The Little World

I’m told I was scared by the De Havilland Vampire at an early age – my folks took me to the Calgary Stampede one year when I was about 3 and my dad had me perched on his shoulders when a flight of these new acquisitions to the RCAF flew low over the crowd. Apparently I went into a screaming fit. I would pay for the experience now.

The closest I am likely to get to one is either this Amodel kit or the preserved examples in the RAAF museum at Point Cook. At least I can render the little one to my satisfaction for my own 1:72 museum. All I’ll need are a few maple leaf roundels and the appropriate fuselage letters.

The Amodel kits I have encountered before have had certain short-run characteristics; slight discrepancies in some fitting surfaces and an over-reliance on flimsy parts for detail.

I am somewhat encouraged looking at the sprues to see that the gear wells are properly boxed in with some detail inside them and the gear legs look sturdy.

The clear canopies look well done, and there is little overt sprue. And the instrument panel looks as it it will paint up well with some detail visible. No pilot.

The decal sheet is also good looking but I will only use part of it – the maple leafs can come from elsewhere and some of the Canadian schemes are really very basic indeed. As long as you get a good silver finish…