PZL P.11c (Arma Hobby 1/72)

[amblypygid]

I need something else to work on while I wait for some new varnish to arrive for my Phantom build. Something small and without stencils, preferably. This kit seems to fit the bill admirably!

 

For those not so familiar with the P.11c, this was Poland's most advanced fighter in service when Nazi Germany invaded on 1 Sept 1939. Unfortunately for the Poles, although it had been ground-breaking and had been considered at one time the world's most advanced fighter aircraft, that time was some years earlier, and the rapid pace of R&D in the 1930s meant that the Luftwaffe was plentifully equipped with superior machinery in the form, mainly, of the Bf 109. Nevertheless, the Poles fought and it is believed that they achieved parity in the kill ratio despite the adverse situation in which they found themselves. About two thirds (c.70) of the P.11c fleet was destroyed in September, the remaining 36 aircraft ending up in Romania, where they continued in second line service until 1943. Only one aircraft survived the war and can now be seen in Krakow.

So, what do we have? It's a single seat, open cockpit, all-metal construction, high gull-wing monoplane with a fixed undercarriage and a Bristol Mercury radial engine. The kit I have here is Arma Hobby's "Junior" version, which gives two marking options and a tiny fret of PE to go with the plastic. Talking of which, here's the box and the single frame:

 

 

 

 

As you can see, brown is very much the order of the day. The fuselage feels microscopic after a few months of handling a 1/48 Phantom! Surface detail is nice; you can hopefully make out some panel lines but there is also a very slight corrugated effect on the wings that is too hard to photograph. There's a wee bit of flash on a lot of the parts, but nothing to concern one. Early tests with the fuselage halves suggest that fit is more than adequate.

I have no paints that adequately match the suggested shades, based on the quoted FS numbers, so I will be substituting some close alternatives. More later; I must go and sort out the salmon and potato things that we're having for tea.

[Cookenbacher]

Front row!

[Stew Dapple]

I don't know how I missed this, but thanks for bumping it Cookie  

 

I've got a brace of these in the stash Chris, hope you have a good build, I'll just park up here next to Cookie if you don't mind 

 

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[amblypygid]

Thanks, Cookie, Stew, good to know you're watching!

Little progress over the past few days as it's been an interesting week (in the proverbial Chinese sense) at work, and I doubt it's going to get any better for the foreseeable future. I'm still waiting for the varnish that I ordered to be delivered, so what little work I have done has been on the PZL. The instructions indicate that the interior should be silver, and that's confirmed by other posts here on Britmodeller (the extant example in Krakow is grey, but that apparently is some anti-corrosion coating applied much later). So silver it is. Very little will be visible once the fuselage is closed up.

 

The ejector pin stubs will be invisible, so I didn't bother removing them. The interior consists of the seat and controls (right top), which attaches to two frames (left top), which go inside the fuselage halves. There are also two MG breeches (not pictured) that go onto the halves. Again, given the lack of visibility inside, I simply gave all of this a wash and left it at that. The IP also is sandwiched, but it's small. The decal is none too impressive, but again: visibility.

 

The fuselage halves take a little more work to get together once all the other stuff is in there, but not too much.

 

 

Next step, still following the instructions religiously, is the head rest, which isn't a great fit and required a wee bit of fettling. I believe it's leather (as is the coating on the cockpit rim). The PE belts then go on; these were the epitome of thin metal things and I'd recommend trying to make one's own from another, less springy substance. They're attached with matt varnish, so I reckon they'll disappear at some point, probably involving masking. I brush painted the headrest but it got well scraped while farting about with the belts, so it'll need some touching up.

 

I turned my attention to the wings this morning. No pictures but the undersides were sprayed with a coat of Dark Ghost Grey, which is the closest shade I could find to the recommended Polish Light Grey. I can now look forward to trying to get the decals to settle down over that corrugated surface 

 

[Cookenbacher]

Off to a great start Chris, I'm very interested in seeing how this kit goes together and certainly seems encouraging so far.

I definitely share your school of thought on 1/72 cockpits!

[Mitch K]

Loving this! Such a vast improvement over the other 1/72 scale offerings!

 

[HAMP man]

The kit is a beaut, one of the best I've had the pleasure of having a crack at, and as soon as I can drive the photo hosting thingamajig I'm posting.

 

Box on

Strickers

 

[Smithy]

Such an interesting subject and the Arma kit looks great.

 

Although it's a shame that the "big boys" have never really felt an urge to release a rendition of this aircraft.

