Airfix Short Skyvan

 I’ll warn you right now, this is not one of the better models I’ve made. Far from it. It is from an ancient kit, and I’ve probably offended some portion of the internet by even daring to build the thing rather than keep it in its rather pristine box. It was covered with rivets (right up there with raised panel lines for my person bete noir) and the fit was not great. The decals were unusable, though there are aftermarket alternatives. The overall white paint went on thick and lumpy, the window masking was partially ineffective, glue marks crept into the windows, and I think I made a mistake on the paintwork (though the decal sheet didn’t show the panel as being what I would have expected it to be). I’ll leave that to your discovery. I’m not going to reveal all the secrets of my disasters. It also is one of the models that suffers from the haste and impatience that I wrote about a few posts ago.

It is the Airfix Short Skyvan. Originally, I pulled it out of the stash to accompany the Mikro-Mir Miles Aerovan on the production line. I thought they would make an interesting comparison, but the other kit has had its own share of fit and putty issues and has lingered on the bench.

There was a tremendous amount of prep, mostly sanding to get rid of all those rivets. Given how much work it was, I rather wish it had come out better in the end. But the major distinguishing feature, which I can’t hide even with creative photography (translation: hide the worst of the errors) is the canopy framing. I spent some extra time with toothpicks and lacquer thinner, with a final shiny coat of WD-40, but it didn’t improve things much.

I do appreciate the Two-Six decal sheet for Gulf Air. One wouldn’t expect a nearly 50 year old kit to have such an option. Plus there was a masking set that I got via Hannants, apparently done by a Brit IPMS group. I don’t blame them for my own incompetence in preventing the paint from seeping under the edges though.

“It is what it is” is a common description of some of my models lately, and I’m afraid the streak hasn’t come to an end yet. Thankfully, I’ve been making an effort to slow down and let things develop rather than rushing them to an inadequate conclusion, and I think that will begin to show in the finished product – eventually.

This is completed aircraft #495 (12 aircraft, 0 ordnance, 4 vehicles for the year 2018), finished in October of 2018.