The Little World

I seem fated to build Dornier Do-17 bombers. I have already completed one for the Ruritanians, and one for the Swiss. Now a third kit has turned up and is slated to be sent to the Finns.

The kit is a multiple re-boxing – mine popped out in 2011 but the original mould started in 1969. It has been with many companies – currently Revell. The kit declares this itself – you don’t need Scalemates to tell you the age. There is flash, ejector posts, raised panel lines, and vast trenches at the control surface joints.

However, the plastic is smooth, the clear parts are clear, and it has come to me sealed in the original bag. The decals I won’t be using are quite okay, and the instruction sheets are commendably instructive. It is just before the EU forced all model airplane makers to include vast reams of safety information – there is just one sheet exhorting you not to stab yourself in the eye with a modelling knife.

The choice of Finnish will be post-war – about 1947 when the roundels were changed to modern pattern. The colours are pure RLM, so that is easy, and if my scrap bag won’t yield Finnish roundels they are dead simple to make on the printer.

The Finns at that point were downplaying their late involvement with the Germans so the remaining air force markings were small and subdued. I’ve seen one sheet of decals and one built model depicting the period.

Not on the fast track line, but I’ll get to it. At least there are crew members. And please note that this is yet another freebie – one of my daughter’s friends decided he has no more room for plastic models.