[amblypygid]

I don't think you need to worry, Cookie, it's a nice little kit, as Hamp Man says. A little care needed, but no major problems. I did, however, have problems with this part:

 

It has four locating pins but I removed them and trimmed back the base of the struts. It transpires that I missed the erratum sheet which gave clear instructions on how to sort the problem!

 

The engine is nicely detailed, and goes inside a two-part cowling that shows what can be done with sensible engineering - no problems with the fit or the orientation.

 

Spring is truly here: a short trip to the park to have a kickabout with the boy also featured a short aerobatic display from a Spitfire and a couple of low passes from a Mustang.

 

This evening consisted of applying brown paint and then decalling the underside of the wings:

 

Techmod decals seem to be going down well enough with Microset.

 

35 minutes ago, Smithy said:

Although it's a shame that the "big boys" have never really felt an urge to release a rendition of this aircraft.

 

No need now! Though the options in Polish markings are limited, I'd build one in Romanian colours for sure.

[amblypygid]

We paid a visit to Kew Gardens yesterday and so there was little time for PZL action. However, I got some more work done on the wings. The scheme I've chosen has a light blue chevron on the upper wing surface; there are decals in the kit but in the belief that I can become a Better Modeller by doing this sort of thing, I masked and painted them instead. This was, of course, made slightly more difficult by the corrugation of the wing, so there was then some touching up to be done.

 

 

The photo makes it look rather whiter than it looks to my eye. There are two narrower stripes on the fuselage; I may use the decals there as the spacing may be tricky to mask.

[Marklo]

Nice job so far. It's quirky and I like the more unusual builds.  Really like the look of the type, one might even find it's way into my collection

[amblypygid]

Thanks, Marklo. I like the quirkier types too, and I'm a sucker for a gull wing, even if inverted*

 

 

 

 

* Except Stukas. They can naff off, quite frankly.

[amblypygid]

I'm having to pause for a while as I need to paint up the engine and cowling before I proceed any further, I think. That requires airbrush time, so maybe tomorrow if I'm lucky. This is where I'm at in the meantime: wheels are on, but the wing hasn't been attached yet (it sits quite happily in place, actually.)

 

 

The instructions really do suggest the offset national markings for both schemes, weird though it looks.

[jpl]

Looks very nice! Good done!

[amblypygid]

Thank, jpl. Kraków, the home base of this particular aircraft, then and now.   👍🏾

 

Some more progress with the decalling to report - the fuselage is done. All that remains now is to attach the wing, the engine, and matte coat once I've got the decals to settle down a little more. Oh, and the tiny windscreen.

The decals add some bright contrast to the overall brown uppersides:

 

[amblypygid]

OK, I'm calling it done. All the smaller pieces went on without trouble, except the tiny PE ring and post sight pieces, of which the former has disappeared. Again, commendations to Arma for their design; I always worry about how struts will match up but orienting the wing to be level was as simple as one could want, and the struts all fit beautifully. 

 

Here it is:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for following along and providing encouragement and feedback!

[StephenCJ]

The model has turned out very nice, very nice.

 

Stephen

[GrzeM]

Great build! I'm very happy you enjoyed our little kit. We put a lot of research and work in it.

The colours are very well-chosen and the finish is great.

There is only one thing needing correction - colours of the propeller boss and the area behind it - it should be brownish khaki as the rest of the airplane!

Like this:

Don't worry about the shade of khaki - photo is old, shows plane in incorrect shade, the real was more brown, like yours. Presently the museal plane is repainted in correct shade. Notice also the colour of the unpainted collector ring, it is rather dark and a bit rusty, not silver.

Edited April 13, 2019 by GrzeM

[Stew Dapple]

Lovely job Chris, she turned out a beauty  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[amblypygid]

It's a fine kit, GrzeM, and your instructions are 100% clear on the colours (just in case anyone is misled into believing that I can actually follow clear instructions). I'll have a go at repainting those parts, but I'm glad to hear that the shade of brown is a good approximation (it's Vallejo's Model Air Dark Earth, the non-BS version).

Very glad that I have a couple of Hurricanes in the stash, I think I might have a go at them next.

 

5 hours ago, StephenCJ said:

The model has turned out very nice, very nice.

Thanks, Stephen. It's a testament to the kit rather than my limited skills.

 

36 minutes ago, Stew Dapple said:

Lovely job Chris, she turned out a beauty

Thanks, Stew, that's very kind of you.

[StephenCJ]

I think I might add one of these to my ever increasing stash.

[amblypygid]

Can you justify it to yourself by anticipating a very quick build?

 

[jpl]

Nice done, great result! Greetings from Kraków!

[Cookenbacher]

Fantastic result Chris.