I built this kit as
light relief whist struggling with the Hasegawa 1/48 scale Tomcat (which
has probably the best detail of any of their kits - and the worst fit!).
This is the first
1/72 kit I've done for a long time, and the first civilian plane for even
longer. I guess I just liked the looks of the aircraft - and the fact that it
was new to me. It can feel like you are on a production line, sometimes,
when you churn out another Spitfire/Mustang/'109 whatever - so sometimes
its nice to pick something you would not normally consider up on an impulse and
build it for fun.
I was very impressed
with this Italeri kit, it was crisply moulded with no flash (unlike that F-14!)
or sink marks. There is very limited interior detail, but this is not a problem
as you can't see any of it anyway! I often think people become too focused on
barely visible detail in the cockpits of aircraft kit (if I was that bothered
about interior details I'd build dolls houses instead!).
External detail is
very good with some surprisingly small details for a kit of this ones small
scale and apparent vintage. The trailing edge flaps feature separate
actuators and fine mounting brackets which put the Hasegawa Stukas to shame.
The main gear is
perhaps the weakest area of the kit with the legs mounting in the centre of the
bays which looks a bit inaccurate to me. There is a see-through effect into the
main cabin but this was easily fixed with plastic card. With hindsight I wish
I'd made an "in flight" stand for this aircraft as the gear
spoils its graceful lines.
Due too its age this
kit featured raised panel lines - so I sanded these off and rescribed the kit.
As the aircraft is silver it was then necessary to polish out the sanding
scratches with micromesh.
I painted the model
gloss aluminium from a Tamiya aerosol then airbrushed different panels with
different mixes of metallic enamel paints using post-it notes as masks.
The kits decals were
used (except for the red and white tail markings which I sprayed on) and these
worked very well with micro set and sol. The carrier film vanished under a final
coat of gloss acrylic varnish.