Mark I HMA R34
‘Transatlantic Flyer’
Mark I 1/720 HMA R34 ‘Transatlantic Flyer’ Airship reviewed by Robert Podkoński
TYPE: His Majesty Airship R33/34
‘Transatlantic Flyer’
MANUFACTURER: Mark I
SCALE: 1:720
KIT TYPE: Plastic injection moulded
KIT NO: MKM720-08
PARTS: 57
DECAL OPTIONS: 4INTRODUCTIONT
he R34 airship was
the irst aircraft to
cross the Atlantic
from East to West, only few
weeks after Alcock and Brown
performed their epic light
from Newfounland to Ireland
in their modiied Vickers Vimy
bomber. His Majesty’s Airship
R34 took of on July 2nd, 1919
from her base in East Fortune
and arrived at Mineola, Long
Island on July 6th. What is
more, few days later she
performed the succesful return
journey to East Fortune (July
10th to 13th), thus completing
the irst two-way transatlantic
crossing by air. The design
of R34 (manufactured byBeardmore) together with her
sister airship R33 (constructed
by Armstrong-Whitworth)
was in fact based on German
Zeppelin LZ76 brought down
nearly intact on English soil in- Both R33 and R34 entered
service long after the end of
hostilities in March 1919. Czech
manufacturer Mark I kit of the
R33/R34 comes in a big, top
opening cardboard box with a
full-colour silhouette of the R34
on top with a schematic map of
her Atlantic crossings paths in
the background. On the bottomof the box there are presented
all four possible colour/decal
schemes of the model. Inside
the box one inds a big sprue
with all of the parts in dark
gray plastic, a quite extensive
decal sheet and an instruction
lealet with four colour schemes
in six-view representations.
One can choose from any of
three incarnations of the R33
airship and the unique R34.
Interestingly, with regard to
R34, the suggested painting
scheme is light blue overall
in few shades, while R33 is
always silver/aluminium
doped. The plastic parts are
cleanly moulded, with no lash
or sink marks. There are no
locating pins, hovewer, too.
What is more, this is the same
sprue, that Mark I includes
in Zeppelin L33 airship kits,
so you get a selection of
diferent gondolas and spars,
and one has to get rid of some
superluous locating holes on
the sides of the main body.
Interestingly, the bulkheads
are marked out with recessed
lines, what is obviously wrong,
but looks convincing enough
on the inished model.CONSTRUCTION
Construction beganwith the
main body, and here there
are some shallow holes to be
illed and sanded. There are
also some ‘bumps’ on the56 APRIL 2019 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
KIT REVIEWS