The Little World

As far as the approach to this vintage Airfix De Havilland Heron kit goes, I am – as Kinky Friedman would have put it – out past where the buses run. I am in new mental territory.

It started when I did the part count and some dry fitting – I noted the provision of three crew and four passengers, but was saddened to see that there was no interior provided – the paying customers would have to crouch on the cabin floor. And I live in a part of the world* where there are no racks of aftermarket accessories like airliner seats – if I wanted seats I’d have to make them myself.

The project was not as hard as you might think, given the fact that they will only be dimly seen – I could saw up some lengths of Evergreen rectangular plastic tubing and cut seats out of it. Some plastic armrests and a coat of paint and there we were. I went so far as to clad the inside of the cabin walls with fluted lining and used a conveniently thick piece of PVC to form a cabin floor. It is all going to be most believable.

The dun colour of the interior is coordinated with what will be the outer colour scheme – the navy blue seats are that shade so that they will be hard-wearing.

The most amazing discovery was the fit of the wings to the wing roots. I used medium-viscosity cement and left them overnight to cure and the resultant seam is so good I am not going to fill it. A slight smoothing and we’re good to go. Shows that Airfix could get their engineering right even in the 1950’s. The fact that the wings went on so well encouraged me to think of attaching them while the fuselage halves were apart…the “Split Heron ” in the title.

Will it all come together? have my calculations led me down a false trail? Read tomorrow for the next gripping episode.

*   Cheap Ass Acres Housing Estate