Taking the advice of the 'what kit is right for me' page, being basically a beginner, I'm going to have a go at this:
There are six sprues in the kit, labelled A through E, with two of sprue D. Sadly, there is a bit of an issue with these sprues in my kit, as you'll see shortly, but here they all are:
Sprue A contains upper and middle wings, plus what appears to be a piece of fuselage, and a couple of wingtips:
Sprue B has the lower wing, axle wing (please forgive any incorrect terminology - it's my first ever venture in early flight, both as a modeller and even as a subject of study), cowl, rudder, tailplane and a square bit I haven't yet identified:
Sprue C has fuselage, bracing for the cockpit area, props, ailerons and a few other bits and pieces:
Sprue D has wheels, more ailerons (?), seat supports, and various small parts:
Sprue E has engine and guns. Rather nicely, two versions of the guns are provided, one without heat diffusers, which makes using PE parts easier (I hope).
Here are the decals as provided with the kit:
And a sample page from the instructions:
I've also got an Eduard PE set that's matched to this kit:
Now, the issues with both sprues D...
The very first step of instructions in the kit are to build the seat support and seat, so the very first parts I looked at were these...
Which is made all the more frustrating by the fact that, it being so long since I did any modelling, I have absolutely no scrap, and no 'store cupboard ingredients', such as ~1mm plastic rod...
Given that both sprues have the same fault in the precise same position, it seems there may be a problem with the mould or the process for this sprue.
Other than this, I'm quite happy with the overall quality of parts. Other than the well known issue with tailplane, I can't comment as to accuracy - much more experienced people can do that. There are some ejector marks, but they all seem to be well out of the way of any visible areas. I'm not sure if there is some sinkage in the props, or if they are just of an aerofoil profile I'm not used, being much earlier than I've seen before...
Now to the first of many questions I'm sure I'll be asking of the experienced guys on here...Given my local modelling shop has sadly closed in recent years, where is a good place (sadly, preferably online) where I can stock up on basics, such as plastic rod in various sizes and profiles, brass tube, plastic card etc?
Thanks for looking. Please don't expect great things of this build. I'll be amazed if I don't muss up something badly along the way...
