Administrators Clunkmeister Posted March 24, 2020 Administrators Share Posted March 24, 2020 I’ve made absolutely no secret how I feel about 1930s Polish aircraft, and for me, the scrappy little PZL P.11 was one of the best. The P.11c as depicted here was a successful little fighter and when introduced in 1935, was the most advanced aircraft of its type in the world. Powered by a 630hp Bristol Mercury radial engine and armed with four 7.92mm machine guns, by the time WW2 rolled into Poland, the P.11 design was truly obsolete. Being slower than the Bf.109 and 110, it did have a few advantages. It was extremely robust, insanely maneuverable, and could be withstand dives up to terminal velocity. The P.11c has the dubious honor of being the very first Allied aircraft lost in WW2, but not a few minutes later became the very first Allied aircraft to shoot down a German aircraft. The P.11 was responsible for 110 German aircraft losses, against 100 of their own, so this obsolete fighter gave more than it took. This Kit has been highly anticipated by many, myself at the top of the list, and the moment it hit the market, I jumped on one. The kit itself is really nice. I’ll give a quick overview of the items this PZL-o-holic immediately looked for. I was also one of the very first buyers of the Silver Wings P.11c, and I got really close to finishing when the cowl just frustrated me and off the SOD it went, to be looked at again in the future. I’m happy to say that the engine and it’s Bristol cowl collector ring will be a simple build and will look great! Engine construction is straight forward, and the collector ring has the exhaust pipes molded on in one piece. Very nice! The main cowl is two pieces, and the nose bowl a one piece unit as well. You have no idea how relieved I am after the still unsolved dilemma of the previous resin build. My second concern was the surface finish. The P.11 series had an all metal construction, sheeted entirely in aluminum. The aluminum was ribbed, or corrugated, but not like Junkers or Ford construction. Previous P.11 kits have missed on that detail. Somehow it he corrugations always looking like they belong on a 5AT Ford or a Junkers W.34 or 52. these are much, much more highly restrained, and the surfaces looks “right” to me. The rivets on the fuselage look a mite proud for me and may benefit from some good research to check accuracy. The restrained surface detail just screams ‘NMF!’ Under a light coat iPod primer, followed by LIGHT paint application, this kit will SHINE. I'll follow the rest of this up tomorrow. I’ll show a couple more sprue shots, plus a couple areas of concern, Cheers! -Ernie 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocRob Posted March 24, 2020 Share Posted March 24, 2020 Thanks Ernie, I have to get me one of this fascinating little fighter, though it will be a bit complicated these days. Can we expect a WIP soon? Cheers Rob 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Clunkmeister Posted March 24, 2020 Author Administrators Share Posted March 24, 2020 1 hour ago, DocRob said: Thanks Ernie, I have to get me one of this fascinating little fighter, though it will be a bit complicated these days. Can we expect a WIP soon? Cheers Rob I will do an OOB build review on this, yes. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Clunkmeister Posted March 24, 2020 Author Administrators Share Posted March 24, 2020 The P.11 series fighters came at a time where the world's air arms were changing their way of thinking. Research into monocoque "stressed skin" construction eliminated the need for biplane truss design for strength. The P.11 series reflected that thinking, with a traditional girder structure for the forward fuselage for the cockpit, fuselage guns and fuel tank, and engine room, and an all metal stressed skin for the rear fuselage starting behind the cockpit. The kit duplicates the forward fuselage structure nicely, without being too complicated. Square tubing, brackets, flight controls plus enough goodies to busy the thing up makes it appear that this will look great even OOB. of course the door is wide open for all who wish to tart it up with various aftermarket or scratchbuilt goodies. I’ll have some sprue shots later when I get home from the office. A quick shot of the nicely done instruction booklet shows general assembly techniques are needed, with plenty of tiny PE bits to keep the fiddliest of us quite happy. If you've built any inter war aircraft models, or even a T-6/Texan/Harvard, you'll feel right at home here. Tonight, I'm going to do some basic cockpit framework to see how well it falls together. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Clunkmeister Posted March 24, 2020 Author Administrators Share Posted March 24, 2020 Now I need to look as well at another main spotting feature of this aircraft, and that's the fuselage side mounted engine oil coolers. They're big and obvious. Silver Wings has you build them up from individual PE fin pieces, and thread them onto a couple wires. While extremely fiddly to build, they result in an impressive assembly, so I'll look at those as well, tonight. