The Little World

The canopy of the Fairey Barracuda sits over the top of the three crew members as a sort of an afterthought. The design places the two riders so deeply within the fuselage that their chief view of the world is through picture windows set in the side. The vast wing above them shelters the from sunlight when the plane banks, and they probably never looked up anyway. Only the pilot really had an upper-deck view.

It would have been a magnificent aircraft for the observers, though.

The masking of the fuselage would have been a nightmare had I not adopted the new practice of temporarily sticking the clear canopy over the complex edge of the cockpit and using it as a stopper for the interior. The heavy coating of Mr. Mask means that under the paint and such there is a pristine canopy waiting for me to hand paint.

The underside is a mis-mosh of foam, artist’s putty eraser, and a couple of matchsticks for the pilot’s windows. All the weapons rails are going to be drilled and cemented later but there is a set of mounting holes for the flaps that have already been assembled. They are massive, and I cannot but think that they were intended to serve as dive brakes as well.

The port-wing landing light has a story to tell as well. I forgot to put in it as the wing was being closed up and was loathe to prise things apart again the next day. So I had to devise way of getting the thing into the opening and turned round toward the front. Fortunately it has three holes in the plate – probably representing three lights. A cocktail stick in one with a bit of Blutak on it plus a lot of reverse shuffling and I got it in position long enough to reach for the MEK brush. I shall be more observant of the instructions next time.