The Little World

And I did. I did look carefully. And I’m glad I did.

The external fuel tanks of the PM Models Hawker Sea Fury fit together very well. A lick of MEK, a clamp, and they were ready for sanding. And not a lot of that needed – the seams fit very well. As I had a charge of silver paint in the airbrush, I gave them a blast and thought the whole business done.

Then I looked more carefully – the seams were fine and the shape was as fuel tanky as you might wish. But the surface reflectance off the surface was dull. Close up, the reason was evident; the plastic surface was rough. I had not roughened it, nor smoothed it – it was as it left the mould.

A further close inspection of the fuselage and wings showed this to be the general condition of the plane. Micro-roughness, if you will, but rather like seeing matte surface paint without the paint. It might have been the mould or it might have been the styrene and the pressure with which it was forced into the cavities. In any case, it meant that the achievement of a polished plastic surface would require a lot of physical sanding. If I wanted a gloss finish in the end I was going to have to start early.

Fortunately, with this model in Pakistani markings, gloss finish would be wrong. I could look forward to semi-matte or matte. So shall it be, and with soft edge camo if I can do it. It is no good polishing a turd, but I think that turds can nevertheless look quite attractive.

And that is why I rarely get invited to dinner as second time these days…