Redeemed by the decals, building the Airfix 1/72 DeHavilland DH-88

       The original aircraft was purpose-built for the MacRobertson Air Race in 1934. It was designed for extreme long-distance flight (the race was from England to Australia!). To me it epitomises the spirit of the age, style, elegance and performance all combined into one dead-sexy airplane. Wikipedia has a good article on the aircraft and the race here.

       I was going to do a complete write-up on the build of this kit but have since thought better of it. It is a very simple kit and if any care had been taken by the manufacturer it would have been a breeze. First off this is one of the "first generation" plastic models that appeared just after WW2. There is no effort  (and I mean ABSOLUTELY no effort) at cockpit, engine or wheel well detail. It is beyond rudimentary, it should come with a warning that says, "This is a model from your grandfather's time. Buy this only if you wish to experience the frustration, vexation and anger that modelers endured in the 1950's". Parts fit was horrid, flash was ever present and mold risers abounded.  The quality was on a par with the Blohm und Voss BV 141 kit from this same manufacturer. Much muttering of curses and a lot of putty went into the assembly. On the other hand, the decals were superb.

 

 

viewing the box-art one would be fooled into thinking that this is a nice, modern kit 

I was

 

the back of the box shows the clean, elegant lines of the original

 

the you look at the instruction sheet and notice that there are a total of twenty-four parts

and a glance at the illustration shows that the flyers are molded into the top of the fuselage!

 

 

despite all of the MANY flaws it doeslook like the original once it is assembled

(and sanded, and puttied, and sanded some more)

 

notice the heads of the crew molded into the cockpit

 

prior to decals it looks almost sinister, 

this would be a great aircraft for some Pulp-era game

 

 

then I stuck on the decals, these, unlike the kit,  were absolutely first-rate

 

the sharp contrast between the black and the gold is stunning

 

in looking at the aircraft one can see the genesis of the Mosquito bomber of WW2

 

there wasn't any suggestion of framing on the cockpit so I had to freehand the lines 

 

       This was quite a battle to get into presentable shape, I would suggest to anyone that is interested in adding one to their collection that they look into the kits from Kovozavody Prostejov, or Clear Prop, or SBS Model. This model is a reminder of just how far we have come in the past fifty years.