Scale aviation modeller international

lacquer), these tiny elements can

be put in their places with no need

for surgery. The pilot’s seat can

be completed and painted before

attaching it inside the cockpit;

instrument panel likewise.

After gluing together the main

parts of the fuselage and horizontal

empennage, I had to shorten the

rudder a bit, as I had (unwittingly)

reduced the height of the rear

fuselage while removing it from its

casting block. Later, comparing it

with scale drawings of the airframe,

I found that its bottom is not a

straight, continuous line at the rear.

Next, I attached the wings,

again needing no putty. After

securing the cockpit opening with

a piece of paper towel, I drilled a

hole in the area that accepts the

cooler and installed my model on

a thick wire to serve as a handle

and support. I had first sprayed

the whole with gray Tamiya

primer/surfacer for resin, and as

it revealed no imperfections, I

decided to start painting my model.

PAINTING (AND THE

ACCIDENT...)

In order to make my life a bit

easier I gave my model a few coats

of Tamiya White Primer from

the spray can. After it was dry, I

masked the red areas. To determine

their shape and location, I made

a black-and-white xerox of the

decal sheet, and after cutting these

out with scissors, I just put them

on my model. It is important to

mask the ”dents” for the white

parts of registration letters on

the fuselage sides, as there is no

white backing in the decals.

And then my model fell out of my

hands onto the floor and the wings

broke off, but fortunately only

along the joint line (in hindsight,

I would suggest reinforcing the

wing/fuselage joint with pieces

of wire). Regarding this as a good

occasion to paint and decal the

wings and fuselage separately, I

airbrushed the appropriate areas

with Tamiya Acrylic X-7 Red. After

the paint was dry I unmasked my

model and started decalling.

DECALS (AND THE

DISASTER...)

I had learned from build threads on

internet forums that the decals in

this kit are thin and quite difficult

to lay down, so I gave the decal

sheet a coat of transparent lacquer.

I also prepared bottles of AK Decal

Setting Solution and Tamiya

Decal Adhesive. Decalling the flat

fuselage sides was surprisingly

easy, going on with no problem.

The wings were a different

story. I tried again and again,

with copious amounts of setting

fluid, to force the decals to settle

on the corrugated surface and

conform to the ridges, but in the

end, they just broke into more

or less narrow stripes after they

dried. Surely, this was not due

to the quality of decals or my

handling of them. I think it is just

that the undersurfaces are a very

complex shape and they push the

limits of what decals can achieve.

Anyway, now my wings looked

horrible. So I decided the only

thing I could do was to hand-

paint. I used a thin, soft brush

and hand-painted all the broken

areas – but I had to keep in mind

that the paint had to be thick

enough to avoid capillary action,

making it run between the ridges.

FINAL BITS

From this point, finishing my

model was a breeze. I prepared and

painted all the remaining parts

white, i.e. propeller blades, struts,

undercarriage legs and wheels,

and the tail skid. Tyres were

painted Tamiya AS-4 Grauviolet,

as on the photos of the actual

aircraft these do not look black.

All these parts fit perfectly in

their appropriate places, except

that the locating pins on the

struts needed to be removed to

keep the dihedral of the wings

and empennage right. The

instructions tell you to make

undercarriage wires from pieces

of stretched sprue, but in order

to avoid painting them, I made

them from thin wire instead.

The disaster with decals forced

me to represent the aeroplane with

marks of wear and tear. I made

some exhaust streaks with dusted

graphite, and delicately outlined

panel lines with a sharpened

pencil; here and there, however,

I washed some Tamiya Light

Gray Panel Line Accent Color.

I now dry-brushed Testors silver

paint on to the propeller blades,

cockpit rim, and undercarriage legs.

Some dirt was also added to the

wheels and tyres with Tamiya Gray

and Brown Panel Line washes and

AMMO by Mig AMIG3513 Starship

Filth Oilbrusher. Finally, I attached

the photo-etched windscreen.

Instead of using the acetate film

for the windscreen, I glazed it

with Micro Kristal Klear white

glue. The last things to add were

the silver painted pitot probe and

step, and my model was finished.

CONCLUSION

No doubt, this is a superb model kit

and I wholeheartedly recommend

it to everyone, especially to those

modellers who want to try his/her

first resin kit. Just get a razor saw, a

few small diameter drills, and a flat

jeweller’s file, and start building.

For those who are a bit faint-

hearted, I would recommend making

the model as the first prototype

of the PZL P.1, as this was natural

metal overall with no markings

(no decals!). However, I think my

version looks far more attractive,

though a lot harder to paint and

decal – but the choice is yours.

My thanks to Arma Models for

giving me the chance to build this

attractive model. I have already

received the 1/72nd scale PZL.

P.8/I model kit from Arma Hobby

and cannot wait to start my build

• especially as the P.8 has smooth
  skin, so no tricky corrugations!

KIT REVIEWS

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