http://www.FineScale.com 63I
had never heard of a 1/48 scale
Percival Proctor, so figured this Dora
Wings kit was worth a look. The box
art is a nice painting of the Royal Air
Force Proctor Mk.III (L2766) from the
collection of the Imperial War Museum at
Duxford. The decal sheet provides markings
for this aircraft and four others, including
another RAF, a USAAF liaison plane, and
two post-war aircraft in Dutch and Danish
service.
The 106 plastic parts are cleanly molded
with little or no flash and surface detail
looked appropriate for the scale. With the
exception of the canopy and the cowl with
the engine installed, parts fit was excellent.
The 12-page instructions include a brief
history, parts maps, and 21 assembly steps.
No color callouts are included.
Assembly begins with the instrument
panel and its housing, followed by installa-
tion of the photo-etched (PE) seat belts. I
noticed right away that the seat belts were
narrow compared to many kits and after-
market seat-belt decals in 1/48 scale.
Assembly of the tail wheel, main gear
fairings and wheels, the rudder, and the sta-
bilizers and elevators went smoothly.
Steps 9 to 11 cover engine assembly. It’s
quite small making PE parts 6 and 7 diffi-
cult to install.
I had no problems assembling the wings
and control surfaces, but the profile of the
clear landing light covers doesn’t match the
leading edge. I used filler, but wasn’t happy
with the result.
Assembling the canopy was a challenge
as it’s not a single piece. Rather it builds
from six parts. All of the joining surfaces
fall along frames so they will be hidden
with paint, it was still necessary to join
eight thin edges without getting glue on
areas to remain clear. After all that, the
assembled canopy was wider at the bottom
than the cockpit opening. So, I used a bar
clamp to align the bottom edges of the can-
opy while the glue set.
The cockpit presented a few issues. Parts
E99 and E93 are incorrectly labeled; theyshould be E29. The rudder pedals (E18) are
small and fiddly. Part E1 should be
mounted in the center of the floor between
the seats; this part isn’t identified.
In Step 18, parts E43 and E44 fit into
the wing openings in the fuselage, but they
don’t seem to have any purpose.
The assembled engine was too wide and
flared the bottom of the nose.
In Step 19, a tiny PE piece must be bent
in two directions around the front of the
cowl just behind the spinner; I failed.
I airbrushed with Testors Model Master
RAF colors: dark earth, dark green, and
trainer yellow. The well-printed decals went
on perfectly, but I floated each one into a
puddle of water on the model to prevent
the thin markings from folding under.
My final touch was an antenna wire
stretched from the kit’s clear plastic. I
brushed on a light coat of Metalizer burnt
metal to eliminate shine.
Because of the engine installation prob-
lems, the trouble with the canopy parts, and
a mistake I made installing the landing
lights, I put in 50+ hours on this model.
However, it measures accurately and it
looks OK sitting on the table, even if mine
is not contest-quality.- Allan F. Jones
Dora Wings Percival
Proctor Mk.III
Kit: No. 48006 Scale: 1/48
Mfr.: Dora Wings, dorawings.com
Price: $49.99 Comments: Injection-
molded, 141 parts (19 PE), decals
Pros: Generally good fits; excellent decals
Cons: Difficult clear parts; PE seat belts
too small for scale; some vague assembly
drawingsan impressive model. Photo-etched ladders
and ramp details would help if you were to
build the open-door version and the
An-225 would be an excellent diorama
subject. I recommend this kit for experi-
enced builders.
- Ted Horn