The Little World

I mentioned in the history of the Royal Ruritanian Army Air Force that a number of the planes acquired for the service – and for later use in the Royal Ruritanian Airline – were of German origin. Of course this is simple to explain – Germany is next door to Ruritania and they share a common language. This made it an easy task for the salesmen  – the verkäufer – to entertain the purchasing commission members and secure orders.

They were delighted to do so, as the planes that they sold to the Kingdom were generally going stale on the shelf. Bomber and fighter development in the late 30’s was a rapid thing and new models were a deadly threat to the older aircraft. Better to sell the old ones to Ruritania than to try to make them serve the Reich.

This the Heinkel He 70 F-2 was pressed on the commissioners with great fervour. It was said to be ideal for transport, bombing, reconnaissance, and aerial turnip seeding. This last was the clincher for the Kingdom’s farmers. Turnips are taken very seriously indeed in Ruritania and anything that makes them grow fast, better, or easier is of interest.

So the Heinkel HE70 F-2  – known affectionately as The Little Turnip – joined the RRAAF roster. It could be seen daily during peacetime banking an swooping over the turnip fields as the seed rained down. They tried planting whole turnips this way but a wayward stick of vegetable bombs took out a Sunday school class at Zöschau.

The kit of this famous plane is going to be a new experience for me – I have not built a German Revell kit before. The box is end-opening, which is a bit of a pain, but there are plenty of spare boxes in the Little Workshop.

The level of detail for such a small model seems promising, and Im delighted to see that the design has included some wing spars to keep the thing square-headed. ( ! )

The instruction sheet seems comprehensive, but I am going to study the undercarriage section carefully – the diagrams are not all that clear about what they expect one to do.

One good thing is the colour call-out – it has certainly given me food for thought about the colour scheme for service aircraft in the RRAAF.

Of course the decal sheet is superfluous.