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Mirage Hobby Kit Number #48-132 1/48 PZL 37B Los' |
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Reviewed By Larry Grapentine, #40310 |
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MSRP: $44.98 The P-37 Los’ (Elk) was a twin-engine medium bomber that was built in 1938 by the Polish National Aviation Establishments, Panstwowe Zaklady Lotnicze (PZL). Designed by Jerzy Dabrowski , the P-37 Los’ was the most advanced aircraft built by Poland before WWII, and the only airplane to be built in quantity by PZL for the Polish military in 1938-39. The P-37 was the most compact and efficient design among its peers, the Heinkel He111, Dornier 217, and the Bristol Blenheim. It had a number of novel features, one of which is the PZL-patented twin wheel undercarriage unit. The P-37 could carry a larger load than its own empty weight, and general performance was impressive. So impressive in fact, PZL had orders for the "B" model from Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Rumania and Turkey for a total of 75 planes, in addition to 100 ordered for Poland. Of the first 30 "A" models produced, 10 were single tail, and 20 were twin tail. The factory had barely delivered 70 of the new "B" models to the Polish Air Force when the Germans invaded, and only 36 were operational during that short conflict. The foreign orders were never filled. In 1938 when the P-37 Los’ was first introduced, the Polish military leaders decided they could not afford and did not need a twin-engine medium bomber. They decided to phase out the P-37 as quickly as practicable, and concentrate on fighter aircraft. When war broke out, the P-37 was never used for its intended purpose. Its combat task, for which the machine was neither adapted nor its crews trained, was to destroy the advancing German armor on the battlefield. Considering the small number of aircraft, the P-37 crews had surprising success in this role, which reinforces the designs great combat potential. Mirage Hobby of Poland makes two separate kits in 1/48th scale of this bomber, either the single tail or the twin tail. The kit I chose includes parts to make a "Block 1" or "Block 2" of the twin tail machine. There are optional prop spinners, landing gear, wheels, and two types of very nice machine guns and lots of drum magazines for each. There is also a detailed bomb bay. Flaps can be positioned open or closed, and the elevator is positional. Panel lines are engraved. The instructions are in Polish only, and I had a kind Polish modeler translate some of the text for me. If you would like the translation, let me know via e-mail and I'll send you a copy. Colors are in Polish too, but do have Humbrol numbers. |
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| The kit has a nice detail in some areas, and is quite cobby in others. There are some nice radio boxes and strapped tarps and other detail inside the fuselage that you cannot see, but the engines are very poor. The instrument panel is junk. Many of the parts have a pebbly texture, and also are quite thick, so I felt obligated to thin/rework them. The clear parts are very thick, but they are fairly clear and smooth. The pilot's windscreen has a "bend" on the inside caused by the excessive thickness, causing a distortion that looked like way too much work to grind flat and polish out. My kit had air bubbles in some of the clear parts, which The Squadron Shop replaced no charge. The glass fit is not great, but useable. Squadron does sell a Fast Mask set for this model, and I highly recommend it, as there are 28 panes on the nose alone! There is also some photo-etch stuff available from Squadron, but I did not get it. | |
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I found the model to be a lot of work, like a limited run
kit. Lots of fitting, grinding, and sanding. I had a good
number of fit problems, most notably the bottom wing to fuselage, and the
tail/fuselage joint. I had to use filler on just about every seam.
The many little bomb bay doors do not fit the openings, so I cut a large
piece of sheet styrene to fit, and scribed the panel lines for the closed
doors. The prop blades are way too thick and I spent several hours
thinning and shaping them. I had to deepen the panel lines, as I
removed a bit of plastic smoothing the pebbly texture. The panel
lines don't line up well, and not at all on the bottom fuselage. I
even had to fill in some "over cut" panel line mistakes in the mold.
There really isn't any exterior detail to speak of, no gas caps, access
panels, or rivet detail. I added the following scratch built items;
oil cooler intake grills, landing gear bay "roof", tail wheel struts,
instrument panel, seat belts, throttle quadrant, landing light, nose
machine gun mount and clear panels, and wing tip navigation lights. The color painting guide seems to be off color, the box art looks much closer. I mixed my own colors using a color profile from an old Scale Aviation Modeler magazine article. The bottom sky blue color was simply a true blue added to white, and the top color was mixed by adding rust brown to olive drab. I did not get the top color exactly like I wanted, I think it should be a tad browner, but it looks ok. |
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There are 3 marking schemes on the decal sheet, 2 Polish
units and a captured plane with German insignias. The decals are
very good, which is nice since aftermarket sheets for Polish aircraft are
pretty hard to find. They are printed by Techmod, are in register,
and the white is fairly dense. The clear film is matt and did not
silver. I used a Future gloss coat, and the decals went down fine
with Micro Set/Sol. They are very thin, and I managed to tear one
with clumsy handling, but was able to salvage it. I sprayed a
mixture of Future and Tamiya Flat Base topcoat, and the matt film
disappeared. I spent at least 70 hours (probably more, but I don't want to know for sure) on this kit. The model is a lot of work, and will test your seam filling, sculpting and fabrication skills. I like it because it is a good looking aircraft, a unique subject, and will probably get a lot of "What the heck is that thing?" comments when displayed at contests. Mirage Hobby can be found at: http://www.mirage-hobby.com.pl/index_en.html This kit is available online from Squadron Mail Order at: |
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Information, images, and all other items placed electronically on this site are the intellectual property of IPMS/USA ®. |
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