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Clunkmeister Posted March 24, 2020 Author Administrators Share Posted March 24, 2020 As for initial observations, I have a couple concerns, and both revolve around the plastic itself. In some spots, the plastic seems to have a bit of a pebbly surface, which we'd normally combat with sandpaper and elbow grease. But in this case, we'd end up wiping out the prominent rivet ines on the mouldings. Plus, notice the stress lines in the plastic, one on each half. I'm going to give that a slight hit of primer tonight to see if that goes away. If they're sink marks, they'll be problematic to remove without removing those positive rivets. Looking at the one in the first picture, it sure looks like a big ol' sink mark to me. Now my next question. Are the rivets overdone? maybe. probably. I'm pretty sure the answer is yes, but I think that under a coat of paint, they'll show quite nicely. it'll also cut back on the deepish panel lines. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Clunkmeister Posted March 24, 2020 Author Administrators Share Posted March 24, 2020 My first impression? IMPRESSIVE I think this kit is going to build up into an amazing model of a seriously overlooked early WW2 aircraft. This kit is also available in a Premium Edition with brass barrels and a resin pilot figure, which will enhance and already impressive model. There are plans for a future boxing in Romanian marking as well, so those of you who have built the IAR 80/81 in 1/32 will now have it's predecessor as well. Aside from the apparent sink marks in the fuselage, some of the surface detail seems a smidgeon overdone. A couple inspection panels on the stabilizers appear somewhat Matchbox-ish to me, but that's nothing that can't be carefully filled. Careful sanding of the fuselageshould reduce any pebbly appearance as well. All modeling 101. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1to1scale Posted March 24, 2020 Share Posted March 24, 2020 Ernie, try using Stynilrez primer, it can level out sanding scratches and pebbly surfaces. It’s clear that IBG used 3D printing for these parts, you can see the printing artifacts on them. However, a self leveling primer will probably fix 75% of that, and spraying heavier coat of paint will probably take care of the rest. I used it on the floor of my UH-60 and sprayed paint directly on the roof, I saw sanding scratches from 400 grit on the roof, but it completely filled the scratches on floor without killing any detail. One warning, make sure the Stynilrez is fresh, as it gets to the bottom of the bottle and gets old, it’s leveling ability decreases. I heavily sanded the floor on these, they came out beautiful. This was their gray flavor. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Clunkmeister Posted March 24, 2020 Author Administrators Share Posted March 24, 2020 Nice. Where do you source that stuff? I'm going to start a build log up top this evening to keep this area clear for review completion and comments, but I'll move this conversation up there later. A heavier coat of paint is something I'm going to shy away from here, especially on the wings, as the corrugations are so incredibly petite. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HubertB Posted March 24, 2020 Share Posted March 24, 2020 I have the same concerns about some of the details being a bit on the heavy side ... An additional word of warning. The injection sprue gates are rather large. With two consequences: it will require some significant cleaning on delicate parts (for instance the reduction-gear crankcase and pushrods parts). So you need some new blades for that... Plus the specific nature of the plastic results in cavities in the middle of the sprue gates. So not only the cleaning of some parts is heavy, but you may end-up with some holes to fill where the sprue gate was. Not easy on the said crankcase+pushrods part ... TBC as they say ... Hubert 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martinnfb Posted March 24, 2020 Share Posted March 24, 2020 Exciting times, I will follow with interest from my cozy chair 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Clunkmeister Posted March 24, 2020 Author Administrators Share Posted March 24, 2020 Hubert, very interesting. I haven’t had a chance check closely yet the various parts, but I will tonight when I work on the front cage. I haven’t been this excited about a new kit since the HK Lancaster arrived 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harv Posted March 24, 2020 Share Posted March 24, 2020 Looking at the pics, sprue gates aren't any different than the ones on my FT tank. So not too worried about that. I will have to get one !......harv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Clunkmeister Posted March 24, 2020 Author Administrators Share Posted March 24, 2020 Harv, I think what Hubert was saying was that he found abcesses in the plastic where the gates attached to the part after he cut the gates. he needed to fill those. