The Little World

Well, if the Airfix 2023 announcements are anything to go by, it is going to be a good year for Vintage Classics. And if this kit is a sample of what will come along I shall buy the entire range.

The result at the end of the build has been all I could ask for – different in many ways from the Tasman model, but perfect in its own way. Vintage flaws as well as vintage delights.

Anything with basically good geometry is welcome – if the seams fit that is all one can ask for. The rest is up to the modeller to do. In this case the raised rivets are no impediment to satisfaction at all.

The new decal sheets cope very well with them – and I note the Airfix decals are releasing faster than they used to – perhaps they have changed their printers. There was a detailed stencil placement sheet and any number of tiny black marks that one was supposed to attach – in the end I used main insignia and only half a dozen of the black stencils on the underside – the top ones would vanish into the camouflage.

And I shall never again listen to modellers scoff at the US Navy for extensive stencilling on their aircraft – this 1944 CAC Boomerang has at least as many ” No Step ” warnings and hatch markings as any modern aircraft.

It even has a pilot – an advance over the Tasman model. He is necessary, as the cockpit ended up being pretty bare. Bruce fills the visual in nicely, though I suspect he would have died of heat exhaustion in his Northern Hemisphere flying suit. Roll on a pack of 1:72 pilots.

And roll on the 2023 Airfix. I need a change of diet from Czech plastic and PE.