The Little World

I’ll bet you are the same as I – as you open any new kit box you approach the little sprue of clear plastic bits with fear and trembling. Trepidation. Horror and anxiety. It is the equivalent of meeting the computer date for the first time. You never know what you are going to get…

In the case of the Italeri Sparviero I can say that they have sent me a good looking date. There are several flat panes, one cockpit canopy, and a ventral gunners housing. All seem moulded well, and a preliminary cut with the nippers suggests that the styrene mix for these plastic parts is softer and more resilient than normal.

This is good news. A number of clear parts moulded on other kits have been brittle and unforgiving – they were awkward to separate from the sprue and in some cases cracked upon handling. This is a disaster only if you let it be – the fixes range from a quick dab of glycerine to fill in the crack to a careful simulation of a bullet hole and crazing. Only applicable to military aircraft and airlines flying out of Chicago.

The other lottery you participate in each time you open a box is the moulding of the frames that hold the clear parts on a real canopy. The very best I’ve seen was on a Dragon model. The very worst on a Mach 2. As it happens I have come to prefer either a very detailed clear-cut structure that can be painted with a bow pen or no framing whatsoever. In this latter case I can frame myself with Tamiya masking tape and it is just as effective. It’s the half-way jobs; some indication of the frame lines that peters out midway over the moulding – they are the worst. You never have a clean line to paint to.

I have come to disregard small round fuselage or wing lights as these are so easily reproduced with Micro Kristal Klear white glue.

The flat panes are also a problem when you consider that they need to be firmly fastened but effectively masked wherever they are. I now glue them initially with regular medium styrene liquid cement and then re-enforce them with the Micro Kristal Klear glue on the inside. It is a belt and braces philosophy but if I am later masking them and pushing or tugging anything I need not worry about anything dislodging.

All in all, I am happy with Italeri. Mach 2 was so bad that I oped for painting the supposed clear canopy a light blue. Some old Airfix is dreadfully distorted, but their new production is perfect.

You pays your money and you spins the wheel…