The Little World

I am never quite sure whether I want the good news or the bad news first – but in any case I want to be warned what is coming.

In the case of the Martinet I looked up another modeller’s build of the same kit and learned that Czech Sneeze had made a slight error in the fuselage – the two halves would not make a whole. Specifically, they would assemble to be a fuselage that was noticeably narrower than the clear styrene canopy – leaving a jutting ledge either side. The other builder advocated sandwiching a piece of Plasticard in between the fuselage pieces and sanding it down to match them.

Thanks for the plan, Stan. I have lots of plastic sheet and strip so I did just what the other fellow did. The plastic of these kits is slightly soft and accepts all cements easily. It took a bit of stacking and testing to see how much spacing was needed to build out to the canopy width, but I was pleased to see that once it had been done the little clear oval nose section matched perfectly to the rest of the fuselage

This also let the cockpit interior tray slide in easily with no trimming needed.

While I had the plastic sheet out, I also cut some support bars to lock the landing gear into the engine nacelles. Plastic cement and PVA to make sure the legs did not collapse upwards. Yes, I do wear a belt and braces and on stressful occasions I hold onto my underwear from the inside.