The Little World

Then spend the rest learning how to recover when it goes wrong.

All kits have flaws…if not in the box, then in the buyer. Something will go awry in the build. If you are fortunate it will be small and early, and you can fix it before you go on.

These are the times that teach you how to fix, fill, and fudge. Lose a part? Well, you’ll either have to source another or make a fresh one yourself. The latter is easier, provided you have not lost half the fuselage. The Evergreen stand, balsawood blocks, and Milliput have completed many a model. I favour lost-wax casting with urethane resin if there is another part that can act as a master. Even borrowing a part from someone else’s kit for the master is possible…provided you give it back undamaged.

Clear parts are more trouble than solid ones, and you can be forced to some pretty miserable compromises, but even these are better than a kit that is thrown away half-built.

As a last resort, look at aftermarket parts. You’ll pay through the nose for them, but that might be the only option. Snot modelling…