The Little World

It is unfashionable in the British Commonwealth to speak well of the French.

The old prejudices born of war and ambition stretch back as far as William the Conqueror and have been topped up and re-aligned every century since then. It goes the other way, of course – the French despise the English nearly as much as they hate themselves. One might be brought to the conclusion that nothing good ever comes out of either country.

Yet, we have Airfix and Heller. And in some unfathomable way we had them together in one company for a while. I once was leery of Heller kits but now regard them as a valuable find wherever they appear. This Curtiss SBC-4 is a prime example of why.

It has easy-assemble parts…without making a LEGO of them. The parts are simplified, with external panel lines and few alignment pins. But they slot together perfectly. The finished surfaces are where the prototype had them and so far there is little need to search for the filler trowel.

A contest modeller would cavil at the simplicity of the cockpit, but there is nothing to stop them from detailing it to within an inch of bankruptcy with after-market accessories. A super-rigger would want to wire things up with spider webs. Good for them – but don’t ask me to touch it afterwards. I am just satisfied with what Heller decided was a reasonable level of complexity.