SPA Modeler

My next project: the 1/72 Hafner Rotachute MkIII by Fly. With only 14 parts, how hard can it be? It is a Czech short-run kit, though, so I guess we’ll find out!

The Rotachute was intended as a more steerable alternative to the traditional parachute. During development, the designs kept growing until it evolved into this tiny autogyro. There was even a Rotajeep—which was exactly what it sounds like: a Jeep fitted with a rotor for airborne troops. None of them were actually a success, but they are certainly fascinating subjects.

Yup... both were failures after testing and they've come up with some wild inventions for the military at the time. Interesting, indeed. Looking forward to seeing more of this unusual subject.

If you like to remove stubborn flash from fragile kit parts then this is the kit for you!
The parts are quite delicate (especially when compared to old school short run) but have flash. That won’t work on such a tiny model so everything has to be scraped and sanded carefully.

Don’t a lot of short run kits usually have excess flash anyway? But hey…. they want you to work extra harder to build a good kit.

And just like that, it’s already assembled. It really is a tiny model; as you can see in the photo, it fits within the width of a credit card.
On the one hand, it’s a tricky build—it's very fiddly, and because it's so small, every little mistake is magnified. On the other hand, I managed to put it together in a single evening, so it’s definitely a quick project!

And primer is on. Pink because that is what all the cool kids are using as primer for yellow. This is the first time I actually try that so fingers crossed.

Interesting using pink primer for yellow.

Yeah... that is tiny.

Yes, pink primer, Mr Surfacer Pink. It worked very well. I will post some pictures shortly. Pink works wonders under red or yellow.