Looking back on my years building aircraft, I think one of the most helpful things I learned that I can apply to my current scifi modeling is the idea of “unintended sub-assemblies.”

On an aircraft, for example, it’s easy enough to view the landing gear as sub assemblies. It’s generally not a stretch to do so. (On MOST kits…) But other parts are not always broken down in such a way as to make for easy sub-assemblies. Yet often it was needed to make up for poor engineering, bad fit, or quite often – simple convenience.

I realized the greatest “tools” when it came to finding ways to break up a kit into sub-assemblies that might not be as apparent were the old Mk. I eyeball, and the Block 1 brain. (Although mine is still stuck somewhere in IOC*….;) )

On most builds, I go through it in my mind a lot… at least half a dozen times. I look at the instructions, I imagine the build, and then I look for “points of friction”… areas that if I do one thing now, how will it impact things later?

In most cases, some basic sub-assembly possibilities emerge immediately. On a MaK fighting suit kit, for example, I know that the arms and legs can be left off for ease of painting.

But often, the order of assembly can lock me into putting parts together in a way I don’t really like. And this Falke, and the previous one I built, illustrate this clearly.

For the engine, the default installation has you install it in when the upper and lower fuselage halves are glued together, locking it in place. It’s not hard to deal with, but it wasn’t as convenient as I’d like, and I wanted to have the fun of painting the engine with no obstacles.

So on that first build, I simply cut off the alignment tabs on either side of the engine, and towards the end, just glued the back of the engine to the rear of the engine compartment. Easy peasy, right?

Wrong.

I broke one of my cardinal rules – I did not thoroughly test fit everything. And when I mounted the engine, I saw that some of the parts that must be fitted after engine placement were misaligned. And that misalignment was caused by the fact that if the engine was properly mounted, it was angled slightly down. And mine was not.

Now, I found a simple though partial solution. It only took approximately 6.5 paratrooper words and slapping parts on and declaring it “good enough” to fix. And at the end I still enjoyed building the Falke. but that challenge of “figuring it out” kept running through my head.

So on this build, I figured out the three man things that caused said paratrooper words to be emitted into the atmosphere.

• First was the cockpit placement. Doing it as the instructions show is possible. BUT… it can be problematic. Hard to get a good fit. I “discovered” a much, much simpler path which guarantees smooth alignment.
• Next were those “panels” that go on the inner face of each fuselage boom. The instructions show placing those when the fuselage is closed up. Which makes it difficult to get to them for painting and weathering. But a little sanding that won’t be seen later lets you have your Falke and eat it too. So to speak.
• Finally, the engine. I studied on this one A LOT. The task was to maintain the angle, the slight space at the rear firewall, and have all the ancillary parts line up post-engine installation. And I figured it out. I may not be the first to ever “discover” this, but I am the first in my household.

All of these things are demonstrated in the video.

So, uh… watch the video. 😉

*In defense and aerospace, IOC is a major acquisition milestone. It is declared when a new military aircraft (like the F-35) reaches the minimum usefully deployable form. So that’s my brain… minimally useful form.