The Little World

This is the most critical time for a modeller. The point where they display either admirable character and sensible judgement…or a complete lack of either quality. I do not invite judgement but I have bought my bus ticket out of town just in case.

1. The coat of paint is touch-dry. Yet I know it is secretly super-liquid under that – waiting for me to touch it . Whereupon it will re-activate and make a fingerprint that cannot be buffed out without ruining the rest of the paint. If I leave it alone for three hours it will have no power over me.
2. The wing of a bomber has been cemented onto the fuselage and the propped in a plumb vertical position. The cement used was good old tube Humbrol – thick, stinky, and slow-drying. The reason for this choice was based upon an internet review of the same model. The reviewer commented that the plastic chosen by the  factory – MPM – was not taking well to thin liquid cements. His wings and fuselage had cracked and parted several times until he retreated to using the thick tube glue. It was a blast from the past but I could take a hint. I gave it four hours to set before I rotated the fuselage and attached the opposite wing.
3. The wings of a Canadian bush plane have been attached with epoxy glue. This is unusual – but the wings were once sawn off the fuselage and the subsequent joint would not have been a safe one if it were just a butt cement thing. I put tube spars in that hold the wing in position and 2-part Araldite to secure it. All I had in the Little Workshop was 24-hour Araldite, but the whole assembly was on a jig and as it was not shifted for a day it proved to be hella strong. I had to make a cover for the join to improve the looks.

But there we were – all my projects well done but nothing more to do except wait…and that was a dangerous time. It led to going out and spending money and sitting home and making trouble.