The Little World

Every good bomber needs a tail gunner – the chap who sits at the back and is the first one to get killed. And every model airplane build needs a tail gunner as well – but for a better reason. Unfortunately the model of the B-25 I am making is one with no rear gun…

I cemented the wings on the B -25, and then the tailplane and vertical stabiliser. All clean and square and wonderful. The nacelles went on next, and were just as good. Then came dinner time and a break from the workbench.

After dinner I checked that everything was still square …and then glanced idly at the Airfix instruction sheet. To my horror, I discovered that the nacelles were meant to go on after the main landing gear struts – and if they went on before, the struts would not fit inside them…

Fortunately it was cold weather here and the setting of the cement was somewhat slower. I was able to prise the nacelles off intact and clean up the fitting surfaces. The landing gear struts went on and the nacelles were placed over them dry to make sure the struts set in the correct position. Then the nacelles were re-glued.

This is not the first time I had made a blunder, nor will it be the last. I can see that every definitive step taken will have to be checked an hour later – by the tail gunner – to make sure that I have not made some fatal error.