The Little World

It used to be – in the dear old days of Airfix and Monogram.

You could buy a model kit that did things. Ailerons moved. as did flaps, elevators, and rudders. Canopies slid back over cockpits and wheels retracted into wells. Occasionally a bomb bay door opened and something fell out.

It was all over-scale but we loved it. Some of the pinup pictures of the time showed girls who were over-scale as well, but we had our hopes…

Now we get kits that can have doors, flaps, and hatches separate but we must decide whether they will be open or closed beforehand – we’ll be cementing them in that position. I’m equally delighted and nervous as I recognize that opening something invites knocking it off again.

Still. if we can cope with pitot tubes, aerials, and bitty machine guns, we should be able to attach a door. I lean to the extra when I do – I would rather ignore a rime of cement than have the model fall apart on the shelf.