The Little World

That’s creak as in a small sound – not creek as in a small brook, or Creek as in a large Native American tribesman. The small sound started occurring when I dry-fitted the fuselage halves.

This is one of the least favourite parts of a kit – at least when the kit comes from middle or eastern Europe and not from Asia. The design and precision of the EU products can be problematical, at least when it comes to attaching the cockpit ot the fuselage.

Now the cockpits on some EU kits ( That’s as in EEEEE!…EEEYEUGH…! ) are fine things – they can really make detailed confections with photo etch brass and resin parts. You go blind trying to super glue the control knobs on the throttle stems. And then you are asked to sandwich it into the fuselage with nothing more than the occasional ejector pin to rest on. If you are not trying to balance it in mid-air in there you are trying to squeeze a quart cockpit tub into a pint fuselage…

This one creaked as I closed the halves. Fortunately I could peer into the observer’s section and see what was binding – I did not have to resort to engineer’s blue or some other horror. I was able to carve enough away to harmonise the fit.

Not that it was perfect – there was a warp in the fuselage aft of the observer’s position that meant I needed to close the assembly in stages – letting one section set firmly before clamping the next. But it became symmetrical in the end and all is well.