The Little World

Generalissimo Stein Kai Shek is very pleased with the new Curtiss fighter plane for the Swuping Air Army. The underlings may breath easier.

The Generalissimo is relieved as well. The sight of the sprue trees with multiple struts is always a daunting prospect. These went together with absolutely no problems. Even the dreaded photo-etch brass was relatively easy to attach.

One finger did get superglued to the engine cowling but for only a short period of time, and the subsequent blemish could be sanded, polished, and re-coated. The desire for a light-cured cyanoacrylate arises daily, and some research may be needed.

The decal set for this fighter is home-made, but this time some science was used. The future kits for the SAA are in the stash and will all need wing and fuselage roundels at some stage – but they are going to need different sizes. I took a pair of dividers to the commercial Chinese Nationalist markings I have and then scaled up and down for the widths of the wings. 8mm, 11mm, 15mm and 20mm roundels were prepared as well as the tail stripes. These, of course, will also vary for bombers or transport aircraft, but I just made fighter sizes today.

Normally I quail a bit at covering a tailplane with a decal – it all seems compound curves and rivet bumps – but the current batch of A4 decal paper from the eastern states seems quite tough and flexible. I overcoat it with Mr. Color N0. 46 clear varnish to seal the ink in and there is no smudging whatsoever.

The satin sealer is Microscale Satin cut with water and meths. It dries in a minute and never fails.