Anyhow, I'm not a fan of the Airfix kit. While the issues I had last time round were mainly of my own making, there are a couple of things I don't like about this kit.
The joystick is incredibly delicate, and I've managed to break it on both my kits. The sprue attachments are very large and thick, which doesn't help matters. My usual practice when removing delicates is to cut the sprue surrounding the part before coaxing it free. In this case, I merely *thought* about cutting it free, and it broke, flinging the top half into the far reaches of my desk. Luckily, I managed to find it and re-united it with the base using a specially designed hi-tech blu-tack jig. Once that was done, I finished off the cockpit, leaving off the gunsight.
Secondly, the sprue attachments, particularly on the wing tips and stabiliser tips. In this photo, I've cleaned up the left wing, and left the right wing as I cut it from the sprue. The wing tip requires a good deal of careful work to remove the lump of plastic and ensure the tip is shaped accordingly. On my previous build, I managed to stuff it up by getting a bit too enthusiastic with the razor saw.
Likewise, the horizontal stabilizer, still on the sprue. The tips will need a fair bit of cleanup before being presentable.
), suffice to say that carpet monster = 1 while the model-builder = 0 
. (I can feel a scratch-built plasticard replacement coming on).
Very much looking forward to getting the decals - they'll be way better than anything I can print on my inkjet.
