The Little World

Well, the Dountless is done. And a nicer kit I could not have asked for. As the firm that kitted it also makes an Avenger and several other planes, I shall return to the shop where I bought it, chloroform the lone staff member, and run away with them. It’s handy having a source of anaesthetics.

The kit built exactly as it was supposed to with a perfect fit on the undercart and gear doors – a rarity in short-run models. The canopy was a delight, though I did not take the kit option of ready-cut masks. I still want to develop my bow pen skills for future modelling. As usual, I wish there had been crew members.

The option of a open pilot’s compartment was taken. The seat belts fought back all the way and may yet need to be pegged down, but the rest of the thing went together well. I tucked the guns into the fuselage housing but if I build this again I’ll saw open the gunner’s canopy and set them out to fire.

I am gradually experimenting with delineating the various panels by running a thin wash into them from a nib pen. You just load the pen with some Mr Hobby ready-made weathering and touch it to one end of a sunken panel line – it runs a surprisingly long way along the seam. Let it dry and it gives a very faint demarkation for the ailerons, rudder, and elevators. In this case I also used it to dot in the the detail of the Dauntless’s perforated dive brakes. It’s actually quite subtle with this medium shade of paint. I intend to try a darker brown shade with the next model.

Note that the medium grey wash is more than enough on the white underside of this scheme.