The Little World

Ooh. Sounds like the title of a Sax Rohmer novel, doesn’t it?

Well no, but don’t let me stop you from suspecting villains lurking in the dark. Some of them were responsible for this kit.

The idea of masking off the canopy and nose area with the clear plastic parts that would eventually be cemented there is common in scale model aircraft building – I see other club mates carefully laying masking tape into the panels of their larger-scale builds. It would be futile for me, as the frames of some 1:72 models are so ill-defined as to be imaginary.

I deal with them with a bow pen, as mentioned before, but I need to protect both the open fuselage and the part as the painting takes place – hence the coat of masking fluid.

You’ll see one of the Gunze products in use here, and it is sturdy enough to stay for the entire process.The clear part is temporarily bonded with Liquitape.

Note the desk organiser box from IKEA used to prop up the plane while the mask sets. I have resorted to kitchen pots, cardboard boxes, and trash bins for this task as well.

Also note one unique feature of this kit – the landing gear doors are attached to their mounts as part of the moulding process – when it comes time to open them, you slit them free and pry. Wonderful!