Northrop Delta RT-1
Special Hobby 1/72 Northrop Delta RT-1 by Robert Podkoński
TYPE: Northrop Delta 1D/1E, “US Transport
plane-Late”
MANUFACTURER: Special Hobby
KIT NO: 72329
SCALE: 1/72
PARTS: 91(ca. 50 used) dark grey
polystyrene, 13 clear polystyrene
TYPE: Short-run
DECAL OPTIONS: 3W
hen any of leading
plastic model
manufacturers
announce a kit of Golden Age
aircraft, especially if a civil
plane is concerned, I get excited
and always try and get an
example as soon as it is released.
Therefore, when the Editor
ofered me the Special Hobby
Northrop Delta to be reviewed,
I more than happily agreed.
The Delta is a lesser-known
creation of one of the most
ingenious and signiicant designers
of the twentieth century, John
“Jack” Knudsen Northrop. An
eight-seat, all-metal, ixed-
undercarriage monoplane, its wing
construction was proven earlier
on the much more successful
Northrop Gamma, and later
(with retractable undercarriage)
used on the famous Douglas
SBD Dauntless dive-bomber.THE KIT
Inside the box, one inds an
instruction booklet in full colour
and a bag illed with four dark
grey sprues, one clear sprue, and
a decal sheet printed by Aviprint.
At irst sight the kit looks like a
“shake-and-bake” one. Parts are
cleanly moulded, with only a few
of them (cockpit and passenger
compartment loors) featuring
some small, easy to remove ridges.
The clear parts are thin and
perfectly transparent; a nice
touch is that the cockpit canopy
is conveniently moulded with
the pilot compartment roof.
Decals are perfectly in register,
opaque, and not too thin.CONSTRUCTION
There are some annoying and
inconveniently located releasing
pin towers inside the fuselage
sides. You have to irst remove
them, as they prevent attaching
the cockpit and passenger
cabin loors in their place.
Next Installed are all the
passenger windows. These are
much thinner than the fuselage
walls, and each of them needs to
be adjusted slightly in order to it
in the respective opening. After
removing the ridges from the
cockpit and passenger loors they
it perfectly, as do all the bits that
go inside the fuselage; pilot and
passenger seats, rear bulkhead,nicely-rendered split control
column and the instrument panel.
There is a decal for the
instruments, but as they are
virtually invisible in the inished
model, I left it of. After closing
the fuselage sides I installed the
canopy, which needed a little
sanding to get a perfect it.
I now moved to the wings. A
close inspection of the painting
schemes shows that there should
be some landing lights on the
lower wing. I drilled the holes,
guesstimating their location,
and then added some glued
circles punched from thick
transparent foil into them.
Adjusting the it between the58 • DECEMBER 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
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