The Little World

The agonising decision of which version of the ’29 to build, I started to gather decals and to paint parts on the sprue trees.

Of course I didn’t take the easy option. I mean, this is me, after all. The idiot without a village. I chose to do the KB-29A version with the extra parts that Academy included in the kit. I think I build plastic airplanes like spies create codes – jog one decal sheet over and introduce the mystery insignia…

Fortunately the Academy colour call out is pretty good, giving a large number of alternatives for different paint makers. There are always new paint makers to add to this, but I’m covered for all the basic hues and quite a few of the shades.

The actual process of doing pre-painting was child’s play with an airbrush, even in an oven of a workshop. Australian autumn was fierce. At least we did not have to wait long for solvent-based paint to dry.

One thing made me curious – I found no mention of a nose weight for the aircraft model. I had no illusions about the ability of the thing to sit on the nose wheel unweighted, so was going to have to search the literature for advice. How much and where?