The Little World

I am never so nervous as when I see a plastic model aircraft with a multiple-part wing.

I don’t mean a top and bottom – that’s normal. I mean a top and bottom outer, top and bottom inner, internal brace, wheel well, separate nacelles, and no cementing tabs. Add two gun positions and it starts to look like a Chinese puzzle box.

The thing is related to the ability of the moulder’s machine to put enough hot plastic into a big enough mould. In the case of the Amodel design each wing just could not be made in two parts alone.

So be it. I was leery of the actual structural integrity so I stopped half-way and cemented Plasticard re-enforcements on internal seams. This allowed me to press recalcitrant panels into place and tack them with super-glue before relying on liquid welding.

I’ll be fair – if you sand to the true shape of each part, an Amodel kit does fall together in the smaller sections. But the bigger ones…