middle ground that can be trod by anyone.

My new North American AT6 probably comes into that category. I am making an Israeli version – I have made a Canadian version. If I wanted to, I could crank out a South Korean or Chinese plane with the resources to hand. Extradecals would give me a good start on that dozen more we mentioned. And very few of them would have to be a resort to the gaudy versions that air forces crank out to commemorate things ( Mostly they commemorate the paint shop…).

The plane was the stuff of legend, if you count the training crashes of the WW 2 period. It spawned copies, and adaptations that used portions of its design to end up as actual gun-toting and bomb dropping warplanes. It has also been repainted and reworked for Hollywood whenever they wanted to depict something that wasn’t a P-51 or a DC-3. It would probably sell well if North American were to re-open the assembly lines.

I am in favour of it as it is a sturdier and easier build than the other trainers – the Stearman or Tiger Moth biplanes or the Cornell trainer. And even if you elect to use the Academy model over the Hobby Boss, you are not going to spend a great deal of money.