The Little World

I have written before about Eastern European short-run kits and their peculiarities. The first experience was bad, then good, then bad, then gradually better and better. It is very much a mixed bag of sweet and sours when you build Czech, Pole, or Ukrainian.

The Vought Vindicator is actually quite on the sweet side. To start with, while the interior is detailed in the style of the Anson I first built, the use of injection moulded styrene instead of resin has made the construction of the internal cagework ever so much more successful.

It fit within the fuselage halves with only minor trimming under the floor. But the cockpit area has some major pin-ejector remnants that have had to be dealt with. This view is halfway through the job.

The wing has a few, but they are so hidden as to cause no problems. The wing itself is quite accurate and sets its own dihedral very well. There was a little fettling needed when the fuselage joined it, but no seams to speak of.

The bombs are fine. They needed more assembly work that I thought was strictly necessary, and the sway brace and drop-yoke are going to be a nervous task, but overall they should be a credit to the ordnance fitters.

The one fly in the ointment was the moulding of the engine. The cylinders of the front and back crankcases are interleaved on the real thing but not if you follow the moulded guides in the 1:72 engine. It placed them in line and only knowedge of he real thing would prevent the novice builder from making the mistake.

However, the assembly is proceeding apace and you’ll see some paint and progress tomorrow.