The Little World

Well, you gotta admit the heading image looks a bit like that. I decided to show the office before I closed it up as the thing took the best part of two days to do. The club session was spent assembling big structures like wings and tailplanes but the rest of that day and all next went into the interior, photo etch, and resin. I am hoping there will be enough exposure of it to justify the effort.

The first thing you have to recognise is that nothing is plumb or square. I did not expect it to be, as this is a Czech short-run kit. Still, I can report that there was only the very smallest amount of fettling on one frame when it came time to close up. The very-slightly-out-of-kilter extends to the dihedral but this has been corrected somewhat with a plastic shim. I do not cavil – these things are what they are and the kit can be built to it’s capacity anyway.

The seats are unnecessarily complex, the central console more so, and the rudder pedals a nightmare…but once secured with superglue and PVA they are cockpit-like enough to pass muster. I have decided not to cover the map table with charts or old copies of the TORONTO STAR as they will not be seen deep inside. Neither will anything in the rear compartment – and there is no information available about what was in there anyway.

But I am pleased with the windows. I now trim the individual panes of plastic to each aperture, test them carefully, then seal with a swipe of Mr. Cement Deluxe. Then I run a bead of PVA round them inside to prevent pop outs and leave it overnight to harden. I was almost going to give up on the Micro Krystal Kleer as an unnecessary expense but in some cases it can thicken to a really useful tacking glue – this is one of those instances.

The interior green is Mr Color No. 29, I shall use up all the other paints of a similar colour – I’ve got some SMS and some Tamiya that are close – and then standardise on this. Together with the Mr. Color 303 or 304 it should do most US interiors. I am still using Tamiya XF 71 for British cockpits but I think I shall stop agonising over authentic shades.

Note – as much as I snort at photo-etch brass, the seatbelts do look nice. I am not sure if they look nicer than Tamiya thin tape, however.