Review; Revell Fokker Eindecker Dr. I 1/72 Model Kit WW1 Aircraft Fighter Luftflotte Ottoman Air Force

Welcome to a new kit review, today we'll review a WW1 classic, the Fokker Eindecker.

The Box 

A bit too vintage for my taste, it seems taken from a wartime magazine! the exterior design is quite different.

Quite typical action box, with the strange of addition of the pilot in 1st person which gets your attention.

Typical Revell WW1 box, very finely detailed, made most possibly by the same author. Usually I like Revell boxes, but this one is a bit dull, the Fokker doesn't look as different and unique as it should. This is the version I bought.

The Kit 

Another very old kit from Revell, but it looks as if the mould hasn't been used as much as others, as the flash is still within acceptable levels. Everything fits very well, and there is no problem building the undercarriage, which is something fiddly that could ruin a model. The propeller will turn nicely along the radial engine if carefully built, the same as the wheels. 

Also, and it is very appreciated, you get a pilot, a very charismatic one in my opinion.
Accuracy in this kit is pretty good , I would say that only the machine gun was a bit flat and perhaps you could say that the undercarriage is a bit thick but in my opinion that is good enough as otherwise it will be too fragile for handling.

                                       The Verdict

This is another model kit from Revell that can be bought very cheaply, second hand from ebay / street markets (is easy to see if the rack is complete as it a very small rack) or new from a any respectable model kit shop with Revell kits (as it is has been recently re-released) for roughly 5 € only, or whatever that amount is in your country's currency. 

My version

I really decided to buy this kit in part because it was a different design, easily recognizable from other WWI biplanes, but also and in big part because I had seen pics from another modeller which did a very nice Ottoman version. So, for once, I had already decided how to paint it before owning it! a brief researched proved me there was no better alternative, so I only had to choose what shade of brown I wanted to use (I went for a very reddish one). The pilot looks very Ottoman so it fits perfectly. 

The cabling was rather tricky but I am proud of how it looks, I didn't do all the real cabling, because then it will be very hard to handle, and I must admit I did it rather thick, but that helps in solidness.
I used the original decals painting carefully the black square, just as it was done back at the time by the Ottomans, except for the fuselage logo, which I printed out.

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Photos

Review; Heller De Havilland Dragon Rapide 1/72 Model Kit WW2 Aircraft Biplane RAF airfix dominie

The Box 

A rather unexpressive box, with a version shown which I don't care for too much. The artwork is well made but it isn't not in thrilling action or being exceptionally imaginative.

A much improved version in my opinion, making a good use of the perspective.

Not bad, with a very 1950s looking style, even if rather unmilitaristic for my taste.

The Kit 

A very fine kit, at least in it's first Heller releases. No flash to speak about, and very fine parts, everything fitting together nicely and tidily. The interior is a bit basic, and the chairs and other apparatus looks smaller than 1/72. 

The wheels and propellers can be made to turn perfectly.

But albeit looking like a very fine model, I consider in overall it looks wrong. I always thought it was quite a stubby airplane, and I was surprised to see that it was so small and thin in all aspects. Although the measurements are ok, I am nearly sure that the thickness and width of the wings, fuselage and motors should be much greater, it simply looks strange when compared with real photographs. It's a kind of overall feeling, but I can say that at least the engines should be wider and the wheels bigger in overall. I am not picky usually with this kind of small inaccuracies, but in this kit they have built up together to combine in a very perceptible problem.

                                       The Verdict

I would say search for a alternative model kit or wait for a new release, as this kit will possibly leave you unconvinced, at least it is for me. You can always try to fix all the small inaccuracies, but being a problem of overall dimensions you will have a hard time in doing so. The model kit in itself can be slightly hard to find, but nothing that 20 GBP cannot buy.

My version

I was a long time researching information for this kit, hoping to find something to find something truly exciting and operational. I was attracted by the Lithuanian version (which I struggled to find good images) but the overall dullness of the dark green put me off, it wasn't thrilling enough. I googled, googled and googled again, and finally found something new and unusual. Having read that some were delivered to Nationalist China, I googled in that direction, and finally found two pics of those airplanes. The first shows the aircraft in use as aerial ambulances, which isn't very combative and similar have been seen before, but the second one is really different. It shows how it has received markings from the Nationalist Air Force, received the colours in the tail fin and what apparently looks as a sort of camouflage (definitely, not plain white!). I couldn't resist to such an obscure version. I interpreted it as the Nationalists ended up using the ambulances as military transport, or simply camouflaged them as the Japanese weren't respecting too much their air ambulances (as you can see, there is still the red cross on the fuselage). I considered for the upper wing the markings would have been added too, and that it would have been painted green and the wear will have shown the white underneath.

I built this model some time ago, and nowadays I think that perhaps the green would have been applied rashly over the white as a camo, and not painted completely on top of it and later worned off. Maybe the green should have been darker.... anyway, there is plenty of room for interpretation, as the rudder fin looks very worn and faded off.

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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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Review; Airfix Bristol Fighter 1/72 Model Kit WW1 Aircraft Biplane RAF British

After a long time, absorbed by work and other things of life, we return to our reviews at Toy Soldier Chest. This time a classic, the Bristol Fighter model kit from Airfix.

The Box; A nice artwork full of that vintage flavour, well detailed and with a supreme 1910s feeling.

Alternative box.

The Kit; this is a very old Airfix mould, so all the parts are very basic in detail and shaspe. This is luckily not too important in a WW1 airplane, so it does not compare so bad to other modern model kits as some WW2 kits which shared production years.

I am slightly concerned about the undercarriage position, it kinds of look like too low and too far back, examining real photographs. That would be the biggest criticism on the model (besides the moulding marks on the lower wing, which are very noticeable).

The pilots are completely unusable (at least the ones on the original kit, which was the one I built) so I have used a two replacements from my bag of spare pilots (sorry- don't remember from where they came). The machine gun could be substituted for something better, but it still has a minimum quality. 

If you are building the original issue, there is not many problems of fitting, provided you use solvent glue to make fit everything nicely. The only objection to this is the fitting of the lower wing, that needs to be heavily sanded to achieve a good fitting.

In the kit I have added the electric generator which was omitted from the model and gives a extra realistic touch, made with clear plastic and a small bit of plastic sprue. Impressively, the decals after 40 years were still in great shape (well done, Airfix!)

The model I made depicts an unusual experimental camouflage of 1918. The cockerel has been hand painted (I would have preferred to print with decal paper, but as it is white I would require a white ink printer which I am not lucky to posess).

The Veredict; A nice and easy model kit that you can finish in an afternoon (unless you want to top it up to a highest level of detail), while still giving the right feeling about the aircraft. I would you try to grab some early issue, as the crisper parts will save you whole hours of work, sanding and even having to substitute many parts. Even for me which I am not a super WW1 enthusiast, I find this model very appealing.