The Ball Turret
The instructions would have you begin as ever in the cockpit but I really didn’t want to stick to that plan. Instead I determined that I would build the turrets first as they are all mini-models in their own right and I had so been looking forward to getting cracking on that ball turret. This was my first task.
As you can see there are quite a few components in this part of the build. The glazing in particular is crystal clear and extremely thin. It is also very fragile and will shatter or crack if treated in the least carelessly. The long curved front screen on my turret got a hair-line crack as I polished out some finger marks, so be warned.
References show that the incredibly confined space in the turret was crammed and the kit doesn’t come close to representing what is in the real thing. The detail is a little clumsy and over scale and missing some key components like the seat and straps for the gunner.
Assembly is fiddly with all the glazing and needs care, I used Glue n Glaze, but it does go together well and fits well too. The addition of the Master 50cals makes the biggest difference and masked with Eduard masks and sprayed black and then white aluminium it turns out to be a little beauty that I really enjoyed building.
The glazing, whilst thin and clear, allows very little inside to be seen. Moreover the turret is on the underside so unless you allow the model to be picked up (I won’t be) any additional detail in this area would probably be pointless? I will be applying the decals that are on the Kits World stencil sheet a little later on. Overall for this part of the kit 7/10.