The Little World

I may cluck with dismay at the inaccuracies and poor fit of some of the older Airfix offerings – the re-boxed 1960’s to 1990’s models – but I do have to complement the company for one thing; they do provide enough crew members to fly the misshapen beasts. Seams and awkward fit and soft plastic notwithstanding, there are still little aviators to fly the crates.

The provision of a flying crew – even if it is one crude pilot clutching his crotch on a simple plastic seat – is something I think all model companies should do. But very few do – preferring to give PE seatbelts and impossible details to busy up the cockpit.

I would go so far as to say that there would be a good sale for a box of nothing but pilots, observers, and gunners on board aircraft. Mould em generic, if you please, and we’ll contrive to differentiate them for our air forces with paint colours. I’d buy the product on a regular basis.

Well, Airfix did the right thing – moulding a crew of eight for the Liberator. I am not using the ball turret as it is a Burma aircraft, so I get to save the gunner for another time. But everyone else is working.

They’re not finely-moulded figures of heros. Not in 1:72 scale. They do have Mae Wests, but only courtesy of a lick of yellow paint…however they are all on oxygen and buttoned into their goggles and flying suits. The waist gunners are earnest souls with little understanding of their jobs but the nose, mid upper, and tail are ready to go with twin .50’s. At least I hope they are .50’s…this is an American aircraft supplied to the RAF and they may have elected to save money by fitting old .303 Vickers. Tsssk.

The interior is a melange of colour – US cockpit green for the skipper, copilot, and three main gunners. Chromate yellow for everyone else and they can put up with it. And olive drab on the outside. I cannot say whether Lend Lease aircraft supplied were ever painted to British standard by the Burbank factories – I’ll leave that debate the the endless arguers of Britmodeller – so I just sprayed my version of US specifications. If the RAF is getting four-engined gift horses they can refrain from doing dental inspections.

The outside will be OD on top and neutral gray on the bottom, with a fairly hard demarcation line. Mind you, if someone is going to open the rolladoors on the bottom and drop 500lb bombs, can the paint colour be considered to all that neutral? A 500 lb bomb is a pretty decided opinion from any height. Draws your attention.