Revell-USA 1:48 Stearman PT-17 - First Look

[Tiger331]

Hi everyone,

Finally received the Revell-USA 1:48 Stearman PT-17 (RV85-5264) this week - one of my favourite Inter-War subjects and one I have been looking forward to for some time. Do we, at long last, have a worthy successor to the rather crude and long-in-the-tooth Lindberg offering ?.

In sum, not a bad effort from a less than prolific manufacturer that can probably count the number of high quality new 1:48 scale aircraft kits, released over the last decade, on the digits of one hand. The kit consists of 10 sprues moulded in a slightly transparent and 'thin' White plastic and one clear sprue. Detail is not quite as refined as the latest offerings from the likes of Airfix, Eduard and, dare I say it, Hobby Boss. Some areas are better than others.

The surface detail on the mainplanes is nicely rendered without too much 'sag' although I am not keen on the unsightly gaps between the flying control surfaces and the lower wing and fin/rudder, for example. The fuselage halves incorporate the undercarriage legs and inner struts which is a neat idea and certainly helps with any alignment issues later in construction. The cockpit interior is also nicely rendered with full internal framing and a plethora of smaller parts including throttles, pedals and a fire extinguisher. The framing is a little heavy; some may argue this is down to the limitations in plastic moulding but the manufacturer somewhat contradict themselves by providing super thin and in scale renditions of the control columns, rudder control rods and engine ignition harnesses.

The instrument panels are very simple affairs that rely totally on the addition of decals for the instruments; these are nicely done although I feel sure the aftermarket industry will oblige in due course. The seats are also rather basic with moulded in seat belts. The front of the engine bulkhead is also nicely detailed although most of this is lost once the entire airframe is put together. The exposed engine, a prominent feature of the PT-17, is also nicely rendered and there are two choices of propeller included in the kit.

The major letdowns are the clear parts - the small windscreens suffer from some distortion which is puzzle since they are flat and the mainwheels would look more at home on a Massey-Ferguson (sorry - John Deere) farm tractor !. I have no doubt someone will provide resin replacements in due course. Falcon of New Zealand do, of course, produce vacuform windscreens in one of their canopy sets for the old Lindberg kit; whether these can be adapted for this new kit remains to be seen.

Two other high points though - The instructions are nicely laid out, IMHO, and very clear with some good guidance for the rigging which is pretty essential for this subject. The decal sheet is also very nice, providing two options for a Blue/Yellow US Army machine and an Overall Yellow US Navy aircraft although I noted that both subjects carry US Civil registrations which suggests they are restored examples so one will need to check the color references to make sure that are correct for a 'period' aircraft (or wait for an aftermarket decal sheet to come along). The decals, which include the aforementioned instrument panels and 'woodgrain/leading edge metal strip' detail for one of the propeller options are in register and have the silkscreen feel and appearance (i.e. shiny) of an aftermarket sheet.

For those that are averse to kit decals, regardless of their quality, I do know of at least one aftermarket decal manufacturer (Yellow Wings) that will be producing both USN and USAAC decals for this kit in the near future. I feel sure there will be others given the popularity of this attractive little aircraft.

A nice effort that certainly looks buildable to me. Recommended

[Spitfire31]

Many thanks for the timely and thorough review!

The Stearman belongs to my favourites and I have some idea that I'd like to convert it to a cropduster config. That'll mean a different engine, I assume, but otherwise no insurmontable difficulties. I hope…

One (or two) Revell Stearmans (Stearmen?) on my list thanks to your review.

Kind regards,

Joachim