Special Hobby

Phönix D.II/D.IIa

Kit Number: 48036

Reviewed by  Keenan Chittester, IPMS# 37021

MSRP: $35.95 Approximately 30 injection molded parts, 17 resin parts, approximately 15 etched brass parts, clear film for instrument panel and windshield, 8 page instruction booklet, decals for 2 different versions. The kit comes in an end-opening box with some very nice artwork of the aircraft. The kit is molded in a medium grey plastic. The molding is good, and the plastic is slightly soft, which makes sanding easy. There is some flash to clean up around the engine cylinders and pipes. It only took a couple of minutes to take care of with a sharp X-Acto blade. The wheels had a pronounced mold line around them but because of the softer plastic cleaned up easily with a Flex-I-file. The kit contains 2 sets of fuselage halves, but only 1 set is mentioned in the instructions. Special Hobby also markets a D.I, and I assume that is what the other fuselage is for. There is a small ejector pin mark inside each fuselage half in the area of the cockpit that has to be removed, but it presented no problems. A different rudder is also included for the D.I version. Decals are for 2 aircraft, both having the same style of camouflage. One of the options has a red fuselage band and a red stripe on the upper surface of the upper wing. Construction starts with the cockpit. This includes a photo-etch instrument panel with film backing, a seat with photo-etch belts, rear bulkhead, rudder pedals and control stick. The photoetch fret includes both lap belts and a shoulder harness. I only installed the lap belts. I wasn't sure if a WWI era fighter would have shoulder belts, so I left them off. The instrument panel sits on a U-shaped shelf. Locating the finished cockpit parts into the fuselage presented a small problem. I first glued the instrument panel and shelf into one fuselage half, then dry-fit the floor/seat assembly. Unfortunately, when I put the floor assembly where I thought it should go, the control stick ended up behind the instrument panel. That didn't seem quite right, so I decided to relocate both the control stick and the rudder pedals. I glued the rudder pedals into the hole that was originally for the stick, and drilled a new hole about half-way between the seat and the pedals. I glued the stick into that hole and it all looked much better. The engine is next up and this is a nicely molded little assembly. The instructions would have you attach the individual resin exhaust pipes, but I decided to leave them off until after painting. The resin exhaust pipes are very nice resin pieces that are hollowed out on the ends. The 2 different camo schemes used different styles of exhaust pipes, so be sure to use the right one for the version you decide upon. When test fitting the engine into the fuselage I came upon a minor problem. There are 2 sets of pipes that go down the starboard side of the engine and into the fuselage. Unfortunately, there were no corresponding openings in the fuselage to accommodate these pipes. The spare fuselage half (from the D.I that isn't used) had the openings in them, so I used that as a template to file a couple of openings in the D.II fuselage. After about 25-30 minutes with the file, the engine fit without any problem. The instrument panel and shelf had to be sanded slightly for the fuselage halves to close. This may have been due to my misinterpretation of the instructions as far as placement. Only minimal sanding was required to get the cockpit floor to fit between the two halves of the fuselage. Once the fuselage is together, the lower wing is attached. The fit here was perfect and needed no filler. Likewise for the horizontal stabilizers and the rudder. The horizontal stabilizers have upper and lower braces which are supplied as etched items and fit where they are supposed to without any problems. I decided to do the painting at this point, before attaching the upper wing. At about the same time I received this review kit, I received an e-mail from our Regional Coordinator, Don Kehrer, about a new paint being marketed by Mister Kit USA (www.misterkitusa.com). They are acrylic paints and are made especially for WWI aircraft modelers. I decided to give them a try and e-mailed an order. The next day I received a response from Mr. Michael Taylor who informed me that the Austro-Hungarian Clear Doped Linen was out of stock, but that he could substitute the German equivalent. I e-mailed back and said, "OK" and within 5 days the paint arrived. After covering the cockpit with a blob of Blue Tak and masking the engine with Tamiya tape, I sprayed everything Clear Doped Linen. I thinned the Mister Kit paint with 70% alcohol, and it sprayed very nicely. It didn't seem to dry in the color cup, which is a problem I have with some acrylics. I live in Phoenix and have to spray outside, so you can imagine how fast some things dry up. From research on the internet, I found out that the Green color was applied to the real aircraft using rags and sponges. I used a fine Microbrush and dabbed the green over all upper surfaces. It was kind of fun, because I didn't have to worry about getting a pristine finish. After painting, I applied a coat of Future then went to work on the decals. There were only about a dozen decals, and they went on beautifully. I had a problem with one of the triangular insignia on the fuselage, but that was entirely my fault. After dipping the decal in water I dropped it face down (of course) on to my workbench. I think in the act of turning it over I ripped one of the corners. I was able to salvage it, but you can see the patched up corner if you view the model from very close. Then came time to attach the upper wing and work on the landing gear. These were the two areas I was most apprehensive about. I ended up using good old Testors glue so that I would have some time to adjust the parts as they dried. The only way to line up the struts when attaching them to the axle was to eyeball them. There are no positive location points to attach the landing gear axle to the struts. When this assembly dried I attached it to the fuselage and to my surprise it was fairly straight. In hindsight, I might have been better off attaching the struts to the fuselage first, but I thought I had a better chance of getting things aligned doing it the other way. I'm sure those of you who regularly build biplanes have a better way of doing it. Attaching the upper wing presented some problems. I first attached the "N" struts to the fuselage and angled them so they would fit in the holes in the lower part of the upper wing. Once again I used Testors glue so I had a little time to make sure things lined up. After they dried I attempted to fit the upper wing. When I tried to line up the holes in the wing with the struts, I couldn't get the pins in the struts to go completely into the holes. I then discovered that the engine was in the way. That didn't seem right, so I test fitted one of the outboard struts and found that it was way too long. My solution was to fill the locating holes in the bottom of the upper wing. I sanded off the pins on top of the "N" struts and re-glued them in a more upright position. As the glue was drying, I again test fitted the outboard struts to make sure I had the right distance between the upper and lower wings. After that little adventure, I attached the upper wing, added the propeller, radiator, windscreen and guns. A few touch ups of the paint here and there and it was done. In spite of the problems I had, I really did enjoy building this kit. It is the first biplane I have built in about 30 years, which probably contributed to some of my problems. The quality of the molding is quite good, and the addition of the resin and photo-etch gives you everything you need right out of the box. Many thanks to Special Hobby for supplying the review kit. I would recommend it to any competent WWI aircraft modeler.

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