The Little World

I am a sucker for inter-war French fighter planes, though I should have been terrified to have had to fly and fight in one. Flying might have been easy enough, but the designs give no hint of any fighting prowess.

This one is packaged as used by the Spanish Republicans – one of my favourite penny packet air forces. They took what they could get and did what they could with it. To no real avail, but that is another story.

The sprue trees are good quality KP products, but the number of wheel spats and fuselages included in the box is a little startling. The instruction sheet is covered in red X’s showing what not to use. Apart from wings and horizontal stabiliser there is pretty nearly another airplane in there. I think a clever diorama builder could very simply make a workshop or repair scene with the cast-offs.

The decal sheet is specific for the Luftwaffe and one of the Baltic states but the oly Spanish Republican insignia included is the tail tricolour. The fuselage and wing red patches are to be painted – no real problem given that the basic finish of the plane is silver.

Note that everyone seems to have been able to use these monoplanes despite their simplicity – the instruction sheet mentions the Nationalist Chinese, the French, and the RAF. There are cautions to avoid some parts if you are not making the RAF version. I hope to see it again in the Chinese colours.

The only real concern will be the attachment of the wings – the tabs and slots seem a bit small for real support – it will be a case of brass tube, I think.