Hasegawa

1/72 Lockheed P2V-7 Neptune

Kit Number: 00897

Reviewed by  Fred Amos, IPMS# 6672

MSRP: 48.95 Imported by Dragon USA: (www.dragonmodelsusa.com) What a surprise to see this kit re-released again. This kit dates back to the late 1970's and I can recall a good friend of mine entering one at the IPMS/USA Nationals here in St. Louis, MO. in 1982 in Iranian markings. The Neptune kit has held up well for its age with just a little bit of flash around the edges. Surface detail is lightly done but in raised panel lines and rivets. Fit of the parts is remarkably good especially for the larger parts such as the wings and fuselage halves. The only exception to this was the clear parts for the main cockpit enclosure. It is made up of two pieces and if you get the right piece glued into place correctly the left side wont fit. After the parts had dried I masked off the area of glass and sanded away with a sanding stick as far as I dared then putty some putty on the ridge and sanded some more till it was acceptable. As far as interior detail goes the kit is typical of the 1970's, sparse. The instrument panels get decaled but there are no control columns, just two seats in the cockpit and one in the nose. One odd thing I noted is that the paint and decal instructions feature aircraft flown by the Japanese Self Defense Forces but the kit decals, and painting guide feature U.S. Navy aircraft. Two areas of concern for me as a modeler were the propeller sets, where eight individual blades to slide into holes in the spinner, and no mounting surface for the gear doors. I glued narrow pieces of sheet styrene to the edge of each door so I could Super Glue them into place. It took six 5/8 ounce pieces of lead fish weights to hold the nose down and fortunately there is plenty of room for them. The model was painted using MM Navy Gloss Gray all over, Humbrol Gloss White and Humbrol Flat Black for the tires and anti glare panels. All in all building this kit was fun with no really big problems. Thanks to Dragon USA for providing the kit for review and the IPMS Reviewer Corps for allowing me to build it.

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