The Little World

A good thing in scale model kits and row boats. Not as desirable in schoolteachers or bank managers.

This Eduard kit has classic tab-and-slot fitting for the wings and peg-in-hole for the tailplanes. In both cases the fit eas very firm – so much so that a little sanding was needed to get the parts in contact with the fuselage. The moulders at the factory had ensured that once these faces joined, there was exact alignment.

Not every kit is so blessed. I have built a number of Czech, Russian, and British kits where it was an approximation – but that was all. In some cases it was there due to the age of a re-sold mould, but in others it was just slack tolerances.

I hear you sigh at my fussiness, as you reach for the Bondo, Plasti-Bond, Tamiya filler, Miliput, balsa wood, PVA, and bits of broken house brick – ready to fill the trenches between the parts. Or just deciding that possibly a B-29 had a foot gap at the wing fillet anyway, so maybe it’s authentic…

Cavities are fine, as long as one is in practice and the patient is prepared to open wide. They are the stuff of success. In scale models they are indicative of sloppiness on someone’s part – either you or the factory. You might not be able to remedy panel lines that are a scale 3 inches deep, but being able to see daylight through anything but the windows is bad form.

Kudos to Eduard for a filler-free Friday.