The Little World

Notify the Department Of Occupational Health And Safety, Yoshi. I think we have a situation.

If we are to be the crew of the Mitsubishi ” Hiryu ” bomber we certainly do. See the three big green objects on the flight deck just behind the navigator and radio operator’s station? These are petrol tanks. Un-armoured and full of high-test aviation petrol. Two suggestions, Yoshi:

a. Let us stay away from American fighter planes armed with many .50 machine guns and incendiary bullets.

b. Let us avoid smoking for the time being.

The interior of the Peggy is a real reward after some Czech experiences. It all fits and the fuselage closes perfectly. There are a few odd points – the side gun blisters are wonderful but their machine-gun supports are far too fragile to attach while the fuselage is open. They will have to be manoeuvred into place at the end of the build. And the guns that sit on these blisters are stored above the aperture during normal flight.

The green is supposedly a Mitsubishi interior colour but I can only take it on the word of the paint company. I think in future I’ll will standardise on very few interior colours:

a. A GSI Creos dark grey for jets and German WW2.

b. Tamiya acrylic cockpit green for British types.

c. A GSI Creos zinc chromate for USAAF planes.

d. A GSI Creos  Israeli green for USN planes. It really does look like Apple Green.

e. A GSI Creos dark green – whatever is going – for Japanese planes.

I appreciate the fact that the Japanese paint makers want to cater for the extremely fussy home market with their interior colours, but I just can’t make out any significant differences.

If I ever build modern Soviet or Russian types I’ll get the Creos GSI peacock blue for them.