The Little World

Readers of this column will remember that I built a Hobby Boss Macchi MC 200 in Italian Co-Belligerant colours a couple of years ago. A very pleasing aircraft and the blotchy camouflage came out very well.

Now I am embarked upon construction of another example of this plane – but this time a 50¢ baggie from the 1970’s made by Revell in New Zealand. It is neither better nor worse than the Hobby Boss variant – just different. To celebrate those differences I have decided to sell it to the Royal Ruritanian Army Air Force. It can be no worse than the Renault Caudron they already possess.

The baggie survived the intervening years in my friend Paul’s loft with no harm. The plastic is somewhat brittle, but no more so than the material I remember from Revell kits of the 1950’s. They definitely used less plasticisers than Airfix then or Hobby Boss now. If I were given to chose I would say I like the kits from Italeri for the consistency of the styrene.

But this an ambitious little baggie. The design allows the engine cowling and propeller to be taken off to display the open engine, and it is nearly detailed enough to so do. I won’t as I know anything left unsecured is just poised to be lost.

The decals are not dead yet, either, though all I’ll use are the numbers.

And I do appreciate kits like this that have the basic geometry right – the ones that see the wings meeting the fuselage squarely and the tailplanes with no gaps. The end result always shows their care.