As some of you know, I've been doing some tanker stuff lately. This is by all means nothing recently started. Rather I have been fiddling with a project for quite a while on to which was planned the mk 20B pods Kit kindly let me have from a Matchbox Victor. However, the project ran aground earlier this summer as it just didn't seem to be right. And while you may argue that everything goes in Whif-world, I find that for me, it isn't so. There has to be some kind of possible realism somewhere, even if sometimes far fetched. So there I was, with a half built and rather substantial model on the desk, not really knowing what to do with it. Well - this isn't the first time, so I put it aside and in due course went on a Canberra bonanza, as previously described.
As time has passed, the ex-tanker model has been taken out every now and then, and those pods have been keeping bugging me, but I haven't quite been able to find a satisfactory way forward. Temporarily leaving my whif RAF aside for a bit, tankers for other forces have instead been sourced and in some case started, keeping me on the fuel truck track. All well so far.
However, some days ago, to my surprise and indignation (over my own lack of reconnaissance) I realised that MACH2 actually has released the 1/72 VC10. Now, that was a mixed blessing. On the flip side I have been wanting one for years, even to the point considering the Anigrand offer. Getting one would also solve a good part of the sudden lack-of-tanker-capacity problem I have created in my private little corner of whif-world.
On the downside a MACH2 kit usually
a) costs a fortune
b) is unbelievably crude
c) has to be sourced in the UK, meaning rather extortionate freight costs.
Generally, I have a reluctance towards buying bad and expensive kits, but when a particularly tasty object turns up like this and also is the only game in town, I sometimes give in after some thinking. Consequently, I have been pondering the possible VC10 procurement and while contemplating the entire situation last night, another whif idea suddenly dawned on me. A really good one, you know. One that hits you like a revelation or a shovel on your forehead. Best of all is that I already have the base kit and that Kits refuelling pods will match beautifully. Furthermore, I suddenly realised that there is another variant of the aircraft the ex-tanker project was built on that actually very well could go RAF tanker - and that having had that thought, I immediately have created not only a need for a second set of ex-Victor pods, but also a need for another rather big and potentially expensive model. Riiiiiight..
Ah well.. At least I have new inspiration again. I'd better run with that while saving up for the VC10 and its possible newly dreamt up companion. And the ex-tanker now being rethought into something somewhat more aggressive also is looking to have slipped out of its mental gridlock. I have had worse modelling days, after all..
