The Little World

Ah, that lovely plateau in the model kit build – when the wings and tail are on and magically you do not have a plastic kit in a box – you have an aircraft.

The short run Czech nature of the mouldings having been adjusted with knife, chisel*, and sandpaper and a good set of mating surfaces finally achieved, it was time to block up the fuselage and set about the wings. They have a noticeable dihedral  but port and starboard did not match up very well. You cannot juggle two sides at once with these crude kits – you have to do one and then two hours later fettle the other one into a similar position. It makes for a day of cement setting, but if you re-enforce solvent cement with gap-filling cyanoacrylate glue the sides are immensely strong.

The same applies to the tail – and in this case to the vertical stabilisers at the ends of the horizontal tail. I made use of some cast-off plastic protectors that came on picture frames as impromptu squares that could be taped to the building reference plane and I’m happy to say that they have set at 90º to the tail.

The gap filling is not extensive, though there are sink marks in many sections.

And before I eventually close the nose, here’s the office. I wish I had some civilian pilots for it.

*   Yes, a tiny one, and extremely sharp.