The Little World

Why indeed, if I don’t intend to build the famous version? Because the famous versions are what sell to other people and that’s what the kit makers manufacture. The best I can do is look at the basic structure of the thing and see if it conforms to my plans …or can be modified enough.

That’s the story of this purchase at the Victorian Scale Model Expo last year. I went to the fair and the Melbourne hobby shops with an electronic shopping list – the plans for my Air Museum and air force base into the future. I decided to be focused in my purchases…and I’m happy to be able to say that my character was good enough to let me do it…mostly.

The plan for a B-17 was to be a Canadian mail plane of the second world war – a plane stripped of armament and modified to fly the Canadian forces mail to the UK and Italy across the Atlantic. They had a fleet of them and they did a sterling job. I determined that I needed an earlier model than the commonly-found G-model planes that you see. Essentially no chin turret – I could make the other changes as needed.

Lo, and behold. A cheap ( $ 39 ) Academy ” Memphis Belle ” was sitting on the secondhand table. It was an F model so no chin…and the price was right. The box was undamaged and the contents still bagged. No hesitation on my part – money out and kit in my suitcase.

Bringing plastic kits back in your luggage is a fraught venture – you always expect that your case will be loaded on the bottom of the stack with the anvils and railway iron on top. But so far everything has survived. I do prefer, however, the packing methods of the shops – they use a sturdy cardboard case and bubble wrap inside. Nothing gets bent out of shape. Best of all is when you can buy something locally and bring it home carefully in the boot of the car.