Thursday, May 03, 2012

Terrible part fit !

Stern FittingBlimey, you can tell the Airfix Canberra kit was introduced back in the 1960's - the parts fit together just like a kit from the era. Not a good one either.

To be fair, the moulds have produced many thousands of the things. On the other hand I don't recall some of the fuselages of the many aircraft kits I ruined built back in the day being a whole lot better. In the last few decades the process has come on so much that modern modellers are as spoilt with part fit as a guest at the ambassadors buffet is when shut in a room with the Ferrero Rocher pyramid.

At the front end, the box goes together OK - at least if you flood the joint with liquid glue and shove the bits hard to squish the plastic. Around the much more complicated stern, the decks don't line up well at all and the walls come within shouting distance of each other but not much more. Some masking tape hauling things around is the solution, I just have to be careful in case the glue squeezes out under it and forms a mess for me to clean off later.

At least these parts are detail free. I wouldn't fancy doing this and having to re-instate a load of portholes that I'd scrubbed off with sandpaper...

1 comment:

Iain Robinson said...

That brings back memories of various Airfix kits back in the day! There's nothing more dispiriting, especially to a young modeller...thank goodness, as you say, things have improved. I have seen one instance during the construction of a 12" to the foot ship where bits didn't fit, not funny when they weigh upwards of fity tons and a wash of liquid poly just won't cut it!