The Little World

Just when you think you have become sane again, someone shows up with a gift model and away you go, over the hill…

I needed a Zero some time ago and bought a Tamiya kit. Had I waited a while, my friend John would have arrived with this A6M5 and I would not have needed the Tamiya one. But fortunately I eventually needed a Zero for my Lakanuki Atoll library diorama.

The Academy kit would make up into a really fine model – the precision of the parts is noticeable. Someone said it was an ex-Hasegawa kit and that’s a pretty good recommendation. In any case the instructions are reasonably clear and the decals faultless, so were I a normal builder, this would be a fine basis.

But that would be assuming I was normal – a concept I find somewhat limiting at the best of times. Normality makes sure we never go entirely off the rails, but doesn’t prevent us from hitting the buffer stops at the end pretty hard.

Lakanuki ’42 had many A6M aircraft on the field – being serviced and fuelled up. I had a Hobby Easy plane and an HM diecast ready for this. Lakanuki ’44 only needed one Zero, as the rest of the planes were Corsairs and Hellcats. And there are lots of pictures on the internet of what Japanese planes looked like when their fields changed ownership.

I do think John could have given me a present in better condition…some people, eh…