The Little World

Le jour de gloire is here – under a week after starting…The Potez 540T is ready to fly!

The discovery of this long-neglected kit in a back drawer was made last week – It was a kind gift from John, a club mate. It was a classic case of a sleeper – hiding under a coat of bad paint.

The stripping of the original acrylic coat was very easy, and the disassembly only marginally more trouble. Everything was in the kit and very few parts could not be utilised. The spares box supplied any wants.

Of course there were small hitches – the seams needed attention, but then they would have in the original Heller kit. Smêr did the best they could. The turrets would have been a Gallic nightmare had they been needed – but fortunately the T version faired them in.

The livery is pure Air France Libre though it was interesting to observe in the reference material that the classic red/white/blue rudder was swapped for two bands on the horizontal stabilisers. I printed my own matriculation letters on clear sheet but the FF red crosses were the gift of an old Airfix kit.

There is enough similarity and enough difference between this and the other FF airliner – the Farman NC 223.3 – that is in the collection to make for delightful comparison. If I can locate further models suitable, I may have an entire French air field.

Vive la France!