The Little World

The problem with building CAC Boomerangs is they keep on coming back…

Airfix have re-issued their CAC CA-13 Boomerang again in the Vintage Classics line and I am absolutely delighted. I’ve had experience building a Tasman Models resin kit of this plane and lived to tell the tale – this one promises to be a lot easier to do but equally fun. And there are more schemes to paint it in that are markedly different than that garage kit.

The decals are brand new, and feature a surprising number of stencil signs for various part of the aircraft. The local enthusiasts who laugh at the US Navy for stencilling all over their fighter planes can look at this sheet and go silent. I don’t particularly like to do them, but I realise that many schemes would be bland without. And the circumstances of WW2 mean the RAAF saw the logic behind it.

The kit itself is of the time, and fine therefore. It has rivets, but they neither offend nor obtrude. They are aircraft rivets – not railway ones. The joins may be historical, but we’ll find that out as the build progresses. There is a belly tank which will be attached to serve as a variant on the Tasman model.

The cockpit is bare, but so was the Tasman one. I have Evergreen rod and cement.

The landing gear is sturdy, and more detailed than the garage kit. I look forward to it. And the decals? Well, I like them. The RAAF was very modest in overall colouring at the time – they were down to earth about what needed to be shown. Again the problem of the green colour will come up – as well as a brown for the camo pattern – but I shall use what is in the rack and damn the anoraks.

Bring on more Vintage Classics! They never fail to satisfy.