The Little World

The first assembly day for any model can be a school in itself – the Czech and Polish kits in particular are often hard lessons. They challenge both the imagination ( Where the heck is the cockpit actually supposed to be fastened…? ) and the patience ( Is that an ejector pin or a part locater? ). The Italeri Kfir had none of this sadness – every part fitted where it was supposed to with no fights.

I have taken to following Phil Florey’s advice about careful part removal from the sprue trees and it’s paying off in clean joints and non-distorted parts. There will still be a little opportunity for some Mr Dissolved Putty in the wing joints but these are even and clean. Everything had yielded to MEK on a brush.

The cockpit is just complex enough to be rewarding under glass – the decal dashboard makes it, really.

The tailpipe is also a blessing – the engine exhaust can be inserted after the fuselage is closed so there will be a useful place to hold the model during painting. This is no small matter and causes a lot of headaches for some of the WW2 aircraft – modern jets are far better.