The Little World

Or perhaps that should be human dimensions. The small size of people reflected in the small size of aircraft.

You wouldn’t think that with a lot of kits – the fighters, bombers, and transports of WW2 are a level bigger than their counterparts in the interwar period – and these again bigger than the WW1 sort. Modern jets are further along the enormous scale – I’ve ridden in a Boeing 747 and saw one of the Antonov cargo monsters land at Perth airport. Every time I see one I shrink further…

But the Hillson Praga Air baby is human size – just one up from a glider and that isn’t a big step, considering the size of the engine. I’ve seen bigger things mowing grass.

The unique entry into the cockpit is one of the charms about this plane – I shall do a rare thing and leave it open to see inside. The KP people have moulded it well in there and you can really imagine yourself climbing over the side windows and settling into the tiny ( and probably very uncomfortable ) seats.

Keeping this nice little cockpit free of primer and colour coat is a problem, but the combination of foam sponge and artist’s gum rubber should do it. I value planes that have small cockpits buried deep in fuselages for just this reason – the masking is so much easier. I look forward to building a Bell X-1!