The Little World

Well, at this stage of the game it looks like this aircraft has been made by Mattel or Fisher-Price. Solid bright colour and basic shapes.

But all is well – a careful evening was spent getting the struts to join the wings in a decent fashion. Czech kits have little markings on the wing surfaces indicating where things plug in, but there are no holes in the wings nor pins on the struts – it is all butt joints.

Thus, you need to make sure that the paint and undercoat is off and two surfaces of plain plastic can meet. If you are in luck the geometry is good and they do, but in many cases there is sanding and trimming needed. It is all nervous stuff as you are treating with a painted wing. In this case it is Mr Color Super Metallic II No. 208 Super Aluminium. Superb shiny finish but shows up every cementing attempt.

I have gotten smarter than heretofore – I measure the distance between the lower attachment points with a pair of dividers and make sure that the main struts are just that far apart as they set. That way you do not need to stress things as you attempt to mate the wings. The cabane struts can be put in on a secondary basis after the main ones set.

Really makes you appreciate the monoplane, eh?