Let’s begin with the little Azmodels 1/72 Morane G. This little pre-World War I fighter might look simple but it is not simple to make because it is a limited-run injection moulded kit with fairly vague instructions. I had to take care to look at photos of the real aeroplane and test fit the parts a lot before they went together reasonably well. The Morane G was a sports plane before the war which then ended up being impresses into military service so the kit comes with military decals, but I thought it looked nice without them.
This Boeing XF8B might be a big and fairly simple looking aeroplane but it is a challenge to put together. It is also a limited-run kit and the kit maker has left out a lot of detail that can be added if you like. It comes with a fairly good seat and floor and instrument panel for the cockpit but the rest is a big gaping hole that has to be filled with some scratch built stuff. The wings are also a challenge and the trailing edges needed a lot, and then a lot more, thinning before they looked reasonable. Since the finish is the US Navy’s gloss deep sea blue there also had to be a lot of preparing the surface before applying the paint because any blemishes show up readily.
I’ve been having something of a US Navy month so, going from large to tiny, here is a 1/144 Vought F7U-1 which comes as one of the little bonus kits in the Anigrand 1/144 Big Plane range. Despite its tiny size it needs a lot of care in assembly to get the parts lined up properly. Since this is a full resin kit everything had to be stuck together using superglue an in this tiny size it is difficult to glue the pieces together without getting some on your fingers and ending up with the fingers stuck to the model or to each other. Like the F8B above, this was painted in AK Real Color Deep Sea Blue lacquer which I really like.
Here are three that I made earlier
While we’re in the Morane mood here is the old Revell 1/72 Morane N. I made this model in 1975 when it was a relatively modern kit, having been released in 1965. According to Scalemates this is still the only kit available of this aeroplane.
Another kit that you won’t find easily these days is the Matchbox Fiat G-91Y which first appeared in 1979 and was last reboxed in 1997.
Even rarer these days I suspect is the old Welsh Models vacformed 1/144 Vickers Valiant. It has now been superceded by resin and plastic kits that will be much easier to assemble but back then this was the only kit available.
