BOX ART >> This is the box. No box art, though. But they show you a pic of the model made - then the model CAN be made, so that's a good start with some obscure brands as "Model Junior" (god helps the junior that tries to build this model).
THE KIT - 2.5 >>
(The score is from 0 to 10, just to leave things clear). A completely appalling kit. This brand doesn't have the technology or money to cast a kit with detail in both sides. Yep, you've read well. That means that everything must be in two parts, and so you have guns in two parts, propellers in two parts, etc. In a 1/35 kit maybe it would be ok. In 1/72, makes you want to discard half the pieces.
The engine doesn't have the correct holes, and you will have to do dremel or use a hot knife. The wings once attached seem very thick, and you will have to sand them a lot, as nearly every piece. It is like giving you "a kit to make another kit with it".
The person that made the kit in the box, was quite clever, as he didn't use the original guns, he added pilots, and probably didn't use the propellers either .One wonders if it is really the same model. Probably it is the prototype, and they didn't try to build what they made.
The instruction sheet is just one image where all the kit comes together, a rainfall of pieces practically unidentifiable.
Another bad thing is that they directly didn't made the exhaust tubes, so you have to make them yourself or take them from another kit.
EXTRAS - 5.0 >>
They give you floats to make the hydro version, so that's not so bad. But don't expect pilots. Probably making them in two halfs was too complicated.
POSSIBILITIES - 4.0 >>
Not many things to do here. You can do the float version with silver, a plain green Polish one, and one of the 17 planes that the Romanians reused;
You can look here to see further camouflages;
Pics extracted from Wings Palette.
PRICE/VALUE RATIO - 6.0 >>
It is rare to be seen on eBay, and the price can vary wildly. It depends a lot where you live. But most probably, it would not have the price that it deserves.
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HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE - 3.5 >>
The historical importance score is determined by how many were built, and how much operational service they had, and how much influence they made on the conflicts in which they were involved.
273 were made, and they did fight. One of the Polish planes which saw more service in the war, that is the reason I bought this aircraft (I am very picky in this aspect).
For further details, you can look here;
OVERALL - 3.0 >>
I can't recommend this kit. But if you have more than a hundred models in your collection, you don't like to repeat similar planes, and you want to have a small representation of the planes that fought in every campaign, you will tragically be attracted to these sort of kits, that with the promise of giving you something which very few people want to have, they force you to get one.
The question is that another brand now exists that makes this model, Acura, and anything can surpass this joke of a kit. Conclusion; if you want a challenge, get it. If you can't find the other model (which is a limited edition), get it. If not, avoid it all costs. And never give it as a present to a non-super expert modeller.
IMAGES OF FINISHED JOBS
(What? you have built this model? I'd love to include the pics here in the section so everyone can look at it. Just email me at tam_cob@hotmail.com !)
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You built a great looking model :) I tried to pick this one living in Poland in late 80s, but couldn't find it in shops. A choice of available models was very poor, and anything could sell. You should try another Polish army cooperation plane, LWS/RWD-14 Czapla... ;)
ReplyDeleteBTW: I was an author of a Wikipedia article on Lublin R-XIII.
Ahh, the old days, where you went from model shop to model shop in search of that elusive model... it made the hobby much more interesting than searching on eBay the kit you wanted and receiving in two weeks.
ReplyDeletePolish modellers are generally very good (I have seen many paper modellers do wonders), it seems that the model kit brands thought with a bit of work any awful kit could be transformed into a good model. If I had bought this kit when I was 15 year old, it would have probably ended up in the rubbish bin.
Sadly I am out of time lately to build model kits, and I have a huge 1 cubic metre box full of unmade kits, so I have banned myself of buying any other kit until I build.