Another Sword model in the post – this one was a certain purchase as soon as I saw it had Royal Canadian Navy markings. The ASW and replenishment role that the Avenger took after service in the US Navy and Royal Navy in WWII eventually brought them to the RCN. It got rid of the distinctive .50 ball turret but added numerous streamlined fairings under the wings for lights and radar installations. And a wonderful hard-edge two tone colour scheme.
The glassware was the concern with this one. Would it be good quality? There was going to be a great deal of it in evidence and it would show up the interior quite a lot. The good news is it is excellent – very clear and not a lot of disturbance around the injection gates.
The kit has the usual combination of beauty and pain – a lot of cockpit assembly that may or may not go where the makers intended. at least in this version there is no fiddly armament to deal with – the history of the type says that the depth charges were carried in the torpedo bay and this is closed. No silly little bottom gun, either – they just put a pane of perspex there to look out backwards in case they hit anything.
The landing gear looks good – this Grumman had a pair of long but sturdy legs and the sockets in the wing look like square recesses rather than just depressions. I am hoping for a decent stance to it all.
The instructions are good Czech rather than bad – the drawings look to be definitive enough to get through the smaller part mounting.
The decals are superb – at least on paper. My last Sword kit had Techmod decals as well and they released well and settled early. You need to be careful with the clear backed ones as they have a tendency to fold an edge and you can never recover it.
I am looking forward to this one.
The Little World 
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