This resin model kit
is the Martin MS-1 which was a Naval Scout aircraft used by the US Navy and in
the fall of 1923, a Martin MS-1 became the first US aircraft to be operated from
a submarine. This was possible as the plane was partially disassembled and
stored in a cylinder on deck. Prior to launch the submarine would surface,
plane would be removed from the cylinder and assembled and then the submarine
would partially submerge top permit the plane to take flight. Recovery of
the plane was the reverse procedure.
This new resin
kit from Olimp
Models is part of their
new Pro
Resin line of resin kits.
This little 1/72 kit comes packed in a VERY sturdy little box. The
fact it was a float plane got my heart beating a bit faster as I love float
planes. Opening the box revealed a wonderful selection of parts.....45
parts in all. Not too many parts to make it a complicated kit, but
enough parts to give it a high level of delicate detail. Pro Resin seems
to have found the perfect balance in the number of parts for this little float
plane.
Now....this is a resin kit, so it
will require the use of CA glue (Crazy Glue) to assemble it and the parts are
going to need a tiny bit of cleaning up, but this is very minimal and will not
in any way detract from the joy of building this kit. If you've ever done
any work with resin parts before you will have no problem tackling this
kit......go slow....be patient and enjoy the build. I did a dry fit of the
fuselage halves and they lined up very well but you will need to clean up the
mating surfaces before assembly.....this kit should go together well if the rest
of the kit has the same very good level of fit.
As you can see from the sample of
photos of the resin parts below, the fuselage detail on the sides of the
fuselage is well done. The wings have excellently done recessed panel lines and
will look quite convincing on the finished kit. The seat has the tiniest
little lap belts that are raised and show a level of detail that is exceptional
for 1/72 and will really dress up the tiny single seat cockpit. The
cockpit also has frame member stringers on the sidewalls which should show if
you look carefully into the cockpit.
The attachment points for the
resin parts is wonderfully thin making the removal of the parts from the resin
casting blocks a quick and easy job. Detail is very crisp on most parts
and the finished products will be a treat to behold. The cloth covered
ribbed areas on the rear of the fuselage sides as well as the wings and tail
surfaces is beautifully done and looks perfectly to scale.
I really do get a kick out of
seeing the latest kit from Pro
Resin as they
produce kits of an interesting variety of aircraft, but this tiny float plane
really is a treat to behold.
Click on
images below to see larger images
The kit parts are pretty straight
forward and the 4 pages of instructions cover the assembly process in a clear
and easy to follow way. The instructions include paint codes in Humbrol,
Model Master and Revell colours.
There are one decal option for
the Martin MS-1 that became the first US aircraft to be operated from a
submarine, which is an aluminium aircraft with yellow on the top sides of the
wings and a wooden prop and red/white/blue striped rudder.
The decals are very clearly
printed....not too thick...not too thin and of good colour coverage.
In 1/72 you are dealing with tiny,
tiny model kits but this kit goes to great lengths to provide cockpit detail
that is better than quite a few 1/48 scale kits I have in my stash.
This is a cute looking little
float plane and it will be a wonderful addition to anyone's display case. You can buy this Pro Resin kit
directly from Olimp
Models.
I would like
to thanks Oleg at Olimp
Models for
sending me this review sample.
Steve
Bamford
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