Dornier Do24 Flying Boat, Pacific Crossroads 1:350

[Shar2]

Dornier Do24 Flying Boat of the Dutch East Indies
Pacific Crossroads 1:350

The Dornier Do 24 was designed to meet a Dutch navy requirement for a replacement of the Dornier Wals being used in the Dutch East Indies, with the Netherlands government signing a contract for six Dornier Do 24s on 3 August 1936. Two more prototypes were built for the German navy to be evaluated against the Blohm & Voss BV 138.
The Do 24 was an all-metal parasol monoplane with a broad-beamed hull and stabilising sponsons. Twin tails were mounted on the upswept rear of the hull, while three wing-mounted tractor configuration engines powered the aircraft. Fuel was carried in tanks in the sponsons and the wing centre section. Up to 1,200 kg (2,600 lb) of bombs could be carried under the aircraft's wings, while defensive armament consisted of three gun turrets, one each in nose, dorsal and tail positions. In early aircraft the turrets were fitted with a single machine gun each, but later aircraft carried a 20 mm cannon in the dorsal turret.
Do 24 V3, the first of the Dutch boats, took off from Lake Constance on 3 July 1937, with the second Dutch boat, Do 24 V4 following soon after. As the Dutch required that their flying boats use the same engines as the Martin 139 bombers in use in the Dutch East Indies, they were fitted with 887 hp (661 kW) Wright R-1820-F52 Cyclone radial engines. Test results were good, with the new flying boat proving capable of operating from extremely rough open seas, and the Dutch placed an order for a further 12 Do 24s on 22 July 1937. Do 24 V1, the first of the two aircraft for Germany, powered by three 600 hp (450 kW) Junkers Jumo 205C diesel engines, flew on 10 January 1938, but after evaluation, the two German boats were returned to Dornier for storage.
The Netherlands was enthusiastic about the new flying boat, and planned to purchase as many as 90 Do 24s. Of these, 30 were to be built by Dornier (with all but the first two prototypes assembled by Dornier's Swiss subsidiary based at Altenrhein. The remaining aircraft were to be built under licence in the Netherlands by Aviolanda at Papendrecht. Of these aircraft, all but one of the German and Swiss built aircraft and the first seven Aviolanda-built aircraft were to be Do 24K-1s, powered by the original R-1820-F52 engines, while the remaining aircraft were to be Do 24K-2s, with more powerful 1,100 horsepower (820 kW) R-1820-G102 engines and more fuel.

Thirty-seven Dutch- and German-built Do 24s had been sent to the East Indies by the time of the German occupation of the Netherlands in June 1940. Until the outbreak of war, these aircraft would have flown the tri-colour roundel. Later, to avoid confusion with British or French roundels, Dutch aircraft flew a black-bordered orange triangle insignia. A Dutch Dornier Do 24 is credited with sinking the Japanese destroyer Shinonome on December 17, 1941 while the ship was escorting an invasion fleet to Miri in British Borneo. On 10 January 1942 a Dutch Dornier Do 24K spotted a Japanese invasion fleet heading for Tarakan Island in Dutch Borneo, giving adequate warning so that all oil installations could be destroyed before the Japanese arrived. After the Japanese invasion of the Netherlands East Indies, six surviving Do.24s were transferred to the Royal Australian Air Force in February 1942. They served in the RAAF through most of 1944 as transports in New Guinea, making the Do.24 one of the few aircraft serving operationally on both sides during World War II.

The Model
This latest kit from Pacific Crossroads continues with the theme of materiel from the Dutch East Indies from 1941 to 1942. This time though, rather than a ship, they have released an important aircraft of the period, the Dornier Do24.
The kit comes in a small, very sturdy cardboard box with a picture of a Do24 flying over one of the islands within the Dutch East Indies. As with the Admiralen destroyer kit there is a medal in the right hand corner of the picture. This one is the Dutch Flying Cross, the equivalent of the British Distinguished Flying Cross.
On opening the box the modeller will see more polystyrene chips than kit. But digging them out there is a small bag of resin parts, which include the one piece fuselage, single piece wing and single piece tailplane and rudders. Only the tailplane is attached to a moulding block, with very fine attachments to the leading edge, which will be fairly easy to remove and clean up. The wing on the other hand, has several large, (relatively), pour stubs on the trailing edge, and these will be a little more difficult to remove without damaging the very thin edge. Great care and patience will need to be taken when cleaning up. The fuselage is very cleanly moulded, with just a small mould line on the starboard rear fuselage.

The build, whilst simple, given the number of parts, may not be as easy as it looks. It will certainly be fiddly, with the interplane struts all produced in etched brass, which should be fitted to the fuselage and the glue allowed to set well before adding the wing. Five minute epoxy may be a better choice than CA for this kit. With the wing fitted, the tailplane can also be attached in addition to the support struts between the outer panels and the fuselage. Before fitting the propellers it is necessary to carefully remove the spinners first, attach the props then refit the spinners. Final detail parts included are the machine guns for the fore and aft turrets, the 20mm cannon for the dorsal turret, two aerial masts and a DF loop aerial.

Decals
The small decal sheet contains the orange and black triangles and rear fuselage bands for one colour scheme and the Dutch flag insignia for a second scheme. Unfortunately decals for the third scheme on the instruction sheet, that of an aircraft in Australian Air Force use is not included. There are no colour codes for the two schemes, so some research will be required to get them right.

Conclusion
Being a very different subject, particularly in this scale this is a great little kit and will look good in a diorama moored up in an island inlet or flying over the East Indies in support of a Dutch warship, it’ll only be up to the modellers’ imagination. However you use this kit, it’ll look great with a bit of care and attention. It’s certainly great to see Pacific Crossroads thinking outside the maritime box. Recommended.

Review sample courtesy of