The Little World

The Percival Provost is done – and inside of a week. I am not surprised, as it is a rather simple kit on a mechanical basis. That is as a trainer should be – after all, the student pilot needs all the help he can get and the flying school doesn’t want to do more repairs than absolutely necessary.

The job became easier as the first coat of grey primer went on and the orange disappeared from view. Then the business of the base coat – super silver – was easily done and after that it was mostly all over bar the decals. I googled all the variants of the plane but in the end the RAF flying school decals were as good a choice as any. Straight-out-of-the-box is a valid genre in the judging for model shows and for my Air World museum it is even more so – the prototype for this model was carefully vetted by Matchbox and if they were happy with it that’s good enough for me.

Having finally come to the realisation that complex systems of glossing and overcoating are far too complex as seen on YouTube, I have settled on Mr. Color No.46 Gloss Clear for the paint seal and either this or a semi-matt varnish for the decal seal. I have been using the trigger gun for it, but frankly that may be too much complexity in itself and I might find myself using the Mr Hobby Procom WA290  for every blessed thing I spray.

The decals are as old as the kit and I suspected them from the start – so a quick spray of gloss acrylic to re-enforce them and they floated off wonderfully. I thought there was going to be silvering under the wings but all is well. The orange is back, but in a manageable form.

A snack, but delicious withal.