1/72 Ardpol KL Pyorremyrsky

by Mike Williams (Mikeew)

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This is a rather obscure Finnish fighter-bomber aircraft based on the Myrsky fighter. Designed in 1943. It used a Daimler_Benz 605 engine , hence the similarity in shape of the nose area to the Bf109F. It only ever reached prototype stage, work on which was ceased in 1944 and restarted in 1945. However due the peace treaty it was cancelled and never entered production. The sole prototype is still in existence and was restored in the seventies and can be seen in the Finnish Air Force Museum in Finland.

It is my first foray into building a kit from a limited run resin kit, in the box are 29 nicely moulded, smooth , blemish free but rather brittle grey resin parts with smallish moulding blocks, two vacform canopies and a small 14 piece etch sheet with acetates for the instrument panels. Some of the smaller resin parts such as the undercarriage legs are very nicely detailed but look rather fragile. The fuselage halves are hollow moulded so the weight is therefore kept down, and the sidewall cockpit detail is nicely moulded into the fuselage halves.

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As usual, the construction started with the cockpit which consists of resin parts for a floor , rear bulkhead , seat and control column with a separate instrument panel onto which the acetate dials and etched panel are put.

The etch seat belts really enhance the excellent cockpit detail. I painted the interior RLM02 with a dark grey wash to pick out the details. Then added the details of various boxes and panels with matt black then dry brushed them with light grey to highlight the details. Construction was very quick once the cockpit is detailed and installed into the fuselage, its a small kit, approx. the same size as a Bf109.The wings fitted perfectly together and needed only a trace of filler at the wing to fuselage root joint. The tail planes are a nice positive fit although the locating pins are a tight fit so I drilled out the holes to ease this. The undercarriage is very delicate being moulded in resin, but careful trimming with a new blade in my scalpel paid dividends and the resulting undercarriage components are beautifully detailed and just need careful painting to bring out the best in them.

Something that was not obvious on the construction diagrams is the need to remove a thin film of waste resin from the wheel wells in the lower wings to allow the resin wheel bay insert to fit in, these were a snug fit and although a simple idea the really work well. The prop is nicely made with commendably thin trailing edges of the blades and needs careful alignment to the base plate to get all the blades in the same direction and at the same angle from each other, the spinner just pops over the blades.. Next was the bit I had been dreading! Vacform canopies are something I never like to deal with but I managed to cut mine out and cut it open without needing to resort to the spare you get in the box.

Painting was a simple process as there is only one scheme available, the prototype, which is green over light blue with early style Finnish roundels.

I sprayed the undersides with White Ensign Models ColourCoats RLM76 Lichtblau and the masked this up and sprayed the upper surfaces with Humbrol 86 Light Olive. When this was dry I gave it a couple of thin coats of Johnson’s Klear (Future) and then added the handful of decals , all of which responded well to microset/sol liquids. Then I washed off the residue decal glue, added a couple of light coats of Humbrol Mattcote to finish the paint job, the prop was painted Humbrol 33 matt black and then added, I unmasked the canopy parts and added an aerial wire from aeroclub rigging thread.

I'm glad I tried this for my first attempt at a resin kit.  It builds well and, though not for the novice model maker, anyone with a few years of modelmaking experience under their belt should be able to build this with confidence. The one thing to take care with is the delicate undercarriage and the vacform canopy. I found using CA glue for all main construction due to the resin components a daunting task but , with care it was relativley easy task and one that gave me a rather unusual type in my collection. i hope you like it!

Mike

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Photos and text © by Mike Williams