The Little World

Looking at parts on a sprue is a two-edged thing…part of you applauds the precision of the moulding and part of you groans at the decision to break a structure into component parts when sometimes it is not necessary.

The three engines seen in last post are positive things – they have enough detail that can be glimpsed from the front in this scale to provide a convincing representation.

One need not be a master artist paint them. In fact a wash of grunge is really all an engine ever is…look under your car bonnet and see if you don’t agree…

The cockpit components need not include pushrods and linkages to indicate where the operators might get busy. Certainly we do not need photo-etched brass throttle levers and the resin chocolate bar wrappers and old newspapers that form the floor of most cockpits are better imagined than modelled.

I do think the little recesses in the forward bulkhead where the icons and the packages of pasta go are well done…

I was also delighted with the armament. Too often the machine guns that defend a scale model are just plastic rods  poking out of a turret. Airfix has done this for years with two barrels attached to a plastic doughnut held by the crew member lump. No wonder there is an aftermarket in turned brass barrels. Well none needed with Italeri – those M/G are pretty convincing. But consider – there are three separate types represented…a nightmare for the ordnance fitters and the stores.

Three cheers, however for the fabric tail surfaces. They look like fabric under stress with no further hacking-about needed.

Final piece. The top gunner’s position exposes some portion of the airframe above the cabin. This false floor is the representation of this. I shall paint it up and glue it in but I imagine the actual position was a combination of drafty, noisy, and ineffective.