Review; Revell Boeing PT-13D Stearman Kaydet 1/72 Model Kit WW2 Aircraft Biplane USAAF Training navy n2S-5

Welcome to again a new review, this time the Stearman Kaydet from Revell! ;

  The Box 

A nice and colourful box, which invites you to buy the kit. I was many times at the point of buying it, but I am usually allergic to aircraft that didn't saw combat during WW2, although, as I later discovered, I was wrong. Anyway, this box does the job. 

Other alternative boxes;

This artwork is interesting and well done, looks a bit old fashioned, and I usually prefer artworks from the front, but it's not bad, as it looks very militaristic and operational with this colours.

This box from the late 80s is quite pathetic, from the times of the fashion of showing the built kit. It's not that the kit is badly done, but is poorly photographed. Done with a nice background, or moving the propeller, or simply before taking off on the ground, but like this it looks silly and really puts me off buying it.

The Kit 

This kit is extremely old, it is a 1960s reissue. A very fine kit at that moment, but after thousands of copies made the moulds are not what they were. When you open the box (that is quite small) you find with a even smaller couple of sprues, and when you when 1960something printed on it, you feel a bit dodged, but anyway, the kit is usually very cheap. As always, if you can get a vintage kit, much better than the latest release, if you are not bothered by the decals, which in the new version are of the highest quality.

One of the good things kit is that it is already in yellow plastic, so even if you want to paint it, it will be much easier than covering another plastic colour, and will give a much better result with the always tricky yellow paint.

You need to be prepared for lots of sanding, but all the same this was a good kit, so at least parts, when properly sanded, do fit. In a short morning you can finish the kit. Of course, as a biplane, I strongly recommend that you use solvent instead of super glue, the upper wing will thank you for it.

As an old kit, you get two very nice pilots, although they look like more 1930s adventurers than a instructor and  a learner of the USAAF.

Both wheels and propeller can be built to turn wonderfully, adding a very nice toy feeling to the kit.

                                

       The Verdict

A very fun model to build, and for such a low price I strongly recommend it. After all, it was one of main trainer aircraft of the USAAF, and it served with the civilian air force in helping patrolling the coasts of United States, and they even succeeded in sinking two submarines.

My version

I was hoping to find some Chinese Nationalist version, or a WW2 Thai version, but surprisingly for me, nothing of the such could be found. I was at the point of giving a radical modernistic scheme with red yellow squares, or a black & gold modern civilian version, just for the fun of it. But the I came over the Civil Air Patrol markings, and they semi-operational activity, and I was convinced to do it like that. I was even at the point of building it straight-out-of-the-box, but I always find dull to make what the manufacturers suggest me.

Even if it is known that several Stearman Kaydetts served in this air force, no actual pic can be found. I was tempted to paint it maroon as some aircraft did, but as it looked a bit improbable that that colour was applied to a Kaydett, and I had a beautiful yellow surface to work on, I went for a blue and yellow version like some other very similar aircraft used in the same function.

I love how the insignias look, as it is something you are not used to see, it seems like a short-lived 1930s nation. 

I only applied a slight coat of yellow over the plastic, and then highlighted the ailerons painting black lines between them. It might give a sort of toy sensation, but I kind of like it as it is, all the same, a Kaydett wouldn't have gotten very worn, so I went for a clean look this time.

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Frog / Novo BRISTOL 138 A RESEARCH PLANE 1/72 model kit RAF prototype

Welcome again to another ToySoldierChest review! today, we'll review a model kit classic, the Frog Bristol 138 A.

THE BOX

A very unusual box to say the least, where the people gets more focus than the model itself. Frog did give extra figures in some model kits, like the Fokker Southern Cross, but this was not going to be the case, so the box ends up looking rather stupid. The pilot figure given is slightly different, but the only difference between the early standard frog pilot is that he is wearing a bucket on his head, a extremely poor depiction.

With this ilustration, you get better the feel of the airplane and what you are buying. A quite energic and powerful artwork, it looks like if it is being used as a nightfighter.

Finally, the last is very fitting for model kit reissued by it's third manufacturer, just a faded copy of the previous one. It has certainly a pop art 1930's feel, though.



THE KIT

Yes, the kit. This is the only 1/72 kit of this model, so you'd better like it :) . It is not bad, a standard middle age Frog kit, not as crude as some of the first ones, but not as detailed as the last kits they made.

It isn't a plane that has a lot of panels to be seen, and these are dealt with the unaccurate method of making the panels stick out, but it doesn't affect the general look. The worst aspect of the kit I would say is the vosp, in the actual it sticks out more, and the starter tube is more prominent, in the kit is nearly flat. As commented, the pilot is laughable, and even myself which I am a model kit maker which nearly never changes a original part, I had to through into the bin of the unusable parts as he was extremely awful.

Another negative aspect is the lack of the wing ladder (not the extractable one shown in the original artwork, the built in in the wing) very remarkable aspect of this aircraft and not shown in the original artwork.

VERSIONS

You need inspiration? you will not leave this kit on the stash for weeks and weeks in a dilemma about camouflage and version, as there is only two versions of this aircraft, as only one example was built. The first, it is the typical that appears on most plates, and the other is the one that had wheel covers on (the kit doesn't include wheel covers). There are floating on the net various illustrations, some varying on the finish of the black wing, but I think it is just an artistic discrepance. Other than that, there are people that paints the propeller brown, grey and black. I've went for black as it looks nicer.

OVERALL

It is an interesting kit, of the golden 1930s era of aviation, where records sets and it was a heroic race for constant improvement. In my opinion, it is much better to build and have this kit than the kit of a prototype that never came out of being a design on paper, albeit if circumstances of history made that it never fought.  It is a very cheap model to get nowadays on internet, almost impossible on physical commerce.

Built Examples;

This was a family build, as my father built it, my brother made the modifications, and I finished the kit. The modifications are using a Airfix pilot and modifying it like Lt. Swain, with his altitude suit, sculpted the wheel covers with epoxy putty, and modified the vosp and the pitot tube to make it more close to reality. Also, I used chrome powder to get the metallic effect. (click on the pics to see them in bigger dimensions)

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