The Little World

Students of military aviation are very quickly attuned to the finer points of insignia, markings, and unit numbers. You have only to go to some of the more intense internet modelling forums to read people engaging in passive/aggressive arguments about the exact position of the ” No Step ” stencils on the Hurricane Mk XXXIV Serial number 399405 on July 21st , 1944 at 2:36 in the afternoon on the tarmac at RAF Colde Wellcome.  They care a great deal, which is a good thing – it relieves the rest of us of the task.

Thus, if I exposed the Birdcage Corsair to their scrutiny…hoping for a pat on the back…I would probably be disappointed. The pat would be lower down and administered with a boot. For there are no unit markings for this Corsair – just a Navy stencil on the vertical tail plane and some generic ’42 stars. Bad show, eh?

No, good show, actually. Because I found an internet image of a Birdcage in Stratford Connecticut in January, 1942 that looks exactly like this one. The image has a Navy pilot shaking the spiders out of his parachute pack while a white-overalled techie dings away under the tail. It is in clean pre-delivery camouflage of the period and as yet has had no dents from the wings of other navy planes or doors of SUV’s in car parks.

I am pleased with the Tamiya model – so much so that I’ll search out others to build. Unfortunately, Tamiya concentrates on big-sellers so I may be strapped for the subjects I really want. However, the build quality is so good that it will probably cause me to buy things I’d otherwise pass up.

Of course, I now have yet more rockets in the spares box. Any more in there and I’ll have to build a bunker for them…