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First up, there's a box. Now I'm not sure that could be taken as a given in this case. On one hand, there's a very sturdy zip-lock bag for the parts, and on the other hand the box wasn't originally for this kit. Someone printed out the current box design on cheap, thin paper and glued in in place on op of the box for a different kit (an Arado Ar240 from the same maker), which shines through a bit in places. Given how this paper follows the folds, this was done to the cardboard before folding and gluing it into a box.
Regardless, those box is top-opening and red, so odds are it'd be heralded as perfection in styrene over at Britmodeller's reviews section.
While only advertised as a MFI-9, the kit turned out to include rocket pods (white metal, along with the prop and undercarriage) and even decals for the planes "Biafra Baby" incarnation. A good thing, because the pods I intended to press into service here turned out to be a bit too big. The decals will probably not be used, as these aircraft initially flew without any marking whatsoever. The decals sheet is also very, very yellow.
With the main gear being quite far forward you could suspect this one of being a tail-sitter, and the manual recommends... no weight in the nose, instead it suggests a clear plastic plug underneath its ass as plan A. If any foolhardy soul decides to not go that way, "as much material as possible" is to be removed from the arse end of the aircraft, and as much lead as possible should be stuffed in the front. Luckily(?) with fuselage walls about 2mm thick there's plenty to work with here. That fuselage wall also leads to the manual recommending considerable thinning of it around the cockpit, for a more to-scale look (I guess the aircraft didn't have thicker armour than a Tiger tank after all), so the dashboard will fit at all, and so the chairs can be sorta where they should instead of squeezed together in the middle. Plus points for honesty.
To be continued...
