1:48 Do 217N-1 exterior

The small things on the surface that make a model

The night version of the Dornier carried far more added items than the original bomber. Radar aerials, exhaust shrouds damping the glare, crew steps, cover latches and intake screens: on the real aircraft all of that is thin, pierced or perforated, which is exactly what injection-molded plastic cannot do.

Why reach for metal

In this scale the thickness of the sheet comes close to the real ratio, so the edges do not cast that characteristic thick shadow by which a plastic imitation is recognized at first glance. Photo-etched parts also hold fine engraving that can be brought out with a wash after painting.

• Exterior airframe accessories on a single metal sheet, 1:48 scale
• Pierced and perforated shapes at a thickness plastic cannot reach
• The parts are cut off and bent, ideally over an etch bender or a hard edge
• An accessory for a kit; the aircraft itself has to be obtained separately
• Worth adding to an interior set, so that the machine is finished inside as well as out

The procedure is usually simple: separate the part, level it, degrease it and glue it to a cleaned-up place. Painting metal calls for a base coat, as otherwise it does not hold on a smooth surface. Anyone who takes the trouble over the undercoat gets a surface on which the eye catches dozens of small shapes instead of one smooth shell.

Fitting the aerials takes the most work. They are slender, they bend by accident and when a finished model is handled they are the first to suffer, which is why they are glued on at the very end, ideally after all the surface finishing and the clear coat.