The Little World

The start of this build was unpromising. The cardboard box from Tasman Models had all the appeal of a damp surgical appliance and the instruction sheets looked like a practical joke. A Kiwi practical joke at that. It was the sort of kit that you sold on eBay if you were lucky, or bought on eBay if you were not…

Three or four days into the build and I am changing my mind about it. OK, it’s still horrid in technical terms, but actually a lot of fun. And there is a nugget of success there if you’re prepared to dig for it.

So far I have cut the kit free of the sprue trees with the same care that they used in raising Abu Simel…but with more effort. I’ve carved out the interior of the fuselage with a Dremel. I’ve photo copied, sized, and printed put plans for the cockpit tube structure. I’ve scratch-built the cockpit from Evergreen rod, And assembled the entire flying structure. There are pinned tailplanes.

None of this work would have been required for a Tamiya kit. Only half of the scratch-building would have been needed for a Czech kit. Yet none of this has been really hard to do once I decided that it actually could be done.. It was just a matter of screwing courage to the sticking point and starting.

I’m also tremendously encouraged to remember that I’ve got a specialist sheet of decals for Australian fighters of WW2 that has hardly been used. I’m spoiled for choice.

This is a wonderful gift.