The Little World

The Fairey Barracuda that I built bears a nose name of ” Hell’s Bells “. Even the FAA has a sense of humour, as well as a considerable mess bill. I call it The Whistler – because of the number of aerials, masts, racks, and protrusions that dot the fuselage and wing. I’m sure they all have a good purpose, but I’ll bet that sucker sounded like a steam calliope when it throttled back and glided.

Did it ever glide? The size of the wing would give you some hope and those massive flaps/dive brakes should have kept it up a lot longer than you’d think. Still, there is a little of the brick about it so I’ll bet they were all glad when the windmill thing at the front was turning.

This may, BTW, be the last time you see all the aerials and wheels on it. The whole kit is well-made but in the minds of the Czech makers that means overly complex and delicate. I was wrong about the landing gear – Special Hobby only got it right to a certain extent. The folding arms that actuate the landing gear were about 3mm too short and that necessitated some sprue scratchbuilding to extend them. Likewise the shortened oleos and wheels look very well on the sprue but turn out ot be surprisingly delicate in situ. They are a secret mass of 5-minute epoxy and PVA glue but may sag at any moment. See them now.

I am really pleased with the Dark Slate Grey as a finished colour. I think we’ve finally got a good repeatable shade.

Note that I am also really pleased with the internet coverage of the the Barracuda. I needed to see a detail of that donkey landing gear strut and a Google search turned up a photo taken aboard a British carrier. It’s of the sister aircraft to this one being bombed up with the same AP 1600 lb ordnance prior to the TIRPITZ raid. You couldn’t get much more specific for a reference.