Jump to content

Airfix Dornier 17Z


Recommended Posts

I unearthed my Airfix Dornier 17Z recently as I now have space on my worktable.  Opening the box I was pleased to see that there appeared to be a lot of detail in the cockpit and bomb bay areas. That is when my disillusion with this kit started.  Now I am by no means what one would call a star modeller, I'm a journeyman but with over fifty years with making models I feel able to take on most of what the manufacturers throw at us.  I have to say that this kit is one of the most frustrating I have come across.  I thought that the ICM I16 was a challenge but this one has it beat.

 

With some kits I find that I am able to follow the designer's thoughts and understand how and why the kit was produced.  Not with this one.  The first thing that struck me was the way that parts were placed, seemingly at random, on the runners.  Parts that were to be joined were placed on different runners with no seeming logic and in the absence of a parts map I found I had to hunt for the part on the four runners.  Not fatal but annoying. 

 

I then started to fit out the cockpit.  The pilots seat was a challenge but it did seem to go together and I moved on.  I had invested in the Eduard cockpit set and apart from a few problems actually getting the brass to stick firmly all was well and really improved the level of detail.  So all in all I was quite happy.  Happy until I tried to fit it all in place.  Now Airfix have used very tight tolerances in this kit, a little too tight if my experience is anything to go by.  That and the tiny location points and the somewhat fragile nature of a lot of the fittings.  The two seats with the wicker effect being a good example, made fitting the cockpit difficult what with the location points being hard to use and the danger of breaking the parts whilst trying to fit them.  I did get it to go together eventually but I am far from satisfied and that has lessened my enthusiasm for this project.  I feel that I am going through the motions and not getting the best out of what I have to hand.  That is a shame.  I have always liked the look of the Dornier 17 and made a Frog example many years ago which I still have.

 

To cut a long story short I have now got to the stage of assembling the rest of the kit.  There seems to be a lot of flash in the mating surfaces which requires you to be really careful in making sure that all the parts are true.  They do not fit at all well if you skip this. and again shows that the tolerances would have been better if they had been a bit looser.  All that said with a bit of care and some juggling I think that this kit will make into the best Dornier 17Z I have come across.  The kit seems to me to try too hard.  It may be that I am not up to the job but I found that the Airfix Heinkel 111 to be joy to make.

 

Sorry there won't be any pictures at this stage.  Maybe when the dust has settled and I have painted it I might be tempted to share what I managed to do with this "curate's egg" of a model.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, AMStreet said:

With some kits I find that I am able to follow the designer's thoughts and understand how and why the kit was produced.  Not with this one.  The first thing that struck me was the way that parts were placed, seemingly at random, on the runners.  Parts that were to be joined were placed on different runners with no seeming logic and in the absence of a parts map I found I had to hunt for the part on the four runners.  Not fatal but annoying. 

 

You must remember that plastic kits are injection molded. Molten plastic enters the mold under high pressure, and the molds have to be designed so that the plastic can flow uniformly through all the "gates" (the plastic runners to which the parts are attached) so that all the mold cavities fill as near to the same time as possible. Stress on the mold, gate location and thickness/diameter, wall thickness of the parts (wings and fuselage halves, for example), draft angles, and surface textures all have to be accounted for. For these reasons, it's not always possible to position the parts on the runner in a way that may make perfect sense to a kit assembler, but it enables the parts to be molded quickly without short shots or even breaking a mold due to excess pressure. This is why "test shots" are produced. They're not produced to test the accuracy of the parts but to see if the parts can be molded without molding issues.

 

As to the other issues with the kit you point out, I cannot comment except to say that today's 3D CAD design of new kits and molds means tighter assembly tolerances which in turn demand extra care in assembling the model. Even a coat of paint in an area which is intended to be cemented can cause difficulties.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...