1:24
work because the interior of the wings (all
three sections) are complex and longwinded
to build. That said, detail is extraordinary
with a whole raft of internal members that
create the wheel bays, wing folds and gun
bays. The instructions are explicit in their
guidance, but you have to be on your toes
as you work through each step and I would
wholeheartedly recommend that you make a
set-up decision early and then annotate the
instruction sheet, highlighting what you need
to use and then blocking out what you don’t.
This is certainly one of those kits that requires
more than a little recourse to the instructions,
so this preplanning is more than worthwhile, if
confusion to to be kept to a minimum.
Essentially, the wings are built up onto
a central frame that sits underneath the
fuselage. This features the open spar visiblewithin the engine bay and the large and
complex, wheelbays. You then decide if you
are going to build extended or folded wings,
alternative parts being offered to allow this
to be accomplished, and ensure that the
completed structures are strong enough to
maintain their shape once complete. With a
wingspan of 22 inches or thereabouts, you can
certainly see why this part of the build is as
important as it is and why, as we will see later,
you need to take extreme care to ensure that
everything is in place and lined up accurately.
The next major item to deal with is the one
that perhaps illustrates the lengths that the
Airfi x team has gone to, to replicate this aircraft
in miniature: the Pratt & Whitney R-2800
engine. Combining a staggering 120+ parts,
the engine in this kit is complex, highly detailed
and now having completed it for this build,The kit instructions offer guidance for those keen to add
ignition wires to the engine. Here, those are being fi xed
in place to the ignition ring using 0.6 mm lead wire and
superglue. This as a fi ddly part of the kit’s construction,
but one that adds immeasurably to the look of the
completed engine.
In order that I didn’t lose track of progress when fi xing
each of the wires in place, I marked them off the
instructions with a highlighter pen.
Wires in place and painted with a dark red/brown colour, the
ignition ring and wires are ready for installation. This was a very
fi ddly step, each wire having to be threaded around the engine,
one at a time. As I was doing this, some of the paint came away
from the wires, so I needed to carry out some touching up at the
end of the process.The ignition wires in place, the radial engine is starting to come
together. Note how different patinas have been used across this part
of the model to bring everything to life, matt, satin and gloss fi nishes
all being used to good effect.