The Little World

I must admit that I am torn many ways in writing about the Consolidated Liberator kit from Airfix that I am currently engaged upon:

a. It is an old kit. When this was first released I was in the 10th grade. I am older than that now…71 to be exact…and I suspect I have aged better than the kit. At least I have gotten rid of my pimples – and this kit is still covered in rivets.

Age is not a barrier to enjoyment, however, as I found out when shooting old muzzle-loading rifles. One just makes allowances. I shall be very proud of the B-24 when it is done and display it in my AIR WORLD museum. But I will not be spotlighting it.

b. Age may not wither old soldiers, but it takes a toll of old kits. They can rebox them, issue new decals, and re-write the instruction sheet, but the steel mould that churns ’em out just gets worse year by year, decade by decade. Pits, ejector marks, bad fitting joints, poor design decisions…Thank goodness we have new putty and new cements to make up for some of this.

c. Well, it whets the appetite. In my case I now quite like the Consolidated design, albeit as presented by Airfix, and will seek out more of the bombers to build from other makers. I want to build a Ploesti plane, and it looks as though there is also another kit that will provide the basic parts for a Canadian Transport Command version as well. Goodoh.

I’ll pass through basic training with the Airfix kit – which in reality has cost me nothing at all save the paint and time – and go on to fancier things.

d. It is far and away a better thing for me to do than the kit I traded away for it.

Now, those who have read my column before, or who wish to go back and gorge themselves on it for the next week, will read that I am not bothered by some of he things that occur with old Airfix moulds. That is perfectly true – I don’t grieve over rivets and I take a pride in being able to un-warp old fuselages or wings.

But I do realise that the older clear plastic parts can be pretty sad. They are one of the few places I would be prepared to go out and spend money on aftermarket parts. – even the dreaded vacform canopies and turrets. Clear vacform holds no terrors for me since I built a Special Hobby Vultee with one – I loved it.

I would have been terribly sad at vintage decals, but not discouraged. A roundel is a roundel and I can make them and fin flashes easily. I hope to invest in sets of British and American serial numbers and registration numbers and after that I need not worry if the decals are old enough to collect a pension.

e. Am I in danger of becoming a Monty Python – or an Avram Kishon – fogey here…but in reverse? Am I remembering the present and excoriating the past? Do I think that this mould was good then and is bad now; when in fact it might have been bad then and we were just not such fussy little creatures as we are now. Have I become a delicate flower, Miz Scarlett?

f. The future? Well, I do read Scalemates on the internet for factual information on the kits I see – at least for the dating on them and the timelines of release and re-boxing. Sometimes it is a mistake as it discourages me from certain products. And I have been fooled in the past about what I am buying – expensive packets of poor parts from some makers – cheap boxes full of brilliant models from others. I’m philosophical about it all.

And anything that is free is going to be brilliant, no matter what.

The foamcoare is to protect the machine guns while building. I promise to take them off before display.