The Little World

Or, in the case of the PV-2…the sub-hunter assemblies. Because remember that this patrol bomber in the hands of the US Navy and the Brazilian Air Force did sink U-boats. And anything else in the small ship line that it encountered. For an airliner it made a pretty mean warplane.

The interior is SMS lacquer – I am determined to use up the expensive bottle of it eventually  – and to be honest, undiluted it is a pretty good spraying colour. But it will be a one-shot buy as I can do the same with Mr. Color. Give the Czechs their due – this cockpit is pretty well square and easy to fit. The mounting brackets are still rudimentary but at least I didn’t have to chainsaw this one.

The wings are a good fit between top and bottom but the front of the nacelle needed a good run of Vallejo acrylic putty.

And I took the opportunity to jig the tailplanes absolutely square on the bench overnight. No sense in being rushed.

While I was at it I took a leaf from the notebook of another modeller who had built the kit before. He decided to infill the centres of the wings to provide more gluing surface for their final fitting. I’ve a sheet of styrene plastic that has been nibbled at for scratchbuilding since 1975 and there is still a good deal of it left.

And finally, a selection of parts being readied for painting. I only paint certain things on the sprue.

All in all, it is a very pleasing kit to work on. There are Special Hobby peculiarities but they have kept themselves in check.