The Little World

You’ll want to remember that name – in case you are ever faced with one of their kits.

If so, you have choices:

a. Buy it, spend days of your life coping with its awful nature, and eventually turn out a masterpiece. Then die.

b. Save time. Fall to the floor grasping your chest.

c. Turn and run outside. It doesn’t matter if the door is open or not. You’ll not care.

My choice was made for me when a friend presented two of these Beechnut C.A.C. Wirraway kits to me. They were a donation to the club, so no money changed hands. Just as well – the 2¢ piece has been long removed from Australian circulation.

The parts that form the kits are moulded from soft plastic that is neither consistent, straight, nor detailed. The fuselage halves are different sizes. The wing halves are grossly thickened and distorted. The engine block is reminiscent of a broken button. Oddly enough the landing gear is decent – possibly because the parts are smaller.

The canopy is a vac-mould and the instructions are a fold-over piece of yellow card. Thankfully no decals were attempted.

It is quite the worst scale model kit I have ever seen – making most other garage efforts look good. It claims to be a Wirraway but isn’t, never was, and ever will be. What it might become – with the judicious combination of kits and an equally judicious binning of the worst parts – is a Swedish NA-16 trainer. I do not expect a good result, but frankly will be satisfied with any result whatsoever.

And just in case, I’ve opened the door…