This will be the first of what I hope will be many kits that illustrate my love of 'wheels up' builds, which I think convey the true spirit of the aircraft - and, of course, allow their use by munchkins as toys. That is, indeed, the fate of this model and I hope it will engender the same love of modelling in my youngest as playing with my uncles kits did for me back in the 70's.... although the day I vroomed the newly built Gloster Gladiator into my nan's belly, with catastrophic results, has gone down in infamy!
You'll see from the photos below and from future posts that I'm pretty much a build-out-of-the-box kind of modeller with no desire (or time) for customisation, except perhaps a little bit on pilot uniforms. I like the pristine look, which means that apart from a bit of dry brushing on things like exhausts and landing gear, there's no hint of weathering effects. Maybe I'll try colour washing for panel detailing in the future but want to get my basic skills back up to scratch first.
Anyway, the finished model (no 'in progress' shots I'm afraid):
*Edit: image link corrected above.
