Dusty Dave

The old 70's issue Crusader is showing it's age but a great miniature can still result from this kit if little care and attention is placed on it's construction. the first thing to be aware of is the rather weak mounting points for both the sprocket and idler wheels, these have to take the strain of the elastic band type tracks, so a slight modification is needed to beef up their mounting. either by using two part epoxy resin glue, or by drilling and inserting strengthening metal pins/dowels, the sprocket and idler wheels must be left to dry and harden off before any attempt is made to place load on them. when you are happy to move on, the tracks are assembled from four lengths (two per side) I use a staple gun and a pair of pliers to flatten the staple right down, they can be camouflaged with paint and mud/sand. the top details are quite realistic, the air filter is well represented as is, and needs no modification.

I recently completed the Airfix Invader, it's an older kit but it goes together well. To make it stand out a bit I added the Airwave PE set, brought it right up, here's why. included in the PE set was the Canopy open option, including the open canopy frame edges, the stays and some extra detail for the interior, lets face it, the older kits need a bit of a leg up to make them stand out in todays amazing modelling standards. the PE parts are by nature ultra fiddly, but they add so much to this venerable old model, that has served at least as long as the plane itself.