The Little World

I think Forrest Gump would have enjoyed short-run Czech kits – he had a philosophy that would have coped. I may send my next Prague bomb to Tom Hanks.

The fuselage halves of this angular bird could have been a disaster – no locating pins and a very long run for twists and warpage. But the Czech makers, Azur, took the precaution of making the walls of the thing thick enough to stay straight. There will be very little smoothing and fettling required to join them.

Unfortunately there is no easy and accurate way of laying out and cutting the windows that characterise the transport aircraft – including two front picture-window types just forward of the cockpit. They will be represented by black painted oblongs in a frame. This is more likely to look good than a bodged hacksaw job. The numerous round portholes will be easy enough with Micro Krystal Clear PVA.

The wings are straight – praise be, and this is likely because the kit was stored in ideal conditions. They are hollow, however and will need to be occluded to provide enough area to take thick cement. Much depends upon them as the weight of the assembly is transferred through them to the landing gear.

The diagram of the struts supporting the engines and gear is a daunting one…But that is a horror to be fought when the time comes.