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harv Posted March 24, 2020 Share Posted March 24, 2020 Oh, ok. Understand.....harv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Clunkmeister Posted March 25, 2020 Author Administrators Share Posted March 25, 2020 So I hope you like PE, because there’s lots of it, and it looks very nice 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Clunkmeister Posted March 25, 2020 Author Administrators Share Posted March 25, 2020 The d calls look decent, and they’re done by Techmod, whist hard to understand since like IBG, are a Polish Company. Techmod is known for decent decals on par with Cartograph, so expect decent performance here. First impression looks good, and individual instrument decals are provided. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1to1scale Posted March 25, 2020 Share Posted March 25, 2020 11 hours ago, Clunkmeister said: Nice. Where do you source that stuff? I'm going to start a build log up top this evening to keep this area clear for review completion and comments, but I'll move this conversation up there later. A heavier coat of paint is something I'm going to shy away from here, especially on the wings, as the corrugations are so incredibly petite. Normally, I would say many places, but it’s getting hard to source anything. You can get it off eBay easily, but some hobby shops carry it, however, the ones I deal with are out right now. I just checked Scalehobbyist.com, it looks like they just got a fresh resupply, because when I ordered paint a few days ago, they were out of black and gray. FYI, Black, Gray, and White are the original colors, they do make colors now, but stay away from silver, the metal flake in it make a slightly rough texture. Also, I have never tested the gloss black, not sure if it levels like the others do as it’s a slightly different formula. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HubertB Posted March 25, 2020 Share Posted March 25, 2020 13 hours ago, Clunkmeister said: Harv, I think what Hubert was saying was that he found abcesses in the plastic where the gates attached to the part after he cut the gates. he needed to fill those. This is what I am referring to : the small white hole in the middle of the pic is where there was a sprue gate for the part. You can also see that the rocker-arms covers still need a bit od tweaking before the sprugate marks are fully eliminated - look at Ernie's pics on his build-log in the WiP section to see even more clearly what I mean. Ditto for the top of the valve covers on the engine, although in this case, this, to a normal mind, would not require a special action as it will not be visible under the cowling ... (did I say "normal" mind ? ). Sorry this pic is slightly out-of-focus. Hubert 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Clunkmeister Posted March 25, 2020 Author Administrators Share Posted March 25, 2020 Exactly Hubert. I left the valve covers alone. Thwy'll be invisible with the cowl on. The sprue attachment points on the gearbox are insanely huge. They look like they belong there. I actually looked on the instructions to see if they were supposed to be there. K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vintage Paul Posted March 9, 2022 Share Posted March 9, 2022 Are there any updates on this build? I just ordered one myself and am curious what I'm in for. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Clunkmeister Posted March 11, 2022 Author Administrators Share Posted March 11, 2022 On 3/9/2022 at 5:04 PM, Vintage Paul said: Are there any updates on this build? I just ordered one myself and am curious what I'm in for. Paul I finished mine a year ago plus, and have started another. Hubert is still working on his as we speak. I love this kit and it was one of the most enjoyable builds I’ve had in years. I bought it with my own money from Hannants, so there was no special kit prep by a manufacturer for a review, just a kit pulled at random from warehouse stock. This kit is HIGHLY recommended. The pics here were taken a couple years ago. I’ve since gone back and modulated the surfaces to break up the monotony of that light sucking khaki and prop. I may bring it to the IPMS USA Nationals in Omaha this year. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martinnfb Posted March 11, 2022 Share Posted March 11, 2022 That is really nice, well done ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harv Posted March 11, 2022 Share Posted March 11, 2022 Love it Ernie.....harv 🏆 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vintage Paul Posted April 1, 2022 Share Posted April 1, 2022 I got my kit a few days ago and its a pip. Thanks so much for the review which is what inspired me to order one of these exceptional kits. Your build pictures confirms the potential in the plastic, your model looks wonderful. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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