The Little World

I am constructing this aircraft model on the Fortnight System.

It is opened and worked upon at the Cambridge Public Library during a meeting of the Historic Modelling Friends – a rather informal group of retirees who have been granted permission to use the library’s function room of a Saturday afternoon. As the room contains good tables, chairs, a coffee machine, and is superbly air-conditioned, the occasion is one of joy.

But there are only so many things you can do there – basic assembly, brush painting, and decaling are fine but there’s no way to spray paint – so you plan out the session to get things ready for your home spray booth.

This is Fortnight 1 so far – tanks, bombs, and fins on the fuselage. The rather horrible Hasegawa air intake assembly ( much better on the Hobby Boss version ) puttied up and semi-smoothed. The cockpit tub assembled but not painted. The jet exhaust assembled. Basic stuff, but you get time to do it without rushing and any solvent-based work has two weeks to firmly set. Just make sure it’s in the right position before you pack away the kit.

Is this two-week idea a good one? Only if you have a weekly build at another club and a daily build at your home work shed. You can apportion your time so that everything is done well, but not rushed. There is no wasted effort due to hurried assembly.

You do have to set your paints out sensibly, as a particular colour may be needed for all three builds and you’ll be constantly searching for it in the travelling work box otherwise. I try to assign paint pots to each model and keep them in the build box.

Note for travelling modellers: try to strike a balance between what you need to carry in your tool and building kit and what is just luxury. There is only so much you can fit in a tool kit or model box. If you arrive at your club with two roller trolleys and a stack of kits under the arm, pause and see if you can re-organise yourself. And don’t start looking in the car yards for a mini-van that you can fit out with tool racks. That way, madness lies…