T
his boxing of the DH.9a is
a Wingnut Wings post-
WWI aircraft, and upon
looking at the box contents I knew
I was in for a fun time. The first
Wingnut Wings kit I built was a
real eye-opener. With this kit,
I was determined to correct the
mistakes I had previously made
with my last one, the Bristol F.2b.
The DH.9a “Nine-ack” was an
upgrade from the DH.9 and had
the new American Liberty V
engine. The Ninak arrived too late
to be properly used in WWI, but the
surplus aircraft were quickly used
in other branches of the military,
and was even bought by several
countries. These included the USSR,
which built the aircraft without a
license, referring to the counterfeit
DH.9’s as the Polikarpov R-1.
As you look through the parts of
the kit, you notice the abundance
of extra parts (with which you canstock up the spares box). The kit
includes five options, four of which
are RAF aircraft, while the fifth is
a Soviet Polikarpov R-1. There is
a wonderful Cartograph printed
decal sheet, loaded with bright
beautiful decals and including some
fantastic stencils that can easily
be read, despite their small size.
I’d also like to mention that
anyone building a Wingnut Wings
kit should check out their website.
There are pictures of the subject
aircraft there, as well as a photo
gallery of the completed model.
They also have a fantastic section
dedicated to tips to help modellers
build what can otherwise seem like
complicated kits. These tips are a
wonderful way to help plan how
you are going to build the model.
I was really drawn to the
Polikarpov R-1. I rarely build
anything Russian, but the idea of
creating a weathered Soviet warNINAK
Wingnut Wings 1/32 DH. 9a
(Post War) by Jared Demes14 • JUNE 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
BY SACCO DE VRIES
DH. 9A (POST WAR)
BY JARED DEMES
1/014-21-FEAT-Ninak-0618.indd 14 11/05/2018 15: