The Little World

Every airplane design has compromises and so does every kit.

Some are adequately addressed and some are not – what you gain on the swings, you lose on the roundabouts. In the case of the P-61, the twin tail booms made of two pieces each ( double the seams ) mean two chances to get the alignment of the booms to the central fuselage right or wrong. That is also repeated with the two wings needing to snuggle to the booms and provide an even dihedral.

The fact that this is an Airfix classic kit – with classic ” fit ” – means that it is a balancing act worthy of the music hall stage. Spinning plates isn’t in it.

Dry fit is the only answer, and a lot of micro-scraping in the wing roots. And then a careful blocking-up to let the slow cement do a strong weld job. This is no job for the new Slovakian jigs – they adjust infinitely, but a solid datum plane is needed for this. Luckily I have a shoe box of rejected basketball cards that can be cut up for props and wedges.

Another swing is the installation of the main landing gear legs at this early stage. Not a procedure that makes for calm building – I have already started planning what to do when one of them fractures.

This has all been swings – the roundabout is the one-piece tail that can hardly be mis-aligned no matter how Airfix moulded it.

Keen-eyed observers may be wondering about the swelling in the belly of the aircraft. I cannot supervise the hangar all the time and it is mating season. Don’t judge me.