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Showing results for tags 'PZW'.
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A model from about a year ago, to add some variety to the pool. SZD-9 Bocian https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SZD-9_Bocian Among the oldies but goldies kits there is this Polish glider, OOP now of course that nevertheless is frankly quite good. The kit had many incarnations, and it is relatively easy to find. I comissioned a set from Arctic Decals to complete the model, having found a more appealing scheme than the kit offered online. This Polish kit of very good molding depicts the 1D variant, SP-1862, so if you want other liveries just be sure you get the variant right, since many were created with changes in the airframe, some subtle, some very evident. The surfaces, where applicable, are highly polished (well, this is a Polish kit after all) or show a fabric effect. The meaning of the text on the box and in the instructions remains hidden to me, but there are clear enough schematics to guide you. Decals seem fine, instructions are simple and in a size that doesn't require a microscope to interpret them, the transparency is quite ok and even a display base is included. All in a plastic sleeve and in a sturdy, Russian era, two-component cardboard box, than more than anything else, elicits sympathy for the Polish people, who with scarce resources, hardly any capital, and a small market, managed to create a very good kit that some contemporary (circa 1980) US mainstream kits (backed by capital, resources and a huge market) would have liked to have. I am not really that much into gliders (I have scratchbuilt three so far, IIRC) but I loved building this one, simple and good and appealing and well engineered. I made a vac canopy and added a few details. The commissioned decal set is seen here:
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Another glider also from about a year ago. Second of the four vintage kits of Polish gliders of the fifties that I purchased at Palm Springs desert is the "Gil" (bullfinch). The first one, The Bocian, is posted here: As with the Bocian, I started by gathering references, of which I found a decent number in Polish websites to cover for details like the instrument panel and such. The same sort of naive box illustration is present, as well as decals, a very nice transparent canopy and the reasonably-sized instruction drawings and the -seemingly customary for the manufacturer- display pedestal. The kit has seen a couple of re-boxings with new graphics.